Bandmaster, 17th Lancers, 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 bandmaster (a warrant officer) is wearing dismounted review order. This includes the Lancer cap, the design of which was based on the Polish four-cornered cap known as the czapka. It has a black leather skull and black patent leather peak. The upper part of the cap is made with ribbed cloth of regimental colour (white) on four sides, and is topped with leather. The drooping plume is made of horse hair of regimental colour (white), with a yellow and blue woollen boss where the plume attaches. The brass regimental plate is fixed on the lower part of the cap, with lion's head bosses on each side, to which the chin chains are attached.

The full dress tunic is dark blue with white facings: collar and pointed cuffs, piping around the edge of the tunic, and the plastron on the front. Yellow worsted shoulder cords are secured by two small regimental buttons. The collar and cuffs are edged with gold lace. Gold metal thread cap lines hang around the bandmaster's neck, and a gold girdle was worn around the waist with two crimson stripes. He wears white gloves and a white leather pouch belt. Dark blue overalls with a double white stripe down the outside seam are worn over black wellington boots. He holds a baton.

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