Page:EB1911 - Volume 27.djvu/607



Royal Engineers (Plate II., line 2, No.5).—Scarlet tunic with garter, blue cuffs and collar, yellow shoulder-cords and piping, blue trousers with red stripe, helmet with royal arms on plate, and spike. Waist-belt white for men, gold-laced russia leather for officers, who wear also a pouch-belt of russia leather with a wavy gold lion in the centre.

Army Service Corps (Plate II., line 2, No. 1).—Blue tunic with white facings and white piping. Helmet with ball and plate, trousers blue with double white stripe. Officers, gold belts. Royal Army Medical Corps, blue uniform with magenta facings; Army Veterinary Corps, blue with maroon facings; Army Pay Corps, blue with yellow facings; Army Ordnance Corps, blue with red facings. The West India Regiment (negroes) wear a red sleeveless jacket over a white smock, baggy dark blue trousers, and a round cap with white puggaree.

The distinguishing mark of the staff officer in full dress is the aiguillette and the cocked hat with upright or drooping plume; in undress and service dress the red gorget patches on the collar. The full-dress uniforms of a field marshal and a general officer are shown in Plate II., line 1, Nos. 5 and 6.

Badges of Rank.—All officers have twisted gold shoulder-cords (except FootGuards, who wear a blue cloth shoulder-strap with lace edges); on these cords badges of rank are worn as follows: 2nd lieutenant, lieutenant and captain, 1, 2 and 3 stars; major, crown; lieutenant-colonel, crown and star; colonel, crown and 2 stars; brigadier-general, crossed swords; generals, sword and baton crossed, and (major-general) star; (lieutenant-general), crown; (general), crown and star; field marshal, crossed batons in a laurel wreath with crown above. In service dress (khaki), however. the badges are worn in worsted on a slashed flap of the sleeve, coupled with rings of braid (1 for a 2nd lieutenant or lieutenant, 2 for a captain, &c.), Non-commissioned officers wear chevrons (point downwards) on the upper right arm; lance-corporal or acting bombardier,1; corporal,2; sergeant,3; colour sergeant, 3 chevrons and crossed colours; staff-sergeant, 4 chevrons. On the lower part of the left arm chevrons(point up) are worn as “good

conduct” badges. A sergeant-major is dressed as an officer, except that he has a crown on the lower part of the right sleeve). There are also badges of proficiency such as crossed rifles for marksmen, a spur for rough-riders, a fleur-de-lys for scouts, &c.

Regimental Badges.—The grenade in various forms is worn by the Royal Artillery, the Grenadier Guards and the Fusilier regiments. The figure of Britannia was awarded to the (9th) Norfolk regiment for gallantry at Almanza, 1707. The White Horse of Hanover was given to some regiments for service against the Jacobites. The Lion of England was awarded by William III. to the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment for services against the troops of James II. The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment wear a Paschal Lamb, the badge of Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles II. The Dragon of Wales figures among the badges of all the Welsh regiments. Several regiments wear a castle and key in memory of services at Gibraltar, others have a tiger for services in India and still more a sphinx for Egyptian campaigns. The most general of all badges—though not the most generally worn—is the “stripped” rose. Nearly all corps possess several badges, which are combined in various ways.

The special interest of these badges is that they are peculiar to the British army. Although a badge of the branch (infantry, cavalry, &c.) is common, no other army wears distinctive regimental devices.

A few details of general practice may be added. All cavalry wear a pouch-belt over the left shoulder. The crimson infantry sash is worn by officers round the waist and by sergeants across the body and over the right shoulder. All officers and sergeants who do not wear the sash, to whatever branch they belong, have a pouch-belt, the pattern of course varying. Ankle boots (and sometimes leggings with them) are worn by dismounted men. Swords, except in the case of Scottish infantry, are worn suspended by slings from a belt (the belt in infantry, rifles and hussars being worn under the tunic or sash). On foreign service the uniform is varied according to circumstances, the most usual change being from the full dress head-dress to the white helmet.

The full dress of the territorial army varies greatly, sometimes conforming exactly to the uniform of the corresponding regular units, sometimes keeping to its original “Rifle” character in grey or green of various shades. The latter conform to the rules of the dress of “Rifles” (e.g. wear pouch-belts instead of sashes), and the former, though in many cases the silver lace and ornaments of the old volunteer force are retained, to those for the regulars, the distinguishing mark in all cases being the letter “T” on the shoulder or collar. The yeomanry cavalry is variously attired, some old regiments possessing rich old-fashioned hussar uniforms, others of recent formation wearing “service” colours only. Some regiments are dressed as dragoons, but the great majority are hussars. The infantry and artillery of the Honourable Artillery Company of London are dressed somewhat after the fashion of the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Horse Artillery.

Undress Uniforms.—In “walking-out” order most troops wear the tunic, Household Cavalry and Dragoons with waist-belts and sword-slings, lancers with girdle (R.F.A. and Army Service Corps also wear girdles in walking-out order), infantry and all other branches except hussars with waist-belt. Sergeants of infantry wear the sash and side-arms, the latter privilege being accorded also to corporals of the guards regiments. White gloves are worn by sergeants. Since the general introduction of khaki service dress, undress uniforms of red, blue, &c., have mostly disappeared, but the blue serge “jumper” is still retained. Officers of infantry (except in hussars and Rifles) have undress frock coats of various patterns. With these the “Sam Browne” equipment brown leather waist-belt, frog and the sash and slings are worn, but with the jumper and service frock, braces. Field officers have an edging of braid on the peak of the undress caps, staff and general officers an oak-leaf design.

Service Dress.—This, since the conclusion of the Boer War, is universally khaki Serge, of shooting-coat pattern, with a spinal pleat and four large pockets; all buttons and badges are in bronze. It has a double collar. A peaked cap, breeches or trousers, and puttees of the same colour are worn with it. The universal pattern greatcoat and Macintosh are also khaki coloured. The guards and staff officers, however, wear a light grey overcoat.

Mess Dress, for officers, after undergoing various modifications, now almost universally consists of a jacket with roll collar, waistcoat, and overalls and patent leather Wellington boots, the colours following in the main those of the full dress.

It remains to mention a few of the many regimental distinctions, trifling in themselves yet of the greatest importance as fostering regimental pride and as recalling specially gallant services in the old wars. The officers of the 7th Hussars and the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry wear linen collars with their undress uniforms. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers have a bow of black velvet (called a “flash,” this being an obsolete slang Word for “wig”) sewn to the back of the collar—a survival of the old-fashioned method of tying the hair in a club queue. The officers of certain regiments, in memory of severe losses, wear a black line in their gold lace. To commemorate Culloden the sergeants of the Somersetshire Light Infantry wear their sashes over the left shoulder as officers used to do. Until after the South African War the only fusilier regiment that wore plumed busbies was the Northumberland Fusiliers; now, however, all fusiliers wear a hackle (in the order of regiments shown in the