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Master-at-arms

military position

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ369931 ↗
Source-derived summary

A master-at-arms (US: MA; UK and some Commonwealth: MAA) may be a naval rating, responsible for law enforcement, regulating duties, security, anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) for a country's navy; an army officer responsible for physical training; or a member of the crew of a merchant ship (usually a passenger vessel) responsible for security and law enforcement. In some navies, a ship's corporal is a position—not the rank—of a petty officer who assists the master-at-arms in his various duties. Historically, a master-at-arms was responsible for the training of soldiers during peace time, or actively involved in leading the defense of a fortification during war time.

In some countries, the term navy police is used for a part of a navy responsible for law enforcement, such as the Royal Navy Police, known as the Royal Navy Regulating Branch until 2007.

United Kingdom

Royal Navy

The master-at-arms (MAA) is a ship's senior rating, normally carrying the rank of chief petty officer or warrant officer. They are in charge of discipline aboard ship, assisted by regulators of the Royal Navy Police, of which they are a member. The non-substantive (trade) badge of an MAA is a crown within a wreath.

The post of master-at-arms was introduced to the Royal Navy during the reign of King Charles I; their original duties were to be responsible for the ship's small arms and edged weapons, and to drill the ship's company in their use. This was not an onerous task, and masters-at-arms came to be made responsible for "regulating duties"; their role as weapons instructors was eventually taken over by the chief gunner.

The MAA is addressed as "Master" if holding the rank of chief petty officer, regardless of gender, and is often nicknamed the "jaunty", a corruption of the French gendarme, or the "joss/jossman".

Editorial summary

“Master-at-arms” enters the record as military position. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Master-at-arms, military and position can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Master-at-arms, military and position.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Master-at-arms” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Master-at-arms, military and position provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q369931. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. 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.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Master-at-arms” 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.