Uniforms of the Royal Marines

It is recorded that at Trafalgar many marines, in the heat of action, discarded their coats and fought in their checked shirts and blue trousers.

[3] The original British marines of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot (1664–1689) wore yellow (probably yellow-brown) coats with red breeches and black felt hats.

[5] Queen Anne's six Marine Regiments wore red coats with different coloured facings according to the preference of their individual colonels.

[6] The dress of the ten Regiments of Marines raised for service between 1739 and 1748 is well documented in the coloured illustrations of the official 1742 Clothing Book.

[9] In 1802 the granting of the title "Royal Marines" meant a change to dark blue facings and a distinctive round hat made of lacquered felt.

Short white jackets and bag-like undress caps were part of the sea-kit for ordinary duties, replacing the earlier casual or slop clothing that had often led to confusion between sailors and marines.

The Royal Marine Light Infantry continued to wear red coats with dark blue collars and cuffs.

[13] The Royal Marines wore dark blue serge jackets in the Anglo-Egyptian Campaign of 1882 with embroidered badges on their collars - bugle horns for the RMLI and grenades for the RMA.

This headdress was replaced in 1912 by the white Wolseley pattern pith helmet, which remains the most distinctive feature of modern Royal Marine full dress.

[17] During the Inter-War years the newly merged Royal Marines wore a full dress that combined features of both the RMLI and RMA uniforms worn until 1914.

[23] The Full Dress dates from 1923 and consists of a royal blue single-breasted tunic with red facings (with gold piping) and yellow cuff slashes.

General officers wear a uniform very similar to that worn by other ranks, but features gold shoulder cords and gorget patches.

This consists of a white shirt worn with shoulder boards, black shoes, blue trousers and red cummerbund.