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.

Posted by David Morfitt at Wednesday, November 17, 2010

10 comments:

  1. Capt Bill17 November 2010 at 19:10

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

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Morfitt17 November 2010 at 21:21

    Hi Bill,

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

    Thanks for commenting.

    All the best,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fitz-Badger18 November 2010 at 00:38

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

    ReplyDelete
  4. David Morfitt18 November 2010 at 02:32

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

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve-the-Wargamer18 November 2010 at 13:14

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

    ReplyDelete
  6. A J18 November 2010 at 15:40

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

    ReplyDelete
  7. David Morfitt19 November 2010 at 14:40

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  8. David Morfitt19 November 2010 at 14:41

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous24 November 2010 at 09:14

    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

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous24 November 2010 at 09:15

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

    cheers
    Elmar

    ReplyDelete

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...

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