Bengal Artillery. Original uniform drawings and patterns for officers’ uniforms as worn until the demise of the HEIC after the Mutiny of 1857/8

BENGAL ARTILLERY. UNIFORM DETAILS. A very unusual little group of drawings, some coloured, by the London firm of  costumier B. J. Simmons & Co., founded in 1857 by a Mr. B. J. Simmons and operated by his direct descendants well into the early 20th century.    RESERVED 1st April 2024

1. BENGAL ARTILLERY Details. Cuff, Back Skirts, Collar and
Fronts, Pocket Slashes. Drawing, on tracing paper, in ink and watercolours, with two actual samples of material sewn on, previously folded, 29½ x 18½ ins.

2. Bengal Artillery. Pencil on tracing paper, drawing of a left sleeve with cuff detail, size as above.                                                                        3. Bengal Artillery.  As 2 above but showing the left side and centre of the back of the coatee with the lace details rubbed from an original uniform.

4.  BENGAL ARTILLERY. Tunic. A very attractive drawing coloured with watercolour, showing the left side of an officer’s tunic with added details to the left of the gold lace trimming and the gilt buttons of both sizes. These are open backed versions. The sheet of sheet of white paper is 18¾ x 13½ ins, the fold down the left 2ins has splits and the extreme right side is rather creased. The central area with the drawing is in very good condition. From a real pattern in the possession of B.J. Simmons & Co. dec26/3

Provenance: Acquired in a small archive of material which had been in the collection of the late  W. Y. Carman sometime curator at the National Army Museum and noted author on military uniform whose two volumes on Indian Army cavalry and infantry uniforms remain influential works although published in the 1960s.