This copy of a trumpeter is from an equestrian portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel Wildman painted in 1819. It is the earliest known depiction of a trumpeter or musician in the 9th Light Dragoons (Lancers). There is a description of uniforms worn by drummers and hautbois of the 9th Dragoons in 1751; clothed in buff coats with red facings, the coats laced in white with a blue central stripe. Waistcoats and breeches, red. The coat was in the reverse colours of the rest of the regiment.
The regiment were converted to lancers from light dragoons in 1816. Their uniform was blue with crimson facings and a crimson-topped lance cap. The trumpeter was distinguished by having a white coatee with red facings and white-topped lance cap. The plume on his cap was red, or crimson, instead of white and crimson as worn by the other men. The trumpet cords are described as red with indications of blue and yellow. He has brass shoulder scales on a red backing, and yellow lace on his collar and cuffs, as well as down the side of his blue-grey trousers.
The artist of this copy has taken liberties with the shabraque on his saddle which the portrait shows as indistinct. There is a suggestion of a sword, and he has a rolled blanket or coat under the front of his saddle cloth. The horse is a grey.
