Company Quartermaster Sergeant (rank)

A Company Quartermaster Sergeant, usually abbreviated to CQMS, is a military rank and non-commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines. He is in charge of supplies. The CQMS also serves as the deputy to the Company Sergeant Major and is the second most senior NCO in the company.

By 1913, there were two Colour Sergeants in each army infantry company. On 1 October 1913, they were replaced by the two new ranks of Company Sergeant Major and Company Quartermaster Sergeant, with one of each in each company. By the Second World War, CQMS had become an appointment of the rank of staff sergeant (Colour Sergeant in the Royal Marines and later also in army infantry regiments), and remains so today. In infantry companies, the CQMS continues to be addressed as Colour Sergeant ("sir" in a foot guards regiment) and not as Quartermaster Sergeant, "CQMS", or just "Q", which is common in other corps. Quartermaster Sergeants are never addressed by the more junior rank of Sergeant. They have always worn the rank badge of a crown over three chevrons.

References / notes

The above term is listed in our Compendium of the Great War.

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