The dress and undress uniforms of officers of the Hampshire Carabiniers were fortunately well photographed when Henry Albert Barclay was commissioned into the regiment in June 1889. The frock coat he wears in this photo is basically dark blue with black mohair lace across the front and edging of the same down the front, around the collar, shoulder straps and the back seams The collar and cuffs have intricate black braiding which can be seen by enlarging this image. The amount of braid did not increase with rank. Barclay was a 2nd lieutenant which, until 1902, did not have a rank badge. Lieutenants had one rank star on each shoulder strap, captains two stars, majors a crown.
The pill-box forage cap under his arm is very clearly shown. It would be expected that this would be silver laced to match the lace on the tunic, dress jacket and trousers or breeches, but evidence to be found on the Mounted Band & Trumpeters 1887 print shows that it is laced and braided in gold, to match the pouch-belt and sword slings. Usually monochrome photos show silver as being much brighter but this photo shows the pattern clearly, consistent with it being gold. The cap band is the same Diamond Centre pattern as used by the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers). The gold braid figuring on the top of the cap is also similar to the 6th DG who also had gold lace and braid. This photo was kindly provided by Humphrey Barclay.
