"British Heavy/Light Dragoon/Hussar Trumpeters" Topic

Oh great and worthy members of TMP, I require your usual brilliance in all things Napoleonic. With regards to the subject mentioned above, i would like to know if the trumpeters/buglers of these establishments wore reversed colours, for the period 1809-1814 in the Peninsula. If not, did they have any special distinguishing features?
Your dispensation of knowledge would be appreciated… :-)

My recollection is that the Light Dragoon buglers wore reversed jackets, but Heavies did not.

I don't rememember the Hussars' being reversed, either, but am less sure of my memory of that.

I wondered about the same question myself a month ago. After a survey of various books, I concluded they didn't ever reverse the colors during this period. Just goes to show I checked one book too few.

After seeing this post, I dragged out the Almark Nations in Arms book, British Light Cavalry, by John Pimlott, with illustrations by Emir Bukhari (1977). They show the British Light Dragoon trumpeters and trumpet-majors in reversed colors in the older uniform (dolman and Tarleton helmet). And to boot, one of their plates shows a trumpeter from this period in a busby and another in a mirleton.

They show the trumpeters in the same basic color scheme as the troopers with the later, French-inspired uniform.

Hussar trumpeters and trumpet-majors are shown in the same basic color scheme as the troopers throughout the period.

Rick

They also rode gray horses where possible.

In contrast to the Almark book I cited previously, there is a Knotel print of a "musician" of the 18th Hussars in 1815, shown in medium blue pants and pelisse, white dolman with medium blue collar and cuffs, white lace, white background to the sabretache design, red busby bag and cord. The medium blue is approximately the same shade as the busby bag shown for the officer and trooper in the same plate. It is a noticeably lighter shade of blue than shown for the pelisses of the latter two figures. I found the print on the Uniformology CD 2004-3 "Napleon's Adversaries".

Rick