I found some information in "The Dress of the Royal Artillery" by D. Alastair Campbell, Maj. RA ret'd (Arms & Armour Press/Royal Artillery Institution), 1971 which may be of help:
p.39 (describing the Tunic): The original description of the officer's tunic [D.R.R.A. 1855] was "Dark blue cloth, scarlet collar rounded in front, edged all round with royal gold cord. Buttons (with three guns and crown) 2 1/4 inches between each down the front, two on each sleeve and two on the hip; edged all round with scarlet, and up skirt seams. Skirt 9 1/2 inches deep, rounded in front. Royal gold cord shoulder strap."
The page shows the back of the skirt (similar to yours) of 1891. A new pattern was introduced in 1891 [D.R. 1891]. "The skirt square in front, open behind, with a blue cloth flap on the back of each skirt. Flaps edged with round gold cord, traced inside with gold Russia braid." There were now nine buttons down the front, three on each flap and two on the waist behind. the collar was 2 inches high. The skirt was unhemmed.
The sleeve ornament on p.111 shows the sleeve ornament for a Field Officer on tunics and full dress jackets for 1855 - 1902. Described as Chevron of flat gold lace (pointing upwards) 1 1/2 inches wide, with three row of small gold braid outside of chevron, two rows figured and centre one plain, top of braid 10 3/4 inches from bottom of sleeve.
The collar badges in 1857 [G.R.O. of 14.7.1857] were in silver, and the collar lace was gold...When the present system of indicating rank was adopted in 1880, the badges came off the collar and, in 1881, a grenade, 2 1/4 inches long, was placed there instead. The sleeve devices and the collar lace were retained until 1902 [A.O. 39 of 1902].
I'd say, from this information that your tunic is probably around 1891 from the design of the skirts. If you can, try and pick up a copy of this book. I paid Cdn$35 for mine recently.
Hope all this helps. David
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