Officer's Jacket, c1810

This schematic illustration is taken from an actual jacket worn by officers in full dress. It is a close fitting garment with a high stand-up collar of black velvet. The cuffs and turn-backs on the short tails are also of black velvet. From the front the jacket looks waist-length, and the turn-backs are sewn back as a permanent part of the tails. The front is buttoned with 5 pairs of gilt buttons and decorated with gold lace that goes across the chest. There are two pairs of buttoned gold loops on each sleeve and a pair of loops without buttons on each side of the collar. The design on the buttons had a 7 in the middle with DG below, a crown above and 'Princess' and 'Royal' either side.
The epaulettes are of great interest here because it was in 1810 that badges of rank first appeared in the British Army. The single star on each epaulette denotes the rank of major at this period. Junior officers up to the rank of captain had one epaulette with no rank badge. Majors had two with a star on each, lieutenant-colonels a crown, and colonels a crown and star. The star is embroidered on black cloth and the crimson garter in he middle is inscribed 'Princess Royal'. When the drastic change of uniform style came in 1812 there were no epaulettes and consequently no rank badges.

Regiment | Uniforms