Company sergeant major
Commonwealth military rank
The company sergeant major (CSM) is the senior non-commissioned soldier of a company in the armies of many Commonwealth countries, responsible for administration, standards and discipline. In combat, their prime responsibility is the supply of ammunition to the company. They also oversee the distribution of other supplies, such as water or food, although that responsibility is mainly that of the company quartermaster sergeant (CQMS), and evacuating the wounded and collecting prisoners of war.
For military units of the same level as a company, the equivalent may be squadron sergeant major (SSM) or battery sergeant major (BSM). In the Household Cavalry, squadron corporal major (SCM) is the equivalent. First sergeant and Kompaniefeldwebel (formerly Hauptfeldwebel in the Wehrmacht and Nationale Volksarmee) are the United States Army and German Heer equivalents respectively.
Australia
In the Australian Army, the CSM appointment is the senior warrant officer of a sub-unit (company, squadron or battery) and is normally held by a warrant officer class 2. The CSM is a senior management role focusing on the training, welfare and discipline of a sub-unit of up to 200 soldiers. They also act as senior adviser to the sub-unit commander. The appointment is known as the Company Sergeant-Major (CSM) in all sub-units except for the following:
Squadron Sergeant-Major (SSM) in Armoured, Aviation, Engineer and Signal sub-units
Artificer Sergeant-Major (ASM) in RAEME sub-units
Battery Sergeant-Major (BSM) in Artillery sub-units
Canada
In the Canadian Forces, the CSM appointment is normally held by a master warrant officer.
“Company sergeant major” enters the record as commonwealth military rank. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Company, sergeant and major can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Company sergeant major” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Company, sergeant and major provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q694685. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Company sergeant major”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Company sergeant major primary sources, Company sergeant major archive and Company research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Company sergeant major”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Company sergeant major” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.