Officers

The officer in full dress in the Spooner print is wearing a shako like this. In this case there are white cock feathers instead of a drooping horsehair plume. The 13th were in India until 1840 so it is more likely that the print is right, horsehair plumes were stipulated for wear in hot climates. With military artefacts like this shako it is often difficult to know if some of the attachments like the plume or the chinscales are the original ones. It could well be that an officer of the regiment was in England at the time and wore this plume. The festoon at the front is plaited in an elaborate way. On other shakos of this period the festoon hangs lower on the peak, explaining why there is no decoration on the peak. The chinscales are tied up above the crown which was the style in the 1820s but not so much in the 1830s according to the Spooner prints. The tassle and flounder at the end of the capline is lying in front of the cap; they correspond with the caplines in the print.

13th Light Dragoons: Uniforms | Regimental details