19th (Irish) King's County Militia

[Roy]

Hi Chaps,

Well I just had a real cracker turn up...

Large (24mm) Irish 19th King's County Militia gilt button by I Nutting Covent Garden.

Wonderful condition this one. I'm lead to believe the date is 1783 - 1820.

Some initial photos shared here for your enjoyment and comments.

Cheers, Roy.

[Cribyn]

Hello Roy

You do manage to find them don't you! Another cracking button!

I don't know whether you have Joe McDonnell's book or not, if so I am telling you what you already know! Joe gives the King's County militia the precedence number of 19 between 1793 and 1833 (98th King's County Rifles from then until 1881 when they became 3rd Leinster Regiment.

Joe illustrates two early buttons, one gilt with the '19' in the centre the same as yours and another one without the '19' but still with the King's County title. This latter one is in pewter and Joe has listed it prior to the one with '19' in the centre. Not sure whether this means it is an earlier pattern button or just the version for other ranks who would have had pewter buttons, of course, not gilt or silver.

Roger

[Roy]

Hi Roger,

Thank you for that. Yes a lovely button and I'm thrilled to have it. I do some scans of the book mentioned but not an actual hard copy yet.

I'm rather surprised at the large size of this button. Not at all a problem but at nearly 24mm it is somewhat larger than all the early examples I have.

Cheers, Roy.

[Roy]

Roger (and anyone else).

I have seen reference to the backmark as J (nutting) is this a mistake?

Looking at my example it clearly (to my eyes) looks like an 'I'.

Just added this beauty to my album and took some better pics, so some more showing the back are attached for interest.

Cheers, Roy.

[Cribyn]

Hello Roy

I can't recall ever having seen a 'J' Nutting backmark but it is possible.

Back in the 'olden' days an 'I' and a 'J' were commonly interchangeable as they were considered the same letter or something! Perhaps we have a classical scholar who can explain that the Greek (or Latin or Hebrew?) 'I' was in use long before the letter 'J', hence the old spelling of 'Jesus' as 'Iesus'. I have probably got that completely the wrong way round but I hope you get my drift! I should have paid more attention in school Latin lessons!

Coming back to earth, the button maker 'Pearse & Co' can be found as 'I & B Pearse' as well as 'J & B Pearse', exactly the same people.

Roger

[Roy]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for that.

Here is a screen shot of the reference I found.

Cheers, Roy.