This is one of a series of prints by William Heath,
a popular military print artist of the 1820s. I doubt
whether he traveled to India to see how the army
dressed. But he would have been familiar with the
tailors' instructions.
A year after George, Prince of Wales became Prince
Regent, new uniforms were introduced for the army
which were radically different from what had gone
before. In the case of light dragoons, the braided
coat was replaced by a jacket of bark blue with collar,
cuffs and plastron in the facing colour. It was waist
length with a short tail at the back and epaullettes,
silver in the case of the 17th. The head-dress was
replaced by a shako which at first had an upright
red and white plume but later developed into a falling
plume (horse-hair for men and feather for officers).
The 17th, being so far away in India did not start wearing
these new uniforms until about 1814. There was no
concession to the hot weather except for a white cover
for the shako. In full dress, white breeches and black
leather hussar boots were worn, but grey overalls were
the normal leg wear. The officer depicted here is in
full dress, but by 1820 the boots and breeches had
disappeared, to be replaced by light blue 'cossacks'
and ankle boots.
When the 17th returned to England in 1823, they
adopted their new lancer dress.
