The uniforms worn in the 1820s were ostentatious, worn to make an impression and not so much for the practicalities of fighting. The high Prussian yellow collar was closed so that only the top edge of the black stock and the shirt collar showed. The lapels have been stylised so that they buttoned back to form a plastron front of the yellow facing colour, fastened down the front with hooks and eyes. Officers of the 10th were not permitted to have a silver-laced coat as they were in the 1780s so the button-holes were indicated with twists of yellow thread, on the lapels, collar and cuffs.
The silver epaulettes on both shoulders indicate that he is a field officer. The image is not clear enough to see if he has a rank badge on the epaulette; a star for a major, a crown for a lieutenant-colonel and crown and star for a colonel. The other indication of his status is the fact that his sword belt is around his waist, worn over the crimson silk sash of office. The 1822 Dress Regulations do not mention the waist-belt for field officers, only: ‘Belt—white buffalo leather, three inches wide, with a frog, worn under the coat, diagonally over the shoulder.’ The injunction to wear the belt under the coat is at odds with all the pictorial evidence which clearly shows company officers wearing the belt over the coat. It is not until the 1834 Dress Regulations that the instructions are clearer: ‘Belt—for Regimental Field Officers, buffalo Waist-belt ; for other officers, buffalo leather, three inches wide, with a frog, worn diagonally over the shoulder.’
Buffalo leather indicated that the belt was white. In undress uniform the waist-belt was black. The belt is fastened with a rectangular clasp, probably silver, having a regimental badge which is unfortunately obscured by the oval framing of the portrait. An idea of the whole uniform can be seen in the Simkin illustration of a company officer of the 9th East Norfolks 1827.
