"Review Highlanders Standing Shoulder Arms" Topic

"At the start of the Napoleonic Wars the British Army had quite a number of regiments in Highland dress, although they were not necessarily exclusively filled by Scots, highland or otherwise. However it became increasingly difficult to recruit for these regiments, and in April 1809 it was decreed that many would lose the right to wear highland dress so as to make them more attractive to non-highland recruits, particularly English and Irish. That left a handful of regiments still proudly wearing the highland dress, but their unusual appearance and fearsome reputation ensured they would be well remembered long after the firing stopped, and at the time of writing there are as many sets depicting the kilted warriors as there are for the rest of the line infantry. Strelets themselves have contributed several of these, and this time they have produced them standing at attention with shouldered arms.

Naturally it is the highland dress that marks these men out from the rest. They wear the ‘Kilmarnock' bonnet which has a tourie or woollen ball on top, and most also wear the black ostrich feathers which gave this bonnet so much more height and presence. This is the classic image of such men, but in fact the feathers were often missing when on campaign, sometimes simply because they were lost and could not be replaced in the field, so those poses here without any feathers are as valid as their comrades. There was also a detachable peak which could be worn, and some here have this while others do not. The jackets are much like the rest of the infantry (but rather shorter), with lace on the front and short tails. Most of these poses seem to have the tufts on the shoulder straps that mark them out as centre companies, but some may have the wings of flank companies (not always easy to tell here). The kilt is nicely done and of a perfect length (just above the knee), and the men wear hose, half-gaiters and shoes, completing a fully authentic uniform…"

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