Captain Henry Barker

Tell me about salary and money and what it meant to you.
Well when I joined up you got two shillings a day, then after three years if you've got a second class certificate of education you were a marksman on one weapon and a first class shot on another weapon you got an extra shilling a day which was three shillings a day. If you became a Lance Corporal unpaid, you got nothing. After about two years you became what they call a paid Lance Corporal and you got an extra 9 pence a day, then when you became a full Corporal you got another nine pence a day. Lance Sergeant, the same thing, nine pence a day, and when you became a full Sergeant you got a grand sum of six shillings a day, which in those days you were a Rajah, believe me, you were a Rajah, six bob a day, and when I became an RSM and got one pound and six pence a day, I think it was, I was a double Rajah, but the pay was very good really in those days. I quote a case in China, a dollar was tenpence ha'penny, you could get steak, eggs, chips, peas, onions and tomatoes, ten cigarettes and change out of a dollar, which was only ten pence ha'penny. That was value for money wasn't it, but nowadays I think the pay they get is well, out of this world, compared to what we got in my day, but I would do it all again if I had the opportunity.