Officer's full dress tunic, worn by Lieutenant G S Smith, Brigata Voluntare Brittanici, Sicilian Irregulars,...

Officer's full dress tunic, worn by Lieutenant G S Smith, Brigata Voluntare Brittanici, Sicilian Irregulars, Garibaldi's Forces, 1860 circa. This scarlet tunic has green facings and nine gilt metal buttons down the centre front. The buttons bear the star of the Order of the Garter (as with the Coldstream Guards button). On the left breast are two unidentified medal ribbons. One is of red, white and green bands and the other is light blue with a narrow central white stripe. Both are probably revolutionary commemoration medals.

A British Legion of around 700 volunteers assisted Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) in his Sicilian campaign during the Wars of Italian Unification (1848-1860), despite recruitment being illegal under the Foreign Enlistment Act. The majority were secularists, radicals, republicans and Nonconformists, inspired by Garibaldi’s radical patriotism