Dumfriesshire Rifle Volunteers military cap, c1840.

This belonged to Lieutenant Arnott of Kirkconnel Hall, Ecclefechan, grand nephew of Dr Archibald Arnott, Napoleon's medical attendant on St Helena.   During the 1800s burghs were responsible for defending their towns in the event of war or unrest. Militias were mobilised in towns like Dumfries to meet the threat posed by the first Jacobite rebellion in 1715 then again in 1745. The Rifle Volunteers were the predecessors of the present-day Territorial Army.