Colour Sergeant c1825


This naive painting of Colour Sergeant Dollery and his family was probably painted in India. The rank of colour sergeant was instituted in 1813. The coat is waist length at the front and has long tails at the back with white turn-backs. The collar and cuffs are yellow, the collar having white lace along the edge and forming a loop in the middle either side to go with a white metal button. On the cuffs there are buttons with loops but no lace round the edge. The buttons down the front of the coat are in pairs with white lace extending across the chest. On his right sleeve is the badge of rank, a single chevron with a flag crossed with two swords and a crown above. The shoulders have white edged straps with a white tuft at the point of the shoulder.

He has a sash round his waist which is crimson with a stripe of the facing colour in the middle. This helps to hold his white sword belt in place which is hung on his right shoulder. There is a plain brass belt plate with 34 in the middle. He does not appear to carry a sword, perhaps because he is walking out, which explains the stick. His trousers are white for summer wear and he has a small fob hanging from his waist with a blue ribbon.

The shako is the bell topped type with a simple brass badge marked 34. The chin-chain is fastened above the peak. He has a white over red plume to show that he is in a battalion company. The plume was changed to a round ball tuft in 1829. The battalion companies of infantry regiments were required to have the white part taking up two thirds of the tuft and the red part occupying the lower third. But in the 34th the distinction of the red and white plume in memory of their action at Arroyo dos Molinos was officially recognized with the stipulation that in their case the ball should be equally red and white.

The inscription reads:

In many a hardship have I been
With many a thousand more,
But we will hope soon to return
To our dear native shore.
Oh grant ye Powers that rule above
Our son may grow in grace;
And may he still protected be
In every dangerous place.
Dear Aunt accept this trifling gift
This token of good will;
For though we now are far from you
Yet we shall love you still.


Uniforms | Regimental Details


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by Stephen Luscombe