After 3 years in the Army poor William Hirst is now desperate to get out. Why? Is it even possible?
I shall never be happy or content in my mind though I had a hundred a year, for there is nothing but wickedness going on.
William Hirst – 24 April 1796
Is it really that bad or is Hirst just whining again?
Things were indeed going poorly in the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon had negotiated treaties or alliances with Italy and Spain. Austria and Russia were not supportive of the traditional alliances. Britain stood virtually alone against France.
And there might well have been wickedness surrounding Hirst as he lay in Poole with the British Army. The completely unsatisfactory living conditions in the British fleet would cause mutinies at Spithead and The Nore in the coming year of 1797.
So can he get out?
Before 1806 when the concept of limited service was introduced, the enlisted British soldier (as opposed to an officer) was
bound to the army for as long as he was physically able to perform his duties, or until his services were no longer required .
Philip Haythornwaite, Redcoats: The British Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars (2012); 45
By Haythornwaite’s reckoning, in 1796 William Hirst was committed “for life.”
Maybe … ?
However, Ewan Wardle, Program Development Officer, Fort York National Historic Site suggests there may have been a way out for Private Hirst … he would have to strike a bargain with the colonel.
Soldiers could purchase their discharge either by cash payment or by providing a substitute to take their place. The former option usually meant striking a bargain with colonel over the cost of a replacement – not a cheap proposition for a private enlisted man. Years served could result in a lower price, but as far as I am aware, there was no regulated pricing in the 1700s. Therefore, one would have likely seen disparity from regiment to regiment, colonel to colonel.
Ewan Wardle, Program Development Officer, Fort York National Historic Site. Personal correspondence Jan. 27, 2022
How much money are we talking about?
Wardle further notes that
In order to get the sense of how much the cost of a replacement was [and thereby how much the Army might ask in terms of real money], it was estimated in June 1804 that the army was spending £19 19s to recruit just one infantryman.
Ewan Wardle, Program Development Officer, Fort York National Historic Site. Personal correspondence Jan. 27, 2022
By 1822 General Regulations and Orders for the Army are more specific about the “Discharging of Soldiers on Payment of a specific Sum or Money:”
When Commanding Officers of Regiments may, from particular circumstances, feel themselves justified in recommending Soldiers for Discharge, at their own request or at the request of their Friends, the Sum of Twenty Pounds shall be paid by each, instead of procuring substitutes.
General Regulations and Orders for the Army 1st January 1822. Kindly provided by an Anonymous Source at Fort York National Historic Site. Personal correspondence Jan. 27, 2022
Our anonymous source adds “There are documented examples of men of the 37th Foot [Hirst’s regiment] obtaining their discharges in Canada this way at this period.”
Is this Purchase of Discharge likely to happen?
These General Regulations suggest £20 was the going rate to purchase a discharge in 1822 if the discharge was approved by the Colonel. Assuming the cost was approximately the same, if not more in 1796 wartime, could William Hirst reasonably expect his father or a ‘Friend’ to advance him the money?
Hirst himself talks wistfully about how content he would be with a “hundred a year”. [Brings to mind the Bare Naked Ladies song, “If I had a million dollars …”] £20 would be a fifth of even that yearly income.
In 1795, the income of a leading merchant or banker was estimated to be £2000 a year*. It is likely William Hirst’s mother and father, who were grocers, made far, far less.
Perhaps Hirst was hopeful that one of his other relatives would step forward …
you never let me know anything about my Brothers in Law how they come on in the world, but please write to me by return of Post and give me all particulars
William Hirst – 24 April 1796
No wonder they haven’t replied …
*How Wealthy is Mr. Darcy – Really? Pounds and Dollars in the World of Pride and Prejudice
Special thanks to Douglas Fyfe , Ewan Wardle, and another source who prefers to remain anonymous for their assistance with this post. I encourage readers to visit Fort York National Historic Site in Toronto for a glimpse of army life in Hirst’s time.
The William Hirst Letters 1787-1798 
A very evocative post! Quite wonderful how William Hirst has found a rather secure place in my view of the world, over time!
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Thanks, Doug! You are a loyal follower. What is your take on William Hirst then? Is he a ne’er-do-well or just unlucky?
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Coleridge’s annuity from the Wedgewood family (which was granted him right around this time in the late 1790s) was 150 pounds a year, and considered sufficient to live on in a lower-middle-class sort of way (it would give him some leisure to write, perhaps like a Canada Council Grant nowadays). I think of it as perhaps equivalent to about $40K now. So that makes one pound worth $266 and twenty pounds worth $5320 now.
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Thanks, Rob! That’s very useful.
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