The British Army's purchase of commissions worked as a financial chain rather than a one-way payment. An officer could buy a higher post and offset some of the cost by selling the commission he was leaving to an eligible and trusted subordinate. That chain linked advancement to both money and judgments about who was ready for the role. Selling a final commission could also function as a retirement fund when the officer did not purchase the next rank. Bad colonels who controlled and resold every vacancy are treated as abuses of the system, although those failures have heavily shaped its later reputation.
Notable Point · 1:47:36-1:48:59
How Army commission purchase financed promotion and retirement
The British Army's purchase system let officers sell the commission they were leaving, offset promotion costs, and turn a final sale into retirement capital.