THE SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY
(PRINCE ALBERT'S)

With thanks to Alan Woolley
BELT COLOURS - blue, yellow and green

OTHER INFORMATION

SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY AND SOMERSET AND CORNWALL LIGHT INFANTRY STABLE BELTS

The Somerset Light Infantry's stable belt consisted of a thin yellow band in the centre 0.75cm wide with a Light Infantry green band above 3cms wide and a navy blue band below, also 3cms wide. The straps were brown leather. When the Somerset Light Infantry became The Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry in 1959, the Regiment adopted the Light Infantry Brigade stable belt, which was like the modern Light Infantry stable belt (i.e plain Light Infantry green). The Duke Of Cornwall Light Infantry never wore a stablebelt.

With thanks to Lieutenant Colonel D. Eliot, Regimental Secretary (Somerset), Light Infantry Office

It is a long time since coloured stable belts made their appearance and my memory is none too clear. I do not think we ever wore them in the 1st Somerset LI in Malaya; however, some of the old sweats who had been grooms or mule handlers still wore plain white stable belts with a small brown leather money pouch. These were completely obsolete and were rigorously suppressed by the RSM!

I don't think we saw coloured stable belts till our return to England in 1955. These were broad blue, narrow yellow and broad dark green. They had brown leather straps and were fastened on the left hip. Senior officers took a great aversion to their introduction, and I can remember brigade and garrison routine orders frequently stating that, even if authorised by the Commanding Officer, they were never under any circumstances to be worn outside barracks.

With thanks to Major W.H. White, Regimental Museum, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

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