green beanie | 15 Mar 2018 5:55 a.m. PST |
At any time during the Napoleonic wars did the British infantry wear bearskin hats? Other than the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. |
deadhead | 15 Mar 2018 6:02 a.m. PST |
On parade at home…………..Even 23rd of Foot Royal Welch/Welsh I would be surprised on campaign. Of course countless painters showed them thus in battle, as with the Guards. Much artistic licence in those days! Many folk assume Highlanders' headgear was a bearskin. It may look like that, in a 28mm model but no, it was a display of ostrich feathers sticking up from the diced bonnet. Scots Greys and bearskin crests on Light Dragoons and RHA Tarletons, Hussars, but not infantry. Yogi could sleep assured that his pelt could stay on for another year |
Supercilius Maximus | 15 Mar 2018 6:59 a.m. PST |
If you mean on campaign, then the answer is almost certainly "no". In fact, British troops stopped wearing bearskin caps on the battlefield during the latter half of the AWI – Peebles, CO of the 42nd's Grenadier Company, mentions his men putting theirs into storage in 1778 or 1779 (sorry, memory not what it was) and other regiments followed suit. Earlier in the war, the 5th Foot was reprimanded by Howe for wearing fur caps at a parade for the King's birthday – although as Colonel of the 23rd, who were REAL fusiliers, he was probably upset that his regiment didn't have theirs with them. The sheer cost of the caps made risking damage (not to mention replacing any that were lost when someone was killed or captured) exorbitantly expensive. As a result they were relegated to parades, until after Waterloo when the entire 1st Foot Guards was awarded them for defeating the Grenadiers (actually the Chasseurs) of the Imperial Guard. The 2nd and 3rd Guards followed this as fashion statements, and bearskins were probably worn in Canada in the 1830s, but definitely in the Crimea. |
Supercilius Maximus | 15 Mar 2018 8:51 a.m. PST |
Just recalled an exception – drummers and fifers wore small (ie lower) bearskin caps at the start of the Wars. |
Prince of Essling | 15 Mar 2018 1:16 p.m. PST |
According to Lawson volume 5 – also after Napoleon's defeat the British troops (apart from the artillery) in Paris made a very poor comparison with their Prussian, Austrian & Russian allies in their tall headdresses and towering plumes. In an effort to improve their appearance regiments sent home for their bands and the fur caps of their grenadiers. |
huevans011 | 15 Mar 2018 9:03 p.m. PST |
Scots Greys and bearskin crests on Light Dragoons and RHA Tarletons, Hussars, but not infantry. Yogi could sleep assured that his pelt could stay on for another year Relying on contemporary prints, I suspect that the light dragoons and hussars started using French style shakoes very quickly and a couple of years before they were officially authorized. |
COL Scott ret | 19 Mar 2018 9:00 p.m. PST |
Yes and if I recall Wellington did not like them wearing the French style shakos, he thought that in silhouette they might be mistaken for French and caused some friendly fire incidents. |
42flanker | 20 Mar 2018 3:07 a.m. PST |
Did Wellingon not narrowly avoid capture in the Peninsula as a result of mistaking a French cavalry patrol for allied troops? |
Supercilius Maximus | 20 Mar 2018 8:16 a.m. PST |
Relying on contemporary prints, I suspect that the light dragoons and hussars started using French style shakoes very quickly and a couple of years before they were officially authorized. Sorry, but I can't work out where you're getting this from. Three of four British and two of three KGL hussar regiments went from Tarletons to busbies – and never changed; of the two non-compliant regiments, one wore bright red shakos, so also fairly distinctive. The "Frenchified" light dragoon uniform wasn't adopted until 1812; however, Wellington was indeed not enamoured of it, preferring the Tarleton which, as Col Scott suggests, gave a distinctive "friendly" silhouette.. |
deadhead | 20 Mar 2018 10:12 a.m. PST |
Many an example in the Hundred Days of potentially disastrous confusion of just whom those bell-topped shako cavalry belonged to. Belgians got blown away by British. Mercer's account of aiming at Netherlanders approaching him. Failing to form a square as they are our lads…..surely. At any distance colour means little…..and, if they are in blue or green anyway…….let's just fire to be on the safe side |
Musketier | 21 Mar 2018 3:28 p.m. PST |
"… the answer is almost certainly ‘no'…" - But when history clashes with the legend, paint the legend! |
deadhead | 21 Mar 2018 3:57 p.m. PST |
Now I may have found an exception, but a fairly obscure one. I have not the foggiest idea about these gents but Perrys describe them as "BH 84 Grenadiers of the 61st Regt. marching, square topped fur caps and overalls 1801" I think they belong in Egypt but I do wonder whether any bears lost their skins to produce these bits of millinery.
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Supercilius Maximus | 22 Mar 2018 3:19 a.m. PST |
The 61st had an unusual style of bearskin, and was depicted in a "naive" watercolour by a British officer during their march across the desert with the rest of the Indian troops to join Abercrombie. @ deadhead – they have bears in India, too, you know… |
deadhead | 22 Mar 2018 5:26 a.m. PST |
Well thanks for that…I did wonder (about the 61st I mean, not the bears) These must have been Egyptian bears. Ursus Egypticus…..? |
von Winterfeldt | 22 Mar 2018 5:50 a.m. PST |
but didn't they use goatskin as well?? |
deadhead | 22 Mar 2018 6:36 a.m. PST |
Sounds more likely than an Egyptian bear…….. Not too many of them last time I was in the Valley of the Kings. To be fair Perrys did only say, to quote verbatim, "fur caps and overalls". Cannot imagine trying to walk in the latter mind you….Dhobi rash in the Mid East is bad enough without fur lined overalls. |
attilathepun47 | 22 Mar 2018 10:29 p.m. PST |
Fur hats in the desert is where you separate the men from the boys. Fur-lined overalls in the desert is where you separate the men from the berserkrs. |
janner | 23 Mar 2018 2:30 a.m. PST |
I do believe Hussar caps were made of beaver pelts rather than bearskin, but I could be wrong. The three regiments in fur caps did switch to shakos in 1813, but they were pretty tatty by 1815, so the 15th, at least, went on campaign in their home service fur caps. |