What were the benefits of being in the British military during the time of the American Revolution?

Like, what were the benefits recruits were offered to join the military to go across the seas and take down the rebels? What was their pay and such?What were the benefits of being in the British military during the time of the American Revolution?in return for signing up to serve until old age, wounds or death made them useless, Redcoats got 1 penny a day wages (minus stoppages) between 1/3rd and 1 whole pint of Rum or Gin a day, 3 meals a day (if lucky) and a roof over their head (sometimes) they got a uniform, boots or shoes, a musket and a blanket. depending on the circumstances some recruits got a signing on bonus, a small amount of cash, usually spent within the first 24 hours on drink or gambled away with the recruits new unit.



your probably wondering why anyone would bother for such a poor reward, but in fact by the standards of the day it wasn't as bad as it appears.



a penny a day was just slightly below the average wage of an unskilled worker during that time period, (and a soldier at least had job security) few people got 3 meals a day, starvation and famine was still common in parts of the UK. free drink was a powerful recruitment tool as well, many people were drunks, Gin in 18th century Britain was cheaper than bread and as such many people were addicts, the promise of free drink everyday did actually encourage some.

Recruits were also 'offered' the job as a soldier by judges, criminals were often given the choice of the army or the noose (back in those days children as young as 7 were hung for even petty crimes like stealing, falling that they could be sent to spend the rest of the lives as virtual slaves in one of the colonies like the US or later Australia)

And other men simply joined to escape their lives back in the UK, they were on the run from the law, running from wife's, running from debtors, running from some village girls father, the army offered them an escape route

And some just joined for the excitement they hoped to find, travelling the world and fighting.

professor layton

sea doo