'September 1854 On the March', Crimea, 1854 (c)

Pen and ink and watercolour by Captain (later Colonel) The Honourable William James Colville (1827-1903), Rifle Brigade, 1854 (c).

The march from Kalamita Bay to Sevastopol proved a testing one for the British soldier. Men died in their hundreds from cholera. The landscape was parched and water scarce. As Colville's drawing shows, it not take long for the soldier to adapt his dress to the conditions. The hated leather stock was discarded. Cast aside too was the Albert shako, to be replaced by the Kilmarnock bonnet, a soft forage cap.