Half-pay

In the English Army the option of half-pay developed during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, at the same time as the system of purchasing commissions and promotions by officers took hold. Serving officers could go voluntarily on half-pay or be obliged to do so if their services were not required. In both cases they could be summoned back to their regiments if there was a sudden need for their services. As an example, at the time of the Jacobite rising of 1715 all listed half-pay officers were recalled to the army.[2]

In the long period of peace that the reduced British Army experienced following the Napoleonic Wars, the half-pay system became a means by which arduous overseas service could be avoided. Well-to-do officers promoted through the purchase system could transfer to the half-pay list if their regiment was posted to India or elsewhere. They could then purchase new appointments to regiments assigned to home service in Britain. Transfers to and from the half-pay list were approved at the discretion of the Secretary at War.[2]

In 19th century armies and navies the half-pay list served a similar function to the reserve officer components of modern day forces, with officers who were retired, or otherwise not required for active service, receiving half of the salary of their fully commissioned counter-parts. The half-pay list could also serve as a means of ridding the service of ineffective or incompetent officers who had too much political influence to be dismissed entirely. Such officers would be placed on half-pay and never be recalled to active service. In periods of extended conflict, the half-pay lists became a significant expense for militaries when coupled with the selling of half pay commissions that was commonplace in the British Army.[3]

In the United States this system was implemented in 1778 by the Continental Congress as an incentive to compensate for the extremely low pay that officers in the Continental Army received which made it difficult to retain officers for long periods of time. The half pay benefit was granted to all officers for seven years following the end of the revolution but was later extended to a lifetime benefit. While this benefit was promised to all officers serving in the Continental Army, after the war the Congress of the Articles of Confederation voted against paying for these pensions and so only officers from certain state regiments who had established an independent half-pay list received this pay.[4] After extended lobbying by retired officers after the war, in 1783 Congress authorized the full pay of officers for five years to be paid by the Department of the Army.[4] Such a large list of officers drawing half-pay created similar problems for the United States as it had in Great Britain. In an attempt to control the growing number of aging officers still on the government payroll and to promote a younger officer corps, in 1855 the Secretary of the Navy was given the right, with the recommendation of a review board, to involuntarily terminate officers who were deemed incapable or unfit for duty. Shortly following this, officers with forty years of time in service were allowed to voluntarily retire.[5] In 1889, the half pay retirement benefit was extended to enlisted personnel who had completed thirty years of active service by General Order No. 372.[6]

At the start of the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the Grande Armée had to be reduced in numbers because of the end of the various Coalition Wars since 1792 and the precarious situation of the public finances. Some of these officers were deemed suspect of Bonapartism or Republicanism and were thus thought to be unreliable. Consequently, some of these officers were put in demi-solde ("half-pay") and were, in most cases, replaced by émigrés.[7]

Although they were removed from active service, they still retained their ranks and had to be ready to serve the military at any time. They were still under the burdens of military discipline, having to ask for permission to marry, to travel outside of their municipality and, due to their perceived political unreliability, their mail was opened and they had to report to police.[7]

While the image of the demi-solde as a nostalgic Bonapartist organising conspiracies for the return of his Emperor is an exaggeration, some of them were involved in anti-Bourbon plots. On the other hand, most of these officers reintegrated into civil life by becoming farmers, industrialists or traders, and others were eventually recalled to the military when it needed being expanded. Some others emigrated, mainly to the Americas.[7]

From 20000 in 1815, they numbered only 3000 by the July Revolution.[8]