77th Regt Officers gorget

[Alexander Good]

Hi All,

Okay. I checked my 1790s lace chart this morning. The 77th India
regiment is listed as having silver lace. So, my guess would be that
this gorget is NOT from the Atholl Regiment, but rather the one formed
in 1787, based on the embossed style of this piece.

Hope that helps.


Alex

[Jeff Mc William]

Hi Alex. There were in fact embossed/die-struck gorgets prior to 1780 as shown on a fine portrait of an officer of the 10th Foot (JSAHR Vol LVII No 229) where his silver gorget is both embossed and engraved. So this 77th could well be of the Atholl Highlanders after all. Regards Jeff

PS The original painting of Capt Thos Hewitt (Lt.Coy 10th Foot) by William Tate is in the Nat Army Mus Chelsea

[ukbrits]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your replies on this gorget my apologies for not answering any correspondance due to being away on Hols. I have to admit before posting the original post I did do a little research myself , but sadly couldn't come up with a conclusion to whom the piece would have been worn by! Atholl Highlanders & the East Middlesex Regiment were both in the frame!
The gorget was purchased in an antiqes shop in Kent -sadly not Scotland as that may have helped no end to whom it would have been worn by.
Looking forward to any more input on this piece if any one can come up with any more info.
Many Thanks.
Colin

[Alexander Good]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for mentioning the Tate portrait, as I'd forgotton about it. It
certainly COULD have been from the Atholl regiment, though the two
Highland gorgets I've seen both have thistle motifs on them, as well
as being engraved. I dunno. Probablity-wise, the Napoleonic 77th
still seems like a better bet for this piece. Too bad there's no provenence
for this, but that's pretty common, unfortunately.

Cheers!

Alex

Originally Posted by Jeff Mc William

Hi Alex. There were in fact embossed/die-struck gorgets prior to 1780 as shown on a fine portrait of an officer of the 10th Foot (JSAHR Vol LVII No 229) where his silver gorget is both embossed and engraved. So this 77th could well be of the Atholl Highlanders after all. Regards Jeff

PS The original painting of Capt Thos Hewitt (Lt.Coy 10th Foot) by William Tate is in the Nat Army Mus Chelsea

[Jeff Mc William]

77F Buckell.tif.jpg

Hi Alex & Co. Yes, on reflection I guess you are correct in assigning this to the 77th (later 2Bn Middlesex Regt) since, as you say, there are no Scottish embellishments which one would expect if it had been the Atholl Highlanders.
As for provenance ; there was one (could have been the same one !?) in the Gaunt Collection c.1927..so it would be interesting to trace what happened to this (see icon). regards. Jeff

[shakoplate]

You mention that there was another gorget that appeared with this one, but that the other was gilt. This may be a clue - were you told anything about what the other gorget looked like, or whether the design was similar or different?