Australian Dress Register

According to family history Jones ran away from home, joining the Navy at 14 without his family’s support, and served near the island of Elba while Napoleon was held prisoner there in 1814 or 1815.

It is said that Queen Victoria pinned a medal on his coat for services in the Crimean War. While the Navy Lists of 20 June 1856 show a “M” beside his name, indicating that he had been awarded a medal, his involvement in the Crimean War has not been confirmed.

After his marriage to Charlotte Orm’s in Calcutta in 1836, they returned to England on separate ships. Apparently her ship was attacked by pirates and ‘all passengers were issued with pistols and told to shoot themselves if the pirates boarded!’

Remarks on Jones’ character include Navy dispatches noting him as a ‘zealous, attentive and clever officer in his capacity as a Lieutenant, paymaster and purser on H.M. Ships.’ Descendants also recall that he had ‘great social gifts and was popular and kind’.

Family stories suggest that Jones and Dr Wilson served together on convict transport ships. Wilson actively promoted the benefits of settlement in New South Wales, describing the prosperity of the settlers through to the mid 1830’s.

Between1838-1845 Jones took leave from the Navy, and migrated to Australia with his family. In 1840 he purchased 640 acres near Bungendore called The Sandhills, for £384 and annual rent of one farthing. This property bordered ex-navy captain William Burdett Dobson’s land who Jones may have served with in 1825.

Jones’s timing was unfortunate. Drought and depression affected the NSW colony from 1837 to 1845. In 1843, due to drought, inexperience and an unscrupulous business partner, Jones became insolvent. The ‘livestock, furniture and effects’ of the family were sold by order of the Trustee on 28 April 1843. The gold rush of 1851 soon brought new wealth to the area.

Some correspondence suggests that Jones was held up by local bushrangers.

Jones moved to Salt Pan Creek, Sydney, near Liverpool, and later took a position as Magistrate with the Cumberland Shire. It seems his navy training was much better suited to this administrative office than farming.

The family moved to a property called “Ulverstone” in Fairfield, with an established fruit, vegetable and flower garden.

Jones died in 1866 from pneumonia and is buried in Saint James Church cemetery, Smithfield.

Jeremiah Linde Jones was born in Ireland, possibly in Glennross, Fermanagh in about 1796. His family was from Brecknockshire, Wales, who owned a jewellers shop in Dublin. He was married three times, and the father of 13 children.

Jones married Jane Stock Orme (b.1791) in about 1808, and they had six children before her death  in 1831:

Ester Cannon Jones (1817 – 1884), Leah Saville Jones (1819 – 1884), James Lord Green Jones (b. 1821), Jane Elizabeth P Jones (b. 1822), Jeremiah Griffin B Jones (1827 –), Henry Bingham Louis Jones (1831 – 1915).

In 1833 he married Charlotte Green (b. 1800), the widow of a wealthy family friend. It is recalled that ‘this alliance shocked the family, but the lady did not survive more than two years and her money passed to Jeremiah Linde’ .

The Register of Marriages kept at Calcutta Fort William in Bengal records his marriage to Eleanor Charlotte Orme in Od Church Calcutta on 5th April 1836, and states his age at 40 years. They had seven children. It is not clear if Jane and Eleanor were related.

Their first child Richard Beresford Jones (1837–1920) was born in Hampstead, London England, but the subsequent children are recorded as born in Australia, Their second child William Braidwood Jones (1838 – 1919) was possibly born on Dr Wilson’s property where the family first lived, and is registered born in Bungonia, Goulburn, New South Wales.  

Land Title records show that in 1840 Jones bought the property The Sandhills, located between Bungendore and Braidwood, a few kilometres north of the Kings Highway. The birth of Montgomery Jones (1841 – 1931), was registered in the Lake George area, and he served in the  NSW Police Force from age 21, becoming a senior constable in 1880.

Another four children followed: Emily M Jones (b. 1843), Charlotte Minna Jones (1845 – 1930), Eleanor Linde Jones (1847 – 1903) and Alfred Edmond Dudley Jones (1856 – 1942).

There are now many descendants of Jeremiah Linde Jones in Australia and overseas. Several have contacted the Braidwood and District Historical Society interested in his time at The Sandhills, and fascinated to see his uniform.

Jeremiah Linde Jones naval service began during the heroic era of England’s victory in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), and last served in the 1850’s.

Historically, this was the era of a dominant British Empire and the Royal Navy’s supremacy over the seas. The industrial revolution brought changing technology, work patterns and social conditions in Great Britain.

The loss of British Empire colonies in the Americas in the 1780’s led to increased interest in developing penal colonies in Australia. The RN played a key role in their ongoing establishment and exploration. It provided support for merchant and convict ships, and governance for the New South Wales colony.

The long peace between the wars saw rapid change in the NSW colony, including opening new lands to increased migration and offering free or subsidised land grants and convict labour to service men wanting to settle in Australia.

Jones reportedly made several voyages with convict transport ships to the colonies of Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales, possibly in the company of Thomas Braidwood Wilson (1792-1843) who settled Braidwood Farm in 1826 (Jones 2007).

This Purser’s uniform is evidence of Jones’s long association with the Navy, and it also reflects a pattern of early settlement of the Braidwood district by navy or military officers taking advantage of land grants. At least eight other officers are known to have settled as settling in the area encouraged by the prosperity experienced through to the mid 1830’s.

This uniform still communicates the authority and tradition of the Royal Navy, and illustrates a particular stage in the evolution of naval costume. This much admired style was copied by many other nations including the first Australian Navy established in 1865.

The uniform reflects the highly structured society, and the power and influence of the Navy. It is also a symbol of social inequalities and class hierarchies active in the colonies between convict labour, indigenous, free settlers and between offices of different rank and branch.

Ancestry.com. Deville/Wood Family Tree. 16 October 2013. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/18454561/person/1070834643 (accessed October 16, 2013).

Holding, T.H. Uniforms of the British Army, Navy, and Court. 1894.

Jarrett, Dudley. British Naval Dress. London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1960.

John Perryman, CSM. Kit Muster, Uniforms, Badges & Categories of the Australian Navy 1865-1953. Sea Power Centre Australia, 2011.

Jones, Shawn P. Braidwood Museum correspondence  from March 2007, and November 2013.

Nayler, Peter. Military Button Manufacturers from the London Directories 1800-1899, Ottawa, Canadian Heritage Parks Canada, 1993.

Navy, Department of Defence. Outline of Australian Naval History. Australian Government printing, 1976.

The Cyclopaedia of the British costumes from the Metropolitan Repository of Fashions. . London: Walker, 1828-1837.

The Navy List, corrected to The 20th September 1854. London: John Murray, bookseller to the Admiralty, 1854.

http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Navy_List_1835/Uniform_1830s.html  7/10/13

Murray, Sue; Ellis, Netta,  Early day in the Braidwood District 1822-1851, Braidwood and District Historical Society Inc. Golbourn,  1982.

Marriages at Calcutta Fort William in Bengal A.D. 1836.

New South Wales Australia Registers of Land Grants and Leases 1792-1867 listing Jones’ purchase of the Sandhills on 29 February 1840.

Admiralty, and Ministry of Defence, Navy Department: Correspondence and Papers. ORIGINAL SERIES (1st group): 1660-1839. ADMIRALTY. Internal Admiralty Correspondence. ADM 1/3476. Drawings of New Regulation Naval uniforms (5) Purser. Received by the Admiralty 24 March 1832 from Lewis, Tailor & Robe Maker, 33 St James St. This colour illustration shows the buttons grouped in pairs, and red collar and cuffs, with blue slashes.

Braidwood and District Historical Society archives and collection records, including text and images supplied by descendants of J.L. Jones.

The full dress coat and cocked hat is on display at the Braidwood Museum.

25 mm gold lace (approx. one inch) is located on the collar fronts and upper edge, for the single row of distinction lace above the cuff, and on all edges of the pointed flaps on the back skirt.

13 mm gold lace (approximately half inch) is used to edge the white slashes on the cuff and the lower neckline edge of the collar.

Each section of the serving forces had its own lace designs to identify them, woven in specific patterns and widths and applied to uniforms in regulated ways to indicate the rank of the wearer.  Royal Navy designs feature linear designs with raised rows of satin weave running the length of the braid. See Uniforms of the British Arm, Navy, and Court, Plate XL, by Holding, 1894, for illustrations of gold lace designs.

Specialist industries developed around the manufacture of laces, buttons, ornaments and accoutrements required to meet the regulations for army and naval uniforms.

The hat is bound with a black silk oak leaf and acorn patterned ribbon, about 50 mm wide. 23 mm is showing and the remainder turned to the inside. The cockade is made from two layers of 105 mm wide grosgrain ribbon pleated into a large bow 130 mm wide.

The coat is trimmed with Navy pattern gold lace in two widths, indicating the Purser’s rank of commissioned warrant officer.

Gold lace is the term used to describe the flat woven metallic braid used on uniforms.

The coat is made of dark blue superfine wool, a plain weave cloth with felted surfaces. This is used also for the cuffs and front self-linings. The cloth is probably English made and dyed with indigo.

White wool kerseymere twill is used on collar and slash.

Gilt brass foil wrapped threads woven into Royal Navy pattern gold lace in two widths is attached to the collar, and each cuff, slash and flap.

The hat is made from black felt.

Black silk woven ribbon with an oak leaf and acorn pattern edges the turned up hat brim.

Black grosgrain ribbon cockade.

Gold bullion twist and tassels on the hat.

The types of materials used were determined by the Admiralty dress regulations documented in the Navy Lists. For example an admiral may have silk lining inside the dress coat while captains and lower ranks, such as Pursers had white cloth or surge. The quality of wool and linings used would then depend on the wealth of the officer, as individuals ordered the tailoring or modification of their own uniforms to suit their station and means.

The tailcoat and hat are hand stitched in matching dark thread.

The gold lace is secured with yellow thread stab stitching.

The white wool lining the tails is hemmed with small backstitches in white thread.

Brown and cream threads are used to tack the canvas lining in place, and to overcast edges.

On the back of the 24mm buttons:

G & W BOGGET & Co..

LONDON

ST. MARTINS LANE

This manufacturer is registered 1836 and 1843, suggesting that the buttons date from this period.

On the lid of the metal hat tin:

PHILLIPS

     28

 STRAND

LONDON

There is a seam in the sleeves just above the row of distinction lace around the cuff. This may have been part of the original manufacture, or may indicate that the cuffs had been shortened or altered at some stage, possibly to change from red to blue cuffs.

Seven hooks and three eye fastenings composed of brass with a back coating.

Base of collar: Hook 15x22 mm, and eye 11x22 mm.

Waist: Two hooks attached to the leather support inside the front waist; eyes inserted into centre front seam.

Cuff slashes: Two hooks on the underside of each slash, with chainstitched black thread eyes on the corresponding underlap, either side of the gold lace.

Two thread eyes are also positioned on the proper left chest.

The 26 domed gilt buttons feature a crown and fouled anchor inside rope twist border. The motif seems to fit with the 1843 design for Pursers buttons, it is a bolder motif with larger crown and top anchor bar that from 1827.

The following text appears on the button backs:

G & W BOGGET & Co..

LONDON

ST. MARTINS LANE

This manufacturer is registered 1836 and 1843, suggesting that the buttons date from this period.

Centre front: Eight 23mm buttons, grouped in pairs as mandated for Pursers from 1832.

Back: Twelve 23mm buttons, three on each flap, and three either side of the centre back split.

Cuff slashes: Six 16mm buttons, three on each.

Hat: The single button seems to match 1827 Commissioned Officers pattern.

The dark blue superfine wool main fabric is used as a self-fabric facing for the full front torso and across the back shoulders. This area is also interlined with white canvas. The front is padded and stitched through to the wool facing creating three lines of quilting between the shoulder and the 5th button from the top. This stiffens and adds a smooth rounded shape to the chest. 

A brown plain weave cloth lines the side chest panels, possibly a linen blend. The back is not lined. White wool twill lines the coat tails.

The black silk twill lining on the collar and sleeve slashed is possibly silk serge. A second brown/black lining is also used on the cuffs.

A brown twill fabric forms the pocket bag hidden inside the coat tails.

The collar appears to be constructed from 5 layers of fabric: gold lace, white wool kerseymere, pale brown coarse weave stiffening, red felt, and black silk twill lining.

A white strip of plain weave cotton is stitched to the armhole seam. It may be a binding strip, but more likely the original sleeve lining has been cut back. There is no other lining fabric in the sleeves.

Black leather rectangles reinforce the facing at the centre front waist. They support the two lowest buttons and buttonholes and the hook and eye fastenings.  The leather seem to be from different sources as the proper right side has a blue cast in areas of wear, while the proper left is browner.

Red felt stiffening is inserted across the back shoulders and neckline.

Multi-coloured stripe plain weave ticking interlining is used inside the proper right centre front panel.

The cut of early naval dress uniforms reflected that of fashionable civilian men’s dress coats. Commentaries and images from The Cyclopaedia of the British costumes from the Metropolitan Repository of Fashion (1828-1837) describe the designs of civilian and military coats.  The main difference noted is that full dress uniforms have  a much snugger fit about the body and a stand collar, rather than the stand and fall collar used for both undress uniforms and most civilian dress coats.

Full dress uniforms changed only gradually during the 1800’s, most notably in the trimmings designating rank and branch that were strictly regulated by the Admiralty. The following examples of Royal Navy Dress Uniforms demonstrate the changes to the regulations throughout the nineteenth century.

Examples of similar uniforms

1829     The uniform of Commander Henry Boltin, made by Clancy of Dublin. Note that the coat was modified in 1843 to confirm with changed regulations: the cuffs from red to blue and the slashes from blue to white.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/74061.html        

See also Drawings of New Regulation Naval uniforms’ for 1832, which the Admiralty released, for the Pursers uniform in Additional material section.  

1833     Full dress coat of John Lord who became purser in 1832, showing blue slashes, and the scarlet cuffs and collar required between 1830 and 1846, known as the ‘Windsor colours’.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/71431.html

1743-56 Full dress coat of John Lord, as above. The exact year of manufacture is not known, however this example confirms to the 1843-1856 pattern, with blue cuffs and white collar and slashes, as on Jones’ uniform.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/71489.html

1837      Uniform of Sir Edward Deas Thomson, Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, Sydney, shows a similar cut of tailcoat c.1837. Powerhouse Museum collection.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=249747

The first uniforms worn by the Australian colony’s navies were closely based on the Royal Navy design, as seen in the Victorian Naval Brigade Jacket held in the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.

The styling of Jones’ uniform is still seen in the current Royal Navy Ceremonial Day Dress, worn only by members of the British Royal Family, Admirals and Vice Admirals. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_uniform  17/10/13.

Image credits

All photos of the full dress tail coat and cocked hat were taken by Emily Hanlon, for the Braidwood and District Historical Society, unless otherwise stated.

Emily can be reached at emily-hanlon@hotmail.com .

Jones' naval career and migration

Family records of Shawn P Jones show that Jones served as Purser and later Paymaster on the follow ships:

H.M.S. “Alligator”                   1826?-served in the Burma War.

H.M Sloop “Lorne”                 8 July1825. Possibly the “Larne”, on which William Burdette Dobson 1st Lieutenant then Captain, and later neighbour to The Sandhills property. The Larne sailed to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land, and was possibly Jones' introduction to the colonies.

H.M.S. “Boadicea”                 

H.M.S. “Espair”                      7 May 1827 to 15 January 1831

H.M.S. “Trinculo”                    May 1834

H.M.S. “Crocodile”                 1850?  

H.M.S. “Ajax”                         2 May 1850

In 1826 Jones was made Purser, a warrant officer (before 1843) or non-executive commissioned officer (after 1843) and part of the civil branch of the navy, along with the Masters, or navigators, and the ship Surgeon (Jarrett 1960).  As Purser, Jones was responsible for organising the supply of food, clothes and other consumables, issuing rations and later crew’s pays.

The Navy Lists give advice on land grants and sales to officers, and the changing conditions of grants and remissions depending on rank and time of service. They included an assisted passage scheme from 1830, while from 1835 migration of women and families was encouraged. When Jones migrated in 1838 he brought his second wife and their first child with him. Offices taking grants were required to live in the colony. Many seemed to live in town, and to set up managers to run the properties.

The 1840 move to purchase The Sandhills is listed in the New South Wales Australia Registers of Land Grants and Leases 1792-1867. Pursers were not entitled to remissions when purchasing land so while his listing made no reference to rank, the sale below his on the register shows Lieutenant Ronald Campbell was entitled to 150 pounds remission off the purchase price due to 20 years of service as Lieutenant.

Jones reportedly had declined an earlier offer of land in Woolloomooloo.

'The Sandhills', watercolour, unknown artist, reportedly painted by a convict, 1840’s. Image courtesy of the B&DHS.

Full dress sword: Purser Jeremiah Linde Jones, Royal Navy.  Image courtesy of the James Victor Robertson.

The full dress sword  passed down to James Victor Robertson, via his grandfather Victor Jones.

Map of County of Murray, N.S.W. Dept. of Lands 27/3/1936, showing location of The Sandhill property, courtesy of the B&DHS.

New South Wales Australia Registers of Land Grants and Leases 1792-1867 listing Jones’ purchase of the Sandhills on 29 February 1840.

Permission to reside in New South Wales, Admiralty correspondence, 20 March 1844.

FULL DRESS COAT

The coat is in fair condition considering age and use. It shows signs of all over wear including fraying at the folds of cuffs, small holes from insect damage and minor repairs.

The blue wool is slightly brittle.  The white kerseymere is discoloured, with multiple tideline stains suggesting water damage.

Some stitching is fragile and giving out, particularity around collar. This may be an indication that the collar had been replaced at some stage, and a different yarn or quality of workmanship has resulted in less stable sewing here.  

The black silk lining is degraded, with major fraying inside the collar and cuffs.

There are perspiration stains visible on the white cotton stitched to the armholes.

The gold lace and gilt buttons are dull and tarnished in places, but generally in good condition. There is a powdery white deposit built up on the underside of many of the buttons on the slashes and flaps.

FULL DRESS COCKED HAT

The beaver fur wool felt is in poor condition.  It is brittle, faded, and worn. There is very little remaining nap left on the once glossy black brushed surface. The gold bullion is tarnished.

There are tears and possible losses around the base of the crown.

TIN TO HOLD FULL DRESS COCKED HAT

The outer surface of the tin is corroded and pitted. Apart form this it is in good condition. Markings on the box suggest that an additional plate, much larger than the maker’s label, was once attached to the lid. Hat tins often have engraved metal plates showing the owners name on them. The inside has a orange coloured lacquer, with minor pitting.

On the proper left chest, below the two chain stitched bars, there seems to be a squared off u- shaped tear repaired in near-invisible stitching.

The sleeves are not lined, but do have a rew edged white cotton band attached to the armhole seam still, suggesting that the original sleeves may have been cut out.

Brown thread is visible in large stitching around the armhole. The original stitching may have failed, or the wool torn near the seam and has been restitched.

Purple thread tacking stitches hold the fraying layers of the collar and lining fabrics in place.

The small holes and surface grazing on both the blue and white wool fabrics indicate a history of pest activity, most likely clothes moth larvae. Minor damage is distributed throughout the garment.

The coat had patches of white mould blooms. These were very visually distracting against the dark wool. After treatment the original dark colour of the wool was restored.