Wednesday, January 1, 2014

British 14th Light Dragoons, 18th Hussars

In preparation for the Waterloo Project, I purchased very nice 28mm Essex figures to make these units from Wargames about 18 months ago when they started their sale (still ongoing, now at 62% discount, but very spotty in terms of what's still available... although I just ordered 4 Egyptian Chariots for about $7.20 each).

The Light Dragoon castings were of an interesting mamnufacture, with the sword arm  cast onto the horse...


and the riders having an open right "glenoid fossa" to glue the sword arm to. 


The hussars had separate swords that had to be glued into the rider's hands. 


This was pretty easy to do, and the fit was excellent. 

The Light Dragoons wore dark blue coats, and for full dress, white breeches (dark blue or later grey with a double stripe in the facing color down the outside seams), and at the start of the period, the rather elegant looking Tarleton helmet, with a cloth turban which was often in the facing color as well. This was changed to a shako in 1811, although most regiments probably didn't make the transition until late 1812. Four regiments of Light Dragoons (the 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th regiments) were granted the right to adopt Hussar style uniforms, with dark blue dolman and pelisse, and fur caps.



British Light Dragoon Facings, 1803 (DeBosset diagrams)

Regt.
Facings
Lace
Remarks
7th
White
Silver
Hussars
8th
Scarlet
Silver
French Grey coats
9th
Pale Buff
Silver
Buff breeches
10th
Yellow
Silver
Hussars; frame on lace
11th
Pale Buff
Silver
Buff breeches
12th
Pale Yellow
Silver

13th
Pale Buff
Gold
Pale Buff breeches
14th
Orange
Silver

15th
Scarlet
Silver

16th
Scarlet
Silver

17th
White
Silver

18th
White
Silver

19th
Yellow
Silver
French Grey coats
20th
Yellow
Silver

21st
Pale Yellow
Silver

22nd
Scarlet
Silver
French Grey coats
23rd
Yellow
Silver
Alt:  Crimson facings
24th
Yellow
Silver

25th
Red
Silver

26th
Purple-Blue
Silver

27th
White
Silver

28th
Yellow
Silver

29th
Pale Buff
Silver



British Hussar Distinctions, 1812 (Hamilton Smith charts)

Regt
Facings
Braid/buttons
Sash
7th
White
White
White, Blue barrels
10th
Scarlet
White
Crimson, yellow barrels
15th
Scarlet
White
Crimson white barrels
18th
White
White
White, Blue barrels


British Light Dragoon Distinctions, 1812 (Hamilton Smith charts)

Regt
Facings
Lace buttons
Girdle w/ 2 blue stripes
8th
Red
Yellow
White
9th
Crimson
Yellow
Yellow
11th
Pale Buff
White
Buff
12th
Yellow
White
Yellow
13th
Buff
Yellow
Buff
14th
Orange
White
Orange
16th
Scarlet
White
Scarlet
17th
White
White
White
19th
Yellow
Yellow
Yellow
20th
Orange
Yellow
Orange
21st
Pink
Yellow
Pink
22nd
Pink
White
Pink
23rd
Crimson
White
Crimson
24th
Lt Grey
Yellow
Light grey
25th
Lt Grey
White
Light Grey



The 14th Light Dragoons - note the black sheepskin no the officer's horse, as well as the gold and crimson  colds and gold shako lace (in place of the yellow used by the men). The facings are orange. It seems that the British cavalry used natural leather colored horse furniture, rather than the blackened leather used by most other countries. 


The trumpeter has NO distinctions at all in this later (1812) uniform; even the riding of grey horses was prohibited, here obviously ignored by the Colonel. Like abandoning reversed colors for the drummers of the infantry, the theory was that the special uniforms made them stand out to much and become targets - rather odd considering what we know of the accuracy of smoothbore muskets, and that their opponents, even facing the famed British Rifles, didn't feel the same way!


The 14th Light Dragoons fought in the Caribbean in the 1790's sustaining heavy losses from yellow fever. In 1798, they were granted the title of "The Duchess of York's  Own", and were granted the right to use the Prussian Eagle as an emblem, after the Duke's wife, Princess Frederica of Prussia. GMB flags will be added later when I figure out all of the exact units I'll have in the project so that I can order them all at the same time. 


The 14th fought in Portugal in 1809, and in Spain 1813-1814. At the battle of Vittoria, the regiment captured King Joseph's silver chamber pot (which remains in the regimental mess to this day). This resulted in their unofficial nickname, "The Emperor's Chambermaids"!


This unit is the 18th Light Dragoons (Hussars). They evidently had white fur on their pelisses; it doesn't seem that the color of the fur was specified in regulations and varied by regiment, and probably by year as well. 


Unlike the other three regiments of British Hussars, who had red "bags" on their fur caps, the 18th was unique in having light blue ones. At one time their caps were taller and of brown fur, but later illustrations show black fur on considerably shorter caps. To further confuse things, at one point the 10th Hussars had yellow bags on the tall; brown fur caps, but the officers had red bags on grey fur caps, and grey fur on their pelisses to match! 


Some units of British Hussars adopted red shakos in 1812, some later changing back to fur caps, but the 18th apparently never did. Note the yellow cap lines and brass chinstraps, (both gold for officers), in common with all British Hussar units.


The sabretaches were of plain black leather for the men, dark blue with gold (or silver) borders and Royal cipher. Note the officer's barrel sash is red and yellow instead of the regimental blue and white. Did I say that British uniforms drive me crazy? I tried doing the horses eyes with a tiny dot of white on either side of the black; not quite sure about the effect yet.


Colors used (all Delta CC):

18th Light Dragoons (Hussars)
Jacket and Pelisse - slightly thinned Pthalo Blue (to provide quick and easy shading)
Pants White, washed with Wedgewood Blue
Cap lines - 50/50 Straw Pail Opaque (a sort of mustard yellow) and Opaque Yellow
Bag - Blue Lagoon highlighted with a bit of Blue Jay
Fur caps balck, dry brushed with Hippo Grey

14th Light Dragoons
Jackets: slightly thinned Prussian Blue
Pants: Wedgewood Blue washed with Charcoal
Facings: Pumpkin mixed in a 4:1 ratio with Poppy Orange

Sources:
Wellington's Army- Uniforms of the British Soldier 1812-15, Plates by Charles Hamilton SDmith, Text by Philip Haythornwaite. Greenhill Books, London, 2002
Napoleonic Wars: Wellington's Army, Ian Fletcher. Brassey's History of Uniforms series, London, 1996.
Wellington's Light cavalry, Bryan Fosten. Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 1982.

12 comments:

  1. Colors look good. Goodness, next you'll be doing the Rifles! I better do some French!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joe. There will be rifles (have the figures already), but they will be just about the LAST of the figures I paint, as everybody has them!

      I wouldn't want you to have to sully your paintbrush with Froggies... other than Aquarian tree frogs, that is! :-)

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  2. Good looking cavalry and good information. The 14th LDs are present in my small 28mm Peninsular Project and your post will be a handy reference for future horse regiments. Mine are Front Rank. I have never had the pleasure of seeing an Essex 28mm Napoleoinic figure.

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    Replies
    1. The Essex cavalry figures are especially nice, and on the large size, close to Front Rank but not quite, and less chunky. Two of my Cossack units (seen on the blog in ? early 2012) and one of my Austrian Hussars (seen out of focus in red shakos on the masthead of the blog) are Essex.

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  3. A great painting job. I love the blue pelisses of the 18th LD
    Regards
    Rafa

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Rafa! The thinned Pthalo Blue worked really well to give depth/shading to the pelisses.

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  4. Excellent work and another great guide! Bookmarked.

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  5. Lovely stuff Peter, along with the usual very detailed and useful commentary.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lawrence. I try to point out the information needed to paint the units yourself, especially the sometimes hard to find minor details.

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