Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Newport Tinley of the Cape Mounted Riflemen

Watercolour by Richard Simkin, 1881.

Tinley, who also served with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot, is shown here waving a sabre in the uniform of Cape Mounted Riflemen. This unit was raised in South Africa in 1806 as the Cape Regiment, but largely disbanded in 1817. A small force, retained for the defence of the eastern frontier of Cape Colony, was re-formed as the Cape Mounted Riflemen in 1827. Although it originally included many African soldiers in its ranks, the regiment gradually became predominantly European following a series of mutinies. It was disbanded on financial grounds in 1870.