Three men were withdrawn from the department of science and art in the summer for service in the East, viz., two for employment as photographers, and one—corporal Dickson—as conductor of the pontoon equipment and stores. One of the photographers—corporal Pendered—had, while in that department the care of the students’ drawings sent from the various local schools of art, in competition for prizes offered by the commissioners. Corporal Dickson, who until his removal had acted as a clerk at Marlborough House, received from the Board of Trade a gratuity of 5_l._ in recognition of his usefulness. The non-commissioned officers who remained under Captain Owen, R.E., were corporals Frederic Key and James Mack; the former, stated to be full of invention and intelligence, continued throughout the year to act as overseer of the civil carpenters employed at Gore and Marlborough Houses; and the latter, remarkable for his good information and acquirements, was found a most useful clerk and draughtsman. It should also be noted that one or other of these non-commissioned officers travelled during the autumn to several provincial towns in England and Scotland, such as Nottingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Warrington, York, &c., and exhibited to local institutions in connection with the central school of design at Somerset House, a collection of students’ drawings for which prizes had been awarded at the spring examination at Gore House. The exhibition was so arranged as to be packed and conveyed from town to town with readiness and facility, and wherever they itinerated with their charge, were treated with attention and courtesy. As a reward for undoubted merit two staff ranks—sergeant-major and quartermaster-sergeant—were given to the survey companies on the 28th July by Sir Hew Ross, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. Similar appointments had been held by the companies for many years with only modified advantages, but now they were constituted permanent ranks and carried with them all the benefits prescribed by the rules of the service. This year the moustache, under certain restrictions, was permitted to be worn; and the Kilmarnock bonnet, discarded in 1837, was revived. Its dimensions, however, were of a more reasonable measurement than in olden times, and suitable for campaigning. A yellow band was added, also a plain yellow ornament on the crown, and the scanty peak worn for nearly forty years, was replaced by one familiarly termed the war peak, sufficiently large to offer an efficient shade to the face from the sun. Leaving the great events which occurred about this period, to be treated without interruption in subsequent chapters, the more ordinary incidents of the corps will first be disposed of.