Sabretache, 4th (Queen's Own) Light Dragoons, 1840

Leather with metal threads and velvet, 1840.

A sabretache is a leather pouch that hangs from a cavalry officer's belt. The 4th (Queen's Own) Light Dragoons was one of the Queen's cavalry regiments 'lent' to the East India Company to supplement its native troops during the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842). The regiment marched with the Army of the Indus in 1839, though in the event it did not see much action. Lieutenant William Taylor of the regiment described the journey to Kandahar as difficult and tedious:

'The only thing that might be said to have broken the monotony of the route was an occasional shot which told the fate of some poor horse broken down by fatigue and privation'.