Other Ranks Shako Badge - 19th Regt of Foot

The 19^th Regiment of Foot, nicknamed the Green Howards, landed at Kalamita Bay in the Crimea in September 1854, as part of the Light Division of the English Army of the East.  Their battle honours include Alma, Inkerman, and the Siege of Sevastopol.

The soldiers of most regiments in the British army who landed in the Crimea wore a shako introduced in 1844.  It was said to have been designed in part by Prince Albert, and was not so affectionately known as the Albert Shako.  The 19th Regiment’s Battalion Company enlisted soldiers, called ‘other ranks’, proudly wore the badge in this photograph on the front of their Albert shako.

Its actual size is much smaller than depicted, with the brass circular laurel wreath about 3 inches across and the wreath with crown above it about 4 1/2 inches high.

There were three types of companies in a British line infantry battalion in the Crimea.  Battalion Companies (All other companies than the grenadier company and the light company.) of Regiments of the Line wore this type badge, with their own regimental number.  The Grenadier Company on the right flank would have had a grenade somewhere within the wreath as well as the number.  The Light Company on the left flank would have had a hunting horn within the wreath, as well as the regimental number.

This artifact was photographed courtesy of The Green Howards Museum, Richmond, UK.

Officer's Albert Shako 1844 - 55, Grenadier Company, 1st Battalion, 1st (The Royal Scots) Regiment of Foot

The 1^st Regiment of Foot, commonly known as The Royal Regiment or The Royal Scots, landed at Kalamita Bay in the Crimea in September 1854, as part of the 3^rd Division, English Army of the East.  Their battle honours include Alma, Inkerman, and the Siege of Sevastopol.

This photograph shows an excellent example of the officer’s Albert Shako, which was authorized in December 1843, and began appearing in the ranks in 1844.  It became regulation headgear with the publishing of the 1846 Uniform Regulations, and was replaced by a more stylish, sloping-forward shako in 1855.

The gilt chain chinstrap and shako badge denote an officer’s cap, while the white ball tuft and grenade within the shako badge indicate the Grenadier Company, on the right flank of the regiment.  The Grenadier Company led the way in an attack, and often functioned as skirmishers for the regiment, operating with the Light Company (A hunting horn in the badge and a green ball tuft) on the left flank.

The shako badge is a gilt eight-pointed star with battle honours on the star’s rays.  In the center of the badge is a laurel wreath surmounted by a crown.  Below the wreath is a scroll with the word “Peninsula,” and below that a Sphinx over the word “Egypt.”  Within the wreath is a grenade with “1” on the ball, circled with the words “Royal Regiment.”

The shako is black beaver.  Regulations specify it will be six and three quarters inches high.  The actual height measurement of this shako is six and seven eighths inches.  Perhaps it stretched a bit over the years or it was merely made that way for the officer, who would have contracted for its manufacture and paid from his own pocket.  It is correctly a quarter inch less in diameter at the top than at the bottom.  There is a two and three eighths inches wide front peak, and an inch and a quarter wide peak at the rear.  The gilt chin chain is fastened at the sides with rose-pattern ornaments.

This artifact was photographed courtesy of The Royal Scots Museum, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland.