Nelson & His World

Before he took to wearing the chelengck, Nelson wore a black cockade in his hat, as in the image in the link.
http://tinyurl.com/c2zl84k

I was aware that the wearing of a white cockade signified allegiance to the Jacobite cause but not, until today, that the black cockade, as worn by Nelson and his fellow officers, indicated allegiance to the Hanoverians. I wonder if the black cockade was an optional extra or an integral part of an officer's uniform of the day.

Anna,

Thanks for that information. I had no idea that that is what the black cockade meant, and have seen no references to it.

Information on naval uniform of the period usually gives scant information on headgear in any case, and certainly nothing is mentioned about this aspect (at least in the books I have seen).

The black cockade would thus seem to be a part of the normal uniform for all naval officers (and by extension army officers) since they all served the Hanoverian monarchy.