Using Rank as Title in Post War Civvy Street

Didn't Capt W E Johns of Biggles fame promote himself to Captain to sell more books.

 

Didn't Capt W E Johns of Biggles fame promote himself to Captain to sell more books.

And where have you been hiding? Good to see you posting again mate.

 

In the call centre where I work we a list of every title and rank possible and how to address customers correctly. These range from Mr & Mrs all the way through to Cardinal, Archbishop, Captain, Luitenant. There is even Admiral of the Fleet. Imagine greeting a customer as 'Hello Admiral of the Fleet Jones' I recently had a call from a Major and it is not uncommon to receive calls from customers with military rank titles.I also recently spoke to a a Princess, who upon googling after to make sure she wasn't making the title up, turned out to be the queens cousin.

 

In the call centre where I work we a list of every title and rank possible and how to address customers correctly. These range from Mr & Mrs all the way through to Cardinal, Archbishop, Captain, Luitenant. There is even Admiral of the Fleet. Imagine greeting a customer as 'Hello Admiral of the Fleet Jones' I recently had a call from a Major and it is not uncommon to receive calls from customers with military rank titles.I also recently spoke to a a Princess, who upon googling after to make sure she wasn't making the title up, turned out to be the queens cousin.


Check you out-You'll be up for an OBE in the New Years Honours List

 

I've been here, just incognito!

 

This letter to me from fom my ex- Squadron Leader was signed "Loopy" Kennard despite the rather grandiose title shown in his letter heading

Ron

 

Slightly off topic, but I once worked with a TA officer who was also a professor of theology. I wasn't quite sure how to address him, but called him Capt, Prof, the Rev ...

Roxy

 

In the call centre where I work we a list of every title and rank possible and how to address customers correctly. These range from Mr & Mrs all the way through to Cardinal, Archbishop, Captain, Luitenant. There is even Admiral of the Fleet. Imagine greeting a customer as 'Hello Admiral of the Fleet Jones' I recently had a call from a Major and it is not uncommon to receive calls from customers with military rank titles.I also recently spoke to a a Princess, who upon googling after to make sure she wasn't making the title up, turned out to be the queens cousin.


...........In the days of my distant youth, there was a textbook called "The Shorthand Typist's Deskbook"; it dealt with written material (letters and reports), duties of reception, personal and telephone - and proper pronunciation (e.g., army lieutenants and navy lieutenants!) ... sounds as though your list has been filched from there!

Edna

 

In my opinion anyone who continues to refer to themselves by a Rank title akter they have left the Armed Service is rather full of his / her importance.

Major Surgery-Pending.

 

Wartime it was a tad more complex, with many types of commission H.O, Territorial/Yeomanry,Regular and more. Promotion could be rapid, a (Brevet) acting Major might only be a substantive Lieutenant. If on discharge the officer was acting Lieutenant Colonel substantive Major the officer would revert back to that rank for discharge. However, the War Department could award a courtesy/honorary rank of Lt Col. I knew of one officer when I was a cadet in the early to mid 60s, who had been a regular Major whose last appointment was senior QM in the acting rank of Lt Col, He chose to be titled major, and later he was to become the second most senior mayor of the land, Major D. C....... DCM MBE Mayor of Winchester,

 

Like the Navy I am a Private Rt

 

?

 

As far as the Army is concerned its addressed in Queen's Regs somewhere around sect 1200/1300 IIRC. I guess the Navy and RAF are the same.

The key point is that a retired officer, unlike a resigned one, retains his or her Commission, which means they are also entitled to use their rank. However, current QRs specifically limit this to regulars and exclude TA. Not sure about arrangements for WW2 etc wartime commissions, but no doubt QRs has something to say.

 

Then there was the other corporal who was called fuehrer.

 

From the 17th century until WW2 officers retired in the first instant not from the army but from the 'active list'. This as we should expect was not a simple procedure. An officer could retire from the list taking into account his service and age. He may have retired on full pay, half pay or from the list and the army on pension. The time spent on full or half pay before pension was also dependent on time left before active service retirement age was reached - there was exclusions for senior ranks who could until the 1881 reforms die on the list. Contrary to belief many officers were commissioned from the ranks or from families without large private incomes the system of full,half pay and pension helped. It can be seen in army and navy lists of the war years where officers are employed - Commanding Officer unit/shore establishment etc, Captain (RN) Bloggs DSO (retd but re-employed) In Command with his status - on full, half or unpaid (pension). Not aware that TA officers were excluded - many did and still do use the honorific title of rank achieved. Gazetting - maybe things have changed - certainly mine 1981 was gazetted (TA) sometime after the board the slip from the London Gazette arrived with Notification of Occurence that on DD/MM/YY you will be appointed -On Probation later published in the Gazette, some two years after the parchment signed by HM and a few bods from the defence outfit. Prior to 1881 Scottish Infantry officers were commisioned into two regiments to allow postings between overseas regiments and home service regiments - the cost of two sets of uniforms must have been a cost burden and is recorded as such. Officers could in the first instant be retired from the overseas active list and remain on the home service list. Complexity it's what the army does best. Often customs and traditions became regulations and when regulations were changed the army liked to cling onto what was more tradition than regulation this meant that customs - calling the Major in the village pub 'Major' long after the book said different. Retired officers serving - one of the chief instructors (tactics) was a retired colonel Light Infantry uniformed as lt colonel he wore the letter R on his epaulette with his regimental titles - R - regular reserve of officers.

 

I could have sworn that I recently read a posting about retaining one's Army rank in Civvie Street but when I eventually got around to posting a response the article had just vanished !

I'd already made the effort of finding an old letter to the Times that I thought was appropriate, so, like it or not, I'm re-printing it here

ps
On looking above, strictly down to serendipity, I seem to have found my missing article
(This might be put down to my initial settings for showing threads had shifted or I was just having one of my "senior moments" !

 

I used to live in a village where three retired majors vied with each other to be 'top dog' i.e chair of parish council, church council, village hall committee, produce show committee, funday committee etc. It was very good entertainment and they were all good at organising so I don't think anyone minded them hanging on to their titles.