Officer's Forage Cap


The colour of this cap is described as scarlet in the Bosley auction catalogue (Dec 2001) although crimson would be more appropriate for the 20th Hussars. It seems that the 11th Hussars retained the monopoly on crimson while other cavalry regiments had to conform to universal scarlet. The regimental badge is gilt and the black patent leather peak has gold bullion along the front edge. The bullion indicated the status of field officer. Officers ranked captain and below had plain peaks. This modern style of forage cap was introduced experimentally in 1898 and probably adopted by the 20th when they returned to England in 1904. Other ranks had to be content with the peakless Broderick cap up until c1908 but then were issued with the modern peaked forage cap.


Regimental Details | Uniforms


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by Stephen Luscombe