"British Uniform Question" Topic

I'm about to start working on some British Peninisula units, set in, roughly, 1811-12. I thought I knew what color was what, but have run into some conflicting info. So a two part question-

I just assumed the British wore white trousers (not counting scrounging up replacements on campaing) in Spain. But I've also read that they wore white in the summer, and grey in the winter, and have also been told that white was for parade grounds only, and that on campaign in 1812 they wore grey. So if painting British troops on campaign in Spain in 1812-ish, what standard color should the trousers be (not including the scrounged items to replace ruined pants)?

And a related question…Did the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot wear buff trousers and crossbelts on campaign in 1812? I've seen some pictures and plates that suggest they did, but I'm not sure how accurate this is.

Thanks for the help
-Scott
djokergaming.wordpress.com

link

This gentleman has the right idea.

Sorry, no idea about the 52nd.

I may be wrong, but I think the buff "small clothes" referred to breeches, rather than the overalls worn over them. In any case, trousers would wear out fairly quickly on campaign, so in the Peninsula they would soon end up with a mix of all sorts of materials, including white (looted from the enemy dead – and sometimes from friends) and the local brown.

The natural colour of the belts was actually buff – you had to make them white and this would fade quickly in the field. So I suspect a better observed rule by the 52nd than the buff trousers, but probably also by other regiments whose belts were supposed to be white!

I paint grey for all except the Guards units which I paint with white pants.

David
wardepot.blogspot.com
6to20painting.blogspot.com

Hi. The breeches are Buff,as per British Napoleonic uniforms by C.E. Franklin on page 220 Hope this helps

Lots of good help here, thanks all. I'll approach it this way, then-

Most units, grey trousers, with some browns and whites mixed in for that "on campaign" look. And the 52nd I'll do with buff trousers and crossbelts, with some other colors mixed in. I'd like to do the buff for the 52nd anyway, just for something different if for no other reason. But it sounds like doing so would be on the right track as well.

Thanks for the tips. Not a big deal, but if I didn't get it at least somewhat right, my OCD would drive me nuts heheh.

-Scott
djokergaming.wordpress.com

I understood that buff crossbelts etc were used by all units with buff facings. Not sure about trousers however.

Gray, white, light blue, shades of brown pants when on campaign in Spain anything goes. Same for Froggies as well.

White was the official colour for overalls until 1811, grey thereafter. With the usual logistics/contractor limitations I would still go with predominantly white for 1811/12.

I have to admit I take a pragmatic stance with my 6mm British, the first regiment with a given facing colour gets white trousers, second gets grey, thirds gets brown, 4th gets a grey blue…