Pair of epaulettes, full dress, levee dress, officers’, Shrewsbury Troop, Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry, worn by Capt Francis Knyvett Leighton (1772-1834), 1832 (c).

Leighton served in the 46th and 61st Foot from 1789 to 1803, resigning his commission on the signing of the Treaty of Amiens. On the voyage back from Malta to England he received news he had been promoted to Major, but attempts to rescind his resignation failed. 

From 1804 to 1830 he served as Lieutenant Colonel of the Shrewsbury Volunteers, then a Major and Lieutenant Colonel in Regular and Local Militia and finally Captain, South Shropshire Yeomanry. He was also elected Mayor of Shrewsbury in 1834 but died in office later that year.