1897, Trumpeter, Royal Horse Artillery

Description

The battery commander’s trumpeter was always an important member of a battery. Like other mounted arms of the service, the artillery was accustomed, until quite recent times, to rely on trumpet calls in action, and it was the duty of the trumpeter to stay with his battery commander always. Trumpeters were usually boys, sons of men in the regiment, who subsequently became gunners. Many of the best N.C.O.s were ex-trumpeters. He is shown wearing a stable jacket, the counterpart of the officer’s jacket. A trumpeter in a field battery would have been dressed similarly, but his jacket would have been bound with yellow lace on the collar only, and he would not have worn a sword. He carries a bugle on the right side, as well as a trumpet under his left arm. Trumpeters always carry both, the bugle being the instrument common to mounted arms and infantry, the trumpet peculiar to mounted arms. In the infantry, on the other hand, bugles only are carried. This stable jacket was abolished, along with the officers’ stable jackets, in 1897. Sources: R. A. Dress Regulations, photographs, and items of dress in use.