Full dress tunic : Lieutenant Colonel R Vandeleur Kelly, NSW Army Medical Corps

Places	Africa: South Africa Oceania: Australia, New South Wales, Sydney
Accession Number	REL36938.001
Collection type	Heraldry
Object type	Uniform
Physical description	Gilded brass, Gold bullion lace, Polished cotton, Silk, Superfine wool
Maker	Unknown
Date made	c 1899
Conflict	South Africa, 1899-1902 (Boer War) Australian Colonial Forces, 1854-1900

Description

Dark blue superfine wool tunic with black velvet stand collar and pointed cuffs. Upper edge of collar decorated with gold lace and a pattern of repeating loops, with the lower edge decorated with double gold Russia braid. Twisted gold bullion braid cord shoulder straps each with an embroidered silver bullion star and embroidered silver crown for the rank of lieutenant colonel and fitted with two small gilded NSW Military Forces buttons. Pointed cuffs are decorated with two padded chevrons of gold lace traced with gold Russia braid forming an Austrian knot above and a crowsfoot and eye below, and featuring the pattern of repeating loops denoting an officer of the Army Medical Staff, on a black velvet ground. Tunic has eight large gilded brass NSW Military Forces buttons at the front and two at the back waist, all marked 'G. Anderson. Sydney' on the reverse. The tunic edges are piped with scarlet wool. Tunic and collar fully lined with black wool and polished cotton mixture, with a quilted and padded silk panel across the chest and under the arms. Neck fastens with pair of brass hook and eyes. Brass belt hook fitted to outside left waist.

History / Summary

Related to the service of Robert Vandeleur Kelly. Kelly was born at Glencara, Ireland on 26 July 1843 and educated at Bonn and later at The King's School, Parramatta. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, graduating in 1873, and worked as a dispensary medical officer in the Westmeath Militia. Following his marriage in 1877 and a further 12 years as medical surgeon associated with a number of militia units, Kelly emigrated to Australia in 1889. Here, he established a practice in Sydney. Commissioned in the NSW Military Forces on 12 October 1889 and promoted to surgeon major on 9 January 1896, Kelly was the founder of the St John Ambulance Corps in NSW in 1890. As a temporary lieutenant colonel, Kelly served with the second and third contingents to the Boer War, commanding the NSW Army Medical Corps and serving in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and was mentioned in dispatches. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1902 and died in 1913. He can be seen wearing this uniform in image P05942.001.