Stubbs Painting of the 10th Light Dragoons, 1793


This well-known painting in the Royal Collection is by George Stubbs, best known for his skill at painting and drawing horses. There at least two other paintings by Stubbs of men and horses of this regiment. He was more concerned with NCOs and the rank and file, than officers. The painting is signed and dated 1793, and was moved from the Prince’s residence, Carlton House, to the Royal Lodge at Windsor Great Park in 1822. The formal group includes two sergeants, a private and a trumpeter. This amount of accurate information on the uniforms of other ranks in the 1790s is extremely rare.

The uniforms (in this reproduction) are much paler than we would expect. Throughout the army the officers had good quality cloth compared with the men, and sergeants had better quality than the ranks below them. Portraits of officers of this period show them in dark blue uniforms. The poorer quality uniforms of the lower ranks were less vivid. The two right hand figures give us the opportunity to compare a sergeant with a private. Not only are their uniforms a slightly different shade, but the sergeant has two yellow chevrons on his right sleeve. Both men are wearing the under-jacket without the sleeveless shell on top, like the mounted sergeant. The shell has yellow shoulder straps to hold the belts in place, and the standing soldiers do not appear to have them. The decorative lace across the chest is silver for the sergeant, as is the lace around his collar and cuff. The private has white worsted lace on his jacket, and a plain, edged yellow collar while both sergeants have a silver button loop in the middle.

The sergeant is also distinguished by a yellow sash around his waist. It has blue and silver edges and a fancy knot on his right side. The sash on the mounted sergeant is concealed under his arm. The crossed white belts support white ammunition pouches on their right hip, and bayonet scabbards and swords on their left. The sergeant holds his Elliott carbine in the ‘order arms’ position while the private holds it in the ‘present arms’ position, both with fixed bayonets. Unlike the mounted figure, the standing soldiers have shoes with ankle gaiters so that their stockinged calves are exposed. Little can be seen of their Tarleton caps but they have yellow turbans and yellow feather plumes on the left side.

The mounted figure shows the side of his cap which has a silver regimental badge high on the right side. The bearskin crests are of good quality fur and rest on the front peak. His hair is powdered and appears to be formed into a club at the back. As mentioned before, he wears a sleeveless blue shell jacket over his braided blue jacket. This shell has cloth shoulder wings and yellow straps to hold the belts in place while riding. The tails are short and have yellow turn-backs. The slash on his cuff has three buttons. The yellow rank stripes have silver edges. It seems that the 10th were the first regiment to introduce rank stripes for NCOs as they were not officially sanctioned for other regiments until 1803.

The butt of his Elliott carbine is tucked under his pouch-belt although he does have a spring clip to secure that end. This clip is more visible on the private’s pouch-belt. The sword is the 1788 pattern with a very long blade. Behind his saddle is a neatly rolled blue cloak which has the white lining on the outside. The impressive deep yellow saddle cloth has regimental badges on the rear corners and on the holster covers. The edging has a complicated series of coloured stripes of equal width: red, silver, blue, yellow, blue, silver, red. The edge of the yellow shabraque shows on the outside.

The overweight trumpeter in yellow uniform is dealt with under Musicians and Trumpeters


Regimental Details | Uniforms


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by Stephen Luscombe