Mounted Officer 1840

The first history of the 13th was published in 1842 and written by Richard Cannon. This is the only illustration in the book. It is a hand coloured lithograph of an officer in the uniform that was adopted at the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. The red jackets favoured by William IV were replaced by blue ones to match the trousers. The facings were still white. The 1846 dress regulations for light dragoon officers stipulate: double-breasted, two rows of buttons, 8 in each row, the distance between the rows two and a half inches at top, one and a half at bottom. Also, gold bullion fringes at the back with very short plaited tails, three buttons on each side. The gold figuring on the cuffs can be seen better on the portrait of Col. MacLean. The epualettes are gold and beautifully embroidered on the top where they can't easily be seen. The gold lace and white centre stripe of the pouch belt are only suggested here. The sabretache he wears is the second to last pattern (see sabretaches). The shabracque is similar to the one shown in the 1832 Spooner print but with Victoria's cypher and the motto VIRET in AETERNUM. The horse's bridle has a black throat plume. This was changed to white a few years later. The shako in this print seems the same as the 1830s pattern ie. bell-shaped. It was soon to be changed to the straight- sided Albert shako.

13th Light Dragoons: Uniforms | Regimental details