] I'm wondering what a typical salary for a Colonel would be in JA's time. The stimulus for the question is that in P&P, although Colonel Fitzwilliam seems interested in Elizabeth, he makes it clear to her that he is not courting her, by explaining that he basically cannot afford to get married on a Colonel's salary, and intended to remain single.

I'm sure there are others who can give better answers with more specific figures, but British army officers were not paid much to speak of. I believe this had largely to do with the fact that they were supposed to be "gentlemen" with some means of their own.

This became a problem by the First World War, which was the first time that signifigant numbers of officers came "up through the ranks, and it persisted into the Second World War.