~ Regimental Garrison Sergeant Majors Dress Tunic ~
A garrison sergeant major (GSM)[1] in the British Army is the senior warrant officer of a garrison and holds the rank of warrant officer class 1.
The scarlet tunic is complete with its original silvered buttons by Firmin of London.
The collar is made of golden braid over black wool with two silver Wessex Brigade regimental badges, one on each side, these badges are repeated on the sleeves.
The gold rope knotted shoulder boards are held on with buttons bearing the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.
The sleeves both have the embroided badge for the Garrison Sergeant Major, these are constructed of gold and silver bullion wire on felt upon two layers of cloth.
The sleeves are of black wool, embellished with gold braid stripe & chevrons surmounted by three buttons and appear to be to a bandsman’s pattern.
The tail is similarly sewn with eleven buttons.
The tunic has a padded cream silk lining.
It came from a Lancers band museum when they were rationalising their display. They took it up to a London military tunics specialists who thought it would cost around £4000/5000 to make now, possibly as a display piece, to show the unknown tailors skills. The buttons have not been replaced.
If you can identify the tunic more precisely we would love to hear from you.
~ Dimensions ~
The tunic is 32 inches (81.2 cm) long (rear side) from the collar to the end of the tunic.
The width from shoulder to shoulder is 18 inches (45.7 cm).
The arm length (outside) from the shoulder seam to the end of the cuff is 24.5 inches (62.2 cm).
The waist is 15 inches (38.1 cm) across
The chest (laid down flat) from armpit to armpit is 16 inches (40.6 cm).
It weighs 1.96 kg.
~ Condition ~
The tunic is in excellent condition with minimum signs of wear. There are some small signs of moth damage, but these are very light.
