"1815 British Highlanders' Facial Hair" Topic

Hello Folks,

I always wonder if the British army in Napoleonic War can allow to have facial hair.

I have not seen example of this in the British Infantry so far, but I have seen British Highlander sporting a beard. Is this accurate?

Can British Highlander in 1815 (Waterloo) sport a beard?

Thank you for your expertise,

VS

Beards only for Sappers.
Moustaches on Hussars and Light Dragoons and the Scots Greys.

*insert ridiculous high-pitched, backwoods accent* "How's y'all s'posed ta win a war if ya'll cain't respect the groomin' standard?!"

Thank you gentlemen. Learn something new about Napoleonic war everyday. Very much appreciated!

VS

Having been moustachioed thoughout most of my re-enacting acreer, I can attest that it slows down your rate of fire when you accidentally pull great bleeding chunks of hair out of your upper lip!

As all have said, beards would only have been worn by pioneers. Infantry would not even have worn moustaches. Beards only really came in for rest because of the first winter of the Crimean War 40 years later. This has sometimes caused anachronistic pictures of the Napoleonic period due to the similarity of uniforms. Things could be further confused by the fact that a moustache with side burns could sometimes be referred to as a 'beard' in the Regency period.

IIRC from my days in reenactment in the 45th Foot, sideburns were permitted as far down as the earlobe.

On campaign, of course, one imagines that men often went unshaven for days at a time…

On campaign, of course, one imagines that men often went unshaven for days at a time

Surely this would only be true of foreigners. It doesn't seem quite British to have a 3 o'clock shadow

That's why I shaved at 2:00 pm.

In our 1812 reenacting circles the conventional wisdom is that regulations allowed sideburns as long as an imaginary line drawn connecting the bottom of the earlobe to the corner of your mouth.

Beards were sported in dire times. Corruna for example or when the marching was too intense to permit it. But I think first chance they got they'd be shaving them off. Stubble might be more common but certainly the British fashion seems to have been for short hair and sideburns. If you go back to about 1806/7 long hair in a pony tail or que was the norm.

But generally only the Sapper and Farrier would sport a beard.

A moustache was expected for a hussar, foriegn troops would also sport them to ramp up their foreigness. So you might see a few taches in the KGL, Swiss and Emigre units.

Something very Un-military about a beard. It's alright for wild barbarians and dark age brutes. But looks bad on anything in a uniform. Like Someone dressed up a caveman.

Moustaches for the Scots greys, but only in Grey ;-)

Thank you gentlemen once again.

I was going to paint some highlander figure with beard. Thank you for the valuable information. You have save me some time. This guy will be clean now.

VS