Officers 1844


This engraving from a painting by Henry Martens and was published on 20th Aug 1844. The officer in the foreground has a very similar uniform to the one introduced in 1830 except that the bearskin is different. It is the same height as before (12 inches according to Dress Regulations) but has no badges front and rear, and no gold tassels. The plume is scarlet cut feather, ten inches long compared with the 7 inches long white goat hair for the Grenadier Guards.

The coatee is scarlet with a blue collar and cuffs. The collar is blue all the way round whereas the 1830 collar was red at the back. Rank badges were still the same. The officer has dark trousers for winter and a crimson sash with long tassels on his left side.

The rear view of an officer in dress shows the absence of a back badge on the bearskin, also the blue collar. The colourist has given him gold garter stars on the coat-tails which is wrong, they should be silver like the stars on the collar. The other officer, in undress, wears the dark blue frock coat with summer trousers. This must be artistic license because all ranks were required to wear summer trousers only between 1st May and 14th October. His forage cap does not conform to Dress Regulations 1834 or 1846 which both stipulate an embroidered garter star badge, although it does now have an embroidered gold edge to the peak.


Uniforms | Regimental Details


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by Stephen Luscombe