28th (County of London) Artists Rifles - Full Dress Uniform

[JDibs]

Hi guys,
Trying to do some research on the Artist Rifle's full dress uniform and managed to find two contrasting images. The chap in the first image has pipping on his trousers which is absent from the other picture. Along with this, they are both wearing different belts. I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the reason why these pictures seem to be slightly different. Along with this, has anyone got some advice perhaps on where I could find photographs of the Artist Rifles in full dress uniforms? All help is much appreciated!
Cheers,
James

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, JDibs said:

Hi guys,
Trying to do some research on the Artist Rifle's full dress uniform and managed to find two contrasting images. The chap in the first image has pipping on his trousers which is absent from the other picture. Along with this, they are both wearing different belts. I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the reason why these pictures seem to be slightly different. Along with this, has anyone got some advice perhaps on where I could find photographs of the Artist Rifles in full dress uniforms? All help is much appreciated!
Cheers,
James

Before 1908, when the unit was the 20th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers (Artists Rifles) a black trouser welt was worn to match the uniform piping**.  After 1908, and becoming the 21st London Regiment (Artists Rifles), the trouser welt changed to white to match the new ‘facings’ (collar and cuffs).

** adopted from formation.

Edited 7 July , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[JDibs]

Very odd how the second image I found and uploaded hasn't depicted any piping on the trousers but the first one has. Maybe the Artist left it out by mistake, thanks so much for the information, very much appreciated!

[FROGSMILE]

22 minutes ago, JDibs said:

Very odd how the second image I found and uploaded hasn't depicted any piping on the trousers but the first one has. Maybe the Artist left it out by mistake, thanks so much for the information, very much appreciated!

I don’t think that the welts are missing, per se, the trousers were more wide legged than subsequently and the artist has chosen to depict the uniform absolutely square-on with the welts out of sight.  Bear in mind that the OR’s welts were only 1/4inch wide.  Here are some later images post and pre 1908.

NB.  Notice that pre 1908 the men’s welts were black, but the commissioned officers were white.  Ergo the post 1908 uniform standardised the colour for all ranks. 

Edited 7 July , 2023 by FROGSMILE