THE TOUCH OF THE SHAKO, EXETER, 1845.

From The Western Times  of 18th October 1845:

"An awkward affair happened on Friday afternoon, on the verge which separates the military from the municipal power - at the very gate of the Barracks.  A young man, named Nevin, more rash than wise, purchased from ex-Sergeant Scott, keeper of the inn in Barrack-lane, a suit of cast off regimentals, to appear at the eighteenpenny fancy ball.

"In the pride of his trappings, he felt himself "every inch a soldier," and in he walked into the barracks, and accosted Adjutant Moore with a very correct salute.  But the quick eye of the officer saw his round shoulders and in-turned toes, and even the touch of the shako proved him a civil 'un;  so he took him into custody, as in duty bound, and was leading him off, when Nevin's friend, William Welshman, who had watched him go in, with no idea that "the lark" would prove so serious, interfered, and pushed by the officer  who thrust him into the road.

"Upon this, Welshman summoned Mr. Moore next morning before the magistrates, who, after hearing Mr. Sayer, a gentleman who was in company with the officer, and also a witness named Moore, on the part of Welshman, dismissed the complaint, cautioning Nevin to be more discreet in future."

The Barracks:  This must, I suggest,  refer to the  Exeter Higher Barracks:  (these days the housing estate called Horseguards) where the 1st King's Dragoon Guards were stationed at this time.  This is confusing when Barrack-lane is mentioned because there is now no such lane in Exeter and because Barrack Road, in Topsham once bore that name but the "shako" was the Dragoon's headwear, as alterative to the helmet and the Dragoons, presumably, were in the Cavalry Barracks.

The inn in Barrack-lane: This might be the earliest reference, not yet recognised,  to the inn which became The Retreat, an inn at the junction of Newell Road and Prison Lane.  As, perhaps, its first(?) landlord ex-Sergeant Scott deserves his place in Exeter History.

The eighteenpenny fancy ball:  sounds fun!!

The touch of the shako: means Nevin's  'very correct' salute.  It was probably a disgrace,  not longest way up. shortest way down!,  and, I wager, was what gave him away to Mr. Moore.

This silly story (hardly the Captain of Koepenick!) somewhat illustrates the nature of civil/military relations in mid-Victorian Exeter.  Young Mr. Nevin thought it proper to go to the ball in a contemporary uniform;  he thought it would be a lark to walk, did he march?, into the barracks;  his friend Welshman did not hesitate to challenge an officer on military ground and, when roughly handled, he was quick to take the adjutant to court; the city magistrates seem to have dismissed the behaviour of the complainant and his friend as  merely 'indiscreet'.