THE GORGET WAS a last remnant of past ages when full body armour had been worn which included simple circular neck rings to protect the neck area. The throat – in French, gorge – was protected by the gorget.
Date of manufacture:
c. 1796–1815
Location:
Private collection
Gradually over the centuries, the gorget became smaller and more symbolic, worn only as a status symbol linking its wearer to nobility and the age of chivalry, becoming a single crescent shape worn on a chain which became increasingly longer so that the gorget no longer protected the throat in normal wear.
French gorget.
The gorget was a small curved metal plate which was worn by officers to indicate their rank and that they were on duty. Gorgets were worn with a ribbon and rosette at each end, in the colour of the uniform facings of the regiment, excepting those who had facings of black, who were ordered to wear them with a red ribbon. The gorget was to be fastened to the top buttons of the jacket, and the lower part of it was not allowed to hang below the fifth button.
Gorgets ceased to be worn by British army officers in 1830, and by their French counterparts twenty years later. They were still worn to a limited extent in the Imperial German Army until 1914, as a special distinction for officers of the Prussian Gardes du Corps. Officers of the Spanish infantry continued to wear gorgets until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1931.
The gorget was revived as a uniform accessory during Germany’s Third Reich, seeing widespread use within the German military and Nazi Party organisations.