Show HEK IIER MILITARY historical sketch of the uniform uniforms of the army through the centuries IN Y world I noir now that as the london loudon corres of the world cables to ua us the scarlet uniform of tha the british soldier is to be discarded upon ac ae live tive service in favor of the mon more sober and like confederate gray it may not be uninteresting for readers of the arld to trace briefly the history of that uniform since its introduction in the course of the seventeenth century at the outbreak of the civil war WA r in t the e reign of charles I 1 L armor was beginning to baleful ba off many noblemen nob benien and anti officers contenting conten fini themselves with a tuines over a buff coat but the heavy cavalry were more heavily armed the th e dike men and musketeer wore he helmets fa met r and back and breast plates and the dragoons wore buff buly coats with dep skirts and open head piece pieces deeg wit with cheeks the scarf was the only sign of uniform at the time cinco since red though it was the royal color was retained by many of f troops indeed the popular nickname of lobsters lob stera seems to have been originally applied to sir arthur hazelrigs soldiers of win cleveland says that they wre were turned into crabs and crawled backwards aud so contributed to the defeat of the parliamentary forces at roundway Roun dway down after aller the restoration of charles I 1 II 11 I 1 the nucleus of the present british army was formed by th the e raising of the life guards the horse guards blue the coldstream Cold stream foot guards and other re regiments I 1 i ments at the battle of the boyne for dl distinguishing tin Fui gui shing abing badges the men of williams wiliams i army wore sprigs of green and those of james pieces of white pas per in 1695 the commissioned noncommissioned non officers and soldiers wore gray coats and breeches and the drummers purple ele coats with gray continuations but ut under anne when armor for infantry was completely thrown aside and the cuirass almost given up by the cavalry the foot wore an easy scarlet coat with facings a cocked hat breeches and long black gaiters held up by a strap below the knee the Ba Ra millies tie where the hair was formed into ft a tail tall with a bow at the top was nil all the rage after Marl boroughs victory it gave way about 1745 to the pigtail il As laurd aye paye the military wore powder with the head well larded at one time long tails at another a thick tail clubbed as it was called which was turning it up leaving a great knob below and se securing curill it with a leather strap the rhe georges I 1 borges brought in the rid ridiculous le ulo u s cap familiar to all who have studied Hogart hs prin prints or the pictures of the revolutionary war throughout the lung hing reign of george III the influence of fashion from which the british soldier has always buffered puff ered was wits most severely felt inthe in the matter of hair dressing stiff curls were worn on each side and a tail behind the whole plastered and powdered the officers using pomatum and the rank and file candle ends fashion varied from C club lub tails to maccaroni tails and P pig 19 tails until in 1804 an order was is issued to reduce the length of these ridiculous appendages to seven inches and four years later they were all cut off oft there was a strong effort made by the element to preserve the tails and a countermand countermanding iDl order was issued but it reached tle toe a army a da day wilether too late at e it is difficult to say whether the officers or the men suffered moat most during the reign of pomatum and the pigtail pig tail for we read that when queen victorias father corn coin nianda d at gibraltar the tho junior officers had to have their hair hairdresser dressed over night and to sleep on their faces C es so as to avoid disturbing their elaborate coiffures coif fures there being a famine of barbers on the bock rock early in the reign of george III the pointed grenadier cap was exchanged for the bearskin george IV revived the cuirass for the benefit of alje household brigade Brica deat at his bis co coronation but he be was responsible for the fatal aphorism that in ill a military dress a esis unpardonable and for making the soldiers coats BO so tight that they could ha hardly adl get et into them or having wrestled wres them on were unable to handle their beir weapons skirts were put to the infantry mens jackets jacke ts in this reign As for the heavy ry cavalry their th air helmets were so high that they had bad to ignore 41 cut six in the sword exercise while the bear bearskins skins of the guards were improved tu to such a height that the sentry boxes had to bo be increased ed in altitude william IV IN r was of opinion that all the army except artillerymen artilleryman artillery men and riflemen should be dressed in scarlet consequently all the light eav cavalry alry except the hussers were changed and regiments odthe of the same line were ordered to wear gold lace and the military silver while the facings facil gs of the navy nav y were altered tc scarlet this latter alteration proved very unpopular and the queen restored their original dress to the sailors soon after her accession the L light dragoons recovering their cherished dav the sixteenth lancers scarlet and blue were doubtless first commended to th the sovereigns of england for tha array of their troops through the fact those colors colore being blazoned on the royal standard the fact that during a long along period of english hi history Is t or the men at anns arms covered biti with mail or plate while the great ma amsa of tho light armed troops wore the colura colors of the lords they followed to the field restricted the uniform to a mere amere badge as the white cross worn from the tune eme of richard 1 L till the edward d IV orthe or the scarf worn over the shoulder or round the wa waist or arm scarlet and bide facings may be said to have come in as armor wag was finally discarded under anne and the musket and socket bayonet became the general W weapons oni of the infantry replacing tho the pike fike the bando her lier gave way at t the le bame same ti time me to the cartridge c id geroa box b x and the gorget which bad had been a protection to the breust breast dwindled into an ornamental trifle the red and white feather worn in queen queed annes time waa was superseded in tho the days of goorge II 11 by the black cockade adopted as the hanoverian badge by way of contradistinction tra to the jacobite white cockade As for the changes in the individual articles of dress it would require e more than the whole space of the world to recount them brief ly though we nay may reserve for enumeration me ine ration at a late date the distinguishing dist t mcall hing badges and ornaments that recall noteworthy incidents identa in the history of the different re regiments this much may maybe be said tince since the time of the Crit crimean nean war the british soldier if he is a decidedly expensive creature is at least well clothed and stoutly ehod shod his boota boots are supplied by contract but every one is exact examined ned and one in every certain number is selected at hazard and ripped to pieces in in order to test the workmanship each of ufa scarlet kersey aba that goes into the great pimlico factory is is unrolled aud impeded t eted yard by yard by two experts and then marked all over one aide side with hieroglyphics which will enable the inspector long after it has been made up to trace ft a defective bit of stuff back to the careless inspector who passed it as up to sample it ia is subjected to chemical tests as well as to exposure to the sun and rain to prove its color since since a single tunic may contain material from three or four pieces and d it is desirable esi rable that a all 11 ita its pa parts should be the same sanie hue the gar garments mentz are cut out by machinery which deals with twenty or more at once and made up by the thousand the factory turning out as well all the multifarious mu bortt farious articles which enter into the equipment of tommy atkins |