I was reading how the Duke of Wellington himself started as an ensign of a regiment of foot while he needed a job as his family was declining nobility. Naturally he was from the landed Protestant Anglo-Irish aristocracy, and these folk were incredibly rich more often than not. But an ensign I would've imagined would've come from an upper middle class family, yet someone as high up the social chain as Wellington himself started out as such. Was this exclusive entirely, or was it slightly more open to the upper middle and perhaps even the middle classes? And what of young boys and men in the Royal Navy? How wealthy would their parents have been to afford them commissions?
An ensign's commission was always far more expensive than it was to become a midshipman - you never had to pay to become a midshipman (midshipmen weren't commissioned officers). Once you were a midshipman, becoming a lieutenant just required the passage of an examination. Instead of money, you needed connections, either within the navy, or within society. Trainee officers in this period were commonly referred to as 'young gentlemen', regardless of their age or social standing, because they did not necessarily have to be midshipmen for the whole period of their training. To take the examination to become a lieutenant, you needed to have at least six years of sea time, at least two of which were spent as a midshipman. Therefore it was common for 'young gentlemen' to enter as 1st class volunteers or as able seamen, while still being officers-in-training. This happened at a very early age. The regulations stated that 'young gentlemen' must be 13 or over to enter the service, or if an officer's son, over 11. However, this was often ignored. Captains would take on servants below these ages, or would fraudulently claim a young relation was aboard their ship, while pocketing their pay.
Prior to 1794, when the regulations were changed, becoming an RN officer trainee was as simple as contacting a captain and requesting that he take you on board as a 'young gentleman'. After 1794, you still had to ask a captain to become one, but the process was supposedly overseen by the Admiralty. While you could apply to the Royal Naval Academy (Royal Naval College from 1806), this was not a popular way of entering the service. Between 1806 and 1832, the typical attendance was less than 60 students, while a first rate would have 20 trainee officers aboard. Either way, connections were greatly important, and none more so than naval connections. Of the 70 spaces available at the Royal Naval College, 40 were reserved for the sons and relatives of naval officers. Before 1794, more than half of the 'young gentlemen' admitted to the RN had some form of naval connection. However, the 1794 reforms aimed to increase the social standing of the RN's officer class. This, combined with a promotion crisis which may have led to RN officers dissuading their relatives from joining, led to a vast increase in the number of recruits from the gentry. Naval connections were still significant, but boys with them no longer made up the majority of 'young gentlemen'. Instead, they made up about a third of the trainees, with members of the gentry making up another third. The remaining third came from the rest of society, from the army, the clergy, the professional and merchant classes.
Sources:
Samantha Cavell, A Social History of Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the Royal Navy, 1761-1831, University of Exeter, 2010
Perhaps someone could also expand on the whole idea of buying commissions, how that began, and when it ceased (it's a foreign concept to people today, and many I imagine would have never even heard of the idea).