The officers of the Hampshire Carabiniers changed their mess uniform in 1903, according to David J Knight and Robert Smith in their booklet The Mess Dress of The Yeomanry Cavalry 1880 - 1914 (Military Historical Society 2006). Previously the mess jacket was blue with blue facings and silver lace but the style seen here was adopted in 1903, blue but with white facings and gold lace. The shoulder cords were plaited gold on white backing with rank badges sewn on. There was no difference in the sleeve decoration between junior officers and field officers whereas the pre-1903 mess jacket had elaborate silver braiding for field officers, while captains and subalterns had a plain silver lace (see Mess Uniforms 1891).
Knight and Smith quote the Hawkes tailor’s notes as saying that the white collar and cuffs were ‘buckskin’. The white waistcoat was also said to be made of buckskin. However, this pattern of mess kit did not last long because in 1906 the yeomanry were ordered to wear a more economical mess uniform. For the Hants Carabiniers it was to be a plain blue waist-length jacket with white lapels and pointed white cuffs, no lace. Waistcoats were white with three buttons. Officers joining the regiment after 1906 would have purchased the new mess kit but the older officers would have retained their gold laced pattern.
