History Main / OfficerAndAGentleman

--->"Arithmetic on the Frontier"

** Kipling also poked fun at this trope, by noting how ''useless'' most of that book-learnin', college degree, and gentlemenly chilvary is on the battlefield.

* Skipper of ''{{Madagascar}}'' [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]] (and in ''ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'') has some of these qualities. He is a lot more cultured than the rest of the commando penguins, generally courteous towards ladies, and also [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking pulls off the craziest stunts]].

** So well known he was as this, that his nickname, "El Caballero de los Mares" (The {{Gentleman/Knight}} of the Seas) was coined by his adversaries, the Chileans.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' has its fair share, the most prominent of which are probably Hamish Alexander and Michael Oversteegen.
** Oversteegen is particularly notable in that he has every known trait of a Manticoran UpperClassTwit, belongs to the previously self-serving Conservative party, and seemingly got his first major command because his idiotic, cowardly, self-serving cousin was the Prime Minister. Yet he kicks a truly monumental amount of villainous backside while being a good, honorable, dedicated, responsible, brave, hardworking, and generally brilliant officer who believes in aristocratic ''responsibility'' as much as he does aristocratic ''privilege'' and has no patience for his incompetent relatives.
** Hamish Alexander is a completely straight example: Earl of White Haven, brilliant tactician, fleet commander, etc.

** Oversteegen is particularly notable in that he has every known trait of a Manticoran UpperClassTwit, belongs to the previously self-serving Conservative party, and seemingly got his first major command because his idiotic, cowardly, self-serving cousin was the Prime Minister. Yet he kicks a truly monumental amount of villainous backside while being a good, honorable, dedicated, responsible, brave, hardworking, and generally brilliant officer who believes in aristocratic ''responsibility'' as much as he does aristocratic ''privilege'', cares far more about his subordinates' ability to do the job than the status of their birth, and has no patience for his incompetent relatives.

** Oversteegen is particularly notable in that he has every known trait of a Manticoran UpperClassTwit, belongs to the previously self-serving Conservative party, and seemingly got his first major command because his idiotic, cowardly, self-serving cousin was the Prime Minister. Yet he kicks a truly monumental amount of villainous backside while being a good, honorable, dedicated, responsible, brave, hardworking, and generally brilliant officer who believes in aristocratic ''responsibility'' as much as he does aristocratic ''privilege'' and has no patience for his selfish, incompetent relatives.

** Oversteegen is particularly notable in that he has every known trait of a Manticoran UpperClassTwit, belongs to the previously self-serving Conservative party, and seemingly got his first major command because his idiotic, cowardly, self-serving cousin was the Prime Minister. Yet he kicks a truly monumental amount of villainous backside while being a good, honorable, dedicated, responsible, brave, hardworking, and generally brilliant officer who believes in aristocratic ''responsibility'' as much as he does aristocratic ''privilege''.

* Real life subversion in conduct Robert Graves, the author of ''Literature/IClaudius'', describes doing during WorldWarOne. He describes an occasion when a German officer was sighted as being within sniping range, and declaring that it would be dishonourable to kill a fellow officer this way, Graves handed his gun to a lower class soldier and ordered him to make the kill.

* Surprisingly, ''YosemiteSam'' of all people is able to pull this off during one cartoon where he is a Confederate officer who didn't get the message that the American Civil War ended decades ago. Though he relentlessly pursues Bugs Bunny, bent on keeping Yankees off of Confederate soil, when Bugs disguises himself as a woman, Sam is genteel and unfailingly polite to the "Scarlet Ma'am." This is also one of the few times where Sam isn't talking at his [[NoIndoorVoice usual volume level.]]

* Kipling's Gentlemen Rankers describes those who failed to be this trope.

* VideoGame/SabresOfInfinity One of your fellow officers, Elson, is highly educated, well-spoken, and generally friendly towards you, provided you abide by the war's rules of engagement.

* Any book by LoisMcMasterBujold is guaranteed to have one of these, probably at least twenty years older than his Romantic Interest.
** Except for her [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga original usage]] of the trope, where Aral was about 10 years older than Cordelia... and given that he was mid-40s and she mid-30s, it was hardly a gap.
*** Interestingly, Cordelia herself (as a captain in the Betan Expeditionary Force) is the female equivalent of this trope.
*** As contrasted with Cordelia's prior tour in the Betan Astronomical Survey, where being captain was more like being TeamMom.

*** One amusing bit of irony is when Ivan(who is of course a soldier in the Barrayaran Imperial Service is stunned by two girls who think him a hit man. While he is recovering from the stunning they ask him,"Are you a hired killer." He replies,"Well, in a ''sense''"

* Lampshaded by the ''MassEffect'' fanfic, "An Officer and a Not-So-Gentle Woman".

* Captain Anderson and Paragon Commander Shepard in MassEffect as well as several other, less prominent examples.

* [[GuardiansOfChildhood General Kozmotis Pitchiner]] is usually portrayed this way, which makes [[DemonicPossession what he later becomes]] all the more tragic.

** A lot of people seem to forget the General who accepted the surrender was ''Robert E. Lee.''

* In the War Of 1812 the British navy was demoralized after losing several engagements against the newer and heavier American frigates. Captain Broke of HMS Shannon sent his accompanying frigates away, and then sent the following challenge to the USS Chesapeake, safely docked in Boston Harbor, captained by James Lawrence.
--> "As the Chesapeake appears now ready for sea, I request you will do me the favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortune of our respective flags. The Shannon mounts twenty-four guns upon her broadside and one light boat-gun; 18 pounders upon her main deck, and 32-pounder carronades upon her quarter-deck and forecastle; and is manned with a complement of 300 men and boys, beside thirty seamen, boys, and passengers, who were taken out of recaptured vessels lately. I entreat you, sir, not to imagine that I am urged by mere personal vanity to the wish of meeting the Chesapeake, or that I depend only upon your personal ambition for your acceding to this invitation. We have both noble motives. You will feel it as a compliment if I say that the result of our meeting may be the most grateful service I can render to my country; and I doubt not that you, equally confident of success, will feel convinced that it is only by repeated triumphs in even combats that your little navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of that trade it can no longer protect. Favour me with a speedy reply. We are short of provisions and water, and cannot stay long here"
** The USS Chesapeake then left harbor and sailed for Shannon, neither ship firing until they were at point-blank range. After the battle there were more than 200 killed and wounded, one of the bloodiest ship to ship battles of the age. Captain Broke was badly wounded and would never command another ship. The American Captain Lawrence was killed in action, and buried with full military honors by his enemies, with 6 British Naval officers as his pallbearers.

* Faramir from "Literature/TheLordOfTheRings" fits this trope perfectly. An officer and gentleman, he is extremely honorable (to the point he wouldn't lie even to an orc) and impeccably courteous (even to war prisoners).

* Yet another example: Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) Karl von Muller, during WorldWarOne as the commander of the commerce raider SMS Emden [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_(1906)]] He often risked his ship and crew in order to be polite and often released his prisoners aboard neutral or civilian ships. Still regarded as an example of a wonderful campaign and Knightly service.