Sowar 1887

The sowar has a blue kurta with red facings. He is quite a short man so the kurta appears to come below his knees. In the early days the Punjab Cavalry wore high jack boots but by the mid 1880s the boots were below the knee. The red cuffs are pointed and he has a gold lace good conduct stripe on his left sleeve. There is a low red collar and red piping follows the fly front down to the waist. His turban is pale blue with red and white stripes, and he has a red cummerbund under his black waistbelt. The shoulder chains have a red cloth backing which appears as a red edge. The pouchbelt is black leather. His medals include the Indian Order of Merit which was awarded for acts of great bravery in the same way that the VC was awarded to British soldiers. The other medal looks like the Afghanistan War (1878-80) medal.

Uniforms | Regimental History