Officers’ Victorian Shabraque


This portion of dark blue cloth comes from the rear part of an officers’ shabraque. The VR cypher has the R reversed on the right. This design can be seen on Ackerman prints of the 1840s, apart from the fact that the crown in the prints is Victorian whereas the crown on the example pictured here, is Guelphic. The prints are by different artists; there was a large engraving published in Jan 1842 by Daubrawa. A smaller small print, published in April 1849 was drawn by Henry Martens (shown below left). A watercolour by Orlando Norie dated 1865 (below right) shows the shabraque with a Guelphic crown as does a photo of a mounted officer of 1885.

The devices are only on the rear part of the shabraque, the front part is blank. The crown, cypher and motto are all embroidered but the gun is gilt metal. It faces left as it does on the sabretache and pouches. Another photo of a complete Victorian shabraque showing both sides of the shabraque clearly has both guns facing left, not both facing to the front. A photo of a modern (EIIR) shabraque shows a gun facing right on the off side of the horse but other photos show a left-facing gun on both sides.


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by Stephen Luscombe