Place | Oceania: Australia, Queensland |
---|---|
Accession Number | REL/19883.002 |
Collection type | Heraldry |
Object type | Uniform |
Physical description | Ferrous metal, Gilded brass, Leather, Wool worsted |
Maker |
Unknown |
Place made | Australia |
Date made | c 1885-1901 |
Conflict |
Period 1910-1919 Period 1900-1909 Australian Colonial Forces, 1854-1900 |
Short cape: Major T B Robinson, Moreton Regiment, Queensland Defence Forces
Dark grey woollen short cape with sloping stand collar. Collar has five buttonholes for attachment to coat. Four small gilded brass Queensland Defence Force buttons down the front made by 'H W MARTIN LONDON'. At the neck, a thick leather strap on the left front and corresponding strap with coated ferrous metal buckle on the right. Lower cut edge of cape is raw. Inside cape is fully lined with grey wool ratinet crepe with linen effect. Towards the lower section of the lining are three woolen tabs, each with a buttonhole for attachment to cape; one positioned at the lower centre back and one each at the sides.
Worn by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Thomas Bilbe Robinson as a major in 1886. Sir Thomas was born in England in 1853 and was sent to Rockhampton, Queensland, in 1881 as a shipping manager. He soon joined the Queensland Volunteer Force and was commissioned as an acting lieutenant in 1883, a captain in the Moreton Regiment in 1885, and a major in 1886. He moved to the unattached list in 1888 and retired in 1893. Sir Thomas had successful widespread shipping and commercial interests. He was appointed agent-general for Queensland in London in 1910. By 1914 he had such wide ranging influence in the world wide trade in frozen meat that he was appointed Director of Meat Supply for the Allied armies. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1913, a Knight of the Order of the British Empire in 1917 and a Knight Grand Cross of the same order in 1920. He was also made honorary lieutenant-colonel in the British Army in 1919. His other decorations include a chevalier of the French Legion d'Honneur awarded in 1917, a commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1918, and a commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium in 1919. He died in England in 1939.