https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_of_commissions_in_the_British_Army
'Downton Abbey' really captures the class differences quite well. The squirrely, subservient servants, and the dignified, restrained upper class. Anyone from the lower classes with any 'nads left GB long ago for the US, Australia, et al if they had a chance. Those who remained were/are wimps. It's why they are getting rolled by the Muzzies, and will be Islamic sex slaves within a couple of generations.
That was very interesting, thank you.
My own 10th great-grandfather left England for North Carolina before 1725.