Hello Gavin, thanks for your comment on this (very) old thread. As Im sure you are aware, the 80th Foot arrived in South Africa in 1877 after having served in the Far East for some three years. During this time in Natal, they were re equipped with whatever uniforms and equipment were available to them, including cavalry webbing, Martini carbines, ex - Indian army puttees, etc, in order to allow part on the regiment to be Mounted Infantry. (Some of the men retained their solar topis with puggaree, rather than the South African version, without) This would indicate to me that there was no standardisation in uniforms and, feasibly, they could have been clothed in any number of variations of tunic, 7 - button, 5 - button, trefoil loop, single loop, no loop, front and rear piping, no piping, yellow faced, no facings, full collar facings, tab facings, etc, etc. I am aware of the tunic in the Staffs Rgt Museum, having been there many times, but using this one item as "everyone had this pattern" is a little naive, especially as it was worn at Ulundi, the final battle of the war and Wassall won his VC at Isandhlwana....
Thank you for taking the time to comment, it is very unlikely it will be modified, even if I still had it, as I sold it some years ago!
