Sergeant, 5th (Royal Irish) 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 sergeant is pictured in mounted review order dress. 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 with a band of gold lace around it. The upper part of the cap is made with ribbed cloth of regimental colour (red) on four sides, and is topped with leather. The drooping plume is made of horse hair of regimental colour (dark green), with a yellow and red 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 red 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. Yellow worsted cord cap lines hang around the neck, and a girdle is worn around the waist with two crimson stripes. He has a white leather pouch belt and pouch. Blue pantaloons with a double yellow stripe down the outside seam are worn tucked into riding boots with spurs attached. He wears white leather gauntlets.

He is holding his lance, with its red over white pennon, but the lance-bucket can also be seen attached to the stirrup. His sword hangs from the slings of his white sword belt. The horse has standard military tack, and various accoutrements such as a horseshoe case and his valise with metal canteen inside. There is a black lambskin saddlecloth.

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