Dumbartonshire Yeomanry Cavalry, officer’s full dress jacket button, George III period.

George III period button, Dumbartonshire Yeomanry Cavalry 19mm. The silver plated domed 19mm button  has no backmark but is of very good manufacture. The design is the unit’s initials D Y C  beneath a Georgian crown, with thistles to the sides. There is a little copper bleeding through the silver plate on the high points of the design.  Like most domed buttons it is a little difficult to photograph well and this would have been the largest button worn at the time.  Although we think this button is 18th century Stockwell’s List of the Volunteer and Yeomanry Corps of the United Kingdom of 1804 shows the unit as having a rank and file strength of 88 and to be commanded by Major J Hamilton [appointed 1799]. Perhaps this was one of his buttons: there would have been very few officers. Apart from him six are shown in the 1807 Militia List published by the War Office, appointed between 1799 and 1805. He was one of only two majors in the county’s yeomanry. An image of the old label which came with these buttons is shown in the illustrations but it is not included with the sale of the button.   aug18/4