For his services with the Turkish army, Holloway, who had been invested by the sultan with five different pelisses and a gold medal in November 1801. Holloway was knighted on 2 February 1803 on the recommendation of Lord Elgin.
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In early 19th-century Europe, when military clothing was often used as inspiration for fashionable ladies' garments, the term was applied to a woman's long, fitted coat with set-in sleeves and the then-fashionable Empire waist. Although initially these Regency-era pelisses copied the Hussars' fur and braid, they soon lost these initial associations, and in fact were often made entirely of silk and without fur at all. They did, however, tend to retain traces of their military inspiration with frog fastenings and braid trim. Pelisses lost even this superficial resemblance to their origins as skirts and sleeves widened in the 1830s, and the increasingly enormous crinolines of the 1840s and '50s caused fashionable women to turn to loose mantles, cloaks, and shawls instead.
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Volunteers with particular skills were allowed to transfer to special units with their own uniforms. Hussars and lancers (uhlans) wore dolman jackets, often brought from their former units, dyed black (as were the hussars’ pelisses). Hussars and lancers wore only black and white, the red being omitted. Officers’ uniforms carried silver cords, rather than white, and were in addition trimmed with black fur.
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Madame Rivière, 1806, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Louvre. During this time period, women's clothing was much thinner than in the eighteenth century so warmer outerwear became important in fashion, especially in colder climates. Coat-like garments such as pelisses and redingotes were popular, as were shawls, mantles, mantelets, capes, and cloaks. The mantelet was a short cape that was eventually lengthened and made into a shawl.
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The 15th Hussars charged, over about of snowy, frozen ground, shouting "Emsdorf and Victory!"Emdsorf being an earlier action, 16 July 1760, in which the 15th had played a notable part. Not all of the 15th proved to be equally adept, it is reported that one clumsy hussar managed to shoot his own horse during the pursuit, Hibbert, p. 62. It was so cold the hussars wore their pelisses, rather than having them slung over their shoulders, and many had cloaks over all.
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In the British Army, hussar cavalry were introduced at a later date than in other major European armies. Towards the end of the 18th century, British light dragoon regiments began to adopt hussar style accoutrements such as laced jackets, pelisses and sabretaches. In 1805, four light dragoon regiments were permitted to use the "hussar" name, initially in parentheses after their regimental title, and adopted full hussar uniforms. British hussars were armed with, in addition to firearms, the highly regarded 1796-pattern light-cavalry sabre.
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Chasseur à cheval of the Guard The uniform of the Horse chasseurs of the Guards was very similar to the hussar uniform, comprising pelisse and Busby, but the unvariating color of the dolman and breeches was green with a collar piped of gold. Their pelisses and cuffs were red pipped with gold. The plume of their busby was red-over-green. It was the Chasseurs that usually provided personal escort to Napoleon, and he often wore the non-Hussar uniform of a colonel of their regiment in recognition of this service.
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The style of uniform incorporating the pelisse originated with the hussar mercenaries of Hungary in the 17th Century. As this type of light cavalry unit became popular in Western Europe, so too did their dress. In the 19th century pelisses were in use throughout most armies in Europe, and even some in North and South America. Uniform of French Second Empire Hussar with the characteristic loose-hanging pelisse over-jacket In appearance the pelisse was characteristically a very short and extremely tight fitting (when worn) jacket, the cuffs and collar of which were trimmed with fur.
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In 1820 the officers gained red pelisses edged with black fur and with silver lacing; those for the other ranks were made from their old stable jackets. The yellow facings were removed, the shakos re-covered with sky blue cloth and the small white-over-red plume replaced by a black upright horsehair plume. When new clothing was issued in 1824 the shako was covered with black cloth and the black horsehair plume was drooping, the pelisse was now blue and braided like the jacket. Then in 1828 the jacket was also changed to blue, and from 1832 the overalls were dark grey, almost black, with white stripes.
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New red shakoes were issued in 1840 (blue for the band and trumpeters). Between 1848 and 1852 the full dress for officers and men settled down to dark blue, braided white and in 1856 the shako was replaced by a Hussar Busby: this uniform was worn essentially unchanged for the next 60 years (see 1896 photograph above), although pelisses later became reserved for special occasions and the busby for church parades, scarlet pillbox caps being worn instead. From 1895 Officers wore a plain blue undress coat (see Photo of Lt-Col Stanyforth below) while the men had a blue serge 'frock' jacket. A gold crown above the rose of York had been added to officers' full dress scarlet sabretaches and pouches between 1846 and 1850.
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Set No 1 "The American Soldier", Office Cheief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1975 However the extensive use of this colour by British, Indian and other Imperial soldiers over a period of nearly three hundred years made red uniform a veritable icon of the British Empire. The significance of military red as a national symbol was endorsed by King William IV (reigned 1830–1837) when light dragoons and lancers had scarlet jackets substituted for their previous dark blue, hussars adopted red pelisses and even the Royal Navy were obliged to adopt red facings instead of white. Most of these changes were reversed under Queen Victoria (1837–1901). A red coat and black tricorne remains part of the ceremonial and out-of-hospital dress for in-pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
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