Editing Red Serge (section)

==History==
The red serge was adopted as part of its standard uniform by the [[North-West Mounted Police|NWMP]] from its establishment in 1873.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fairbairn |first=Bill |date=1998-05-01 |title=Pride In The Red Serge |url=https://legionmagazine.com/pride-in-the-red-serge/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Legion Magazine}}</ref> In its first form, it consisted of a loose-fitting "[[Norfolk jacket]]" supplied from Canadian [[Militia]] stocks. While comfortable and practical, the Norfolk jacket lacked smartness and it was replaced after 1876 by scarlet full-dress and undress tunics manufactured by British suppliers. An elaborate ceremonial tunic of hussar style was prescribed for officers but infrequently worn. Scarlet continued to be the base color for all occasions; partially to distinguish the new Canadian force from blue-clad US Army units and partially because of the significance of [[Red coat (British Army and Royal Marines)|red coats]] in the British military culture inherited from the Militia.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Ross|pages=21-22|title=The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987|ISBN=0-85045-834-X}}</ref>

The [[North-West Mounted Police|NWMP]] Dress Regulations of 1886 provided for a simpler officers' full dress based on that of British and Canadian [[dragoon]] regiments. The 1890 regulations authorized the adoption of white patrol jackets for summer wear and brown duck ([[khaki]]) for patrol duty. The red serge was by now sufficiently well-established to serve as an icon of the NWMP, though increasingly relegated to dress and garrison wear. Photographs, however, show red serge still being worn by individual constables on field duty into the early 1900s. A dark-blue, patrol "frock tunic", of the same design as the red serge, was adopted in 1904 as alternative wear for ordinary duties. A mixture of scarlet, blue, and brown tunics were worn, according to circumstances, until after 1920 when the red serge became a dress item, with brown tunics as a standard part of the normal work uniform. This remains the practice to the present day.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Ross|pages=36-37|title=The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873-1987|ISBN=0-85045-834-X}}</ref>