Wednesday 17 November 2010

Royal Navy Captain, undress uniform

Until 1748 there was no regulation uniform for the Royal Navy and officers wore whatever they wished. In that year the first regulations for officers' uniforms were laid down, after a petition to the Admiralty in 1746 for a regulation uniform by officers who wished to be identified as officers in the Royal Navy and to be assured of the respect due to those in the service of the Crown. Regulation clothing for ratings was introduced only in 1857 but since at least the early 18th century a sort of uniform was produced by the supply of purser's "slops", mass-produced ready made clothing that sailors could buy from the ship's purser.

This is the undress uniform of a captain - dress uniform did not have the lapels but had more gold lace.

This was part of a commission of templates of 18th century naval uniform by Moshe, who kindly allowed me to present this for general use.

10 comments:

  1. Sir David, It's about time the old sea dogs get their due...Thanks

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  2. Hi Bill,

    Yes, indeed. :-) I hope to do a French naval captain sometime soon too.

    Thanks for commenting.

    All the best,

    David.

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  3. A nice change of pace.
    And thanks to Moshe for letting you post it. :)

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  4. Thanks, FB. :-) Yes, thanks indeed to Moshe - it's very generous of him as he's paid for the template!

    Cheers,

    David.

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  5. I have always thought that the undress uniform of the Royal Navy captain was one of the best looking uniform colour combinations...

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  6. An elegant uniform to be sure. Thanks to Moshe for his generosity.

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  7. I agree, Steve - perhaps it's the simple elegance of the dark blue and white but it certainly does make a beautiful and unfussy combination.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  8. Thanks, AJ - it is, isn't it? Sadly these days most of that elegance has been lost in modern uniforms, Even the Navy dresses down!

    Cheers,

    David.

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  9. Hello David,

    great work and source for inspiration!
    Is there a way to get in contact with you as i'd like to talk to you about a comission for flag design?

    Cheers
    Elmar Roethy
    Vienna
    biggls@chello.at

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  10. Sorry, have to do this as " Anonymous" as i'm not a member of google blogs etc.

    cheers
    Elmar

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Saturday 6th June 2020 I've decided to allow comments from Anonymous Users but I'll still be moderating posts, as I'm sure the spam will probably flood in now! We'll see...