A promotion certificate

Description

This document is one of the earliest objects in the Museum’s collection.

Dated 10th November 1762 it records the promotion of James Halls of the 41st (or Invalids) Regiment from Lieutenant to Captain. The 41st were known as invalids not because they were infirm, but because the Regiment was comprised of older, experienced soldiers, and was specifically raised to man the country’s garrisons while the regular army fought the Jacobite Rebellion. The 41st later became The Welsh Regiment.

The certificate bears the signature of King George III in the top left, and that of Thomas Gore, Commissary General of Musters, at bottom centre. The certificate has an element of mystery, as it is signed by Robert Walpole (1736 – 1810) in the bottom right as the Secretary at War, but he never occupied this office. Notice also how a gap has been left for the name of a Regimental Captain to be inserted in the fourth line, but this has been forgotten!