"Sir Thomas Picton's Uniform" Topic

This is not a question but a guide. There are too many questions about what he wore, when he wore it and what color it was and very few answers. I found an account from one of Wellington's ADCs at Quatre Bras that gave a very good description of what he wore.

The account was that he wore a blue frock coat that was buttoned too tight. I suspect "blue" means medium blue as he does not make a distinction of dark or light. He wore a large neck tie that covered most or all of his white shirt. He had dark pants and boots. He also wore a black top hat and carried an umbrella instead of a sword.

The legend is that his uniform went missing while he was attending the Duchess of Richmond's ball on the 15th of June. I believe this may be apocryphal. There are other accounts of Sir Thomas wearing similar garb during his service on the Peninsula. At Bussaco he was seen wearing a night cap. he was regularly seen wearing a shabby blue coats…perhaps the same coat he wore during the 100 days.

So where does the legend come from? Perhaps someone made it up to shine up his image some. he was something of a hero. He was a prickly sort though. maybe someone asked where his uniform was and he his sarcastic reply was that it was lost. What ever the case, it does not seem that his uniform went missing at all. He dressed in the same attire he always wore.

Hat: Black
Coat: Blue (medium?)
Shirt: White
Tie: Black
Pants: Either black, dark brown, dark gray or dark blue
Boots: Black

I have no idea of the color of his horse but he did not seem to be into all the pomp of an officer so I suspect brown would work well with simple saddlery.

Hope that helps someone.

John

Quite invaluable! I had always wondered. Mercer, I think, used the term "drab" to describe his coat worn on the big day. I think that probably meant nondescript rather than a brown colour.

There is a black top hat in the NEM as I recall with a bullet hole in it…said to be his, but from the Peninsula. The hole is too high to have hit him in the temple, so not the Waterloo one.

Always found Picton a rather unpleasant human being. He was tried in England for having a local woman tortured whilst he was acting Governor of Trinidad (apparently his actions were valid under Spanish law, which still partially applied on the island, but not under English law). He also repeatedly offended the 88th Foot whilst they were part of his division by referring to them as thieves – to such an extent that its officers were the only ones to refuse to contribute to a "retirement" present for him when he went back to England (well, Wales to be precise).

The first of these events, and the lengthy court proceedings they begat, contributed to him being the only one of Wellington's Peninsula commanders who was not richly rewarded in 1814.

DoW had little time for him, by all accounts, at a personal level anyway.

There is much evidence that Picton was truly mentally ill by 1815. It may "just" have been endogenous depression or PTDS, rather than frank psychosis, but there is that story about him seeing his death as inevitable and trying a dug out grave for size! I have "Peninsula General" but never got around to reading it!

I think that the Trinidad torture story is rather unfair to Picton. He was a soldier but was left as governor of Trinidad after its capture with strict instructions to allow the local Spanish police to carry on with "business as usual". It was a pretty lawless place at the time. The "torture" involved being interrogated while suspended with one foot on a spike, was common practice under Spanish Law. I gather it had previously been a punishment in the british army. There is no evidence that Picton even knew about the case in question until some time later when a new Governor was sent out from England. He was not liked by the local bigwigs and Picton got caught up in the middle of an unpleasant row. The new Governor reported the "torture" case to London as one of his many attempts to exert his authority on the island and, unfortunately for Picton, the legal system ground inexorably on long after the squabbling was over. Picton was never a rich man and could not afford to properly defend himself. In fact some high ranking nobility were so concerned at the injustice toward him that he was given a substantial sum of money to enable him to appeal against the decision.
He was a disciplinarian with a very coarse tongue and a very poor opinion of the 88th (like the rest of the army) when they were assigned to his Division. He certainly was not of that rank of nobility that Wellington was comfortable to socialise with. But Wellington recognised his talents and was keen to have him in Spain and later in Belgium. And Picton and the 88th certainly came to respect each other over the years.
He had a premonition of his death before going to Belgium and received a serious wound at Quatre Bras but kept it secret. It was only discovered on his death two days later. I have heard that an order was found on his body at Waterloo giving him command of the army if Wellington was incapacitated.
I think it was at Salamanca he amused them all by taking off his Top Hat to order the advance, only to reveal he was still wearing his night cap underneath.

I heard a story that the PC brigade wanted to remove his portrait from the local town hall when they heard about the torture story a few years ago.

The umbrella was recorded as being green at one point in the Peninsula, so that's the colour I've done it: