Privates, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, 1895 (c)

Glass negative, W Gregory and Company, 51 Strand, London, 1895 (c).

This image comes from a collection of glass plate negatives associated with William Gregory and Company. The negatives depict the British Army, including some members of the colonial forces, 'at home' in Britain during the 1890s.

As well as being intimate portraits of soldiers from this era, the images provide detailed illustrations of uniforms worn during the high point of military tailoring.

The two privates are pictured wearing scarlet single breasted tunics. The buttons of the tunics, grouped in pairs, identify the regiment as the Coldstream Guards. The cuffs are round with a four buttoned slash. The collars, cuffs, and shoulder straps are piped white. The collars are also decorated with the badge of the Garter Star. They wear white Slade-Wallace equipment (belts and pouches) with a haversack and mess tin under their arms and a black valise on their backs.

The blue cloth trousers have a scarlet stripe down the outside seams, and are worn over black boots. They wear bearskin caps and are holding rifles.

One of a collection of 280 glass negatives, associated with Gregory and Company, London, and F G O Stuart, 1892 (c)-1900.