Crimean War Uniforms and Insigna - Help needed!

[F.F.C._fritz]

As the title says.
I'm getting pretty interested in the Crimean war of 1853-56, but I don't really know where to start for researching uniforms and particularly insignas for ranks etc. I feel a bit overwhelmed considering that apparently each and every regiment wore different uniforms from another and that the various decorations, ranks, etc. were not always of easy and immediatly recognizable design.

Is there a particular reference that should be used or that is generally used? Do you know some useful sources I can look too? Not only generic things, but also diagrams or something that shows clearly stuff like the decorations and the ranks. For example what's exactly on Lord Cardigan's uniform sleeve? (- I know it's a scene from a movie, but I reckon that, some details aside, the clothing is particularly well made -)

I'd like to see that decoration up close. And what would a sergaent uniform of the same regiment looked like? And a corporal? And what were the regulations for officers? What differed them from the others?

The part that really interest me the most is the famous battle of Balaklava, particularly the charge of the Light Brigade. So 11th Hussars, 17th Lancers...up 'till singular famous people, like Lord Cardigan, Lord Lucan... etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[matmohair1]

I hope this is a good, quick start...

British infantry equipment - 1854

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British command

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British troops at Balaklava

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Other forces at Balaklava

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Inkerman

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more info posted here  https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,352060.msg8458389.html#msg8458389

 

[Swissky]

Wonderful collection you've got there, matmo. 

Russians still called the areas around Saint Petersburg Ingermanland at that time?

 

[Bluehawk]

Ingermanland as a legal entity ceased to exist after 1710 (becoming the St. Petersburg Governorate), but three regiments still bore the name by the time of the Crimean War: The Old-Ingermanland (9th) infantry, New-Ingermanland (10th) infantry, and the Ingermanland (10th) Hussars. If you're asking because of Inkerman, that town is in Crimea and is completely unrelated to Ingria. It's name is from Tatar or possibly Turkish and means "cave-town".

I don't think you'll ever get a good look at that exact tracery on the sleeve cuff except in the film itself, since I suspect its a fabrication of the costuming department. The only thing it would really signify is that he's an officer, as enlisted men had simpler chevrons with a looped point at the cuff.

Consider this photograph of Cornet and Assistant Surgeon Wilkin from the 11th Hussars (a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade). His dolman sleeve cuff features an exaggerated chevron of galloon surrounded on both inner and outer edges by a loop following alternating circles and crosses.

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Hussars in particular invite liberty in filmmaking, because they have such iconic features that you can easily invoke the image without getting really specific with the finer details, and officers paying for their own tailored uniforms only complicated the matter of documenting them. Luckily with mid-19th century onward, we have photographic proof to back-up the fantasies of portraiture and eye witness description.

 

[Swissky]

I'm not sure if it's a typo or not, but Ingermandland sounds an awful lot like Ingermandelland.

Inger-almond-land.

ACHTUNG!

 

[F.F.C._fritz]

Ingermandland as a legal entity ceased to exist after 1710 (becoming the St. Petersburg Governorate), but three regiments still bore the name by the time of the Crimean War: The Old-Ingermanland (9th) infantry, New-Ingermand (10th) infantry, and the Ingermandland (10th) Hussars. If you're asking because of Inkerman, that town is in Crimea and is completely unrelated to Ingria. It's name is from Tatar or possibly Turkish and means "cave-town".

I don't think you'll ever get a good look at that exact tracery on the sleeve cuff except in the film itself, since I suspect its a fabrication of the costuming department. The only thing it would really signify is that he's an officer, as enlisted men had simpler chevrons with a looped point at the cuff.

Consider this photograph of Cornet and Assistant Surgeon Wilkin from the 11th Hussars (a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade). His dolman sleeve cuff features an exaggerated chevron of galloon surrounded on both inner and outer edges by a loop following alternating circles and crosses.

Spoiler

Hussars in particular invite liberty in filmmaking, because they have such iconic features that you can easily invoke the image without getting really specific with the finer details, and officers paying for their own tailored uniforms only complicated the matter of documenting them. Luckily with mid-19th century onward, we have photographic proof to back-up the fantasies of portraiture and eye witness description.

So, officers could have own tailored and unique uniforms back then? I thought there were some regulations and standardization on that matter. I thought there were some sources to be seen.

On a sight note about the movie, I thought it was generally really well reconstructed from the few actual pictures of the war I've seen. For example, about Cardigan's jacket sleeves seen in the movie, they looked pretty realistic, or at least they looked like they were based on real sources when compared to this photo of Colonel John Douglas, 11th Hussars, taken in 1856.

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Again, you're right, it's impossible to say.

Also, the colonel here has a decorated "eastern" like sabre, but as far as I've read, light cavalry was equipped with the 1853 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabre? So officers were allowed and tended to use personal weapons, instead?

Anyway, thanks everybody for help. 

 

[Captured Joe]

Also, the colonel here has a decorated "eastern" like sabre, but as far as I've read, light cavalry was equipped with the 1853 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabre? So officers were allowed and tended to use personal weapons, instead?

Yes, it seems light infantry and light cavalry (especially Hussar) officers quite often used such "eastern" (Mamluk?) sabres rather than the normal light cavalry sabres.

Some examples:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Edouard_Detaille_-_Vive_L'Empereur_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
http://www.spoils-of-war.co.uk/sabre59.htm
http://www.michaeldlong.com/Catalogue/Swords/19th-Century/British/15th-Hussars-Mameluke-sword-with-scabbard-knot.aspx


Edit: Some drawings about the charge of the Light Brigade, by Kaiser-Conti :

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