We now come to the three principal divisions of the remainder of the regular officers, viz., Field Officers, Captains, and Subalterns.
Field Officers are all those above the rank of Captain and below the rank of General; they consist therefore of Colonels, Lieutenant-Colonels, and Majors. The distinguishing mark of a Field Officer is the lace or embroidery on his sleeves, which comes to a point up the arms; the annexed illustrations show the sleeve of a Field Officer of the Artillery. In all line regiments and in several others, the Full Colonel may be known by his wearing the dress of his regiment, and having on his collar a crown and star. A Lieutenant-Colonel has a crown only, whilst a Major has a star on his collar.
The sleeves of Line Officers are not embroidered, but the collar trimmings also indicate their rank, the Field Officers having lace round the top and bottom of the collar, down the edge of the skirts behind, on the edge of the skirt flaps and edge of the sleeve flaps, and two rows of lace round the top of the cuffs.
Officers below the rank of Field Officer have lace on the top only of the collar, one row round the top of the cuff and none on the edge of the skirts. Then on the collar a Captain has a star and crown, a Lieutenant a crown, and an Ensign a star.
When the frock coat is worn, the collar will indicate the rank of the Field Officer. The crown and star being the mark of the Colonel, a crown for Lieutenant-Colonel, and the star for the Major. The same marks are used for the various ranks when the shell jacket is used; but in both these cases there is in the Line no difference between the dress of a Captain and a Lieutenant or Ensign, but in the Royal Artillery and Engineers the cuff lace will indicate to which rank the wearer belongs. a, Field Officer’s patrol jacket; b, Captain’s sleeve for full dress; c, Lieutenant’s sleeve.
a. b. c.
The distinguishing marks on the collar and sleeves of the majority of the army serve to indicate the rank of the various officers, but we have also to deal with other details.
DRESS AND RANK.
Commencing with the Medical Department, we shall be able to distinguish the Surgeon and Assistant-Surgeon principally by the belt, which is of black leather. They also wear the black shoulder-belt and instrument case; in other respects their uniform is the same as is that of the other officers of the regiment to which they belong, with the exception of wearing a cocked hat with a black cock’s-tail feather, drooping, and five inches in length.