Volunteer-per-order was a name for a rating for young boys in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

for

young gentlemen Young gentlemen is an archaic term that was used in the Royal Navy to refer to boys aspiring to become a commissioned officer. Until promotion to lieutenant, these boys would serve in various ratings, and the term was used to group all these boys ...

who were training to become officers. The rating was introduced by

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

in 1676 and the recipient received £24 a year and a letter from the crown which virtually guaranteed him promotion after the spending two years at sea and passing the examination for lieutenant. The letter instructed the admirals and captains that the bearer was to be shown "such kindness as you shall judge fit for a gentleman, both in accommodating him in your ship and in furthering his improvement". Volunteers-per-order took the place of a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

on board the ship, which originally was a post for an experienced seaman. Because of their higher social class and the aforementioned letter, they were nicknamed King's Letter boys to distinguish them from rest of the crew. Another method of entry into the Royal Navy was serving as a servant to one of the officers, and by 1732 the last volunteer-per-order entered the navy to be replaced by service as a servant, or attending the new Royal Naval Academy.

Famous King's Letter Boys

Admiral Rodney Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the ...

* Admiral Byng

Footnotes

Royal Navy Naval ranks {{Mil-hist-stub