The Volunteer officers had a similar mess dress to the regulars apart from having silver instead of gold buttons and braid. The jacket and waistcoat are of scarlet cloth with white collar and cuffs on the jacket. The front edges of both garments are studded with closely placed silver balls. The shoulders have twisted silver cord straps with a lieutenant’s star in gold embroidery. The badge of Britannia on each side of the collar is in silver embroidery. The collar is edged in silver and the cuffs clearly show the pattern of silver braid for his rank. Captains had a line of braided small circles below the braid edge. Field officers had a double edge of braid on the cuff and circles of braid on the collar.
The 1900 Dress Regulations authorised a rolled collar which had white lapels until 1905 when they changed to yellow. The field cap that he wears is a blue torin cap, edged with silver and having an embroidered Britannia badge on the left side.
The photo comes from the Norfolk Museums Collection and is stated to be Lieutenant C G Taylor of B Company, 2nd Volunteer Battalion The Norfolk Regiment. The accompanying photo shows the same officer a few years earlier, in a scarlet frock. The time difference is indicated by the fact that he has grown a moustache in the later photo. The white facings don’t look as brilliantly white on the mess jacket which led me to think they may be yellow, but yellow facings were not adopted until 1905 by which time officers of line infantry regiments were wearing lapelled mess jackets.
