British Army rank is worn where you can see it, and it is entirely readable once you know the system. Here is the whole thing, bottom to top.
Other Ranks
"Other Ranks" means everyone who is not a commissioned officer. It is not an insult and it is not a rank in itself — it is the administrative category covering privates through to warrant officers.
A private wears no rank insignia at all. Depending on the regiment they may not even be called a private: Guardsman, Rifleman, Gunner, Sapper, Trooper, Signaller and Craftsman all mean the same thing in different cap badges.
Non-Commissioned Officers
NCOs are soldiers promoted from the ranks who hold authority without a commission. Chevrons — stripes — are theirs.
- One chevron — Lance Corporal
- Two chevrons — Corporal
- Three chevrons — Sergeant
- Three chevrons with a crown above — Staff Sergeant or, in some regiments, Colour Sergeant
Lance Corporal and Corporal are junior NCOs. Sergeant and above are senior NCOs, and the jump from Corporal to Sergeant is the significant one — that is where a soldier moves into the Sergeants' Mess.
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Warrant Officers
Here is the bit most people get wrong: warrant officers are not NCOs. They hold a warrant from the Crown, which sits between a non-commissioned rank and a commission. They do not wear chevrons.
- WO2 — a crown. Company or Squadron Sergeant Major.
- WO1 — the royal coat of arms. Regimental Sergeant Major, the senior soldier in the regiment.
An RSM is addressed as "Sir" by everyone below him and as "RSM" or by name by officers. Getting this wrong in front of one is a memorable experience.
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Rank slides vs chevrons
On combat and barrack dress, rank is worn on a rank slide — a fabric loop over the shoulder strap carrying the insignia. On No2 service dress and shirts, chevrons are sewn onto the sleeve.
Same rank, different mounting, and they are not interchangeable. If you are buying, work out which order of dress it is for first.
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The ranks that are not really ranks
Several titles you will see are appointments rather than ranks — jobs held by someone of a given rank:
- Lance Corporal was historically an appointment, not a rank — a Private "acting" as a Corporal.
- Colour Sergeant and Staff Sergeant are the same rank with different names by regiment. Infantry say Colour Sergeant.
- RSM, CSM, RQMS are appointments held by warrant officers. A CSM is a WO2 doing a specific job.
This is why two soldiers wearing identical insignia can hold quite different positions.
Regimental variations
Household Cavalry rank names bear little resemblance to the rest of the Army: a Corporal of Horse is a Sergeant, a Staff Corporal is a Staff Sergeant, and there are no Sergeants at all — the rank was considered beneath cavalry dignity.
The Royal Artillery calls a Private a Gunner and has Bombardiers where the infantry has Corporals. The Rifles use Serjeant with a J, and have done since before the spelling standardised.
Officers, briefly
Officers wear pips and crowns rather than chevrons:
- One pip — Second Lieutenant. Two — Lieutenant. Three — Captain.
- A crown — Major. Crown and pip — Lieutenant Colonel.
The pip is formally the star of the Order of the Bath, and its design varies by regiment — Guards regiments use a different pattern from line infantry.
Buying rank insignia
Three things to get right: the order of dress (rank slide, sewn chevron or metal pip), the backing colour where the regiment uses one, and the regiment itself where the rank name differs.
Buying a Sergeant's chevrons for someone in the Household Cavalry will produce a rank that does not exist there.
Lance Corporal is the hardest promotion
It sounds like the smallest step and most soldiers will tell you it is the biggest. It is the moment you stop being one of the lads and start giving orders to people you were drinking with last week.
It is also technically an appointment rather than a rank in some regiments, which is why you occasionally see it written as "Lance Corporal (Acting)".
The names change by regiment
Same rank, different word, depending on cap badge:
- Private — Guardsman, Rifleman, Fusilier, Gunner (Artillery), Sapper (Engineers), Signaller (Signals), Trooper (cavalry), Craftsman (REME), Kingsman (Duke of Lancaster's).
- Corporal — Bombardier in the Royal Artillery.
- Sergeant — Colour Sergeant in the infantry, Staff Sergeant almost everywhere else.
The Rifles have no Lance Corporals at all in the traditional sense, and the Household Cavalry use a rank structure of their own that confuses everybody.
Reading the crown
A crown above three chevrons means Staff or Colour Sergeant. A crown on its own, with no chevrons, means Warrant Officer Class 2. Same crown, entirely different position — it is the chevrons underneath that change the meaning.
And since 2022 that crown is the Tudor Crown rather than St Edward's, so current-issue rank insignia looks different from anything issued in the previous seventy years.
Buying rank insignia
Three things to check before ordering:
- Order of dress. Rank slides for combat and barrack dress; sewn chevrons for No2 dress and shirts. Not interchangeable.
- Regiment. Many rank slides carry the regimental title as well as the rank.
- Crown. If it carries one, make sure it is the current pattern for current wear, or the correct period pattern for a display.