Officers in Mess Dress c1902

The uniforms here appear to be black all over although described as Rifle green in dress regulations. The frogging across the chest is formed with black mohair square cord in 5 waved loops with four knitted olivets to each row. The collar and cuffs are of scarlet cloth with half inch wide black mohair braid around the top edge of the collar and inch wide braid edging the pointed cuff. The scarlet cloth of the cuff is decorated with thin Russia braid in small circlets on the inside and outside of the braid. On the back of the jacket the seams are trimmed with a double row of quarter inch mohair braid forming a crows foot at the top. And finishing at the waist where there are 2 black mohair barrels as part of the braided bottom edge of the jacket.
The 1900 Dress Regulations describe the waistcoat as follows: Rifle-green cloth, single breasted, no collar, open halfway down. Hooks and eyes. Half inch mohair braid on edges, with a quarter inch braid down the front, one inch from the edge. Scarlet cloth between the two braids, with row of eyes of black Russia braid down front edge on the scarlet cloth. Pockets trimmed with quarter inch mohair braid, forming a crow's foot at each end, edged all round with scarlet cloth.
The officer on the left is wearing his mess jacket fastened down the front with his full dress pouch-belt over the top and a pill-box forage cap which was replaced a few years later with the more familiar peaked forage cap. This order of dress was popular in the cavalry regiments but not seen so much in the rifle regiments.

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