63rd Foot in the Crimea

[Bob.NB]

I attended a fascinating talk last night on the Crimea War which was given by a guy who has visited the Crimea, and it's battlefields, some ten to a dozen times over the last twenty years, although obviously he no longer goes there.
As a collector of cap badges etc he said that, with the help of a medal detector, he has recovered many shako plates and buttons etc over the years.
On hearing of my interest in the 63rd he added that the buttons and shako plates of the 63rd  that he had found were consistently of a better quality than others and often still had their gilding on.
Consequently he wondered whether the 63rd had some rich benefactor who ensured that the quality of their kit was top quality.
I replied that I didn't think so and I had certainly never heard of such a benefactor if there was one.
Can anyone correct me or put forward a theory as to why the buttons etc of the 63rd have survived in better condition that the other regiments in the Crimea?
Many thanks.
Bob B

[sphinx]

Bob,

I have original 63rd other rank shako plates which are brass and were never gilded in the first place.  They are no different to any other regiment.
The same goes for their other ranks buttons.

As for officers shako plates they were gilded but the gilding process was a standard across the board so no difference their either and I suspect that not many of those were lost in the campaign.  The same applies to officers buttons.

So to summarize its possibly not the quality of the plates but likely the the geographical location and soil type where the 63rd were camped that has preserved them.

Just a thought.

regards

[Bob.NB]

Sphinx,
Many thanks for this.
I'm know very little about regimental buttons and shako plates etc but I tend to agree with you about soil type etc.
However, were all shako plates made of brass, I seem to remember having seen some in a pewter-like softer metal? Could these have been earlier?
Best wishes.
Bob B

[Robert Bonner]

Now that the 63rd Regiment has emerged on the Forum after a brief absence I thought that members would be interested in a recent discovery. An ex-officer of the Regiment, interested in military memorials, has discovered a previously unknown memorial to the commanding officer of the 63rd, killed in action at Inkerman. The memorial is hidden away high up on a wall behind the organ in Horfield Church, Sussex and did not appear to be known by the parishioners.

Lieutenant-Colonel Exham Schomberg Turner Swyny was buried on the battlefield at Cathcarts Hill, alongside the Ensigns Clutterbuck and Twysden.  This is a really fine memorial based on the regimental Colour of the 63rd with an appropriate inscription superimposed. No other memorial of the Regiment has this distinction. 

With a bit of luck we shall soon  have a good photograph of the memorial. For interest go to the museum website and click 'memorials' in order to see the other Crimean memorials which we know about.

[sphinx]

Sphinx,
Many thanks for this.
I'm know very little about regimental buttons and shako plates etc but I tend to agree with you about soil type etc.
However, were all shako plates made of brass, I seem to remember having seen some in a pewter-like softer metal? Could these have been earlier?
Best wishes.
Bob B

Bob,

Earlier Napoleonic other ranks buttons came in pewter but the Shako Plates did not.
Some shown in the attached photograph.

regards

[Bob.NB]

Sphinx,
Very many thanks for your posts - most interesting and a very fine looking collection!
Thanks again and best wishes.
Bob