The shilling—for many years a soldier's daily pay, before stoppages—was given to recruits in the British army of the 18th and 19th centuries. By ‘taking the shilling’ a man agreed to serve as a soldier, and all sorts of tricks, most involving strong drink, were used by recruiters to press the shilling on unsuspecting victims. The man did not formally become a soldier until attested before a Justice of the Peace, and could still escape his fate by paying his recruiter ‘smart money’ before attestation. In the 1840s this amounted to £1, a sum most recruits were unlikely to have to hand.
— Richard Holmes
