Captain, 6th Dragoons, 1811 (5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards)

Description

The 6th Dragoons was raised in Ireland in 1689 as Cunningham’s Dragoons, but was soon afterwards named the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, until 1922 when it merged with the 5th Dragoon Guards to become the 5th Iniskilling Dragoon Guards. It is now part of the Royal Dragoon Guards. This officer wears a typical uniform developed in the British Army during the Napoleonic wars. The Army developed rather on the lines dictated by the necessities of the Peninsular war. As during the last war, the campaign in the Western Desert was a decisive influence. There, light cavalry and light infantry were the most useful arms of the service, and the Dragoon Guard and the Dragoon had to abandon their old heavy kit. The coat still bears some resemblance to its predecessor, less its tails, but the buckskin breeches and heavy boots have given way to overalls, leaving the wearer capable of operating either mounted or on foot, as was often necessary. The hat is like a stove-pipe with a little peak turned up in front, and a very much truncated plume on top. A hat very much like this was also worn at the time by the light infantry. It was soon replaced by a metal helmet.