Red - The Red Uniform

The Red Uniform

The red military uniform was adopted by the British Army in 1645, and was still worn as a dress uniform until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. Ordinary soldiers wore red coats dyed with madder, while officers wore scarlet coats dyed with the more expensive cochineal.

In the modern British army, scarlet is still worn by the Foot Guards, the Life Guards, and by some regimental bands or drummers for ceremonial purposes. Officers and NCOs of those regiments which previously wore red retain scarlet as the colour of their "mess" or formal evening jackets. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment has a scarlet tunic in its winter dress.(See Red coat (British army)).

Scarlet is worn for some full dress, military band or mess uniforms in the modern armies of a number of the countries that made up the former British Empire. These include the Australian, Jamaican, New Zealand, Fijian, Canadian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Indian, Singaporean, Sri Lankan and Pakistani armies.

The musicians of the United States Marine Corps Band wear red, following an 18th century military tradition that the uniforms of band members are the reverse of the uniforms of the other soldiers in their unit. Since the U.S. Marine uniform is blue with red facings, the band wears the reverse.

Red Serge is the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, created in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police, and given iits present name in 1920. The uniform was adapted from the tunic of the British Army. Cadets at the Royal Military College of Canada also wear red dress uniforms.

The Brazilian Marine Corps wears a red dress uniform.

• Officer and soldier of the British Army, (1812).

• Musicians of the United States Marine Corps Band

• Officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

• The Brazilian Marine Corps wears a dress uniform called La Garanca.

• Soldiers of the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army