Sash worn in the Crimea
Accession Number NWHRM : 1744
Description
Officer's red waist sash dated around 1855, worn by Lieutenant A.G. Douglas when he was wounded at the Crimea in 1855. The sash is bloodstained and bullet marked.
Read MoreSash worn in the Crimea
It is a very old tradition in the British infantry that both officers and sergeants wear a red sash. The purpose was twofold: it made the officers and sergeants distinctive in the smoke and fog of war, but it also acted as a litter for carrying wounded and (in the case of officers) as a shroud. The officers' sash was made of silken netting that expanded but the sergeants' was woven worsted and originally with a band of facing colour through the centre. By 1881 all were scarlet and the only change was moving the sash to and fro between shoulder and waist at various periods of time.