British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

He is a bandsman wearing a regimental music case, Stephen. Sometimes known colloquially as a bandsman’s (music) pouch, they were slung diagonally across the shoulder with the pouch in the centre of the back, and intended so that when on the march with their battalion the bandsmen could carry their regimental music. Whitened and invariably with a specific type of regimental badge in the centre of the flap they became too an object of decoration to the uniform. Interestingly no one seems to have published a study of these pouch badges and so there is limited knowledge of them in the public domain. The pouches themselves are very rarely seen now and I’ve only observed them worn regularly still by the Band of the Royal Marines. The music case in the picture is of the older, larger pattern, with a scalloped flap. They are not worn by drummers, nor by the bands of the Foot Guards, who used a music case/pouch slung from the waist belt instead.

NB. The headdress in your photos is the glengarry cap, which indicates a date prior to 1896, when that style of headdress was replaced by the field service cap (known in modern times to soldiers as a ‘side cap’). The regiment shown is either English or Welsh line infantry without Royal appellation, as is indicated by the white facings (collar and cuffs). The other photo shows a squad fallen in for calling a roll, movement as a body, or purely for drill practice. They are wearing undress frocks (a loose fitting jacket with either 5 or 7 buttons depending on pattern), without facings. There is either an officer or SNCO stood in front at one end, most probably the latter. The men appear to hold magazine fed rifles, probably Lee-Metfords, at the order arms position (butt resting on the ground). If pushed I would date the photo to no later than 1895.