Officers in India 1871

This photo of officers of the 20th Hussars is in the British Library, and we are grateful to them for allowing us to have it on our website. As the caption states, it was taken in Umballa, India in 1871. The dress uniforms worn by some of the officers have changed little since 1866 when the last group photo was taken, although the field officers’ sleeve decoration on the uniforms worn by the two majors standing in the middle are more flamboyant than the earlier uniforms. The rank badges were worn on the collar and we can compare the rank indicators of the majors with those of the lieutenant sitting in profile on the right. Majors and lieutenants both had a star badge on each side of the collar, but there was gold lace and decorative braid on the collars of the majors (and lieutenant-colonels) but only gold lace and straight braid on the collars of subalterns.
The trousers worn by all the officers remained the same for dress and undress, being blue with a double gold lace stripe. For mounted order they had leathering around the ankle and up the inside leg to just above the knee as can be seen on the subalterns on the right. The standing officer is in mounted drill order with sword and plain black undress sabretache. His blue stable jacket has gold piping around the edges and a simple loop on the cuff. Sword knots are more in evidence in this 1871 photo than in the 1866 group. Dress sword knots were gold and crimson with a large acorn end. The undress sword knot in this photo looks as if it is plain leather, probably black. His sword and sabretache slings are also plain leather. The other officers wear the blue frock coat or the short patrol jacket These are blue with six flat braided loops and four rows of black olivets down the front.
The caption names the officers as follows. I have added their first names and dates of promotion according to Hart’s Army List of 1871. They are, from left to right:
Standing
Captain Henry Alexander Walford Cornet 20 Sep 54, Lieut 23 Nov 56, Capt 9 Mar 67
Lieutenant John Thomas Browne Cornet 13 Jul 67
Captain Arthur Westby Brodhurst Cornet 24 Jun 57, Lieut 18 May 58, Capt 30 May 68
Cornet Henry Augustus Wetherall Cornet 2 Sep 68
Major Robert Alexander Cornet 20 Dec 48, Lieut 10 Aug 50, Capt 23 Nov 56, Maj 7 Dec 67
Surgeon Major John Phillips Cuningham MD Asst Surgeon 13 Apr 52, Surgeon 11 Mar 59
Captain John Dent Bird Cornet 20 Aug 59, Lieut 20 Aug 60
Lieutenant Cecil Mangles Cornet 20 Feb 61, 16 Oct 66
Lieutenant William Chetwode Lloyd Cornet 11 Dec 66
Seated on Chairs
Lieutenant & Adjutant Horace Hilton Perkin Cornet 25 April 68
Lieutenant David Carruthers Budd Cornet 8 Jun 60, Lieut 9 Mar 67
Major Charles McClintock Cotton Cornet 3 Mar 42, Lieut 17 Oct 46, Capt, 23 Nov 56, Maj 9 Mar 67
Captain John Cutts Lockwood Cornet 20 Jan 54, Lieut 31 Dec 54, Capt 15 Nov 64
Lieutenant Charles Bailley Cornet 16 Nov 61, Lieut 18 April 68
Seated on the Ground
Cornet Francis John Graves Cornet 23 Jan 69
Cornet William John Irwin Cornet 23 Jan 69
Image Courtesy of Ben Giffard

Regimental Details | Uniforms