The Egyptian Army

A newspaper illustration from 1873 showing a diverse force.

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It's my understanding that the cavalry wore a light blue uniform while the infantry and artillery wore either blue (winter) or white (summer), am I correct?

That's my understanding also, following the contemporary Ottoman uniform patterns to a limited extent. However the NY Public Library has a set of unusual uniform plates for the early Egyptians that add colour to this period ( for memory)

From what little I’ve seen of the Egyptian army during the Victorian period, I believe that they were suffering from an identity crises.
Uniforms ranged from Ottoman, French and British with a little eastern flare for added style.
I don't believe that I have seen any reference work of detail for the period.
As Sean said, the NYPL does have some good illustration but with limited information regarding the finer details.
There's one or two books from the Ottoman rule that I would love to get translated information from, I won't hold my breath!
Regards
WF

I recently obtained a book "Colonial Armies in Africa 1850-1918" by Peter Abbot (part of the Wargames Foundry book series):
www.amazon.com/COLONIAL-ARMIES-AFRICA-1850-1918-Organisation/dp/1901543072/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333150373&sr=8-1-spell

It goes into some details regarding the Egyptian Army uniforms of the era. Still very vague though sadly

Hi Chris
I believe Colonial Armies in Africa to be a very nice book.
It's another one of those items that can sell from £30 to £300, needless to say most selling at the £30 mark are generally out of stock.
I tend to check Amazon after seeing something on Ebay, more often than not if it's on Amazon you can get it for around the same price, which prevents you over bidding on Ebay.
What does amuse me about Amazon is the optimism of some sellers; one selling new for £100.00, another selling new at £10 and yet another selling second hand in good condition for £1.00.
May have exaggerated a little but you know what I mean.

Regards
Wf

wfrad wrote:Hi Chris
I believe Colonial Armies in Africa to be a very nice book.
It's another one of those items that can sell from £30 to £300, needless to say most selling at the £30 mark are generally out of stock.
I tend to check Amazon after seeing something on Ebay, more often than not if it's on Amazon you can get it for around the same price, which prevents you over bidding on Ebay.
What does amuse me about Amazon is the optimism of some sellers; one selling new for £100.00, another selling new at £10 and yet another selling second hand in good condition for £1.00.
May have exaggerated a little but you know what I mean.

Regards
Wf

Yeah, I actually saw one of the Wargames Foundry books for $500 USD ... like anyone would pay that much!

I actually saw an Osprey Publishing Men at Arms book for $900 USD on Amazon once. I believe it was one of the 'Modern African Wars' books that was long out of print. Then Osprey re-printed it and now there's a dozen copies at $10 USD.

Just sent for a used copy or RUSSIAN MILITARY UNIFORMS 18th To Early 20th Century for less than $10 including postage,
Yet on the same page another used copy is selling for around $80
I want to read it, not put it in a bank vault!
I will pay if I have too, but sometimes they are taking the water.

Sean wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Excellent find!

Am I correct in believing that this is from the late 1880s/early 1890s?

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Other illustrations of the rather smart dark blue and white cold weather full dress worn by the Egyptian infantry for parade (first photo) and off duty (second photo) wear until about 1915. During the hot season the all white uniform (third photo and also shown in the Simkin print) was regulation . The khaki drill was of course the normal duty wear. The blue and white uniforms were not worn by units stationed in the Sudan, where khaki was ordered for all occasions.

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The Egyptian cavalry full dress of light blue and white of the 1912-15 period. Again cold weather issue with the white plastron front as a distinctive feature. In summer a white tunic (again shown in the Simkin print) was worn, with khaki drill for service wear.

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Finally, Egyptian artillery in dark blue with red facings (dismounted cavalryman at right). These uniforms are an interesting combination of Turkish and British influences, as worn by a small but well drilled army.

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