"Waterloo 2015 Project" Topic

All

My first British infantryman I've painted for a while, the first of 150 to go towards a Waterloo project

I am doing the guards light companies

Thanks

F

Nicely painted. Good luck with your project.

Very nicely done. Much rumour (and discussed here before) that the Guards may have worn almost white overalls at Waterloo. I was puzzled to see that at NAM, London, then in Adkin's book and finally on Guard figures shown here earlier in the year. A respondent assured me this was so, but I have no idea of evidence or why this should be so!

DH

I'm doing two centre companies of the Coldstream guard as well (48 figures) and they have white trousers instead of Grey.

Apparently the other guard units wore grey? I'm doing 3rd Battalion, 1st Foot guards light company at the moment. I'm just taking a quick break. I have 12 on the workbench at the moment.

MATW

Thank you for your comments. I've not painted brits for a while, although I should get plenty of practice – I'm doing this Waterloo project and a private Barrosa project, so I am painting up some new brits and selling my old ones.

F

Please, please, please, the four battalions of British Foot Guards wore grey pantaloons at Waterloo. They were issued with their white summer trousers, which were made of a material called 'duck' in July during the early stages of the occupation of Paris. The figure at the National Army Museum in London was made by my friend Gerry Embleton back in 1991. It is meant to depict Matthew Clay of the 3rd Foot Guards. Gerry had the figure in grey pantaloons, and was persuaded, much to his regret, to change to white trousers to match the Dighton picture of the Coldstream Guards defending Hougoumont, which hangs beside it.

I don't know if any of you are members of Facebook, so I apologise if you are not and cannot open the following linke: link

The Project Hougoumont Facebook page has been a place where considerable new material on the uniforms, weapons and equipment of the troops at Waterloo has been discussed. I have placed several items in relation to my own research, and the link will take you to a lengthy series of posts relating to the British Foot Guards and their attire.

All

Please find attached a photo of the first half company, 3rd Battalion 1st Foot Guards painted and based

I forgot how long the lace and straps takes!

Only another 60 to go…

F

For those of you who are interested and who are members of Facebook, here is another ink which might be of interest in relation to the Foot Guards, and knapsacks. An extant knapsack from the Waterloo period which belonged to the 1st Battalion of the 1st Foot Guards (who were not at Waterloo): link

The 2nd Battalion 1st Foot Guards had knapsacks painted brown, with the Crown and Garter emblem. While the 3rd Battalion had black knapsacks featuring the Garter Star emblem.

Now this is quite fascinating. Not just a simple statement that they wore this or that, but an explanation as to how the idea arose. This is truly laid to rest now.

Or is it? One snag is that the message may be lost in the above thread to any casual browser. I think this is actually a significant bit of information. Is it worth starting a new thread entitled something like "British Guards did not wear white pantaloons at Waterloo"? I think this needs highlighting and many thanks indeed to John Franklin for this

@deadhead

It's my pleasure to provide details of my research, as I know that most of the THP members are avid and wish to achieve the best historical results. I hope that my previous posts did not appear rude in any way. I think the idea of a new thread entitled: 'The British Foot Guards wore grey pantaloons at Waterloo' is an excellent idea, and I will post something in the Discussion section immediately. Kind regards John