The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peo ...

in 1992.

History

The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before the formation of the corps. Prior to the 19th century, each regiment had its own civilian paymaster and the first commissioned paymaster was introduced in 1792. In 1870 a Pay Sub-Department of the Control Department was formed; an officer-only establishment, it gained autonomy as the Army Pay Department in 1878. In 1893 an Army Pay Corps was formed, composed of other ranks, to support the work of the Department. In 1920 the Army Pay Department and the Army Pay Corps were amalgamated to form the Royal Army Pay Corps (the prefix 'Royal' having been conferred in recognition of valuable services provided during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

). In 1919 the financial responsibilities were split between the RAPC, which handled salaries, and the Corps of Military Accountants (CMA), which handled the army's finances. The CMA was disbanded in 1925 and its functions and some personnel were transferred to the RAPC. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the RAPC did not accept recruits directly from civilian life, but only transfers from serving soldiers who had been in the Army for at least six months. During the Second World War, members of the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

and men of a "lower medical category" were often conscripted into the corps. Initially they received very little military training but after a discussion in Parliament were trained in armed combat, especially for those posted closest to the frontlines, to prepare for surprise attacks on headquarters. The Pay Corps requisitioned Dalewood House in Mickleham near

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughl ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

as their headquarters during the Second World War. The House now acts as the main building of Box Hill School, a Public School established in the village in 1959. With the amalgamations into the

in 1992, its functions are now carried out by the Staff and Personnel Support (SPS) Branch. Headed by a Paymaster-in-Chief, the corps was responsible for keeping the army financially accountable to the servicemen and

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

Alliances

The corps had the following alliances: * –

Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps The Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps (RCAPC) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army with its own cap badge, and other insignia and traditions. It was established in 1906 as the Canadian Army Pay Corps. It was responsible for administering a ...

* – South African Administrative and Pay and Clerical Corps * – Pay Section, Royal Hong Kong Defence Force * – Fiji Army Pay Corps

Footnotes

External links

# Website of the Royal Army Pay Corps Regimental Association https://rapc-association.org.uk/ British administrative corps Adjutant General's Corps Military units and formations established in 1878 Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 {{UK-mil-stub