Draft Book on Ottoman Uniforms 1800 till 1918

[maxnechitaylov]

About Egyptian Ismail:

[maxnechitaylov]

Concerning the Chasseurs:

Foot Rifles (Chasseurs).
In the spring of 1853 was decided to bring together the most mobile and clever soldiers of each battalion in a special, "chasseur" company (one of eight).
After that are created separate battalions of Chasseurs (one on the Guards, Rumelian, Anatolian and Arabistan Corpses) - the best Ottoman infantry troops.
Also were created temporary btns with rifles.

Uniform:
Battalions in Eupatoria, April 1855: dark blue [because of cloth of bad quality color was rather dark green, instead of dark blue; taille is placed too highly] tunics of French pattern; dark blue [green] pantalons with red piping; instead of fez - green Phrygian cap [soft cap = "stocking cap" after Norman, kolpak] with fur (mutton) band.
Guard and Arabistan btns in Kars, November 1855: fur caps with green cloth top; dark blue tunics (polukaftany); dark blue special [i.e. to knees] cloaks.
Third source, french, reports on black fur caps with green top as distinction of Turkish chasseurs, introduced shortly before the war (with intention to replace later with them fez in all army).

See sketches Vanson's = Norman, fig. 3 (sic!), fig. 4.
Fez: it means that not each rifle battalion on Danube or in the Crimea was really equipped with caps. So, for example, when army of Omer pasha was send to Abkhazia, all its battalions (32 infantry and 4 chasseurs) carried fez.

Equipment: black leather.
Rifles: French pattern (St. Etienne), or Mignie.
French infantry sabre.

[maxnechitaylov]

Chasseurs a Cheval - Horse Rifles.

Norman, fig. 15.
Cavalryman with soft cap.
Probably, on analogies to Foot Chasseurs, this cap served as a headdress to regiments of horse Chasseurs, the cherbajiy, being in structure of Turkish army on Danube.

These regiments are mentioned in the following sources:
- in memoirs of Czajkowski (he was commander of "regiment cherbajiy (something in a sort of the Horse Chasseurs, attached to same [Constantinople] Army corps");
- in reconnaisance Russian report (troops in Kalafat, February 1854 - one rgt of Chasseurs a cheval, 600 men);
- in letter of Saint-Arnaud (Shumla, May 1854: one lancer rgt, one carabinier rgt with carbines).

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Turkish Contingent, supply.

[ukturkcollector]

Turkish Contingent, supply.

There was budgeting for equipping the Turkish Contingent, but no uniform was actually settled-on. The officer's Turkish Contingent, in the UK National Army museum collection, was designed and made in 1857.

Here is revised Plate 3:


New Plate 6A:

[ukturkcollector]

New title page, and preface to this project:

[ukturkcollector]

Turkish Contingent, supply.

updated Plate 5: The Turkish Contingent. These uniforms of 1857, taken from uniform designs by Landon, Morland & Landon, and are number 11 in the series ‘R Ackerman’s Costumes of the British Army’. It should be noted that the Crimean War, was near its end (October 1853 – February 1856). So these could very well be a post war development. The collection of the National Army Museum (London, UK) possesses uniform items and paintings from circa-1857 (a full year after the Crimean War’s end), representing these very uniforms.
• The portrait of Lieutenant Thomas Murphy of the Turkish Contingent (1857), and he is depicted here, after the war wearing the undress uniform of the Turkish Contingent and his Crimea War Medal. (NAM Image Number 17827).
• As well, the National Army museum published the image of the full dress uniform of Major (later lieutenant-colonel) Dawson Cornelius Greene, whilst serving with one of the 16 regiments of infantry, and this is included in Plate 5.

Subsequent research has found that the company of ‘Landon, Morland & Landon’ were only known by this name after 1857, and only till 1863, when they had moved to new premises at 7 New Burlington Street, London. And according to the ‘Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, of 1851’, they were known as ‘Designers and Inventors’, where they displayed a design for an Officer’s Infantry Helmet (that was never adopted). The buttons for the 'Landon, Morland & Landon' Turkish Contingent uniforms, were made at Doughty & Co. St. Martins Lane, London; at the time Benjamin Doughty was known as a maker of livery buttons.

An 1856 –period pamphlet on the Turkish Contingent, mentions that Major-General/Mushir Vivian, when he accepted the commission to form the contingent, that he was directed “to collect from among the officers of the East India Company, who were then in England.” This identifies officers from the Bengal Army, Madras Army, and Bombay in particular. The question remains, were these helmets used or not. Numbers mentioned for the Turkish Contingent seem to indicate a force between 8,000 and 16,000 (as high as 22,000) with the rank and file coming from the Ottoman Army’s Redif or the wartime militia, and the regiments directly detached from the regular Imperial Army. In which case the uniforms would have been those already described in a previous SOTQ article currently worn by Ottoman soldiery, at the time. In the case of the British officers, apart from the buttons and buckles specifically made for service in the contingent, the uniforms may have been a mix of East India Company, various interpretations of Turkish uniforms, as well as British Army. The few photographs of the officers of the Turkish Contingent seem to show a variety of typical –period British officer’s field kits indistinguishable from the other officers in the regular British army.

[ukturkcollector]

updated/revised PLATES 6A, and 8:

[ukturkcollector]

REVISED PLATE 5:



New Plate 4B:

[ukturkcollector]

Revised Plate 8A: 1861-76

[maxnechitaylov]

Some Otoman remarks.
- Nishans (officer's badges\orders) are abolished in 1853.

- Tepelik (brass big "button" on fez top) was round; it is abolished under Abdul-Aziz.

- Epaulettes (officers and generals): put on them with full dress only on holidays.

- Norman; Figure 4: NCO 'Chasseurs of the Army of the Danube, 12 April, 1855': Norman – “the piping or tape down the front opening of his tunic appears to end at the waist … and the curious scalloped edging to his collar (which might conceivably constitute part of his rank insignia, in addition to the chevron on his collar)”. But in reality, neither edging, nor tape on front it is not appreciable; instead of scalloped border of a collar – a usual plain red tape.

Some remarks concerning Anglo-Turkish Units:
http://zalil.ru/33877688

[maxnechitaylov]

33th Infantry Rgt of Anatolian Corps: this regiment didn't existed!

4th Anatolian Corps (1853 - 1855):
1st Infantry Rgt
2nd Infantry Rgt
3rd Infantry Rgt
4th Infantry Rgt
5th Infantry Rgt
6th Infantry Rgt
Chasseurs Btn
1st Cavalry Rgt
2nd Cavalry Rgt
3rd Cavalry Rgt
4th Cavalry Rgt
Artillere Rgt
Redif Rgts: 1st to 6th Infantry Rgts, 1st to 3rd Cavalry rgts (possibly, also 4th Cavalry rgt), Artillery rgt.

[maxnechitaylov]

I found the English original of the phrase (earlier quoted only on the French retelling - "parements", i.e. cuffs)!!!
September 1854.
"(orders of Mushir Ismail Pasha) have been read to the troops, and stand as follows:
1. The edging of the clothing of the army of Anatolia will in future be red instead of yellow.
2. Officers will wear black cravats.
3. The tassel of the fez will in future be worn on the left side over the ear..."
But! Russian sources give red facings on jackets in Anatolian Corps in 1853!

NB:
Battalion Imams, 1850s:
"who wear a sword and the same uniform as the other officers"
(after Urquhart)

[maxnechitaylov]

In Crimean war E. Vanson was only the lieutenant.

[maxnechitaylov]

In memoirs of Czajkowski to seems was information on colous of a uniform of regiments of this Cossack brigade in 1861, i'll found.