Private, Marching Order 1897

Simkin's illustration of a private of the South Wales Borderers shows the undress scarlet frock which had 7 buttons down the front, white collar and cuffs, and red shoulder straps with SWB embroidered in white thread. The cuffs are rounded and the collar appears to have the Sphinx badge rather than the Welsh dragon. The white facings were adopted in 1881 when the Cardwell reforms re-organised the Infantry. All English non-Royal regiments had to change from their traditional colours to white. The 24th were very unhappy about losing their grass-green facings but were permitted to change back to this colour in 1905.
The white helmet has a spike on top and no badge on the front. This is the foreign service helmet for hot climates. It differs from the white helmet worn in the 1890 painting by Norie where the helmets are topped with a brass ball and there is a badge. Simkin produced a print in his famous series of British Army uniforms, in 1893, based on Norie's painting. In that print he copies the ball top and badge, not realising that the ball top was probably only worn by the men who dealt with horse-drawn vehicles. In the painting we have here, the soldier is wearing Slade-Wallace equipment with the waterproof valise high on his back and the rolled greatcoat at waist level. The cross belts are for water-bottle and haversack and he holds a Lee-Metford rifle. The trousers are blue with a thin red stripe and tucked into blue puttees which replaced the waterproof gaiters worn since the late 1850s.

Uniforms | Regimental Details