Shoulder Belt Plates c1775

These shoulder belt plates were first seen in 1949 when they were published in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research vol XXVII. An article by G A Hayes-McCoy describes the rectangular one (3ins x 2.3 ins) as bronze gilt , and the oval one (2ins x 1.5ins) as brass. The regiment was titled 2nd Horse from 1746 to 1788 but the writer estimates the date of the plates between 1775 and some date in the 1780s. He suggests that the items belonged to Thomas Grogan of Castleton, co Wicklow who was commissioned as a cornet in the 2nd Horse on 7th April 1777 and left the regiment as a lieutenant in Oct 1784.
Mr Hayes-McCoy writes about the White Horse motif of the 2nd Horse (5th DG): The direct association of the Hanoverian White Horse with the regimental motto on the brass ornament seems worthy of note. The regimental history records that the White Horse without its usual motto "Nec Aspera Terrant" was not granted as a badge to the regiment until 1796, that is, as a regimental symbol, as distinct from its use as a device common to cavalry formations... The ornament, which must be of earlier date than 1788, would suggest that the horse and regimental motto were associated before 1796.

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