New Zealand Militia cap

A New Zealand Militia officers' cap belonging to Major George Vance Shannon, who helped found the township of Shannon in Horowhenua.

Shannon immigrated to New Zealand from Ireland in 1865 and settled in Nelson. After establishing a wholesale and manufacturing business in Wellington he became a director of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. In 1882 the company signed a contract with the government to construct a railway line between Wellington and Longburn, near Palmerston North. The project was successfully completed in 1886. Several directors of the company – Shannon, Plimmer, Levin and Linton – were commemorated in the names of the new 'railway towns' established along the line.

The cap is from the period Shannon spent with the New Zealand Militia in Wellington, where he helped raise the Wellington Rifles.