‘The New Summer Uniform or Tickling the Cossacks’, 1854 (colour litho)

‘The New Summer Uniform or Tickling the Cossacks’, 1854. Coloured lithograph by and after Edward Morin (1824-82), No 7 in the series 'Lloyd's Incidents from the War in Crimea. I' published by Lloyd Brothers and Co, London, November 1854. Hearing that the British troops in Bulgaria had been issued with white cloth covers for their shakos as a means of warding off sun-stroke, the artist has imagined what would be the effect of the Guards Regiments being issued with cloth covers for their bearskins. The effect, he has clearly decided, would be risible, and he has depicted the Russians collapsing in fits of laughter at the British uniform. Note also the open-neck shirts, reflecting the success of the campaign in the newspapers to rid the soldier’s throat of the uncomfortable leather stock.