History of the Epaulette

Epaulettes bear some resemblance to the shoulder pteruges of ancient Roman military costumes. Epaulette comes from “epaule” an old French word for shoulder.

 

However, their direct origin lies in the bunches of ribbons worn on the shoulders of military coats at the end of the 17th century, which were partially decorative and partially intended to prevent shoulder belts from slipping. These ribbons were tied into a knot, which left the fringed end free. This established the basic design of the epaulette as it evolved through the 18th and 19th centuries. Another story has them beginning as pieces of armor to protect the shoulders.

From the 18th century on, epaulettes were used in the French and other armies to indicate rank. The rank of an officer could be determined by whether an epaulette was worn on the left shoulder, the right shoulder or on both. Later a "counter-epaulette" (with no fringe) was worn on the opposite shoulder of those who wore only a single epaulette. Epaulettes were also expensive being made of silver or gold for officers, sometimes solid metal, and other times plated. They were made out of cloth of various colors or cheaper metal for the enlisted men of various arms. By the early eighteenth century, epaulettes became the distinguishing feature of an officer, leading to officers of military units without epaulettes to petition their government for the right to wear epaulettes, to ensure that they would be recognized as officers. Certain cavalry specialties wore flexible metal epaulettes referred to as shoulder scales, rarely worn on the field. In Europe, some light infantry wore cloth counter-epaulettes. Flying artillery wore "wings", similar to an epaulette but with only a bit of fringe on the outside, which matched the shoulder seam. Heavy artillery wore small balls representing ammunition on their shoulders.

Army general wore epaulettes until early in the Twentieth Century. Navy officers also started wearing epaulettes during the Revolutionary War and did not give them up for their full dress uniforms until just before World War II. Marine officers wore epaulettes on their special full dress uniforms until 1922.

The embroidered rank insignia usually appeared on the epaulette strap or near the "crescent," the rounded portion over the end of the shoulder. For some ranks, such as Major or Second Lieutenant, the size of these were the epaulette or the size of the fringes were the main clues of rank since those officers did not wear insignia.

Along with being expensive, epaulettes made pretty good targets so the Army switched to a five-sided flap of cloth called a shoulder strap in 1831 for other than dress uniforms. It is sewn into the shoulder seam and the end buttoned like an epaulette.

 The Navy had been using straps since 1830. The officers wore the straps across their shoulders at the sleeve seams of their coats. Usually the straps had raised edges of embroidered gold or silver with the rank insignia embroidered between the edges. Navy officers wore shoulder straps until 1899 when they changed to their current shoulder marks. Army and Marine officers wore the straps until the first few years of this century when they changed to metal pin-on type insignia. They started wearing the metal insignia just before the end of the Nineteenth Century on their new khaki or olive drab uniforms but also wore the straps on some uniforms. Army officers still wear shoulder straps on their blue uniforms. Many also wear embroidered insignia.

An intermediate form in some services, such as the Russian Army, is the shoulder board, which neither has a fringe nor extends beyond the shoulder seam.

From the shoulder board was developed the shoulder mark, a flat cloth tube that is worn over the shoulder strap and carries embroidered or pinned-on rank insignia. The advantages of this are the ability to easily change the insignia as occasions warrant.

Navy officers started wearing stripes of gold lace on their sleeve cuffs in 1852 but in different patterns than today. Captains, for instance, had just three stripes. I will tell when each rank got its current number of stripes when I discuss that rank. The use of metal pin-on rank insignia by Navy officers started in 1941 when they wore the insignia on the collars of their khaki shirts.

Quite an interesting fact:

'Monkey handles' was a common 19th Century slang term for epaulettes that developed in British colonies of the African sub continent. British officers would often take baby monkeys as pets and the monkeys would commonly seize the epaulettes as a means of hanging on to their owner. This behaviour mimicked their holding onto parents in the wild.

Lanyards

Did you ever wonder where lanyards came from, and why? The French word "lanière" was used to refer to a strap or rope in the late medieval period, and by the 17th century lanyard meant a rope used to fasten things down on a ship. By the Victorian era, lanyards were used to carry a knife, pistol or whistle by soldiers who wore them under their uniforms, over one shoulder rather than around the neck. Ceremonial lanyards were fancy colored braids worn under officers' epaulets (shoulder decorations) in the 19th century - apparently Napoleon really liked them (especially the very fancy kind). These kinds of lanyards are still made for military dress uniforms today.