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.