scots forage cap

[blueman]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2013/post-10499-0-19875000-1377070785.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2013/post-10499-0-08088400-1377070803.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2013/post-10499-0-78077800-1377070821.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2013/post-10499-0-82362100-1377070835.jpg

same again i may have overpaid

[jocktamson]

Saw this on ogallerie.com looks as if the the peak may have come loose and been stitched back on

[jf42]

The band of dicing with the faded yellow squares suggests this is an officer's undress cap of the 26th Cameronian Regiment who had worn a band of 'regimental tartan' on their caps since at least 1827- as it was claimed in 1858.

The cap badge lacks a Regimental number seen on the broad crowned caps of the 18 30s and 40s and would appear to be a generic badge worn by Scottish officers following the introduction of the narrow-crowned undress cap introduced in 1852 and seen in numerous Roger Fenton photographs of British troops in the Crimea. It has suitably Caledonian thistles and what looks like a rather literal, St Andrew's cross and primitive Order of the Thistle Star.

The peak (visor) of officers' caps showed an increasingly wider and more horizontal profile towards the end of the 1850s till it acquired the characteristic shallow form of the 1860s and1870s. This cap would appear to be from that classic period. This style of cap endured until superseded by the so-called Staff Pattern cap circa 1880- just before the merging of the 26th Cameronians with the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The new regiment being a Rifle corps wore no dicing on the undress glengarry.

Edited August 22, 2013 by jf42

[jf42]

PLEASE IGNORE THE PRECEDING POST.

The band of dicing with the faded yellow squares suggests this is an officer's undress cap of the 26th Cameronian Regiment who had worn a band of 'regimental tartan' on their caps since at least 1827- as it was claimed in 1858.

The cap badge lacks a Regimental number seen on the broad crowned caps of the 1830s and 40s and would appear to be a generic badge worn by Scottish officers following the introduction of the narrow-crowned undress cap introduced in 1852 and seen in numerous Roger Fenton photographs of British troops in the Crimea. It has suitably Caledonian thistles and what looks like a rather literal, St Andrew's cross and primitive Order of the Thistle Star.

A spanner is thrown into the works when closer examination reveals that the barely discernible lettering in the circlet around the central emblems reads 'Scottish Borderers'

This is not an alternative title of the 25th Regiment, also known as the 'King's Own Borderers' between 1805 and 1881 when the word 'Scottish was added to the title.

The Scottish Borderers were a Militia battalion that in 1873 formed part of the 61st military sub-district of the North British (i.e. Scottish) District, which with its depot at Ayr embraced the counties of the Borders and southwest Scotland. That's all I can tell you about them. Whether they had an affiliation with the Cameronians, whose traditional recruiting area was in the South West, I am unable to say. It is plausible.

The peak (visor) of officers' caps showed an increasingly wider and more horizontal profile towards the end of the 1850s till it acquired the characteristic shallow form of the 1860s and1870s. This cap would appear to be from that classic period. This style of cap endured until superseded by the so-called Staff Pattern cap circa 1880.

Hope that's of interest.

Edited August 23, 2013 by jf42

[jf42]

A brief further investigation shows that in 1864 the title of the Dumfries Militia was changed to 'The Scottish Borderers'. This reflected the addition of two Kirkcudbright companies of the disbanded Galloway Rifles and the high number of recruits from the Borders towns and even from across the Debatable Lands in Longtown. At this time the Regiment was authorised "to wear the dice border on the shako and forage cap."

Chapter VI, History of the 3rd Battalion the King's Own Scottish Borderers 1798-1907 R.W. Weir

<http://archive.org/stream/historyof3rdbatt00weir#page/n95/mode/2up/search/Borderers>

See also:

A History of the Scottish Borderers Militia
Robert W. Weir

<http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_History_of_the_Scottish_Borderers_Mili.html?id=Ifs8AAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y>

[Mervyn Mitton]

jf - some wonderful detail - adds so much to the caps. Would you like post 3 deleted ? Mervyn

[jf42]

Thanks, Mervyn. Yes, erase post 3 please. The edit option expired while I back-tracked.