Shoulder belt plate, other ranks, 72nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Manchester Volunteers), 1778-1783

A shoulder belt plate was an ornamental badge worn on a leather belt which hung from the wearer's shoulder to support a sword or bayonet. The 72nd Regiment of Foot was raised in 1777 by the City of Manchester specially for service at Gibraltar during the American War of Independence (1775-1783). When the Spanish siege of the rock began in 1779, the regiment mustered over 1,000 men. By the time it ended in 1783, nearly one third of the regiment were dead or wounded. Captain John Drinkwater, who served in the regiment, was the author of 'A History of the Late Siege of Gibraltar', one of the most famous accounts of that event.