breeches
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19830092-002
- Event 1775-1783 American Revolution
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer --
- Date Made 1780-1783
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - United States of America
- Category Personal artifacts
- Sub-category Clothing, outerwear
- Department Dress and Insignia
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1780/01/01
- Latest 1783/12/31
- Inscription ON KNEE BUTTONS: (ANCHOR)
- Materials Mammal wool, Linen, Mother-of-pearl, Brass
- Rank Lieutenant
- Service Component British Army
- Unit King's Royal Regiment of New York (2nd Battalion)
- Measurements Height 79.0 cm, Width 63.0 cm
- Caption Loyalist Uniform
- Additional Information In 1779, Loyalist soldiers received scarlet uniforms, similar to those worn by British regulars. This one belonged to Lieutenant Jeremiah French of the King's Royal Regiment of New York. The gold buttons bear the regiment's initials. They are arranged in pairs to indicate that French belonged to the 2nd battalion of the regiment. This is one of the oldest complete uniforms in Canada.
- Caption Loyalist Uniform
- Additional Information Loyalist Uniform.In 1779, Loyalist soldiers received scarlet uniforms, similar to those worn by British regulars. This one belonged to Lieutenant Jeremiah French of the King's Royal Regiment of New York. The gold buttons bear the regiment's initials. They are arranged in pairs to indicate that French belonged to the 2nd battalion of the regiment. This is one of the oldest complete uniforms in Canada.
- Caption Uniform of Lieutenant Jeremiah French, 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Regiment of New York
- Additional Information In 1777 Provincial corps were initially issued green coats with various facings. Waistcoats, breeches, hats and accoutrements were the same as regular army issue. By the 1778 campaign, however, it was decided to clothe the provincial, like the regulars, in scarlet coats. Jeremiah French served as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, KRRNY, which was raised in 1780. This uniform is of particular interest as it is rare to find so complete a uniform of this period, including the original breeches. These are held up by a linen tape laced in the rear, and have a "fall" in the front.
- Caption Jeremiah French
- Additional Information Jeremiah French was a New York farmer and Loyalist who served with the British army during the American Revolution. When he fled to Canada in 1777, French was hunted by rebel Committees of Safety, who issued this wanted notice. THIRTY DOLLARS REWARD ESCAPED from the guards the 21st of April last, one Jerah FRENCH of Manchester, who was prov'd to be a notorious TORY and was confined therefore. Whoever will seize the said FRENCH and return him to the commanding officer at Ticonderoga shall be entitled to the above reward. Every friend of liberty is hereby requested to take him dead or alive. Per order, JOSEPH BRADLEY, chairman of the committee of several towns assembled at Dorset, Dorset 21st April 1777. Jeremiah French was perhaps not a typical Loyalist. Safe in Canada, he joined the Queen's Loyal Rangers as a lieutenant in 1777. According to the charges in his court martial in 1781, French immediately embarked upon a second career of fraud and embezzlement. The Loyalist lieutenant, said his commanding officer, had stolen and sold barrels of beef and flour that should have been issued to his troops. Acquitted, French nonetheless left the Queen's Loyal Rangers and joined the King's Royal Regiment of New York in November of 1781. A new regiment meant a new uniform, which French purchased in Montreal. The French family preserved this uniform for generations, until they donated it to the Canadian War Museum in 1983.