Royal Marines uniform: pattern 1782

Royal Marine's dress coat of a Major General, belonging to Arthur Tooker Collins (1718-1793) constructed of red wool with lapels and cuffs that have been faced with blue wool. On the sleeves, starting from the cuff to just below the elbow, and on the front panels, beginning just below the waist where a pocket flap would have been, are four buttons placed in pairs. The buttons are of cast brass and feature a crossed sword and baton surrounded by a laurel border. A rectilinear twist pattern has been worked in silver thread on either side of the buttons. Each lapel has 12 buttons arranged in pairs with the same rectilinear twist pattern worked in silver thread outlining the buttonhole. Further, when the lapels are unbuttoned and folded forward, the red wool on the back is embroidered with the same motif. The coat could be worn with the lapels buttoned across the chest, but there are also a set of hooks and eyes along the inner edge of the lapels so that the front could be fastened without unbuttoning the lapels. On the back, at the top of the skirts are two buttons and on either side of the central vent are two pairs of faux buttonholes worked with silver thread in the same motif as those on the lapels. The skirts are held closed by a pair of button stays. On the left shoulder is a loop and fastening for an epaulette. The coat is lined with white shalloon and, at the front and back corners of each of the skirts is a hook and eye. When these are fastened skirts are draped so that the lining creates a contrast with the red wool of the coat. The coat has interior pockets, in keeping with the long slim line of male costume in the late eighteenth century. Also, in keeping with the fashionable line of late eighteenth-century costume, the front edges of the coat slope back and downward from the waist in a style that is a pre-courser to the cut-away.

Object Details

ID: UNI0015
Collection: Uniforms
Type: Dress coat
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown
Date made: circa 1782
People: Royal Marines; Arthur Tooker, Collins, Trelawny-Ross, W. T.
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 1075 x 585 mm
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