7th Light Dragoons

Michael Barne

This caricature of Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Barne was etched in 1802 by Robert Dighton Senior, father of the more famous Denis Dighton. Even though it is a humorous drawing it contains useful information about light dragoon uniform of the period. He has a blue jacket with silver braiding across the chest, and white collar and cuffs. The blue trousers, or overalls, are buttoned all the way up the leg with the lower part and inside leg leathered. The original purpose of this garment was to cover the white leather breeches and Hessian boots but they were probably worn just as trousers.
The tall black shako has a strange peak which looks as if it obscures his vision, and a tall white over red plume at the back. It seems odd to have the plume at the back so it may be that he is wearing the shako backwards so as to use the rear turned-up peak to shade his eyes. There are few surviving examples of this type of shako so it may well be that they did have rear turned-up peaks.
His hair is in accordance with the turn of the century fashion. The clubbed hair was discontinued in 1796 and replaced by a long queue or pigtail. The binding was to extend 9 inches below the upper edge of the collar, with one inch of hair showing at the bottom of the binding. In 1804 the queue was shortened by one inch, and from 1808 the hair was to be cut short.
Michael Barne was in command of the 7th during the Helder campaign of 1799. He was somewhat overshadowed by Colonel Lord Paget who was in command of the 3 regiments of light dragoons but had a special interest in his own regiment. Barne had served in the regiment since 1778, and retired in 1805.

Regimental details | Commanding Officers