"Other ranks" (ORs) is the term used to refer to all ranks below commissioned officer in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It includes warrant officers, non-commissioned officers ("NCOs") and ordinary soldiers with the rank of private or regimental equivalent.
Ranks
Role
RankTypical command size or appointmentTypical time taken for a promotionWarrant officer class 1Referred to individually by appointment. The most senior advisors to battalions and commanding officers. Responsible for the discipline and equipment of officers and soldiers.18 years with an outstanding service record.Warrant officer class 2Referred to individually by appointment. A senior management role of squadrons, batteries and companies.N/AStaff/colour sergeantManagement role of a squadron, battery or company, or serves as platoon commander.After a few years as a sergeant.SergeantSecond in command of a troop or platoon.After serving for 12 years.CorporalGenerally commands a section or a single tank.After serving for 6–8 years.Lance corporalSecond in command of a section, or leader of a fire team.Finished phase 2 training or after 3 years as a private.PrivateNo command.Finished phase 1 training.
Variants Privates Many units do not use the rank "Private", using instead: "Airtrooper" in the Army Air Corps "Craftsman" in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers "Drummer", "trumpeter", "bugler", "piper" and "musician" in various military bands and musicians in other units "Fusilier" in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Royal Welsh and The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland "Guardsman" in the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards and the London Guards "Gunner" in the Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery "Highlander" in The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland "Kingsman" in the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment "Ranger" in the Royal Irish Regiment, London Irish Rifles and the Ranger Regiment "Rifleman" in The Rifles and the Royal Gurkha Rifles "Sapper" in the Royal Engineers "Signaller" in the Royal Signals "Trooper" in many regiments with a cavalry tradition and in the Special Air Service
Foot Guards
The five regiments of foot guards (Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh) have a unique rank structure to the rest of the British Army. Lance corporals in the foot guards wear two chevrons, as opposed to one. The change from one-bar to two-bar chevrons happened sometime between 1882 and 1887, and whilst some sources claim that this was according to a preference expressed by Queen Victoria, those claims are unproven. The appointment of lance sergeant, abolished in the rest of the army in 1946, was retained in the foot guards, and all corporals are made lance sergeants upon their promotion to corporal. In full dress, substantive sergeants wear a crimson sash and gold lace chevrons whilst lance sergeants wear no sash and white worsted chevrons like corporals. In no. 2 service dress, the chevron colours are the same for both ranks but lance sergeants do not wear the sash or cap badge of a substantive sergeant.
Colour sergeants in the foot guards also wear a unique badge of rank on full dress, consisting of a crown above a depiction of the king's colour (which is crimson in the foot guards, unlike the regiments in the rest of the British Army which have a defaced Union Flag as their king's colour) and above two crossed swords, all superimposed on three gold lace chevrons. The badge is also used, minus the chevrons, by company sergeant majors. The design of the crimson flag varies between the five regiments. The Grenadier Guards use a royal cypher, reversed and interlaced, with the flowers of the four nations of the United Kingdom in the corners. The flag's tassels and the crossed swords beneath the flag also differ in design from those used in the other regiments. The Coldstream Guards use a Garter star above a sphinx that is encircled by a wreath; the Scots Guards use the same design but with the star of the Order of the Thistle; the Irish Guards use the star of the Order of St Patrick with shamrocks in each corner; and the Welsh Guards use a dragon above their motto, .
In full dress, foot guards' chevrons are of double lace (abolished in the rest of the army in 1868) and are edged in dark blue, the facing colour of royal regiments. In no. 2 service dress, NCOs' chevrons and badges are brown on khaki (as opposed to white on khaki as in most regiments) and the crowns on the badges of warrant officers and NCOs are metal, except in the Grenadier Guards who wear all cloth insignia. NCOs in the Grenadier Guards also wear a grenade above their chevrons on no. 2 service dress, and Grenadier Guards colour sergeants and WO2s wear crossed swords above a grenade with their no. 2 service dress rank insignia. The Honourable Artillery Company has worn rank insignia and dress based on that of the Grenadier Guards since ordered by William IV in 1830, but they do not use the rank of guardsman.
Household Cavalry
The Household Cavalry maintains the old cavalry tradition of having no rank of sergeant, which was originally an infantry rank only. It has its own peculiar set of insignia and ranks.
Similarly, warrant officer appointments are different, with, for example, "regimental corporal major" being used in place of regimental sergeant major. Uniquely, NCOs and warrant officers of the Household Cavalry do not wear any insignia on their full dress uniforms (although officers do). Rank is indicated by a system of aiguillettes.
Army Air Corps
Other rank pilots in the Army Air Corps are initially appointed to the rank of Aviation Warrant Officer One (AW1) and can subsequently progress up to Aviation Warrant Officer Four (AW4)https://soldier.army.mod.uk/issues/april-2025/soldier-life/private-to-pilot
Others In several cavalry regiments, including the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards and the Queen's Royal Hussars, NCOs holding the rank of lance corporal wear two chevrons instead of one. Full corporals are distinguished by the addition of a cypher above their two stripes in dress uniforms. Staff sergeants in an appointment as squadron quartermaster sergeant in the cavalry sometimes wear four stripes with a crown and are referred to as "sergeant major". The term "mister" is confined to WO2s.
The Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery also use the ranks lance bombardier and bombardier instead of lance corporal and corporal, while The Rifles use the spelling "serjeant" in place of "sergeant".
History 17th century–1802
Until the introduction of sergeant majors early in the eighteenth century, the only NCOs were sergeants and corporals. In the second half of the 17th century sergeants and corporals were distinguished by wearing coats laced with silver of various widths and silver bands and edging on their hats, whilst officers wore gorgets, sashes and other ornamentation. NCOs were also distinguishable by their weaponry. Sergeants carried halberts, corporals generally carried muskets, and those in the foot guards carried poleaxes. Drum majors had the standing of a sergeant but only counted as a drummer in the establishment. Drum majors, drummers and hoboys were also marked out by special uniforms. It is probable that the earliest distinctions of NCO rank were left to the discretion of commanding officers. Although the royal warrant of 1707 established a Board of General Officers to regulate clothing and equipment, a subsequent clothing warrant of 1708 directed that 'the Serjeants, Corporals, Drummers, Trumpeters, and Hoboys be clothed in the same manner as the soldiers, but everything to be better in its kind.'
George II made efforts to standardise dress in the army, and a series of books, orders and clothing warrants were issued to this effect during his reign. In contrast to NCOs, soldiers did not wear any particular insignia of rank. Instead, infantry soldiers wore red coats and white lace with coloured lines or geometric patterns known as 'regimental lace'. The pattern of the lace and the colour of the facings of the coat served to distinguish the different regiments. Infantry sergeants wore a worsted sash around the waist, usually red with a stripe of the colour of their regimental facings (in contrast to the crimson silk sashes worn over the right shoulder by infantry officers). Corporals wore a white worsted shoulder knot on the right shoulder. Sergeants' coats were of scarlet cloth, whilst corporals and soldiers wore red and drum majors wore distinguishing coats. In 1752 infantry sergeants were ordered to wear coats with lapels worn to the waist of the same colour as the facings of their regiment, and with white or yellow buttons and buttonholes (to match their officers who wore silver or gold buttons and buttonholes). In 1761 a standing order is noted under which sergeant majors and drum majors (but not sergeants) were allowed to wear gold or silver lace on their coats.
In 1768 during the reign of George III, a detailed clothing warrant for the infantry was published. A sergeant's buttonholes were looped with white braid and their hat laced with silver. Sergeants were to carry a halbert (in contrast to battalion officers who carried an espontoon). The coat for corporals and soldiers had buttonholes looped with regimental lace, and the corporal's shoulder knot had been replaced by a silk epaulette, still worn on the right shoulder only. Corporals and privates' hats had a white tape binding. Sergeant majors and drum majors were not mentioned, although paintings of the 25th Foot from 1771 show a sergeant major wearing a scarlet coat with yellow facings and extensively laced with silver and other decorative details. The drum major is shown wearing a similar coat but the colours of the body and facings are exchanged. Separate records from 1768 show that NCOs in the 3rd guards were to wear epaulettes.
Towards the end of the 18th century all NCOs in line infantry regiments wore epaulettes on their shoulders, with the first evidence appearing in 1779. An infantry sergeant major wore a silver epaulette with a bullion fringe on each shoulder, a sergeant wore a silk epaulette with a fringe on each shoulder, and a corporal wore a plain silk epaulette with a fringe on the right shoulder only (and on the red jacket of an ordinary soldier). NCOs in flank companies and the fusiliers wore their epaulettes on both arms above their wings. NCOs in the 3rd Guards had worn epaulettes since 1768 and this was evident in all three regiments of foot guards by 1792. In the foot guards, a sergeant major wore a gold epaulette with a bullion fringe on each shoulder; a sergeant wore a gold-laced epaulette with a gilt fringe on the right shoulder and a laced strap with a gilt fringe on the left shoulder; and a corporal wore a laced strap with gilt fringe on the right shoulder only. In common with the flank companies of the line infantry regiments, these were worn on both arms above the wings in the flank companies of the foot guards. There was considerable variation in the patterns and styles of epaulettes between regiments. In the cavalry, a corporal of horse (the cavalry equivalent to the infantry rank of sergeant) was distinguished by silver or guilt lace to their uniform, and a corporal by similar lace but only to the cuffs and collars.