South America

The identity of this cradle has been an enduring puzzle, but Gesner’s description does give a few clues that have recently been pieced together. He states that it was given by a Lieutenant Reilly of the 69th Regiment. It was found that the 69th Regiment or South Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot was stationed in the West Indies and Demerara, South America, from 1831 to 1838, after which they were posted to Nova Scotia (http://www.rrw.org.uk). In 1842 members of the Regiment were listed as garrisoned in Fredericton (Pryor, p. 68). Among the officers, was a Lieutenant D.K. O’Reilly, who must be Gesner’s Lieutenant Reilly. The fact that the Regiment had recently come from Demerara (now part of Guyana) suggests the cradle’s possible place of origin and, hence, its possible appearance. Study of the material culture of the region showed that the cradle could be a hammock sized for an infant or child. Examples from Guyana were found to be strikingly similar to this hitherto unidentified string object in the collection, now considered to be the cradle.

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Gesner’s Museum of Natural History