How can you see what rank a British redcoat is?
Upvote:4
Insignia of rank may have varied from regiment to regiment.
According to 47TH FOOT IN NORTH AMERICA, 1772-1781
Non Commissioned Officers
Corporals
The uniform distinction for a corporal was a shoulder knot of white cord on the right shoulder, a vestige of the extra slow match carried in earlier days. By the 1780s, regiments shifted to a single white silk epaulette. Other than the knot/epaulette, corporals wore the same uniforms as privates.
Sergeants
Sergeants wore coats of slightly better cloth than privates, scarlet not dull madder red. Sergeants’ wore hats trimmed with silver lace and their coats trimmed with plain white lace instead of the regimental pattern. They also wore a red wool sash with a stripe of the regiment’s facing color woven in the middle. Regiments with red facings wore a white stripe. For duty on more formal occasions a sergeants carried a halberd and short sword, but for most duty in America, sergeants carried a musket with bayonet.
Officers
Officers wore coats of fine scarlet faced with their regiments' color. Officers had their coats and hats trimmed in either gold or silver metallic lace depending on their regiment’s designated metal. On duty, officers carried a sword and wore a matching metal gorget around their neck. Officers tied the gorget, a vestige of medieval armor, with a silk ribbon of the facing color. Company-level officers, up to captain, wore a metallic lace epaulette on their right shoulder. Officers above captain, as well as grenadier and light company officers, wore two. Many officers in America wore plain unlaced coats and hats on duty, often carrying a light musket, or fusil.
According to Uniforms of the 68th Light Infantry
When the 68th was converted to a Light Corps in 1808, a number of changes took place in its uniform.
...
One badge of rank work by officers on duty was a survivor from medieval times. The 'gorget' was originally a crescent-shaped piece of armour worn to protect the throat, but by Napoleonic times it had reduced in size to become purely ornamental. It still survives today as the red gorget patches on the uniform of a Staff-Officer.
Officers of the Light Infantry had a unique system of rank-marking. Because they had to be identifiable from both sides, whilst skirmishing in open-order, all markings had to be worn on both shoulders in the form of a pair of 'wings', the length and thickness of the bullion-edging distinguishing subalterns from captains. Field officers (Majors and above) wore a pair of epaulettes superimposed upon the wings; the rank of Major being indicated by a star on each shoulder; a Colonel by a crown. In the case of the 68th, the bullion was in silver, for all officers. Officers wore a variety of footwear; in the Light Infantry many adopted Light Cavalry style hussar boots. Light Infantry Officers carried a Light-Cavalry sabre in place of the usual straight Line-Infantry sword. This was fastened to a shoulder-belt, as was a whistle on a chain attached to a lion's-head boss. The whistle, also carried by Sergeants, (and still worn in the modern Light Infantry as the "Inkerman Chain"), was used to relay orders over short distances in the field. The modern system of sleeve chevrons for NCO's had been adopted early in the Napoleonic Wars. These stripes were worn on a piece of material of the facing colour on both sleeves.
Other references
More post
- 📝 Which Japanese military officers helped Ho Chi Minh?
- 📝 Is there a good source for statistics of holocaust survivals?
- 📝 Why did Black and Asian immigrants from the Empire not come to Britain in substantial numbers until after WW2?
- 📝 What percentage of the population in the Thirteen Colonies in 1776 were first/second generation immigrants?
- 📝 Why did the Ottomans not change their capital to an Arab city?
- 📝 How did a student grant work in 18th/19th century Western Europe
- 📝 What's the birthdate of Jesus of Nazareth, assuming he existed?
- 📝 Are there any secular accounts of the Sadduccees?
- 📝 Did Palmerston contribute to Louis Philippe's downfall?
- 📝 When did the United Kingdom become "United" rather than merely united? (I.e., that word became part of its name.)
- 📝 Why was there an autumn recess in Britain in 1641?
- 📝 What kind of cloth did Genghis Khan use in his armor?
- 📝 What systems of opression did colonial South America utilized to acculturate indigenous peoples, compared to the ones used in North America?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case where a country adopted the currency of another country with a smaller economy?
- 📝 Where was the U.S. president when Captain McGonagle was awarded?
- 📝 Were "Little Ship" owners and crew compensated for evacuating Dunkirk?
- 📝 What led to the romantic perception of the Mayan civilization?
- 📝 How does finding a Franklin ship change what we know about the expedition?
- 📝 Why are NATO flag officers allowed to pilot aircraft?
- 📝 How many Scots were present at the Battle of Bauge?
- 📝 How (and why) did Hitler create "the world's largest traffic jam?"
- 📝 Were Rosa Parks and Freedom Riders the first ones to use a bus to protest/change?
- 📝 What uniform did the Supreme State Arbiter of the USSR wear?
- 📝 What do historians mean when they talk about "supply side" and "demand side" explanations of the industrial revolution?
- 📝 When did USA start to help developing countries?
- 📝 Which fortress east of Ancient Megiddo did Thutmose III go to during the siege?
- 📝 During the Siege of Alesia, why were certain Roman forts located outside the circumvallation lines?
- 📝 Why did the Social Gospel movement of the early 1900's fail to reach the working class?
- 📝 Are there any historians who believe that the crusades were not motivated as a distraction from internal conflicts?
- 📝 Why do Spaniards have their lunch and dinner so late?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How can you see what rank a British redcoat is?
- 📝 How would you accurately use older British currencies when writing a story?
- 📝 Who first said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."?
- 📝 Can you identify this British Army uniform, worn in India circa 1920?
- 📝 What can these photos say about my father's service for the British in WWII?
- 📝 Can you identify this seemingly British uniform in a presumably French portrait?
- 📝 Can you help me identify the rank and patch on this Royal Italian Army uniform?
- 📝 How can I find out what the printed numbers mean on the back of an older photo?
- 📝 What can you tell about a society from its architecture?
- 📝 Can you explain how officers were able to refuse orders historically in France? Elsewhere?
- 📝 How can we be sure what the first day of the month was 2000 years ago and how can we determine which years were leap years?
- 📝 How, just how you can burn down a stone structure?
- 📝 What is the source of quote attributed to W.E.B. Du Bois: "When you have mastered numbers..."
- 📝 What were the reasons that the British colonies in North America rebelled but not others?
- 📝 How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
- 📝 How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
- 📝 On what basis do some historians accuse the British government of genocide during the great Irish famine?
- 📝 What date does a 1738 British author intend by "soon after the revolution"?
- 📝 Can anyone identify the military branch and rank of the man in the front row? This is from Germany @1932
- 📝 How did the British Navy pass orders to its fleet before radio?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 What made the English the dominant power of the British Isles?
- 📝 What was lost when the British burned the White House in 1814?
- 📝 How confusing was British currency compared to decimal currency circa 1850?
- 📝 Can you help identify these medals?
- 📝 How did knights who required glasses to see survive on the battlefield?
- 📝 What is the name of the theory that says an early discovery can stop technological development?
- 📝 How did the Soviets decide what to annex in WW2?
- 📝 What historical reasons did the Nazis give for hating the Jews? How did they identify non-practicing Jews?
- 📝 Roughly, what percentage of arrows can be reused after a battle?