Private in Undress c1870

This picture of John Drennen in stable dress is the earliest photographic evidence of other ranks' undress uniform, kindly supplied by Lynne Davies, his great grand-daughter. It is blue with white braid edging, shoulder cords and cuff loop. The trousers have double white stripes and the pillbox cap has a white cap-band. The collar and cuffs are of the same dark blue colour, not white like the hussar-style dress uniform. He wears his white leather pouchbelt and has his sword slung from a waistbelt which is under his jacket. Officers' undress of this period can be seen in the head-and-shoulders photo of the Earl of Warwick in which he is wearing a peaked forage cap and a blue and black frock-coat or patrol jacket.