Shabraque ornament c1801



This beautiful piece of embroidery was sewn onto both rear corners of officers' blue shabraques from 1801 to 1807, the last few years of the 15th Light Dragoons before they were converted to hussars. The badge shows two inverted French flags, representing the standards captured at Emsdorf in 1760. They are worked in smooth silver thread, deeply padded in such a way as to follow the folds of the material. Where the flags are folded over the staves, rougher silver thread is used to give an impression of shading. The fleur-de-lis are suggested with four gold stitches with a gold sequin to add sparkle. The spiked heads of the staves have two gilt tassels each, hanging down in a row.

The guidons or standards of the 15th are crossed in between the flags. They are square-ended where one would have expected a swallow-tail. The designs on them have been simplified. Between the guidons is a scroll with MEREBIMUR in black thread on gold, and two smaller scrolls inscribed 16 JULY and 1760. This ornament appears in Officer 1801 and Officer 1805.



Regimental details | Badges


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by Stephen Luscombe