Captain-Lieutenant

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For other uses of "Captain Lieutenant", see Captain Lieutenant (disambiguation).

Captain-lieutenant was formerly a rank in the British Army; the senior subaltern rank, above lieutenant and below captain.

A regiment's field officers - its colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major - originally commanded their own companies, as well as carrying out their regimental command duties.

However, from the 17th century onwards, the colonel increasingly became a patron and ceremonial head instead of an actual tactical commander, with command in the field devolving to the lieutenant colonel. This left the colonel's company without a captain.

The lieutenant of this company thus became its acting captain. This state of affairs was formally recognised with the creation of the rank of captain-lieutenant, with its own entry in the table of prices for the purchase of commissions.

The rank was abolished sometime in the early nineteenth century.

This rank is in use in Russian and other East-European navies as the most senior company-grade officer rank.