The Material Culture of the Volunteer Movement in Scotland, 1794-1815

Defence and Defensibility: The Material Culture of the Volunteer Movement in Scotland, 1794–1815

Stuart Campbell

Introduction eenth and nineteenth centuries. In this particular case these objects can be a useful corrective and The phenomenon of the mass volunteer move- addition to those curated in museum collections. ment of the 790s has until recently received scant The aim of this paper is to treat these objects not historical attention. Perhaps as a topic it has lain as adjuncts to or illustrative of the main historical between military and civilian history, lacking narrative, but rather as archaeology, a ‘pure’ mate- the grit and martial dash to attract scholars of rial culture, and as objects in their own right which the former while their profession of loyalty to can tell us about the nature of those individuals the Crown makes the volunteers an apparently who used and wore them. In this context the pallid topic compared to the more interesting author would argue that this material can illumi- cast of weavers, Jacobins and assorted dissenters nate aspects which the historical record cannot. and radicals with which the social history of the period has often been peopled. Recent research on the volunteers has shown how complicated the The volunteer movement in context motivations and politics of those who joined could ‘It is the duty of every loyal subject to exert be, unlike those groups mentioned above whose and arm himself grievances or aims were clear by their actions 1 in defence of his King and Country’ and proclamations. If it has proved difficult to address properly the nature of the volunteers it is At the simplest level the volunteer movement perhaps because they themselves often appear to comprised units of civilian volunteers embodied have lacked clarity about their purpose, function for local defence from 794 onwards in response and motivation. to fears of a French invasion and social unrest at The purpose of this article is to analyse a small home. Although the raising of these units has been group of recently discovered objects relating to the seen as a watershed moment in relations between volunteer units active in Scotland from the 790s citizen and state, this is perhaps only true in ret- until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The objects rospect, in terms of what the volunteer movement discussed here were all recovered by metal detector became. In general terms, the raising of such units users and the author’s role in the Treasure Trove was a perfectly natural part of internal defence. It Unit based at the National Museums Scotland had been done, for example, both for the Jacobite (NMS) includes the responsibility of assessing rising of 745 and for the American Revolutionary objects discovered in this manner. The intention War (775–83). Nevertheless, it was a remarkable is to demonstrate that the objects thus discovered and significant development; the mass arming of can be equally of interest to the historian as to the populace during a period of unrest and revolt the archaeologist, not least because the losses and at home and overseas at a time when popular and discards which are the common currency of the political ideas of what it meant to be a subject or detectorist’s discoveries can be a rich source of a citizen came into often violent contradiction. In material to reflect the everyday life of the eight- the Scottish context, these concerns were given 72 Defence and Defensibility voice within the wider context of the campaign for the history of the volunteer movement is best a Scottish militia force, where the constitutional characterised as a steady attempt by the state to questions of liberty and equality had resonance at exert greater control over it, culminating in the both a national and individual level.2 The ‘Militia local militia units raised in 808. The 794 incep- Issue’ provides a particularly Scottish perspective tion was on a relatively small scale, but from on the role and importance of an armed and free 797 onwards, when the war with France moved citizenry, yet the volunteer movement was an into an essentially defensive phase, there was a equally valid means of exercising and expressing massive expansion as volunteering spread to the these same ideals and concerns. In this context, wider populace. The Peace of Amiens in 802 the study of the volunteer movement is a question saw a rapid collapse in volunteer numbers with of social rather than military history. Conflict, an equally rapid resurrection as war with France if it came at all, was concerned with suppress- resumed in 803. In spite of what appears to have ing civil disorder rather than meeting French been a steadily increasing military competence, the invasion, although fear of either could motivate government remained essentially dissatisfied with those individuals who comprised the manpower the volunteers. This led to the Local Militia Act of of these units. 808, which embodied a centrally controlled local The initial inception of the volunteers came militia in which membership would be decided by in March 794 when the government invited ballot. The militia in effect replaced the volunteers, ‘Gentlemen of Weight or Property’ to implement often by subsuming existing units.6 the formation of corps of volunteer infantry and While previous studies have depicted the cavalry.3 This legal recognition of the volunteer volunteers as an anti-Radical force,7 the purpose movement through Parliamentary Act is often of some volunteer units could be very straight- seen as the foundation of the volunteers although forward. At the simplest level, some were raised it was preceded by several years of lobbying, agitat- to meet an immediate need for local defence (for ing and various local initiatives started in advance example, those units raised in remote coastal of central government. The various motives and towns).8 The amphibious raid was an accepted ideologies of those who joined notwithstanding, part of eighteenth-century warfare and ranged the volunteer units were raised with two intentions from the large-scale descents used by British in mind: firstly, to act as a police force for their forces in the Seven Years War to the hamesucken localities; secondly, to act as defence against hostile attempted on the earl of Selkirk by the United invasion. The first aim tended to vary from place States Navy in 778. In that sense, the raising of to place, from a fairly prosaic role in putting down such units was an uncomplicated and practical disorder to a more active (and politically loaded) way of meeting what was perceived to be a very role in actively opposing sedition. To minimise real threat and it has been pointed out that they bureaucratic burdens the volunteers were admin- vastly outnumbered those which were ostensibly istered as far as possible through existing social raised to combat radicals and sedition.9 and political structures, with the lord lieutenant of It was not, however, always so simple. The the relevant county assuming an overall responsi- most recent and most expansive survey of the bility. An added requirement was that those thus volunteers, by Austin Gee,10 has illustrated the armed and equipped were trustworthy and reliable challenges in summing up what was a highly individuals.4 In governance and regulation these complex and often contradictory phenomenon. corps most closely resembled an eighteenth-cen- As Gee has argued, the volunteers succeeded in tury club or society. Officers, for example, were remaining largely apolitical, an interpretation elected by their peers, much in the fashion of which has largely superseded the traditional argu- club officials, and management committees took ment that the volunteers represented a coherent on the responsibilities which in the army would and sustained anti-radical force. In reality, it was have been those of an adjutant.5 rare to be required to take an oath of loyalty to From these independent and local beginnings the state on joining and, like the clubs and socie- 73 Stuart Campbell ties which many corps resembled, by the act of members to sign an oath of loyalty to the state, joining one agreed to be bound by their rules and yet it also required its officers to accept no special regulations.11 An anti-radical strand nevertheless treatment and to march and lodge with the private did unite some units, as will be discussed below. soldiers. Officers were also denied the privilege of What did appear to govern many volunteer units a horse and had to carry their own baggage.15 At a was the ‘moral economy’ of their civilian lives as stroke the regiment not only professed a reflexive artisans and tradesmen, and many reacted badly loyalty to the political and social order to which when they felt their services were being misused, many of its members belonged, but also enforced much as they might have reacted when mistreated a military egalitarianism at which even the French by a civilian employer.12 Revolutionary army would have balked. It is per- The rejection of the volunteers as a coherent haps also a useful illustration of how unformed political force is useful not because it removes the many of the volunteers’ ideas of military life were. political issue but because it removes the illusion An officer’s horse was not a luxury but a necessity, that they were in any way coherent. In reality, the a form of transport that allowed him to carry out volunteers could exhibit radical or reactionary his responsibilities. Likewise, many of the ‘luxuries’ tendencies and be prey to a variety of influences; of an officer’s baggage were the tools necessary they could be socially exclusive and profoundly for their administrative responsibilities. A less democratic, sometimes within the same corps. charitable interpretation of the equality between These influences varied depending on the exact ranks of the Edinburgh volunteers is that some unit, its local circumstances and the personali- were reluctant to allow a social equal or inferior to ties which dominated it. Equally relevant to the become a military superior. We can see a similar wider political scene are the motivations of the rationale at work as the distinctly upper-crust individuals who comprised these corps. Linda Havant Volunteers fretted at the dreadful prospect Colley, in particular, has concentrated on these,13 a of joining the Portsmouth Garrison, where they useful reminder that what spurred – or sometimes, would fall under the command of regular offic- compelled – an individual to join up is hugely ers who were potentially their social inferiors, no important. Within the wider sphere of economic matter their military rank.16 In this context, one and social history it is a reminder also that we cannot but help ponder that what lay behind the cannot treat an individual as a socio-economic ostensible egalitarianism of the Edinburgh corps drone, subject to Pavlovian responses to the cul- was a desire not to extend military courtesies to an tural and social cues of the social class to which individual who would be a social equal or inferior they have often been consigned. For example, in civilian life. This issue touches naturally on the use of ‘Loyal’ and ‘Independent’ in the title of the social class of those who comprised the vol- the Sheffield volunteer unit, and the subsequent unteers. The membership of both yeomanry (the refusal of three quarters of the regiment to act as contemporary volunteer cavalry) and volunteer aid to the civil power,14 suggests a potent confu- infantry regiments frequently defy expectations, sion and conflict of motive. It might suggest that both embracing a fairly wide social spectrum; most those individuals who comprised the unit had corps included gentlemen and labourers although conflicting motives and wishes and were unwilling it must be said that the social hierarchy of civilian to submit their misgivings to the corporate whole. life was reliably reflected in the caste system of Rather, the unit was subject to the command of its military rank.17 private soldiers and not vice versa. This may seem In understanding the volunteers there are of an obvious point for a unit of civilian volunteers course both Scottish and British aspects to be but it is an important one, and it is instructive to considered. Significantly, some characteristically note how often members submitted their will, and Scottish themes which do appear rely on official how often they withdrew their labour. misperception rather than objective fact. For In a Scottish context, the Royal Edinburgh example, the perception that the government Volunteers was one of the few corps to require its had of the Highlands as an untapped source of 74 Defence and Defensibility manpower, and of the inherent martial qualities included restricting rent increases on family hold- of the Highland population. The consequences ings.22 By extension, it is also a demonstration that of this were many and varied, but for the topic in many landlords saw the volunteer force in socio- question the most apposite example must be the economic, rather than military, terms. Emigration attempt of the secretary of war Henry Dundas from the Highlands diminished both the labour in 797 to ‘resurrect clanship as a viable military force available to the landlord and the pool of men force’ by setting up a vast reserve of clan-based available for the regular army; it was hoped that regiments in preference to other auxiliary units.18 the fiscal and other benefits which the volunteers This proposal differed radically from the common provided would act as a check to emigration.23 role landowners had in encouraging recruiting The independence of mind of some units can for either regular or auxiliary forces for it was not be seen in the behaviour of a number of volun- based on the myriad arts of persuasion which were teers during the disturbances involving the price in the proprietor’s hands. Rather, it calculated that and export of grain and meal in the late 790s. clan loyalty and identity still existed to the extent In February 796, amidst speculation about the that they could provide a means of recruiting shortage of grain and rising prices, a considerable and organising an effective military force.19 The portion of the Ross-shire Volunteers marched to utter failure of this attempt highlights an extreme the Fowlis storehouse to prevent the export of dissonance between lingering preconceptions of grain.24 In the same month, volunteers in Peter- Highland life and the actuality. It is astonishing to head intimated that they would oppose by force think that in 797 the modern British state, on the any attempt by the regular army to act as an aid eve of its great technocratic victory at Trafalgar, to the civil power, while in Dingwall, Banff and was attempting to utilise the recruiting methods Macduff volunteers either refused to disperse of a medieval feudal state. crowds or actively participated in the disturbances, The reality was, of course, somewhat differ- using force of arms to prevent the export of meal ent and the adeptness with which Highlanders or to force its distribution amongst the populace.25 of all classes used military service for economic In such cases, the fact that units were recruited betterment has been thoroughly explored. In the from the local community worked against the case of volunteering, the attraction to many was government as the volunteers clearly identified that it was one more paid, part-time occupation with the plight and wishes of the community from in a spectrum of similar tasks that were fixtures which they were drawn. Indeed, to have helped in Highland rural life. It could fairly be com- to preserve the status quo in such cases would pared to kelping and seasonal agricultural tasks, have entailed the volunteers acting against what and sympathetic local commanders ensured that they perceived to be their own best interests. The martial responsibilities took account of these Scottish disturbances were by no means unique other, equally pressing, needs.20 This emphasis on and many units from elsewhere in the British Isles agriculture and subsistence activities is a useful asserted their willingness to defend country and reminder that, as elsewhere, the incentives and family from internal and external enemies; what encouragements to volunteer which the High- they refused to do was enforce actions which they land landlords could offer were not dissimilar felt were manifestly against the interests of their to those offered by landlords in other parts of own communities. the country. For example, the duke of Buccleuch Such examples come from volunteer units had, by various means, encouraged around half drawn from the community they both policed and of the men on his estates to join the volunteers, protected but even the notionally more reliable reflecting the fact that the influence of landlords yeomanry could be hampered by their local asso- was particularly noteworthy in Scotland.21 Many ciations. The very nature of eighteenth-century of these inducements were perhaps sharpened in rural society meant that injustices were met not the Highlands by dint of local conditions. Lord with the overt and collective disturbances of the Seaforth, for example, offered inducements that towns but rather with retribution under the cover 75 Stuart Campbell of darkness, usually against property, such as the existing civil rituals acquired a military sheen. The burning of barns or the destruction of fences or significance of this will be discussed later. walls. During the militia riots of 798 the fear of Then there is the relationship of the volunteer such midnight reckonings exacted against their forces to those of the regular army. In much social property clearly played an inhibiting role on the history the army appears, if at all, as the ‘aid to part of those yeomanry units involved in the sup- the civil power’, the queller of riots and blithe pression of the disturbances.26 executioner of servant girls and other innocent While the Pittite state may not have agreed, bystanders. In reality the army hardly relished the volunteers seem to have been an excellent enforcing civil order, with both officers and men example of a compromise: while the government recognising the Riot Act as an awful and final got its home defence units and a broad assurance response. For example, writing in the 830s, the that they would act against the most egregious and soldier and radical, General Sir Charles Napier, blatant offerings of lawlessness, the local commu- was concerned not with the politics of the Char- nity received domestic security and an assurance tists but rather with the human cost his men would that these units would not act unchecked against be forced to inflict should threats of violence come them. While volunteers corps were a regular butt true.33 Overall, the Georgian army did not deserve of local jokes, there is clear evidence that they its reactionary reputation amongst its officers or could also be an effective and well-organised the prejudice of thuggery levelled against its men. auxiliary force.27 Whatever military shortcomings Indeed, with its officers promoted from the ranks may have been evident, the volunteer movement and the welcoming of Roman Catholic recruits, must surely be considered a success in terms of the the army might be said to have offered a more sheer numbers of men it armed and equipped; by socially progressive vision of eighteenth-century 804, 380,000 men in Britain were members.28 In life than the doctors and watchmakers of the Edinburgh alone by June 797 2,000 men were in Royal Edinburgh Volunteers. either infantry or cavalry corps.29 Moreover, these When assessing the relationship between the armed units by and large kept out of politics, a army and the volunteers it is crucial to understand conspicuous success given the political activism the social mix of both. Traditionally the British which Irish volunteers indulged in during the army of the eighteenth century has been viewed American Revolutionary War. as the sweepings of the prison and the workhouse The volunteers managed to be a symbol of both forced into uniform through indolence or an innate British and local identities, expressing the latter disposition to violence and criminality. However, through a variety of activities. An examination the army had become increasingly selective about of contemporary accounts shows that the Royal where it got its soldiers, and by the later eighteenth Edinburgh Volunteers played a significant and century a significant proportion of its recruits were sometimes symbolic civic role: they provided feu de skilled tradesmen and artisans. This was the same joie for civic occasions, attended in force at public social background as the majority of those in the executions to preserve order,30 and served as the volunteer units. This point is worth emphasis- guard of honour at the funeral of Lord Provost ing for many interpretations have relied on the William Coulter in 80.31 In this latter case, they assumption that there was a distinct social divide had clearly become a fixture of the civic order, between those in the volunteer service and those in joining the incorporations, university and clergy in the regular army; Gee, for example, contrasts the the funeral parade. This range of activities was not tradesmen of the volunteer movement with the uncommon and is a good example of the manner ‘labourers and unskilled workmen’ of the regular in which the volunteers could become emblematic forces.34 In fact, by the American Revolutionary of local and municipal identities; in some cases War the background of army recruits was fairly units were raised solely for the sake of municipal respectable.35 This foundation was built on in the dignity.32 The participation of the volunteer units 790s by the duke of York, who exerted genuine, in the civic and municipal world meant also that and highly successful, efforts to raise the status of 76 Defence and Defensibility soldiering as a profession and to provide benefits A useful case is the Loyal Tay Fencibles, a which made it an attractive prospect.36 line regiment raised for home defence. Of the The relationship between the volunteers and 5 men who joined between October 794 and regular army were further strengthened by the fact June 795 only fifty-nine were labourers. The that many volunteers were former soldiers, which remainder were almost exclusively members of in itself would have negated much of the tension skilled trades, most notably including fifty-six which is often assumed to have existed between weavers and a sprinkling of hecklers and flax- the two forces. Thomas Armstrong, for example, dressers.44 This is a useful reminder that one born served as a lieutenant in the 80th Foot, seeing to the loom is inherently no more a radical than a action in the American Revolutionary War before Highlander is born with intrinsic martial qualities. becoming an Edinburgh coppersmith. In 795 he Some qualification is perhaps needed: fencible became an officer in the Royal Edinburgh Volun- regiments were known to appeal to those who teers.37 Volunteers also went on to become soldiers, were attracted by the easier life of home service for example Thomas Morris, who left his civilian with no danger of being sent overseas.45 In other occupation in 82 to join the 73rd Regiment, words, fencible service could attract those who fought at Waterloo and left the army a sergeant.38 were hesitant about a military career. The Loyal The attraction of the military to the skilled work- Tay Fencibles nevertheless demonstrate that the ing classes should not be underestimated. It was a military life was not the last resort of the desti- path of advancement for those who were educated tute or unskilled but could also prove attractive but poor, offering good prospects for those who to the skilled trades. Most importantly they are a were literate.39 The military pension, which has useful reminder of the choices an individual could been described as ‘a unique benefit among the exercise, as important in themselves as local and occupations and trades of the poor’,40 must also national influences and pressures from peers and have been attractive. A factory worker who lost a social superiors. The decision to join the army or limb in an accident would be destitute; a soldier the volunteers was in the end a personal one, rather thus crippled would receive financial support. than one preordained by these other factors or the With its emphasis on diligence and self-improve- social class to which they have been assigned by ment, the regimental world that the Georgian a modern historian. Indeed, the concept of indi- soldier inhabited resembled nothing so much vidual choice as exercised by the lower orders is as a friendly society, offering savings funds and one that has often been ignored by the historian in regimental banks, remittances to families at home favour of the expression of group motivation and and a schooling system for their children.41 Some identity which is more easily discernible through regiments also established libraries and some in the activities of groups as diverse as friendly socie- the victorious British army plundered the Retiro ties and mobs. in Madrid in search of books.42 These similarities to his civilian peers meant that, far from being an An analysis of the material culture instrument of blind obedience, the British soldier was equally capable of his own ‘moral economy’ The following analysis of the material culture of to equal that of the volunteer units. A regiment’s the Scottish volunteer movement will consider officers were expected to keep faith with their men a variety of surviving buttons and badges from and to recognise their dignity and self-respect; a various corps. Firstly, it will examine the manu- failure to do so could result in the type of trouble facturing and artisanal techniques used to produce which the volunteers were capable of making both these objects and consider what this might tell in their civilian and part-time military occupa- us. Secondly, it will examine the visual language tions.43 In one sense, the attitude and culture of used on these objects, in particular the symbols the Georgian soldier makes a persuasive case that deployed on them. The buttons and badges of soldiering should be considered as another skilled the volunteers should be seen as more than just working-class occupation. accoutrements for they follow a particular trend 77 Stuart Campbell that can be paralleled by those in the regular forces. was recovered from a contemporary midden. An increasing emphasis on regimental identities The significance of this new material is that it from the last quarter of the eighteenth century enables the material culture of smaller volunteer onwards led to buttons and badges carrying a units to be studied and offers a corrective to many variety of battle honours and unique regimental perceptions of the movement as a whole. The symbols. In doing so, they acted as a self-refer- tendency to concentrate on expensive and comi- encing and self-reinforcing material culture that cally impractical uniforms has often reinforced gave the wearer an identity as part of a close-knit an interpretation of the volunteers as militarily group and reminded him of his role within it. As ineffective dandies. This aspect is important, but such, the material culture of the volunteer corps it is only half the story, and one which relies on represents a group identity rather than that of an interpretation of more significant units whose the individuals who comprised it. Nevertheless, material is more likely to be in museum collec- given the democratic nature of many corps this tions. A case in point is the Tarleton helmet, which unit identity and the symbols through which it was designed for mobile warfare and favoured articulated these sentiments had to be palatable by cavalry and light infantry from the 780s to those who comprised the unit. onwards; made from leather and metal it was light, A conventional interpretation of the symbol- practical and largely impervious to sword blows. ism of the volunteer units is that accompanying In the hands of the volunteer units, however, it the display of the relevant shoulder belt badges in succumbed to a monstrous evolution whereby its the National War Museum Scotland (NWMS). practicality was excised in favour of ostentation. It contrasts the use of local symbols on those of These showy, impractical and expensive helmets the volunteer units with the more generic use of can be found in various museum collections and a crown and thistle on local militia items. This is are often held up as exemplars of the middle interpreted as displaying a fundamental difference classes playing at the martial professions; the between volunteer units which expressed inde- case for the prosecution can be usefully closed pendent local identities and those others which by remarking that it was just such a helmet that expressed a more generic loyalty to monarch and Sir Walter Scott wore in the Royal Edinburgh state. This interpretation is wholly consistent Volunteer Light Dragoons.46 with the range of objects held by the museum, The ostentation of some volunteer units can but is also constrained by it. When considering be used as a rather uncharitable parable of the the range held by NWMS and other museums relation of the volunteers to the regular forces: a there appears a clear bias in favour of the larger, practical and utilitarian entity transformed into urban-based volunteer units and those with one wholly impractical. It is also a useful social important local connections. This seems readily commentary on the role of uniform in civilian explainable: these units tended to be larger and, society, or at least in parts thereof. By the 790s given the social standing of their members, such the wearing of uniform had taken on a particular items are more likely to have been retained in the significance for the British élite, denoting both family for subsequent donation to a museum. In status and a masculine ideal of public and patri- contrast, the material presented here is mainly otic service.47 This notwithstanding, by c.800 the from small units raised away from urban centres wearing of uniform by social élites was dwarfed and comprises objects which in the main, judg- by the wearing of uniform amongst the general ing from their rediscovery by metal-detectorists, populace, with an arguably different significance appear to have been discarded rather than kept. which will be discussed below. In effect, this new material is largely from units An analysis of the material here suggests this which were not of sufficient social standing for different story: objects which were made with a material to be kept. A case in point is the shoulder clear intention to keep costs low. Before discussing belt plate of the Rothiemurchus and Strathspey this material in detail, it is necessary to make clear Volunteers; one of the examples discussed below some obscure aspects of Georgian military equip- 78 Defence and Defensibility

Figure . The shoulder belt plate of the Mearnshire Volunteers, made from thin sheet copper and tinned. Found at Muir of Ord. (© Crown Office) ment. While the white cross belts of the redcoat The above digression is necessary because the are often thought of as purely decorative, like the author would suggest that many of the objects webbing of the twentieth-century soldier they related to the volunteer movement were incapable were intended to be wholly functional in nature. of fulfilling this essential function. A useful exam- They were designed to support the bayonet or ple is the belt plate of the Mearnshire Volunteers sidearm on one side and the cartridge box on the found at Muir of Ord (Fig. ). Conventionally, other, in effect ensuring that the most necessary belt plates were manufactured from thick brass elements of a soldier’s equipment were kept close or copper sheet with the necessary attachments at hand. To this end, the belt plate at the centre of brazed to the rear. In this particular case the plate the cross belts was not decorative but was designed is stamped from thin sheet metal and appears to to fasten the whole arrangement together and bear be insufficiently sturdy for any such application. It the weight. Likewise the epaulettes, and the but- may have feasibly been fitted to a leather strap as tons which secured them, were designed to hold a purely decorative object, suggesting that in some this whole practical arrangement securely in place; cases the cross belts did not serve a straightforward in effect a load bearing system. function but only imitated those in the regular 79 Stuart Campbell

Figure 2. Button of the Culross Company of Volunteers, the initials set between a crown and thistle wreath. Found near Culross. (© Crown Office) forces. A number of buttons from Fife bearing the we shall see, however, the use of cheap or afford- title CCV are similarly flimsy (Fig. 2). Although able accoutrements was widespread, and by units the frequent use of initials on such buttons can where other circumstances indicate that they did often make a decisive identification difficult, it not lack financial means. More realistically, then, can be inferred from the find spots that they it may suggest that the financial barriers to join- belonged to the Culross Company of Volunteers. ing a volunteer corps did not exist for many, or it The dimensions of these buttons suggest that they was recognised that it was imperative to remove were intended for the epaulettes, to secure the this obstacle to attract members. In contrast to cross belts of the uniform. Like the Mearnshire the image of many of the larger, urban units, belt plate, however, they seem inadequate for this it seems clear that many other units made a task, being exceedingly flimsy in their construc- conscious effort to make uniforms affordable to tion; the metal is only half a millimetre thick and prospective members. could be described as thick foil rather than thin A useful illustration of this can be seen in sheet metal. the manufacture of buttons, which are the most Such material might almost be taken as a coun- common objects to survive from these units. By terweight to the case of the wealthier volunteer this period the buttons of regular army regiments units; at one end of the social spectrum sufficient were high-quality objects, usually made in London funds were available to make uniforms impractical by specialist firms who stamped their names and through lavish accoutrements while at the other addresses on the rear of the button. This was an end insufficient funds were available to make the expensive process and by contrast the vast majority uniforms meet a minimum level of quality. As of volunteer buttons was clearly made locally. This 80 Defence and Defensibility

Figure 3. Two buttons of the Aberdour Volunteers. The example on the left is reversed to show the restrike seam. Found near Aberdour. (© Crown Office)

can be demonstrated by a distinctive indicator of were similarly made (Fig. 4), in spite of their ranks secondary manufacture which almost all these being filled with a greater proportion of wealthy 50 buttons have, namely a ‘restrike seam’ running individuals. Such material embodies a counter- along the centre of the rear face which indicates vailing notion as to the purpose and suitability of that a previously manufactured plain button has uniforms, with a demonstrable trend for simple been held in a split seam anvil and the front face and frugal uniforms. Where it occurs, the desire re-stamped.48 These buttons were made by taking for plain uniforms appears to have been driven by existing blank buttons and stamping the front two historically attested aspects: to demonstrate face with a locally made die. As a means of mass an egalitarian ideal in the corps, and to remove any 51 producing buttons it would be slow and highly financial barriers for prospective members. inefficient, but it was also very cheap. More impor- It is also a reflection of the advantage for trades- tantly, given that a large proportion of volunteers men in joining a volunteer corps: the commercial were skilled artisans and metalworkers, it was a benefits they could reap. The saddler and radical task that could be carried out by the members of Peter Laurie joined a London unit precisely so the unit themselves. It was this practicality and he could sell his goods to his comrades in arms; thriftiness that appears to lie behind this method he ended his days as director of the East India 52 of production, most likely a reflection that many Company. A specific example for the Royal rural corps were inevitably very small and could Edinburgh Volunteers can be found in a special not but lack the high proportion of wealthier order of 5 December 794 discussing the refur- members in their ranks. It should not be seen bishment of shoulder belts and directing that the as a sign of poverty, however. For example, the work be carried out by Mr Main in Lawnmarket, 53 Aberdour Volunteers, although producing their who was also a private in the regiment. Another buttons in this way (Fig. 3), had the means to example of this practice can be discerned in two present their captain with that standard symbol of surviving shoulder plates of the Rothiemurchus Georgian esteem, engraved silver cups.49 Equally, and Strathspey Volunteers. One of these (a recent the buttons of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers discovery) has been made from sheet metal and 81 Stuart Campbell

Figure 4. Button of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers, showing the burgh arms. Found near Edinburgh. (© Crown Office) engraved (Fig. 5). It is stamped on the rear with was subsequently adopted by the volunteers. In the number ‘2’, a regimental issue and auditing this context these items were designed to articulate number common on some equipment. NMS has particular sentiments and designed and worn in a plate from the same corps of the same design the knowledge that they would be scrutinised for 55 with the issue number ‘8’ on the rear,54 although these very messages. this example is cast with the details stamped on The symbols of the Mearnshire and Aberdour the front. These plates were clearly part of the volunteers are not the symbols of local identity, same sequence but were made by different indi- but rather the crown and thistle normally asso- viduals using what must have been their preferred ciated with the militia and fencible units. This artisanal techniques. The most likely explanation is by no means unusual; indeed, it is the most for an otherwise inexplicable inconsistency is that common symbol to be found on buttons (see, for the work was divided up amongst various local example, Fig. 6). Conversely the Royal Edinburgh artisans who were members of the corps. With Volunteers used the city arms. The reason for this this in mind, the unusual method of producing the is simple: Edinburgh is a royal burgh, the others aforementioned Mearnshire Volunteers belt plate are not. This is the main bias which affects some may also reflect what metalworking techniques museum collections, that they are reliant on mate- were practised by members of the unit. rial from the larger, more prominent units, which It is clear from contemporary accounts that the largely means royal burghs. This tendency for emblems used on these plates and buttons held a the burghs to eschew national or royal symbols specific symbolism, a practice which originated in in favour of their local identities is by no means the buttons and badges of the regular army and universal. For example, Culross is a royal burgh 82 Defence and Defensibility

Figure 5. Shoulder belt plate of the Rothiemurchus and Strathspey Volunteers. Found at Rothiemurchus. (© Crown Office) yet the buttons discussed above used a thistle and arms also suggests something more than simply crown. Such exceptions notwithstanding, it is a a strong local identity and implies a concern with remarkably consistent trend, as can be seen with local prestige and status. If a volunteer corps could the button of the Arbroath Volunteers found at be seen as necessary for civic prestige, symbols of East Haven which pointedly bears the burgh status like burgh arms seems a natural amplifica- arms (Fig. 7). tion of this. The importance of local identity to the vol- The immediate and obvious distinction such unteers has been discussed above but the use of symbols could make can be seen by comparing symbols in this manner suggests something more the buttons of the Edinburgh and the Leith than this simple distinction. It is interesting to corps. Perhaps unwisely, the buttons of the Leith note that the urban units like the Edinburgh unit copied closely those of Edinburgh with the corps tended to draw membership from the skilled result that where the centre of the Edinburgh artisans and the local establishment, in effect those button is filled with the city arms that of the groups whose fortunes were traditionally linked Leith button has an obvious blank space (Fig. 8). to the notion of the burgh. The use of burgh In the civic context where these symbols would 83 Stuart Campbell

Figure 6. Button of the Duns Volunteers, found near Edinburgh. (© Crown Office) have been seen, such as at reviews and parades, the ency of its use is remarkable and it is something distinction would be obvious and direct. Indeed, a which is lacking in other objects used and made parallel might be drawn to Cookson’s observation in the burghs, objects familiar in the social milieu that many English urban units were raised with a which many volunteers inhabited, such as beggars’ view to demonstrating the growing political and badges, communion tokens and the token coinage economic importance of towns to the largely rural of the 790s. county establishments.56 In a Scottish context, Of converse and equal interest is the use of the however, it may be a case of weakness rather than thistle and crown by those units who lacked a suit- strength: the powers and special privileges of the able local symbol. From the modern perspective burghs were on the wane and such symbolism this may seem an obvious choice but it is hardly may have been an attempt to reinforce a special something we should take for granted; one high identity and position whose practical advantages profile use of the same symbol was by the Jaco- were being fast eroded by political reform and bite forces of the 745 rebellion and its military changing circumstance. In any case, the use of the rehabilitation charts an intriguing path. The most burgh arms was intended to make a clear point comprehensive survey of mid Georgian British and it should not be taken for granted; the consist- army buttons points to a curious fact: the major- 84 Figure 7. Button of the Arbroath Volunteers showing the burgh arms. Found near Crail. (© Crown Office)

Figure 8. Button of the Leith Volunteers, showing a blank space surrounded by a thistle wreath and topped by a crown. Found near Edinburgh. (© Crown Office) Stuart Campbell ity of buttons are rather plain and usually show ticularly political ones. A small number of buttons only the regimental number under a crown.57 The and belt plates from volunteer and yeomanry exceptions to this rule are the buttons of the Scot- regiments do bear explicit political sentiments. tish regiments, which almost without exception For example, a yeomanry button from the fort display the crown and thistle. In this context, it at Berry Head (Dorset, England) is a robust and seems clear that the volunteer forces simply copied witty response to the French revolutionary ideal the regalia and symbolism of the regular forces. of ‘libertie, egalitie, fraternie’; it bears the legend This unique deployment of a national symbol in ‘Liberty, Loyalty, Property’.60 A Scottish example the regular army raises two questions: firstly, why of this is a shoulder belt plate from the Methlick this was the case; and, secondly, why the English or Company of the Aberdeenshire Volunteers, which Welsh regiments did not follow suit. The second bears the legend ‘For our Liberty and Property’.61 question is beyond the scope of this article, but While the more commonly found motto Pro Aris what the Scottish regiments may have intended et Focis (‘for our altars and our hearths’) was politi- was an emblem which was both politically neutral cally neutral, such mottoes appealed to a particular but also constitutionally symbolic. As previously political sensibility, and one which was opposed discussed, the army chose its symbols with care. to the high political ideals which the French By the late eighteenth century, the British army revolution unleashed in Britain. It would be naive had developed a concept of state service which had to categorise such slogans as simply reaction- evolved from the principle of personal loyalty to ary in nature, nor did they demarcate particular the reigning monarch to a more general ideal of party lines. Indeed, the articulation of these ideas public and national service. In practice this meant – stemming from the work of the philosopher that the army could proclaim itself loyal to the John Locke – could unite even Tories and Whigs British state without embroilment in political in mutual disagreement.62 Nevertheless, the potent issues, allowing itself to remain above not only mix of ideas which these simple slogans held the political fencing of the Foxites and Pittites excluded as much as they unified, invoking, for but also the fierce contentions generated by the example, Edmund Burke’s concept of a natural American and French wars.58 In this sense the aristocracy.63 An instructive reflection of these thistle and crown can be seen as an identity both same sentiments can be found in the actions of the Scottish and British, and one which indicates a mysterious agent provocateur and Home Office conveniently apolitical sense of identity reliant operative James Walsh, who took time from his on rarefied notions of both country and state and investigations into sedition amongst the London founded on an accepted concept of service. What- hat trade to present himself at a 794 meeting ever the other disagreements between the army of the London Corresponding Society wearing and volunteers, the attraction of an apolitical loy- buttons with ‘King and Constitution’ stamped alty to a higher notion of country and community thereupon. He calculated that such sentiments seems obvious. It could also be remarked that the would prove so repellent to the members that the army’s concept of Scottish loyalty avoided much resultant affray would provide the government of the tortuous musings of North Britishness for with sufficient excuse to shut the society.64 In that an uncomplicated ideal of public service. sense, such political slogans were far more than This sense of the symbol as an emblem of simple patriotic sentiments. Their use by some political neutrality is presumably a reflection volunteer units appears as a refined method of that volunteer units needed to attract men from recruiting by using slogans which appealed across a wide variety of political and social backgrounds. party political loyalties but which still excluded Indeed, it was widely recognised that the test of those who were seen as political undesirables. a man’s suitability was not his politics but rather These apparent undesirables included those who a range of other attributes.59 The interpretation held opposing ideals but also wished to serve the of the crown and thistle as a neutral symbol is interest of their country. They could comprise reinforced by the absence of other symbols, par- a surprisingly wide range of society. When the 86 Defence and Defensibility

London Corresponding Society finally suc- cal sentiments are expressed by volunteer units cumbed at the hands of the Bow Street Runners like this, they suggest a fundamentally different in 798 the motion they were discussing was not motivation from the army; and indeed from the the abolition of the monarchy or similar Jacobin more politically neutral volunteer units. Whatever outrages, but which volunteer corps their members concepts of service and loyalty may have motivated would join.65 The answer of the Methlick Volun- soldiers like Samuel Ancell and his unruly charge teers would surely be not theirs. Such exclusion Jack Careless, the rather bourgeois preoccupations on political grounds would also have debarred a of some volunteers were not amongst them;68 a fair proportion of regular army officers, not least motto invoking one’s personal possessions must the aforementioned hero of Empire and radical have only confirmed Napoleon’s worst suspicions sympathiser General Sir Charles Napier. about the shopkeeping tendencies of his most That James Walsh used buttons to express anti- tenacious foe. radical sentiments shows that by the 790s they In contrast, the use of a crown and thistle were a recognised medium for expressing political appears to have been a symbol of nationality sentiments. They were also used by those on the which also worked to proclaim an apolitical sense opposite side of the political spectrum. In 792, for of national identity. The most intriguing thing example, two radical Cornish shopkeepers were about this symbol is its universality and versatility. reported to be selling ‘Liberty’ buttons.66 Their While primarily a national symbol, it was also an effectiveness rested not only on public awareness acceptable symbol both of local identity and of of the army’s practice of placing symbols on their regional identity, as it was used also for the larger buttons, but also on the fact that the sentiments regional corps which lacked a single focal point conveyed departed drastically from this tradition. of identity. The crown and thistle was used on Political sentiments were wholly absent from the the buttons of the Sutherland Volunteers (Fig. buttons and plates of the regular army, which 9), while the Rothiemurchus and Strathspey Vol- instead used symbols that were intended to convey unteers used a crown and royal cipher. To judge a politically neutral concept of loyalty. Indeed, the from examples in the collections of the NWMS sentiments of the London Corresponding Society and other museums, these are the most common would be recognised by the regular forces, even symbols where a unit does not have the option of if they would disagree over the larger political burgh arms, and they were used by units as diverse issues; as has been discussed already, ‘the army as the Port Bannatyne Volunteers (Bute) and the made a virtue of service without making a vice of Royal Osinish Volunteers (Islay).69 They were, in politics’.67 This is a virtue which the volunteers short, symbols which could express both local and by and large seemed to have recognised, and they regional identities as well as those of Highlands drew on the imagery and symbols of the regular and Lowlands. forces to send the same message. It is interesting to note that Highland volunteer The sentiments expressed on the shoulder belt units did not use clan symbols, even though many plates of the Methlick Company of volunteers clan chiefs, as landowners, were instrumental in would have appealed to those with a particular raising volunteer units. While such branding set of political ideas, and equally so excluded was not an option elsewhere, as illustrated by the others; if volunteer units can fairly be compared government’s robust rebuke of Sir James Grant of to social clubs, then units like the Methlick corps Grant’s attempt to call the Strathspey Fencibles were an exclusive club, rather than the more wel- the ‘Grant Fencibles’,70 as independent units the coming affairs that the Duns and Culross corps volunteers were immune from such strictures. clearly aspired to be. To expand this analogy, the That clan symbols were not used may have been Methlick corps was clearly a political club while because, as the failure of clan-based recruiting the others may have had more in common with in the 790s had shown, they conveyed an iden- friendly societies and those organisations which tity which simply no longer resounded with its appealed to the common good. Where politi- nominal subjects. It may also have been that the 87 Stuart Campbell

Figure 9. Button of the Eastern Battalion of the Sutherland Volunteers showing a crown and thistle. Found near Dornoch. (© Crown Office)

latent stain of Jacobitism made some chieftains shorthand for the type of loyalty and identity reluctant to use symbols last dusted off by fathers which the volunteers encouraged; symbols which or grandfathers in the cause of the Stewarts, espe- invoked both a local identity and a loyalty to the cially as many now raised regiments as an avowal state, as it was understood in the local context. of loyalty to the crown. It also reinforces the sug- Those who lacked burgh arms – or did not wish gestion made earlier that the influence Highland to use them – could evidently find other ways to landlords had in encouraging men to join the fulfil their civic and social aspirations. Although volunteers was in essence no different from that raised in a royal burgh, the New Galloway Volun- enjoyed by their Lowland counterparts, and was teers started off with homemade buttons which based on their position as landlords rather than did not use the burgh arms. They did, however, as clan heads. have clear ambitions and by 798 the auxiliary lists Nevertheless, some attempts at aristocratic show that their captain was none other than John brio were successful, and they suggest that local Gordon, Viscount Kenmure. This type of patron- circumstances still had a role to play. For example, age had clear benefits: the other surviving button the button of the Culloden Volunteers held by of the corps was made by the firm of W Williams, NWMS is decorated with the arms and motto of London (Fig. 0). This was an outrageous extrava- Forbes of Culloden,71 while the name ‘Lord Caw- gance for such a small unit, as the small numbers dor’s Ardersier Volunteers’ passed into the army required would have made the order economi- lists without comment.72 Given the long history cally illogical, but it was a coup which the corps of Hanoverian loyalty both families represented, of Edinburgh and Glasgow were unable to pull such symbols may have been an acceptable local off. The quality of a professionally made button 88 Defence and Defensibility

Figure 0. Two buttons of the New Galloway Volunteers, the professionally made example being on the left of the photograph. Found near St John’s Town of Dalry. (© Crown Office)

would be obvious compared to the homemade it would seem of good fellowship; it was reborn as examples used elsewhere, and it is tempting to a social club.74 In this form the Edinburgh corps view this as another form of the civic pride and lingered on until well after the end of the Napo- one-upmanship displayed by the insistent use of leonic Wars. The close link between volunteering the burgh arms by other corps. and clubs and societies can be discerned in the Volunteer units were not the only ones in fact that there is very little difference between the late eighteenth century to use uniforms and the rules and regulations of the Royal Edinburgh regalia to project an image of group cohesiveness Volunteers as a military unit and those on which and common purpose, to promote local identities their social club were run. and shared aims, and to express political views. The idea of a social club playing at soldiers was Similar concepts and means can be found in a hardly new, the most obvious example from the variety of other organisations (which doubtless late eighteenth century being the Crochallan Club shared membership with the volunteer corps), or Crochallan Fencibles. Founded in Edinburgh such as friendly societies and social and political in 778, its social structure deliberately mimicked clubs. With their medals, insignia and banners, the volunteer and fencible units raised for the societies and clubs inhabited a similar sphere of American Revolutionary War to the extent that visual display and expression to the volunteers. mock military ranks and custom were adopted The similarities did not stop there. For instance, by its members.75 This is in effect what the Royal by 799 the New Galloway Volunteers had Edinburgh Volunteers had become. To confuse established a friendly society at the instigation this picture further, it was common for discharged of Viscount Kenmure which ran in parallel to soldiers and sailors to organise friendly societies their more martial activities.73 At the other end and social clubs to perpetuate the values and of the social spectrum was the Royal Edinburgh fellowship of military life,76 a further illustration Volunteers. The militia reforms of 808 may have of the common themes between civilian and robbed the regiment of practical purpose, but not military lives. 89 Stuart Campbell

The somewhat precocious ethos of the Cro- regimental world, but the customs and practices challan Club is an indicator of a profound yet had resonance beyond this particular group. This subtle change which was taking place in the late culture shift may have been facilitated by some eighteenth century. The theme of the militarisa- earlier appropriations of military symbolism. The tion of Georgian society is hardly novel; with use of halberds as symbols in the trade incorpo- the number of men serving under arms and the rations, for example, appears to have taken place public displays of patriotism it seems rather self by the late seventeenth century.81 However, in a evident. Yet beneath the finery and uniforms unfit military context halberds were more than just for purpose it seems clear that popular culture had weapons; as carried by sergeants and officers begun to speak with a distinct martial argot. As they were also a symbol of rank and authority, participants or spectators, a considerable section and this widely understood symbolism appears of the population either articulated or understood to have been the rationale for their adoption by a particular language of symbolism which had the incorporations. originated within the army. The most obvious There appears also to have been change on a case is the transmission of military spectacle into more subtle but visible level. We have already seen other public displays as the military customs and how the visual media of the army was adopted not ritual in volunteer parades gradually made their only by the volunteers, but also by both radical and way into other communal and public spectacles.77 reactionary forces. Arguably mass participation Overall, participation in public parades and com- in the volunteer movement may have been a sig- munal events spread beyond the local corporations nificant means by which the wearing of uniform and allied groups to a wider section of society.78 was introduced into wider civilian society. This is When we consider the uniforms, flags, banners certainly suggested by the artefactual evidence. For and badges of friendly societies, clubs and trade example, the recent find of a uniform button from groups, the public context in which they were the Edinburgh Poorhouse – depicting a highly used was amongst the uniforms and banners idealised representation of the Poorhouse – is a of the volunteers, in itself a language and visual striking illustration of the wearing not so much culture inherited from the military world but of uniforms but of the wearer’s incorporation into promulgated in the civil and municipal sphere. a wider civic identity.82 Surviving buttons from A particular case can be seen in the riding of the children’s uniforms from New Lanark suggest marches carried out by Dumfries Town Council a similar corporate and public identity. In style in 87; such public spectacles were hardly unu- and form, these buttons suggest a date c.800–0 sual, but this example had notable features. It was and the imagery and style is a direct copy of accompanied by the music of fifes and drums and contemporary military buttons.83 Perhaps most at the front were the flags of the trade groups and arresting is a recently discovered button bearing officers bearing halberds.79 Visually, and musically, the burgh arms of Kirkcaldy (Fig. ). It is presum- it bore a good deal of resemblance to the type of ably from an item of official civic dress and the military parade which the volunteers had made style and appearance would again suggest a date a common sight in the 790s. In particular fifes of c.800–0. This button also bears the legend and drums were the signature instruments of the ‘INSIGNIA CIVITATIS KIRKCALDIÆ’ military band and each company of the Royal and the burgh motto. It was clearly intended to Dumfries Volunteers (which had been disbanded resemble the burgh seals of the medieval and early by 87) had been provided with a drummer and modern periods and can be taken as a symbol of fifer each when raised in 795.80 This shared municipal identity and dignity. This is, in every imagery and spectacle was made all the easier by respect, a civilian item, yet the idea of such a the demographic, and sometimes personnel, that uniform and the manifestation of civic identity these organisations shared. The friendly society in this way appears to have been strongly influ- may have been a natural way for the discharged enced and made acceptable by the example of the soldier to replicate the tribal identity of the volunteer movement. 90 Defence and Defensibility

Figure . Button showing burgh arms of Kirkcaldy. Found near Loch Leven. (© Crown Office)

In this instance, this is not so much the values embodied therein), and bound and sup- militarisation of Georgian society so much as ported the individual within a network of moral the demilitarisation of uniform, albeit retaining and social obligation. Most importantly, perhaps, the same visual language which originated in the it would also have allowed the wearer to indulge army. It is hard to imagine this rather substantial in a form of local one-upmanship. All this would shift taking place had the volunteer movement have been evident to the contemporary observer, not first habituated the civilian population to the accustomed as they were to a language of visual symbolism and significance of uniform, and it is a cues and symbolism. far cry from the use of the uniform as a symbol of the national élite. To wear the uniform of the New Conclusion Galloway Volunteers would have signified much more than membership of a part-time defensive Although the ethos and political motivation of the corps. It would have signified local and national volunteer and regular forces may have sometimes loyalties, concepts of masculinity and member- significantly differed, they drew their recruits from ship of a friendly society (and the shared moral the same demographic, from individuals who 91 Stuart Campbell shared sentiments and concepts. If the regalia and aim or belief, were bound by a common language symbols of the regular forces could signify particu- of expression. lar ideals of identity, fellowship and purpose then this was something their peers in the volunteers Acknowledgements understood and emulated. It was a shared mate- rial language when it was used not only to express Most importantly thanks must be given to the accord but also to say something different or to metal detector users whose skill and patience articulate disagreement. In this latter case – and in recovered these objects: Reverend David Bar- the hands of radicals – the same material culture tholomew, James Crombie, Michael Gallon, could be used to express profound differences David Harvey, Chris Lasseter, Scott Nisbet, between groups. That this lingua franca could Alistair McCabe and Bill Vert. Thanks are also work at all was testament to how thoroughly this due to my colleagues John Burnett and David mode of expression was disseminated throughout Forsyth for reading drafts of this paper and for wider society and to the interrelatedness of various many useful discussions regarding the approach groups which, however much they might differ in and contents.

Notes and references 9 MacKillop, 2000, 60–.  The duke of Buccleuch, as reported in the Scots Maga- 20 MacKillop, 2000, 230–2. zine, February 797, 39. 2 Colley, 2009, 307. 2 Robertson, J. The Scottish Enlightenment and the Militia 22 McKichan, F. Lord Seaforth and Highland estate Issue, Edinburgh, 985. management in the first phase of Clearance (783–85), 3 Gee, A. The British Volunteer Movement 1794–1814, Scottish Historical Review, 86: (2007), 50–68. Oxford, 2003, 5. 23 Cookson, J. The British Armed Nation, Oxford, 997, 4 Gee, 2003, 4–5. 43. 5 Linch, K. ‘A citizen and not a soldier’: the British 24 Logue, K. Popular Disturbances in Scotland 1780–1815 volunteer movement and the war against Napoleon. In (979), Edinburgh, 2003, 43. Forrest, A, Hagemann, K and Rendall, J, eds. Soldiers, 25 Logue, 2003, 44–5. Citizens and Civilians: Experiences and Perceptions of the 26 Whatley, C. An uninflammable people? In Donnachie, Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790–1820, London, I and Whatley, C, eds. The Manufacture of Scottish 2009, 205–2. History, Edinburgh, 992, 5–7. 6 Gee, 2003, 3. 27 Linch, 2009, 26. 7 See, for example, Western, J R. The volunteer move- 28 Linch, 2009, 206. ment as an anti-revolutionary force, English Historical 29 Scots Magazine, June 797, 429. Review, 7 (956), 603–4. 30 Edinburgh Annual Register, 5:2 (84), 49. 8 Cookson, J. Service without politics? Army, militia 3 Arnot, H. The History of Edinburgh from the earliest and volunteers in Britain during the American and accounts to the year 1780, Edinburgh, 86, 573. French Revolutionary Wars, War in History, 0:4 32 Linch, 2009, 26. (2003), 38–97. 33 As quoted in Longford, E. Wellington: Pillar of the 9 Cookson, 2003, 393. State, London, 973, 333. 0 Gee, 2003. 34 Gee, 2003, 8.  Gee, 2003, 8. 35 Conway, S. British mobilization in the War of Ameri- 2 Linch, 2009, 24. can Independence, Historical Research, 72, no. 77 (999), 3 Colley, L. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837, 3rd 58–76. edn, London, 2009. 36 Cookson, J. Regimental worlds: interpreting the expe- 4 Linch, 2009, 27. rience of British soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. 5 Gee, 2003, 04. In Forrest, Hagemann and Rendall, 2009, 23–39. 6 Gee, 2003, 64. 37 Dalgleish, G. The ‘Silver Jack’ trophy of the Edinburgh 7 Gee, 2003, 87–97. Society of Bowlers, Proceedings of the Society of Anti- 8 MacKillop, A. ‘More Fruitful than the Soil’: Army, quaries of Scotland, 20 (990), 89–200. Empire, and the Scottish Highlands, 1715–1815, East 38 Linch, 2009, 26. Linton, 2000, 60. 39 Cookson, 2009, 23.

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40 Cookson, 2009, 3. 67 Cookson, 2003, 388. 4 Lin, P. Caring for the nation’s families: British soldiers’ 68 Samuel Ancell’s account of his service during the siege and sailors’ families and the state, 793–85. In Forrest, of Gibraltar from 779–83 is one of the better-known Hagemann and Rendall, 2009, 99–7. military diaries of the period. His career also usefully 42 Cookson, 2009, 34–5. challenges many of the preconceptions of the rank and 43 Cookson, 2009, 25. file. Ancell joined the army aged 7 and was a sergeant 44 This information is gleaned from a genealogical data- at the time of his writing. Highly literate, he gained base held by the Fife Family History Society. Available a commission and when he left the army became an at: http://www.fifefhs.org/Records/loyaltay.htm. influential publisher and writer on military matters. 45 Sunter, R M. The problem of recruitment for Scottish 69 Bute Museum, accession number BtM/H/B75, and line regiments during the Napoleonic Wars, Scottish Islay Museums Trust, accession number IMT.92.006, Tradition, 26 (200), 56–68. respectively. 46 A helmet of the Berwickshire Yeomanry is held by the 70 Mackintosh, H. The Grant, Strathspey or First Highland NWMS, accession number M.936.35. Fencible Regiment 1793–1799, Elgin, 934, 23. 47 Colley, 2009, 90–. 7 NMS, accession number H.TX 29.. 48 Olsen, S. Dating early plain buttons by their form, 72 As entered in the 6th Edition of the ‘List of Officers American Antiquity, 28:4 (963), 55–4. of Fencible Cavalry & Infantry, Militia, Gentleman & 49 This pair of silver wine goblets, made by John Mac- Yeomanry, Volunteer Infantry’ published by the War Donald of Edinburgh, were sold at Bonham’s Scottish Office 23 April 799. Sale, 22 August 2007 in Edinburgh. They were pre- 73 Dumfries and Galloway Museums, accession number sented ‘by the non-commissioned officers and privates STEWM:3503. of The Aberdour Volunteers to Hugh Coventry Esq. 74 This order paper can be found in a (second) collection Captain of the Corps, April 802’. of papers relating to the Royal Edinburgh Volun- 50 Colley, 2009, 294. teers held by the NWMS library, accession number 5 Gee, 2003, 93–5. A267.2. 52 Colley, 2009, 308. 75 A surviving silver medal of the Crochallan Fencibles is 53 This order paper can be found in a collection of papers held by National Museums Scotland, accession number relating to the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers held by H.M 98. the NWMS library, accession number A267.2 76 Cookson, 2009, 27. 54 NMS, accession number M.930.408. 77 Linch, 2009, 22–3. 55 Gee, 2003, 88–90. 78 Colley, 2009, 230–2. 56 Cookson, J. The English volunteer movement of the 79 Dumfries Weekly Journal, 29 April 87. I am grateful French Wars, 793–85: some contexts, Historical to John Burnett for drawing this to my attention. Journal, 32 (989), 867–9. 80 Weir, R W. Some of the military preparations in Dum- 57 Troani, D. Military Buttons of the American Revolution, friesshire during the last war with France, Transactions Gettysburg, 200. of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and 58 Cookson, 2003. Antiquarian Society, series 2, 7 (890–9), 86–02. 59 Gee, 2003, 9. 8 For example, the late seventeenth-century halberd of 60 Armitage, P. Military and Other Buttons from the Berry the Flesher’s craft from Selkirk, now in NMS, acces- Head Forts 1794–1817, Newton Abbot, 2003, 30. sion number H.LE 90. 6 National Army Museum, accession number 7809–24. 82 This button was found recently to the east of Edin- 62 Dickinson, H T. Liberty and Property. Political Ideology burgh by a metal detectorist and is in the process of in Eighteenth Century Britain, London, 977, 67–8. being donated to NMS after being disclaimed as Treas- 63 Dickinson, 977, 37. ure Trove. The style would suggest a date c.820. 64 Emsley, C. The Home Office and its sources of infor- 83 These buttons are in the collections of the Robert mation and investigation 79–80, English Historical Owen Museum and can also be found on the ‘Gath- Review, 94 (979), 532–6. ering the Jewels’ website. Available at: http://www. 65 Colley, 2009, 324. gtj.org.uk/en/large/item/40470/ (accessed 4 March 66 Gee, 2003, 90. 20)

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