This example taken from the Military Gentleman website, is a well-preserved example of an officer’s doublet that replaced the short-lived double-breasted doublet introduced in 1855. The doublet was an effort on the part of the authorities to provide a more Scottish version of the tunic that was being issued to the rest of the British infantry. The 1855 version even had square, or diamond-shaped, buttons but these were unpopular and the 1856 doublet saw a return to the pattern that had been worn since c1804. The scarlet garment was close-fitting on the body but the sleeves were baggy enough to allow arm movement. The collar and cuffs were green until 1873 when they were changed to blue. The collar was 2 inches high, rounded at the front, and the round cuff 2.75 inches deep, overlaid with a green slashed flap with three buttons embellished with loops of Russia braid. The top of the cuff had gold lace all around and the edges were lined with white piping. This white piping followed all the edges of the doublet.
The garment was fastened with 8 gilt buttons. The same pattern buttons were used on the Inverness skirts so that there were 28 large buttons and two smaller ones on the shoulders to fasten the plain gold double cords. The Inverness skirts left a gap at the front for the sporran to show, and were doubled, with extra skirting at the back. Each skirt flap had three buttons with Russia braid loops reaching to the waist.
This example has no rank badges which indicates that it was never worn. The lowest rank officer was an ensign for which an embroidered star was worn on each side of the collar. Lieutenants had an embroidered crown, captains a crown and star. Ranks above captain had extra gold lace on the cuff flaps and on the edges of the four Inverness skirt flaps, and gold lace along the base of the collar as well as an extra row of lace on the round cuffs. The photo of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor shows the field officer’s doublet. He has a crown on his collar, while majors had a star, and full colonels a crown and star.
