Napoleonic era 42nd Jacket

[piperdbh]

Would this have been a jacket that got fought in, or would it have been reserved for dress occasions?

[Dixiecat]

The ''basques'' (sorry, couldn't find a good translation, but I believe it is the white hem at the bottom of the coat) are also trimmed with the stripe, all the way up to the opening of the coat.

Basques does not really need translation. Today it's a common term used to describe a fitted dropped waist shaped hemline involving (usually) points. For instance, my highland dance waistcoat. Of course I'm speaking from the English use of the French word.

Historically it generally meant the entire fitted bodice which had the shaped hemline. Think 1860's ball gowns.

[Hothir Ethelnor]

From what I understand enlisted men were only issued one jacket at a time. And battles were generally fought in full dress uniforms with camp and other duties being accomplished in less ornate clothes if they were available.

So yes this would have been fought in.

[Orvis]

That's about correct. At this period, the ORs regimental clothing was issued to him once per year and was his uniform for everything: winter, summer, dress parade, battle etc. In the days of the proprietary colonels (notables who purchased and literally owned their regiment, along with their commission), the ORs had the cost of the uniform deducted from their pay throughout the year. By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, ORs were starting to be issued other items of clothing (greatcoats, fatigue frocks (to prevent damage or soiling to the regimental jacket when on dirty details) and a long-sleeve white waistcoat for off-duty wear). While the Highlander's feather bonnet was worn on parade and in battle, for other occasions he had an unadorned Kilmarnock fatigue bonnet.

It is interesting to note that this coat is for a private soldier of one of the 42nd's "center" or "battalion" companies. The Regiment's grenadier company and Light Infantry Company had "wings" tufted with white wool fitted to the seam where the sleeve and shoulder meet. I am surprised that the outboard ends of the shoulder straps on this jacket have no tufted white wool - that was a common feature on OR regimental infantry coats throughout the British Army at this period. Note also that this coat is of madder red color - this was usual for privates and corporals. The cloth was cheap and the dye was cheap. Serjeants and Officers had coats of finer cloth that was dyed with cochineal for a true scarlet color. The worsted wool regimental lace (white with a red line) was worn by the 42nd in its traditional bastion loops from 1768 until 1836, when the buttonhole loops were made plain white for all regiments of foot.

Some excellent illustrated books on the subject are:
--Stuart Reid and Brian Fosten, Wellington's Highlanders, Osprey, 1992
--Neil Leonard, Wellington's Army Recreated in Colour Photographs, Windrow & Greene, 1994
--Michael Barthorp & Pierre Turner (illust), British Infantry Uniforms Since 1660, Blandford Press, 1982