Michael Angelo Hayes produced artworks for a series of 53 prints, engraved by J Lynch and published by Spooner of 377 Strand between 1840 and 1844. This print of the 9th Lancers was no.27 subtitled ‘Heavy Marching Order’. The regiment was in India at the time but Hayes has placed the men in a British setting.
The central figure appears to be having trouble with his horse, while a trumpeter has a drink. The grey horse probably belongs to the trumpeter although there is a lance leaning against it. It seems unlikely that a trumpeter would be encumbered with a lance. It would be difficult to sound calls, control a horse and keep a lance strapped to the trumpet arm all at the same time. In a battle situation he would be too busy sounding calls to use that weapon. However, there are four lances visible, and four men, so it seems that he did carry a lance.
The details of the uniform fit with what we know of the regiment’s distinctions. The white waist-belt instead of a girdle, the wearing of the cap-lines, not wrapped around the body, but coming under the left arm and hooking onto the left shoulder. The plain front part of the shabraque was without embroidery in the 9th. But the artist, or the colourist has made the mistake of putting a red line on the middle of the lance cap. There was no lace on the caps of the 9th Lancers, only brass ornaments. The lack of plumes on the cap shows their concession to marching order, although there is little else to distinguish their dress from review order.
