This excellent portrait of an unnamed officer of the King’s Dragoon Guards is thought to be the work of George Dawe. The jacket and helmet were part of the new uniform of the Dragoon Guards introduced in 1812. The jacket, called a collett, fastened with hooks and eyes instead of buttons. The collar, cuffs and turn-backs were of dark blue velvet. The main feature was the edging of two-inch gold train lace. The pattern of the lace is clear in this portrait and the centre of the lace can be seen to have a blue broken line. This edging covered the front of the collar, went down the front of the jacket, followed the hem, and edged the turn-backs. The cuffs were turned up, gauntlet style, for dragoon guards, but dragoons had pointed cuffs. He has a gold and crimson striped sash with large tassels around his waist which replaced the plain crimson sash.
The helmet is the first pattern helmet supplied to the regiment. It was called the Austrian style because of the red and black crest, and it had a white over red plume on the left side. This style was adopted by the household cavalry but the dragoon guards and dragoons wore a similar helmet but with a black horse-hair mane in place of the crest.
The sword is slung from a white leather waist-belt that is fastened with a snake clasp similar to that used by the artillery and light cavalry, replacing the wide belt and rectangular clasp. The white leather pouch-belt on his left shoulder supports a black leather ammunition pouch.
