"british sergeant uniform 1854 for 23rd reg foot" Topic

Hi
I am just tryign to determine what the actual seargeants uniform is, i see a few different bits here and there and I dont have alot of resources on british uniforms of this period.

Most of what soldiers wore during the Crimean War won't appear on clothing warrants.

Googling "Sergeant Luke O'Connor" (not in inverted commas) gets some pictures which are probably good enough to paint a figure.

thanks i was looking him up and see what the two or so paintings of him depict but then in another uniform book the officer uniform apeared to show a jacket that goes past the waist and lacking any of the shoulder details

also what collar and cuff colours were the 23rd foot? black? blue? green?

this wasnt for a miniature but for just a painting i am making of Luke O'Connor at Alma
i just know the folks here are quite expert on uniform matters, certainly may experience in the napoleonic sub-forum has led me to this (thats also the area where my miniatures interest is also mostly, the crimean war i am less familiar with )

The 23rd's facings were blue. The coatee was replaced by a double breasted tunic (below the waist at the front) in 1855.

As the painting shows, the regulation coatee in the case of NCOs was a plain double-breasted jacket with rows of regimental buttons in pairs without bars of lace and facing colour of blue on collar and cuffs. There were tufted 'grenadier' wings on the shoulders and badges of rank on both arms.

The new pattern double-breasted tunic appeared gradually in the course of 1855-56, with some regiments not receiving this until they returned to Britain.

It seems that after landing in the Crimea the unpopular regulation cap or 'shako' of 1844 was soon reported 'lost' or 'damaged' by many troops (allegedly proving useful when filled with soil for revetting entrenchments). O'Connor is perhaps fortunate in having lost his already. As shown the cap of the 23rd cap bore a grenadier white 'ball tuft' His blue Kilmarnock forage cap of knitted, felted wool would have had a white tuft on the crown with grenade badge and regimental number of brass affixed to the front. Senior NCOs wore a peaked forage cap with red band and grenade badge and in some regiments sergeants also had peaks on their Kilmarnock caps. I'm not sure what the evidence is for the 23rd.

thank you fro that information – a new term i need to explore: kilmarnock cap,

'Kilmarnock' refers to the form of woollen forage cap authorised in 1834 for line infantry regiments, having been worn by hitherto by Highland regiments. The name derived from the Ayrshire town that had been a centre for the manufacture of woollen headgear in Scotland since at least the C17th.

Referred to by some as 'pork pie,' the Kilmarnock forage cap typified the profile of British soldiers in the field in the middle years of the C19th (it was in fact the revival of a similar form of forage cap won briefly by some regiments during the latter years of the Napoleonic wars). It is perhaps most familiar from Roger Fenton's photographs of British troops in the Crimea taken in 1855.

Seen here worn by a soldier probably of the 28th North Gloucesteshire regt rather than 'Private of the 23rd' as captioned here.
link

ah okay yes those are familiar in appearance, just had never known the specific name until now thanks!