26th Regiment of Foot

Officers 1802

The coat worn by these two officers is the dress coat with long tails. The service jacket worn in marching order had shorter tails but, like the dress coat, buttoned to the waist. They have one silver epaulette on the right shoulder to signify the rank of lieutenant or captain. The sword belts have a silver and gilt rectangular belt-plate. See Officer's Shoulder-Belt Plate 1802-30 The gorget appears silver in this illustration but in 1796 all gorgets were ordered to be gilt with the coat of arms engraved. It is attached to buttons with yellow ribbon, the facing colour of the 26th. The left hand officer has a bicorn hat worn fore and aft while the other officer has the new shako which is the first version made of leather. In 1806 the shako was made of felt. The plumes are white over red to denote that they are in battalion companies; the single epaulette is also evidence of this fact. The grenadier company had a white plume and the coat had two epaulettes, the same for the light company except that they had a green plume and a different shako badge with a stringed bugle. In 1796 hair was ordered to be formed into a pigtail, 11 inches long, but in 1808 hair was required to be cut short.

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