Lace and fringe sample, drummer, 16th (The Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot, sealed pattern, 1860

White worsted lace, 5/8 inch in width, bearing a yellow worm on each edge and a central red chevron design. Alternate red, white and yellow worsted fringe 1.75 inches long.

A 'sealed pattern' is a prototype of any item that the British Army issued to soldiers. It provided clothing or equipment suppliers with an example to copy.

Colonel Archibald Douglas' Regiment of Foot was formed in 1688, becoming the 16th Regiment of Foot in 1751. When county designations were added in 1782, it became the 16th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot, exchanging county titles with the 14th in 1809 to become the 16th (Bedfordshire) (Regiment of Foot). In 1958 the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, as it was known by then, amalgamated with the Essex Regiment to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) and in 1964 it was one of the regiments brought together to form the Royal Anglian Regiment.

The year before this drummer's fringe was sealed, the regiment raised a second battalion in Ireland and in the year after, it deployed to Canada for the American Civil War (1861-1865).