Sir Alfred Scott Gatty, Garter King-at-Arms, points out that the matter is really outside the College of Arms, and it does not come under the jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain’s department, which usually arranges all matters connected with official dress.
Before, however, we touch on the various kinds of cockades, and mention those by whom the different types are at present worn, it will be well to deal with the construction and evolution of the cockade, and we shall be able to show that it has considerable claims to be considered something more than a mere conventional rosette. As regards actual material, the basis of the cockade consists of leather, which is japanned, while a certain amount of ribbon may also be used. In the case of mourning, we find that the cockade should properly be covered with black cloth (see Figure [117]), but nowadays a piece of crape is often twisted round the one generally worn. The ribbon is usually merely a small bow tied in the middle of the rosette (see Figure [116]), but the centre of the latter may be covered with ribbon and the bow replaced by a button.
Fig. 117.—A “treble cockade” covered with black cloth for mourning. The concentric circles would appear to represent the twisted liripipe of the chaperon.
The cockades worn by the Royal servants on the front of their three-cornered hats on state occasions (see Figure [120]) are large. The rosette has points, while the upper part, or fan, shows them in profusion, and there is no silk bow. The Royal cockade for semi-state has a simple fan, while that worn on the silk hat at ordinary times (see Figure [121]) has no fan, but the edges are cut into points and there is a bow of ribbon in the centre.
Fig. 118.—Treble cockade used by Chelsea pensioners.