Which Regiment?

[figheadair]

Someone sent me this image of a Highland Officer enquiring about the regiment of the sitter. Uniforms are not my area of expertise but one of the rabble may have an idea (Gerry?).



I see green collar and cuffs with red facings and gold lace. The style of the coat and the scroll butt Highland pistol suggest a date c1750-80 and there is what looks like a section of plaid on the sitter’s left shoulder. Unfortunately there is not enough of the latter to be of much use.

Clearly a well executed and therefore expensive portrait in it's day but it could equally be a Line or a Fencible regiment. Thoughts?

[MacGumerait]

This may offer some help ... or perhaps not .

Cheers , Mike

http://www.militaryheritage.com/pistol2.htm

[figheadair]

This may offer some help ... or perhaps not .

Cheers , Mike

http://www.militaryheritage.com/pistol2.htm

Yes, that's the source of my enquirer's image but unfortunately there is no information on the actual portrait other than a suggested date. The sitter is certainly not a 42nd officer (wrong colour facings). I've seen a reference to the 77th (Montgomerie's) originally having red facings but the cuff style and gold lace in this portrait don't match the standard regimental dress.

[OC Richard]

All I have to go on are the tables in the back of Barnes.

The table of the Scottish regiments in 1800 gives the 73rd and the 79th as the only ones with green facings. ("Facings" in the 18th century referred to the colour of the collar and cuffs and the turn-backs, if any. The jacket illustrated appears to be singlebreasted without turned back lapels.)

The table of the Scottish regiments raised after 1745 but disbanded before 1800 doesn't give uniform details.

[figheadair]

All I have to go on are the tables in the back of Barnes.

The table of the Scottish regiments in 1800 gives the 73rd and the 79th as the only ones with green facings. ("Facings" in the 18th century referred to the colour of the collar and cuffs and the turn-backs, if any. The jacket illustrated appears to be singlebreasted without turned back lapels.)

The table of the Scottish regiments raised after 1745 but disbanded before 1800 doesn't give uniform details.

The following also had green facings:

87th (Keith's) with gold lace so a possible candidate for the portrait
88th (Campbell's)

Then there were the Argyle and the Sutherland Fencible regiments but I can find little detail about their uniforms.

[Sir William]

The white waistcoat suggests this may be after the 1768 warrant, at which time most waistcoats were changed from red to white. However, officers had far more flexibility and based on portraits white waistcoats were popular in the 1760s.

• 77th Montgomerie's (1757-1765) had green facings but silver lace.
• 87th Keith's (1759-1763) had green facings and gold lace.
• 88th Campbell's (1760-1763) may have had green facings.
• 76th MacDonald's (1778-1784) had dark green facings and gold lace.
• 77th Murray's (1778-1783) may have changed their red facings to green but had silver lace.
• 73rd Highlanders (1780-1881) had green facings and gold lace. They also followed the practice of bastion loops like the 42nd.
• It appears most of the Fencible regiments raised between 1778-1783 had yellow facings and silver lace.

Most likely, the sitter is an officer of the 87th (Keith's), 76th (MacDonald's), or 73rd. I'm leaning toward the 73rd because of the bastion loops but that isn't conclusive on it's own.

[pbutts]

Is it just me or does this seem oddly cropped for a portrait? Maybe there's a larger image out there with more of the plaid.

[Dale-of-Cedars]

Is it just me or does this seem oddly cropped for a portrait? Maybe there's a larger image out there with more of the plaid.

Found full version here http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.18879.html about halfway down the page.

Further searching revealed Sir William pretty much nailed it:
http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collecti...c=1962-06-13-1

Captain James Gorry, 87th Regiment of Foot, or Highland Volunteers, 1760.

Oil on canvas by unknown artist, 1760.

The 87th Regiment of Foot, or Highland Volunteers, was raised in 1759 for service in the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Gorry was commissioned on 27 October 1759 and was among six captains in the regiment for, although there were eight companies, the lieutenant-colonel and the major were technically each in command of a company (each company also having two first lieutenants and one second lieutenant). Gorry served with the Regiment until 1763, when it was disbanded. Like many other officers, he could not find a vacancy in another regiment and was forced on to go on the half-pay list.

Gorry carries a basket-hilt sword and a Scottish all-metal flintlock pistol with a 'ram's horn' butt, on which is a recess bearing 'C/ JG/ 1760', apparently indicating his rank as well as his name and the date. Both weapons are typical of the period.

[Sir William]

Great find! The cut of the waistcoat confirms the uniform was from the 1760s, not the 1770s-1780s.

[figheadair]

Brilliant teamwork. Wel done chaps.