Sabretache used by Lieutenant Walter Stephens Brinkley, 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, 1848 (c)

Crimson Morocco leather pouch and flap with gilt metal stud fastenings; three brass sling fittings.

The trousers of the hussar were traditionally so tight that they could not accommodate pockets, and consequently hussars were issued instead with bags which hung from the same belt as their sabres, hence sabretache (from the German 'tasche', meaning pocket). The flap of the sabretache bears the royal cypher 'VR'. In 1854 the sabretache of the dragoon guards, dragoons and lancers, which over the years had also adopted them, were officially abolished, leaving only the light dragoons and hussars to carry them.