Hot climate uniform for the 9th Lancers was all white, trousers, shell jacket and cap cover. This illustration by Pierre Turner fromBritish Cavalry Uniforms Since 1660 by Michael Barthorp (Blandford 1984) is based on the watercolour sketches made by Captain Roger Dawson Upton of the 9th Lancers during the Indian Mutiny. One of the sketches was published in monochrome in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research vol XV (Spring 1936) with a description by Major Tylden:
‘The collar, shoulder straps and cuffs of the jacket are edged in red, otherwise the whole uniform is white, as are also the cover of the head-dress and the sword belt; boots black; rolled cloak blue. In the original the pistol in the vedette’s hand is clearly shown.’
One eye witness, Bugler Johnson of the 52nd LI, writing in 1901, says that khaki uniform became general throughout the British troops during the Mutiny…except for the 9th Lancers. ‘Sir Hope Grant brought them into action in white when I lay before Delhi’. Mounted men carrying lances, it seems, were conspicuous enough, so dressing them in white would have made no difference.
