This photo is one of a series of copy-photos hanging on the wall of a flight of stairs in Edinburgh Castle. They were photographed by me in August 2023 and the information stated that the original photos, dated c1850, were taken by David Octavius Hill. Each of the photos is captioned with the information accompanying the original, revealing either the nickname of the man or something he was in the habit of saying. The caption to the photo of this officer calls him Captain C W McCall who, whilst inspecting the men in his company would ask, “Are these your best set of accoutrements?” This indicates that the men had at least two sets of belts, pouches etc, one for parades and one for field exercises.
There is only one officer of that name in the record of officers in the regimental history, William McCall. He was an ensign on 29 Mar 1839, lieutenant on 8 June 1841 and a captain on 14 Nov 1841. He reached the rank of major on 12 Dec 1845 so he was in that rank when the photo was taken c1850. Major McCall served in the Crimea, at Alma and Balaklava, the expeditions to Kertch and Yenikale, and the siege of Sebastopol, including the assaults of 18 June and 8 Sep. He was given a brevet of lieutenant-colonel on 2 Nov 1855 and earned the Crimean medal with three clasps, the Turkish medal, and was appointed Knight of the Legion of Honour and awarded the Order of the Medjidie 5th Class.
The undress uniform that he wears is similar to that worn by Ensign Harrison. The scarlet shell jacket is fastened with small gilt buttons and has green cuffs and collar, and gold shoulder cords. His glengarry can be seen clearly from the right side, and he wears tartan trews. He has a waist-belt from which slings support a sword which is the usual infantry officers’ sword, not the broadsword carried in dress uniform.
