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DRILL, DRESS, AND DISCIPLINE: THE 10TH HUSSARS IN INDIA: A SUITE OF THREE LITHOGRAPHS BY E. WALKER AFTER FAIRLIE

This is a rare series of three lithographs by Fairlie Esq., executed during the 10th (Prince of Wales's Own) Hussars’ posting in India and lithographed by E Walker in the year of the regiment’s departure. These works offer rare, firsthand visual insight into the dress, routines, and regimental life of a premier British... DRILL, DRESS, AND DISCIPLINE: THE 10TH HUSSARS IN INDIA: A SUITE OF THREE LITHOGRAPHS BY E. WALKER AFTER FAIRLIE

This is a rare series of three lithographs by Fairlie Esq., executed during the 10th (Prince of Wales's Own) Hussars’ posting in India and lithographed by E Walker in the year of the regiment’s departure. These works offer rare, firsthand visual insight into the dress, routines, and regimental life of a premier British cavalry unit serving in colonial India.

a) The Tenth in India, Kirkee. 1854 – Review Order
Fairlie's crisply rendered lithograph depicts four mounted and dismounted figures of the 10th (Prince of Wales's Own) Hussars stationed in Kirkee, India. Published by Ackermann in 1855, the composition provides a richly detailed study of regimental uniforms during mid-19th-century service in India.

On the left is an 'Orderly T.S. Major', though erroneously shown with only three chevrons and the Prince of Wales plume, omitting the regulation crown for troop sergeant majors as per the 1850 Horseguards Circular. The central mounted officer in Review Order wears home service dress with the India pattern shako, while the 'Orderly Officer' beside him is in undress stable jacket with a white cotton cap cover and a dress pouch-belt. The absence of the earlier elaborate gimp-button stable dress is notable. The mounted figures are shown without leopard-skin shabraques or regimental sabretaches, consistent with the period before the adoption of plume-badged variants c. 1875.

The standing figure to the right is in evening stable dress: a blue frock coat with black flat braid and a rolling collar, worn open over a white waistcoat and black cravat—distinctive to the 7th, 10th, and 15th Hussars. All three officers wear double gold lace trouser stripes, without the later leather reinforcements introduced during the Crimean era.

b) The Tenth in India, Kirkee. 1854 – In Front of The Main Guard
This plate captures a detailed and evocative view of the Kirkee cantonment near Poona, showing horse lines set in open countryside—accurately reflecting the regiment’s practice of keeping horses unsheltered, as noted in the Regimental History.

Foreground figures include a private in summer service dress with a white cotton uniform and a specially issued covered shako, a troop sergeant major in blue stable dress, and a soldier in fatigues wearing a low undress cap. The depiction of mounted horses suggests the scene postdates April 1847, when cavalry remounts began arriving in India.

c) The Tenth in India, Kirkee. 1854 – Drill Order
This print shows the regiment galloping across the open maidan near Kirkee in extended ranks during field manoeuvres. The scene likely takes place in the winter months, with troopers in blue stable dress and their shakos covered in the characteristic white quilted cloth issued for Indian service.

The front rank brandish their swords in the attack position while the rear rank carry blades rested on the shoulder. Officers lead the charge with dress pouch-belts, while the troopers wear white leather crossbelts and black sabretaches suspended from waistbelts. Such exercises were regularly conducted under regimental command in Kirkee and later evolved into divisional field days at Poona.

Raised in 1715 as Gore’s Regiment of Dragoons to suppress the Jacobite rising, this historic cavalry unit was renamed the 10th Dragoons in 1751. A pivotal moment in its identity came in 1796 when the regiment was renamed by the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), who appointed himself colonel and remained in that role until his coronation in 1820.

Impressed by the flamboyant uniforms and tactics of European light cavalry, the Prince reclothed, rearmed, and reequipped the regiment in 1806, officially establishing it as the 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own) Royal Hussars—the first unit in the British Army to bear the hussar title. This new status was marked by rich uniforms in dark blue with yellow braiding and the distinctive red busby bag, earning them the nickname “The Chainy Tenth”.

The regiment served with distinction during the Peninsular War and at Waterloo before deploying to India in 1846 and to the Crimea in 1854. Subsequent campaigns included Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, and the Boer War. The 10th saw extensive service during both World Wars, notably at Ypres, Arras, El Alamein, and in Italy.

In 1969, the regiment was amalgamated with the 11th Hussars to form the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own), and in 1992 became part of the King’s Royal Hussars. The regiment’s rich legacy—spanning three centuries of cavalry, colonial warfare, and mechanised operations—is preserved today at HorsePower Museum, Winchester.

Together, these prints form a richly informative visual record of British cavalry life on the subcontinent, capturing both the ceremonial and practical aspects of service in India during the final years of the regiment’s posting. Lithographs of this calibre and completeness are rarely encountered as a matched group.

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