Last year I purchased a rather nice pre-World War One officer’s tunic from an old friend. The tunic had been stripped and no longer had any buttons on the front and also lacked shoulder boards. It took the best part of six months to track down most of the missing bits I needed, although it is still missing one button, rank insignia and the collar badges. But it is now in a position where it can be displayed on a mannequin: 

The tunic is made form a very fine wool cloth, probably melton, and is lined with a quilted silk which is now badly degraded. The tunic still had the buttons on the rear and this allowed the regiment to be identified as The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry: 

Interestingly the buttons are a mixture of Queen Victoria crowned and later ‘king’s’ crown examples. The cuffs are faced in dark blue and the gold braid is that for a captain: 

The same facings can be seen on the collar. The shoulder boards are made of finely made and intertwined gold cords and should have the pips of the wearer’s ranks although I haven’t tracked down a set of these yet: 

The front of the tunic is piped in white and the officer’s pattern of bi-metal button can be seen here: 

These buttons are not easy to find and it was these especially that meant the repair of the tunic took so long. On the left hip is a single brass hook to help support the weight of a sword which would be worn on this side of the body when on parade: 

The tunic is a very small size and it took a lot of work to cut the mannequin down to a size where the tunic would actually go on it for display. The resultant tunic is, however, very impressive and so it is great to be able to finally display it. Sadly this tunic is not named so its not been possible to identify the original owner.