5th Dragoon Guards


Drumhorse 1893


This dark drumhorse was photographed in India in 1893 with a corporal drummer who wears a dress tunic with yellow cord aiguilettes and a white tropical helmet with brass spike. He has 3 medals which indicates that he served in the Camel Corps detachment of 1885, or transferred from another regiment, as the 5th DG had been on home service since the Crimea. There is a badge over his chevrons that appears to be the crossed trumpets of a trumpeter. The NCO's badge of the running White Horse badge was worn on the stripes from c1900. The drum banner looks new in this photo. It certainly dates after 1882 when the four battle honours were conferred for the Marlborough wars. The complicated nature of the design would suggest that the two banners took a few years to complete. The backing cloth is crimson velvet and the scrolls, according to R G Harris (MHS vol XIV May 1964), are of green velvet, although most illustrations show pale blue or blue-green scrolls. There is also a green stripe between the wide and narrow gold lace borders of the banner.


Regimental details | Drumhorses and Band


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by Stephen Luscombe