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| Photograph © C Buckley |
| A uniform of the 5th Battalion of the 60th (Royal Americans), made for the best man at a Napoleonic themed wedding. The unit was part of the British Army, but was made up primarily of foreign troops (mainly Europeans), who were recruited in places such as the West Indies, to deal with the American problem at the end of the 18th century. The regiment was the first to have a battalion solely equipped with rifles (pre-dating the more famous 95th Rifles by quite a few years). The main difference between the uniform of a 5th/60th officer and that of a 95th officer is in the facing colour, and the colour of the lace (or braid). The 5th/60th facing colour was red, as seen above (rather than the black of the 95th). The shoulder wings are of green wool, mounted on scarlet wool, and trimmed with silver lace (see detail below). The lacing of the 5th/60th officer's dolman should actually be silver (an existing jacket was thought to have black lace, but on close examination during conservation, it was found to be silver lace that had oxidised). However, as the groom at the wedding was to wear a dolman of the 95th rifles, we decided that it would be more appropriate for the best man to have black lace, too. (We didn't want him to out-shine the groom!!) The lacing however, does go all the way over the shoulders and around the back of the dolman, and there is even more lace up the side back seams! The trousers (or pantaloons) which are partially visible button all the way down the outside leg. They have a fall front, and are decorated at the top of each leg with Austrian knots, again in black lace (this can just be seen above, but is much clearer if you click on the picture to see a slightly bigger version). We also supplied the best man with a red officer's sash, as shown in the photograph. In addition to this outfit, we made pantaloons for the groom (he already had a dolman). |
| Photograph © C Buckley, 2002 |
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