Men of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry), 1855

Photograph by Roger Fenton (1819-1869), Crimean War, 1855.

Equipment during the Crimean War (1854-1856) was not standardized and individual soldiers often discarded or adapted their own equipment for comfort, or when climate and conditions changed. These soldiers were still wearing the uncomfortable cross belts. As the war continued, a new waist-belt, which had been worn by some regiments at the start, began to be issued. However, many never received it. Even in February 1855 Adjutant-General Major-General James Bucknall Estcourt (1802-1855) reported in a letter that none of the regiments had yet received the new belt since arriving there.