Cyprus Pioneers

Donisthorpe Donne was district officer in Limassol from 1880 to 1882. He was the person who decided and designed the costumes of the Pioneer Regiment. He was based in Limassol but travelled all over the island and enjoyed illustrating the country and its people. According to the artist, the dress of the Pioneer Corps that he designed consisted of a red fez with a black tassel at the back, a white yemeni (handkerchief) worn wrapped around the fez, a white kavushturma (shirt) without collar or cuffs fastened down the front with buttons, a gold coloured edging around the neck of the shirt and a single row of braiding on either side of the buttons, a gold-coloured inverted stripe around the lower sleeve, navy blue dizlik (Turkish trousers) with a single thin yellow stripe, a kushak (wool cummerbund) of yellow with a thin brown check pattern, canvas gaiters worn scrubbed and black boots. A Cepken or yelek (waistcoat) was sometimes worn of a red material, open fronted with gold edging (Alan Harfield, The Life and Times of a Victorian Officer, 1986, p60). The two figures depicted are Moslem. They are set against the background of a minaret, another Moslem element, appearing through an arch. The figure on the right is identified on another watercolour as Ibrahim Mustafa while the figure on the left comes from the Black Moslim minority in Cyprus. These are mostly the descendants of slaves brought to Cyprus by the Ottomans from Egypt, Turkey and the Sudan. The fact the both members of the Pioneer Regiment are Moslem reflects reality on the ground. Two thirds of the Pioneers were Moslem and one third Greek. Since the British took Cyprus from the Ottomans, they naturally invested in the loyalty of the Turkish minority element to control the Greek majority. The overall attire reflects the basic colours of the British flag.