Dressed to Kill, Dressed to Till
Lot 121:
With the renewal of hostilities and fear of French incursions on the Scottish coast, on 11 August 1803, the Duke of Montrose, Lord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire, convened a meting of his deputy lieutenants and other notables to determine upon local defense measures. In attendance was one of his deputies, John Buchanan of Carbeth. They resolved to divide the county in half for such purposes, with an Eastern and Western division, from which there would be two battalions of Stirlingshire Volunteers raised. Funds to completely uniform and equip the two battalions were raised partly by subscription, and partly by property assessment. The uniform selected was red, with bright yellow facings, buttonholes set by pairs, and gold was the metal for the officer mountings. Buchanan was appointed an officer in the Western Battalion and his uniform jacket from such survice has survived. He apparently reached field grade rank, as “Major Buchanan” is inscribed in ink inside the right sleeve lining. His scarlet jacket has its worked holes and gilded buttons set by pairs on the yellow facings, with half turnbacks of white cassimere. All of the convex buttons are small size (15mm), which was typically the arrangement for light infantry jackets (one missing from right breast) and bear the device of a crown /WB/SV, flanked by a spray of thistles. Each shoulder has a scarlet wing, edged with narrow, gold soutache braid and topped with linked chain of gilded-brass rings. The wings and the diagonal or slashed pockets also suggest that either Buchanan served at one time in the battalion’s light company or that the entire battalion had been clothed and trained for service as light troops. The body is fully lined with glazed shallon and there are functional, slit pockets on each breast innerfacing. Condition is very good overall, slightly marred only by a few light moth nips.
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