Officer’s Coatee 1826

This coatee conforms to Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Milne’s instructions to the tailors who supplied the officers of the 19th. He wrote, on 23 Oct 1820:
‘Length of waist to be in exact line with the hip.
Length of skirt to be three fourths from the waist to the hollow of the knee.
Length of lapel to be also in line with the hip.
Buttons by pairs, the lace close together having the smallest light possible between. The space between pairs must depend upon the length of lapel.
Width of lapel at the top to be 4.5 inches.
Width of lapel at the bottom to be 2.5 inches.
Width of lapel across the chest to be 5.5 inches in order to form the slope.
Depth of collar 2.75 inches, made square, with two loops to correspond with the the top lapel.
Depth of cuffs 4 inches. Two pairs of laced buttonholes.
Width of bottom of skirt 2.25 inches. The back to be laced with two pairs, and the lace from the bottom of skirt to finish with a point at the top of the pairs at the back.’
So the coat had changed back to the long tails (skirt), and the collar was now square-cut and closed at the front. The lapel nearest us in the photo is unbuttoned at the top. This indicates that the buttons are all functional, not decorative, so that the lapel could be buttoned over to the other side to hide the gold lace. But I cannot be sure about that as I have never seen evidence to prove it.
Some of the instructions don’t make sense, like the width across the chest being 5.5 inches; and the last instruction is rather obscure. This coatee is an exhibit at the Regimental museum and is without epaulettes or wings on the shoulders. The portrait of Timothy Raper shows how the uniform looked with epaulettes. But the exhibit does include the gilt gorget with green ribbons looped over the collar buttons. Gorgets were discontinued by c1828. The sword belt looks like a reconstruction, but with the actual belt plate. It is not clear if the waist sash is the genuine article.

Regimental Details | Uniforms