Lieutenant, Dress Uniform 1846

The uniform in this portrait is the dress uniform as worn in review order. The jacket is well covered with gold cord that has five rows of gilt ball buttons. Very little of the blue cloth can be seen between the cords. The collar shows more scarlet cloth than the field officer’s jacket shown on this page. This could be explained by the absence of gold lace on the lower edge of the collar. The cuff is also devoid of the inch wide lace that we saw on the field officer’s jacket, thus indicating Troop officer status.
The portrait shows how the crimson cords from the barrel sash hook up to a ball button, and the way the gold cap-lines attach to the busby and loop around his neck. The busby, introduced in 1837, was made of bearskin, eight inches high with a plume of egret feathers that in 1839 was reduced to 9 inches. However, the plume in this portrait looks well over 9 inches.
The portrait is inscribed on the back: ‘This portrait of Lt. Js Benjamin Dennis R H A who was promoted up on 1st April 1846, was painted in 1846 by Stephen Crowe of 16 Suffolk St. Dublin.’

Regimental Details | Uniforms