"British Cavalry NCOs' Stripes" Topic

I have been trying to discover the colour of sergeants stripes in British cavalry regiments in the Peninsular War. The Infantry information seems quite clear but what I have on the cavalry seems confusing. junior NCOs seem to have white stripes but sergeants and above seem less clear. I have seen gilt and silver and perhaps white. (I am dealing with the 11th Light Dragoons at the moment.)

Does anyone know a source of information or have it to hand? To my surprise, even Franklin seems unclear.

In his "Encyclopedia of Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars" Digby Smith writes (in refrence to British heavy cavalry but I think the same regulations applied to the lights) that from 1800 "senior NCOs wore crimson waist belts with two dark blue lines and large chevrons in the facing colour on the upper left arm. Corporals wore one chevron, sergeants two and sergeant majors three. The senior NCOs also had gold or silver buttonhole lace and wore crimson waist sashes with a central stripe in the facing colour."

This is confusing because he does manage to contradict himself about the waist sashes in the space of one paragraph. To add to the confusion, both of the pictures used to illustrate the article show sergeants with chevrons on their right not their left arms.

In fairness to Digby Smith, he does go on to write: "As is usual in the British Army, tribal customs ensure that general rules on clothing were circumvented at every possible occasion."

Which I think means, unless you can find a contemporary depiction of the 11th Light Dragoons, there is no absolute correct answer to this. Personally, since the lace and buttons of the 11th were silver, I would go for silver or white chevrons backed with the facing colour

Waterloo Uniforms by Mollo (which has all of the 1812 changes)p 68 states "In heavy and light dragoons, n.c.o.'s were distinguished by chevrons on the right upper arms--four for troop-sergeant-majors, three for sergeants, and two for corporals."

"The corporals were usually of the regimental lace colour, yellow or white, sewn onto to cloth backing of the regimental facing colour." Although not specifically stated, this seems to imply that sergeants chevrons were silver or gold as per the regimental distinction.

As indicated above this entry speaks to regimental vagaries like the the 11th L.D.s"troop-sergeant-majors are distinguished by a crimson sash, instead of that of the regimental colour".

Update: osprey on Wellington's Light Cavalry shows a plate of a sergeant of the 20th LD that appears to have gold (although it is difficult to be discern as they may deep yellow) chevrons on the regimental facing cloth. The text of the plate does not shed light.

The Thin Red Line Plate 14 Light Dragoons by Donald and Bryan Fosten, shows a Regimental Sergeant major of the 13th LD with four silver chevrons topped with a silver crown.

The text is a little more specific; "Regimental Sergeant majors and Troops Sergeant Majors had four gold or silver chevrons, the former with a crown over; Sergeants had three chevrons, Corporals two and lance Corporals one." Note the semi colon between the Sgt majors and the Sgt, which separates the two implying that they are different.

On this plate (a collage of uniforms and equipment) is a Sergeant of the 12th L.D.s and he appears to have white chevrons on yellow facing cloth. Further, the plate shows a corporal of the 17th L.D.s with two white chevrons but no facing cloth (similar to the infantry).

Based on the above I would deduce that Sgt Majors had silver or gold chevrons and Sgts had white or yellow chevrons on the facing cloth and corporals white or yellow chevrons with no facing cloth. This application is similar to the line infantry.

Gentlemen, thank you for this information. I think that I have enough to work on.

I have never known anyone try to stop their message thread. The usual thing is to thank folk every few days, to push you back to the top.

This shows integrity…..

Interesting post actually….

Hint. Do not reply for a few days, Artilleryman.

Keep this going! Once you hit 100 maybe…..

Sage words from a veteran Deadhead.