Mounted Officer 1901

Richard Simkin's series of lithographs published around the end of the 19th century included this one of British Officers in Indian cavalry regiments: Military Types-no.163 published in 1901. The figure on the horse is an officer of the 5th Punjab Cavalry (the one in the foreground is of the 13th Bengal Lancers). It is of interest because it shows that the old fashioned plumed helmet had been replaced by a white helmet, in line with other regiments, before the change of title to 25th Cavalry. The pagri around the helmet is coloured in a similar way to the Indian officers' turbans, red with gold and black stripes. Later photos of the officers of the 25th show them to have white pagris.
The other point of interest is the sabretache which was officially discontinued in November 1898 for this regiment. As the officer of the 5th is he only one wearing a sabretache it is safe to assume that Simkin made a deliberate effort to show this, and that officers continued to wear them, probably until 1903. The way he has drawn it is not very accurate, however, because he has given it the wrong shape if we compare it with Officer's Sabretache 1881-98

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