Other Ranks, Marching Order 1892

This photo was reproduced in Colonel Walton’s book, Simkin’s Soldiers: The British Army in 1890 vol II. He says it is a very well known photo of 1/Yorkshires and describes it: ‘The men are of the 1st Battalion and wearing the normal 7 button frock with white collar and cuffs. They all wear too the scarlet button-on patch on the left breast, developed to protect the white buff straps and, to a lesser extent the jacket, from oil stains when the rifle was carried at the left shoulder. The Lee-Metford had been issued, incidentally, to the 1st Bn at Portsmouth in about March 1892 and to the 2nd Bn in Burma on 7 Apr 1893. More interesting though is the relatively unusual practice of wearing the 1882 valise equipment with the 1888 pattern pouches. The 1st Bn did not receive the full Slade-Wallace 1888 pattern equipment until early 1897 when they were at the Curragh in Ireland. The pouches were obviously obtained early in order to be able to secure the new .303 ammunition in a manageable way; it would have been impossible to extract it easily and quickly from the much more capacious 1882 pattern pouch. Both sergeants are wearing the sash over the haversack strap, a common practice.’

Regimental Details | Uniforms