British Army Uniforms from 1751 to 1783

Including the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence

Carl Franklin

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781783461400
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

"Of great use to anyone interested in the 18th century British Army as well as illustrators and others who need detailed information."— Classic Arms and Militaria Based on records and paintings of the time, this book identifies each cavalry and infantry regiment and illustrates changes in uniforms, their facing colors, and the nature and shape of lace worn by officers, NCOs and private soldiers from 1751 to 1783. Regiments that served in the American War of Independence are noted and the book includes more than 200 full-color plates of uniforms and distinctions. Divided into four sections, it not only details the cavalry and infantry uniforms of the period but also the tartans of the Highland regiments, some of which were short-lived, and the distinction of the Guards regiments. "A superb reference work, full of clearly researched details…it will be of value to family and military historians, re-enactors, figure painters, and wargamers."— FGS Forum

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Cavalry Headwear

Tricorne Hat

This was the standard form of headdress for officers and enlisted men with the exception of Horse Grenadier Guards and the 2nd Dragoons who wore the mitre cap of a style similar to the infantry grenadiers. The cocked hat was made with a very wide brim that has been pinned up on three sides, giving the hat three corners, locks or points, and was popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when it was part of civilian dress, military and naval uniforms. The hat was made from thick black felt or beaver with a central crown to take the head and a wide brim of four and a half inches wide with tape or other woven material to add strength. The main differences in the cocked hat of the period were the older style of cock adopted by the cavalry; later the front was brought to a pinch and over time the fashion changed to a shallow pinch and a piece of whalebone four inches long was stitched into the brim to form a shallower pinch. The hats were laced about with white and yellow braid one and a quarter inches wide for the rank and file and silver or gilt for the officers’; the non-commissioned officers (NCOs) wore either silver or gilt lace, while other regiments like the Life Guards wore gilt lace for all ranks. The left turn-up held a black Hanoverian cockade of woven horsehair, held in place by a gilt loop and. regimental button. The hat was worn with the front point over the left eye and the right wing thrown forward and to ensure that the hat remained in position, a cord or thong was usually attached to the linen lining and secured under the hair by a hook and eye. The cavalry also adopted the use of Hanoverian cords and tassels after 1768, each cord passing around the crown, through the loop of the other with the tassel end hanging from the two opposing locks in the hat. The cords were in gold or silver for officers and yellow or white for enlisted men, but when the regiments were converted to Light Dragoons after 1768 they wore no hat lace.

The Cocked Hat or Tricorne. The machine used to cock the hats (1). The basic form of the cocked hat with the dome at the centre (2). The rear of the Tricorne with the first fold upwards (3). The continuing folds (4). The final fold of the Tricorne (5). The basic shape (6). The metal protective plate sometimes worn under the Tricorne (7). The basic shape (8), with an under view showing the linen lining (9). The early hat of a silver laced regiment with cords at the crown (10). With the hat of a gold laced regiment (11). A similar earlier version of an enlisted man’s (12) and the tasselled cords adopted by other regiments (13).

Mitre Cap of circa 1751

The mitre cap was introduced circa 1751 for the horse grenadiers of the Life Guards and the 2nd Dragoons. Originally the cap was formed from a tasseled stocking with a turnup to the front and to the rear but over time the styles evolved. At the top of the cap was a coloured woollen tuft with a centre of coloured threads. The front was covered with facing material mounted on a shaped stiffened card, or of felt, and embroidered in a way usual for each regiment. The rear of the cap had a piece of red cloth stitched to the stiffened front and two pieces of cane to retain the shape, with tape placed over the sides and back to conceal the stitching. At the rear there was a small flap of facing material at the bottom and the cap was lined with unbleached linen with a strip of regimental lace running around the bottom edge. To prevent caps from falling off they were usually fitted with tapes sewn into the lining and tied or secured with hooks and eyes, worn under the plait of the hair. Officer’s caps were usually decorated with silver or gold thread and were generally much more lavish in their decoration. To cover the mitre caps during inclement weather, canvas covers, often painted with similar designs, were worn. In normal dress the cover was worn hooked into the pleat of the coat and over the left hip button.

Drum and Mitre Caps circa 1755. Drum cap of a Royal regiment (1). A rear view after Morier (2). A mitre cap as worn by the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (3). The mitre cap of the 1st Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (4) and a similar mitre of the 2nd Troop (5).

Fur Cap of circa 1768

While other regiments are known to have worn these caps in 1763, particularly the Horse Grenadier Guards of the Life Guards. Drummers also wore them, but the 2nd Dragoons only adopted them in 1778. Each was issued with twelve-inch tall fur caps; usually shown as black, they were made from a very dark brown or black bearskin and the caps of officers were often decorated with silver or gold thread. The fur caps had the fur rising towards the top in a tapered point and the rear carried a red patch or a bag for the horse grenadiers. Fur caps were usually restricted to wear on dress occasions and formal parades with, the cocked hat more usually worn when in undress; this applied to officers, grenadiers and drummers.

Fur caps of 1768. A drummer trooper (1). The rear of the cap of a drummer (2), and a speculative front view of the cap of the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons (3). A front view of the cap for an officer of the Horse Grenadier Guards (4). A front view of the cap for the 1st Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (5). The side view of an officer of the Horse Grenadiers (6). The plate of a trooper of the 2nd Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (7). The plate of an officer of the Horse Grenadier Guards (8). The plate of a trooper of the 1st Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (9) and a side view of the cap of the 2nd Troop Horse Grenadier Guards (10).

A number of different plates were worn on this cap. They were all of the same size, five inches tall by twelve inches long, but with different japanning and special versions for each. The cap was soon to be laced about with knotted white worsted cords and tassels, those of the officers being gold or silver. Later the bearskin caps also carried plumes.

Light Dragoon Caps

The caps of many Light Dragoons, and those of regiments that were ordered to form them in 1756, were required to enable the men to move about more easily, than the cocked hats worn by the rest of the cavalry. Regulations prescribed a ‘GR’ Cypher and the identification of the regiment together with a crest and mane and this seems to have been adhered to but there were exceptions: the light Company of the 11th Dragoons wore a red front to the cap and no mane. Later, as the Light Dragoons became an arm of the cavalry in their own right, the style of the caps became more elaborate and it seems that there was more than one style of these caps which changed over time. The metal used for the troopers was brass, copper or white metal; those of the officers were either gilt or silver.

Light Dragoon Caps. A cap of an officer of a gold-laced regiment, the 3rd Dragoon Guards (1). A cap of an officer of the 16th Light Dragoons after 1769 in gilt with a blue turban (2). The cap of the 16th Light Dragoons before 1769 when the facings were green (3), and the cap of an officer of the 15th Light Dragoons (4). An officer light troop of the 6th Dragoons (5). The cap of a trooper of 17th Light Dragoons before 1759 (6). Trooper of the 6th Dragoons (7). The cap of an officer of the 17th Light Dragoons after 1775 (8). A trooper of the 15th Light Dragoons before 1759 (9). The cap of the 16th Light Dragoons after 1769 with the inscription around the rim of the helmet ‘Five battalions of French defeated and taken by this regiment with their colours and nine pieces cannon on the plains of Emsdorf July the sixteenth 1760’ (10). A trooper of the light troop of the 11th Dragoons (11). A cap of the Royal Foresters the original 21st Light Dragoons (12). A front view of the light troop of the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (13) and a rear view of the same cap (14).

Tarletons

The Tarleton leather caps proved to be an attractive proposition for the light dragoons; they had been worn since the 1770s and both sides wore them during the War of Independence. They were also worn by the 16th and 17th Light Dragoons who were dismounted cavalry acting as infantry. The turbans were originally to be the colour of the facings as was also the feather, except that this applied only when the facings were white in which case they were mixed with red. Every regiment was to have the number of the dragoons regiment in silver or white metal on the front of the helmet. When many regiments were converted to light dragoons in 1783 most adopted the Tarleton as their cap. Tarletons with pianted white or white lining; this was also adopted by the 8th Light Dragoons. While it was common to wear the turban, which could be let down in bad weather, officers also adopted tassels at the rear as well as the bow for the turban. It was only much later that badges worn on the left side of the helmet became the fashion.

Cavalry Tarleton Helmets or Caps. An officer’s helmet of a regiment with green facings (1), the helmet of a trooper with a leopard-skin turban of the 16th Light Dragoons (2). A right side view of a trooper’s Tarleton with yellow facings (3) and an officer’s Tarleton of a regiment with white facings (4).

CHAPTER TWO

Cavalry Coats

Facings

Each regiment was allocated a facing colour and this was rarely changed except if the regiment was made Royal when it adopted blue or, in the case of the Royal Horse Guards, where it was scarlet, but when it did occur it is shown in the illustrations for each regiment.

The Coat of circa 1751

The Royal Collection has a series of paintings by Morier completed about 1755 and later. These provide important detail of the uniforms of the period. In some paintings the lapels are unclear but the coats of the Dragoon Guards had half lapels; those of the Horse were lapelled all the way down while the Dragoons had no lapels at all; the light Dragoons were later lapelled to the waist and the cuff was not indented. The shape of the coat was cut to show an elaborate fullness of the extra material gathered in the side pleat below the hip button. The elaborate cuff has a vertical flap, usually laced for about officers but plain for the other ranks with a vertical cuff and chevrons of lace arranged in different groups, usually pairs or threes. In other cases the officers’ swords are shown passing through a gap in the pleats, which has been stiffened to provide a greater flare to the material. The fullness given to the coat by the pleats from the hip buttons continues during this period, while each cavalry coat had two shoulder straps set back towards the point of the shoulder. Where the colour of the regimental metal was concerned the colour was either gold or silver for officers, and either yellow or white for the men; it should be noted that the Royal Horse Guards had twist buttonholes.

Coat of a cavalry trooper of circa 1751. The different cuff styles: that of the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (1). The indented cuff of the Dragoons Guards, Horse and Dragoons (2). The cuff of the Light Dragoons (3). The front of the coat showing black facings with the full-length lapels of the Horse at left and those of the Dragoons on the right side (4). The chevron lace peculiar to the cuff (5). The white lace of a silver-laced regiment (6). The shoulder strap of the Horse (7) and the rear view of the coat with yellow facings set in threes (8). A pocket of a white-laced regiment set in threes (9). The vertical po...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Copyright
• List of Contents
• Preface
• Part One The Cavalry Commonalities
• Part Two The Cavalry
• Part Three The Infantry Commonalities
• Part Four The Infantry
• Appendix A Rank Distinctions of Officers and Enlisted Men
• Appendix B Facings and Loop Table
• Appendix C Cavalry and Infantry Lineage, 1730 - 1815
• Appendix D The Sources
• Glossary