This painting is not signed or dated but shows an officer of the 6th Bengal Light Cavalry wearing a busby instead of the shako which appears in so many portraits. The reproduction is poor and comes from the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research Vol XLI no.165 published in March 1963. The painting is described by W Y Carman who compares it with the Ackermann print of a mounted officer of the 11th BLC published in 1847 (and Henry Martens painting 1846) who also wears a busby.
The details are not very well shown, especially the cuff and collar braiding and the braiding on the chest. The pouch-belt does not have the orange stripe down the middle, and the orange facings of the French grey jacket are not obvious. But the differences between this and the Martens painting indicate that the artist has drawn our attention to at least two aspects of the uniform. The busby here has silver cap-lines and festoon, and chin chain whereas the Martens painting shows gilt. The regulations specified silver so the artist is probably correct in this case. The other difference is the French grey trousers with a single broad silver stripe. Most paintings of officers of the BLC, including the Martens painting show dark blue trousers, and sometimes a double silver lace stripe.
The horse is grey and has the same pose as in the Martens painting, and the horse furniture is very similar. The shabraque is dark blue with a silver lace edge, and the VI BLC on the front and rear follow Martens’ XI BLC, except that the scroll on the rear part has, according to Mr Carman (who saw the painting at the Parker Gallery), the battle honour for Sobraon. This is an oddity because the regiments awarded this battle honour were the 3rd, 4th and 5th BLC, not the 6th. Similarly, the Sabretache has Sobraon on a scroll at the base of the design, but the rest is indistinct although there is VI at the top and BLC just below.
In Bill Carman’s article he reproduced a list of items of Light Cavalry uniform taken from an advert for Harman & Co, Tailors of Tank Square, Calcutta, published in the Bengal Quarterly Army List 1856. The price is indicated but it does not say what currency, presumably pounds sterling.
Dress
Jacket, French grey, richly trimmed with silver lace ……240
Trousers, French Grey, with silver lace ……60
Busby, with silver cap lines and feather complete ….120
Sabre, best town made, with steel scabbard …..55
Sword-knot, crimson and silver bullion tassel …..10
Sash, crimson and silver barrel ….. 90
Waist-belt, crimson and silver lace …..60
Pouch-belt, solid silver plate, chain, pickers, buckle tip and slide…60
Ditto ditto, all plated …..45
Pouch-box, solid silver flap and gilt device….60
Ditto, plated …….40
Sabretache, blue cloth, embroidered …..65
Shabraque, blue cloth, laced and embroidered …..160
Undress
Jacket, French grey, silver lace ….70
Frockcoat, blue cloth, fully braided ….90
Trousers, French grey, with stripe …..80
Waistcoat, orange cloth with silver lace …..25
Sabretache, black patent leather …..12
Pouch, black patent leather …..8
Pouch-belt, plain buff …..6
Forage cap, blue cloth, silver band, peak etc…..28
Cloak, blue cloth …..from 70 to 120
Shabraque, blue cloth, black lace …..45
The list is informative in that the preponderance of silver at this late stage of the Bengal Light Cavalry shows a development from the earlier uniforms. The cap-lines, sword-knot and barrel sash are all silver where gold would be expected. There is no mention of the facings on the dress and undress jackets but the waistcoat is orange. The undress trousers are more expensive than the dress trousers although there appears to be no material difference. There are few images of a mounted officer in undress so it is surprising that there is an undress shabraque, especially in a warm climate. The words ‘ditto’ probably indicate that the dress pouch-belt and pouch had a duplicate for field days or less formal parades. And there is no explanation for the range of prices for the cloak.
