Orlando Norie’s watercolour contains useful information about the 79th at this time. The painting appears to show the regiment in a British setting in 1860 but they were in India from 1857 to 1871. Photos show that dress uniform, as seen here, was worn in India in the cooler months, but Norie usually put a few palm trees in the background of his Indian scenes. The figures on the right of the picture are wearing medals for the Indian Mutiny and the Crimea so the scene is certainly in the 1860s.
The mounted officer is most likely to be the commanding officer, who from 1859 to 1864 was Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bromhead Butt. Colonel Hodgson took over in July 1864 but he had a full beard. Norie has given the CO a shoulder plaid which is correct for a mounted officer, but he has also put a white shoulder belt on him to hold his sword. However, mounted officers did not have a shoulder-belt, their sword (not a broadsword) was suspended from a waist-belt.
The CO is talking to a lieutenant who has a fly plaid attached to the left shoulder, and a sergeant in marching order who has a shoulder-belt to support an ammunition pouch on his right hip. The belt has a small white pouch for percussion caps on the front. There is also an extra pouch for ammunition on his waist-belt.
The group on the left shows the back view of a corporal in marching order. It shows how the shoulder-belt was secured under the waist-belt so that the black leather ammunition pouch rested on the rear of his right hip. The knapsack has a folded greatcoat on the outside, and a mess-tin on top in a waterproof cover. The Drummer is also in marching order. His only weapon is a bayonet attached to his waist-belt. His drum is carried on a drum carriage and he has a medal for the Indian Mutiny. The lace on his doublet has a repeating pattern that is shown as green in this painting. The piper is not burdened with valise equipment so that he is able to play marching music.
The red doublets are faced with green collars, cuffs and shoulder straps. The tartan is painted as having a predominant blue colour with strong red lines which unfortunately creates an impression of purple. In the background, between the two groups, can be seen bandsmen in white doublets and shoulder plaids. In 1871 the white doublets and tunics of infantry bandsmen were changed to red.
