Officer 1799

A series of prints titled British Military Library was produced in 1799. Each regiment was represented and the appropriate print dedicated to the Colonel of the regiment. In this case the print was dedicated to General Morrison, Colonel of the 4th or King's Own. It is interesting to compare it with the Dayes print of 1792. The coat is now shorter, although a long tailed version was worn for evening wear in the mess. The blue lapels are plain but with silver buttons. There is a thin silver edge to the collar and front which is fastened all the way to the waist. The collar is a stand type, quite high, with a button on either side. There is a single silver epaulette on the right shoulder and his gorget is still silver in defiance of the order of 1791 to wear the universal gilt gorget.
His sword is gold hilted and kept in a scabbard that is supported on a white leather belt worn over the right shoulder. The belt-plate is silver with a lion over IV. The hat is now fully developed into a bicorn with no lace edge as per order of 1796. The same order demanded gold tassels at the corners instead of silver, also the black plume was discontinued and replaced with a white over red feather for battalion companies, white for grenadiers and green for light companies. These plumes were held in place behind the black Hanoverian rosette and vertical strip if silver lace. The hat is now worn straight instead of at a jaunty angle.

Uniforms | Regimental Details