Joseph Fox Tarratt An Officer in the Artillery Militia 1893 1897

[bold]Object:[/bold][breakrow]This patrol jacket dates between 1893 – 1897 as worn by Captain Joseph Fox Tarratt from the West Scotland Artillery [ Previously named Argyll and Bute Artillery Militia]. Although the patrol jacket and its trousers are commonly associated with undress, the trousers are labelled ‘Parade’ making this a curious example of a parade uniform. As correct for later period patrol jackets, the jacket exists without a false collar [possibly removed] as commonly seen on late 1890’s uniform.[breakrow][breakrow][bold]Provenance:[/bold][bold][breakrow][/bold]Born in 1869, Joseph Fox Tarratt, son of Daniel Fox Tarratt and Mrs Mary Stewart was brought up along with his sister Mary Caroline Campbell Tarratt in Ormsary House, South Knapdale, Argyllshire, Scotland.[ Ancestry, Birth Records] His father, a wealthy landowner by occupation brought up his children in comfort until his sudden intestate death in 1888. Without a family will, Joseph Fox Tarratt succeeded his heritage estate along with one third of the movables, the whole moveable estate amounting to £6000, his sister inheriting the rest.[breakrow]Army lists report on the 5th of November 1892 Joseph Fox Tarratt commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant Artillery Militia Officer in the Argyll and Bute Artillery and later as a First Lieutenant in February 1894. Smitten and a devout protestant, on the 30th of April 1896, Joseph married Mary Georgina Helen McNeill, a marriage which led to the conception of William Stewart Tarratt [1897] and Duncan McNeill Fox Tarratt [1898]. Perhaps sensing his failing health at an early age like his father, Joseph resigned his commission in 1897 to spend more time with his children. Tragically, on the 31st of October 1898, Joseph Fox Tarratt died at the age of twenty-nine from unknown causes leaving behind a holograph will to his children and wife, his children being several months to a year old having grown up without a father in their lives. Sadly, both of his son’s aged 19 were killed during the First World War whilst trying to follow their father’s footsteps.[breakrow]