The BMHS Celebrates Independence The Zouave Uniform The Zouave Uniform was first seen on parade in Barbados at the Garrison in the late nineteenth century and was worn by the 3rd West India Regiment. The Zouave Uniform remained the official uniform of the British West India Regiment until the regiment was disbanded in 1927. However the Band of the Barbados Volunteer Force adopted the uniform in 1927 and it has remained the ceremonial dress of the Barbados Defence Force Band and is worn while on parade events such as Independence Day celebrations at the Garrison. The Zouave Uniform makes the Barbados Museums 80 iconic list because it speaks to a martial heritage of obscure North African origins that became the official attire of Barbados and the Caribbean’s warriors for nearly a century. The Zouave uniform first came to the attention of the British MIlitary during the Crimea war in which the British, French and Ottoman Empires fought against the Russian Empire in an effort to prevent the further decline of Ottoman influence in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. However, it was only in 1855, when Queen Victoria was on a state visit to Paris that the notion of the Zouave uniform being adopted and worn by a regiment in the British Army was first tabled. It is believed that Queen Victoria made several sketches of the uniform during her visit to Paris and expressed her desire to see one the regiments in British Army outfitted in a similar uniform. Queen Victoria’s desire came to past as the Zouave uniform was adopted by the Gold Coast Regiment. Shortly afterwards the British West India Regiment, in existence since 1796, created to fight Revolutionary and later Napoleonic France and its allies in the Caribbean, were ordered to adopt the Zouave Uniform as its official uniform. The history of the Zouave uniform can be located to North Africa where it was part of the attire of an Algerian ethnic group known as the Zouaoua. This group and their uniform were recruited into the French army in the 1830s during the imperial expansion of France into North Africa. At that time the Zouave uniform was adopted by French European troops. A contemporary account of the uniform described it as ‘a dandified unmilitary and seemingly impractical uniform, it consisted of voluminous trousers, gaiters, a short embroidered jacket and a turban or tasseled cap. It was extremely colourful and, worn with suitable rashness and is very impressive’. The uniform was widely worn and was even adopted by regiments on both sides of the American civil war. barbmuse.org.bb/?portfolio=zouave-uniform
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:24:06 +0000
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