Lot 5603

Description

40th Regiment of Foot shako, black 'beaver' with leather brim, top and trim and with brass 40th Regiment shako plate (QVC), small, metal image of Medusa near top trim on back, with cream and red woollen ball at top front, leather chinstrap, leather sweatband and lined with magneta silk. Very worn sections on beaver areas, leather sections appear to have been replaced at sometime, otherwise nearly fine.

The 40th Regiment served in Australia in 1823 until 1828 both in Sydney, NSW and in Van Diemen's Land. They returned in 1852 to serve in Victoria where they provided a gold escort to protect gold sent from the diggings to Melbourne and in October 1854 they quelled an uprising by the gold miners at the Battle of Eureka Stockade. They then served in the New Zealand Wars in the early 1860s before returning to England in 1866.