Austrian Napoleonic Cuirassier Uniforms

I've had the outline of this post sitting in draft for a few years at least, and now seems a good time to finally finish it as an addition to my Napoleonic Uniform guides.

In 1798, there were 12 units of Cuirassiers in the Austrian Army dressed in the familiar white coats, front plate only cuirass, and crested helmets. The crests of the helmets became taller and more impressive as the years went by and new models were introduced. Each regiment at this time had 8 squadrons of 150 men.  The changes in the names of the cavalry regiments over time can be confusing, as they changed whenever the Inhaber ("proprietor") of the regiment changed. 

Austrian Cuirassiers, 1798 

Regt #	Inhaber	Facings	Buttons
1	Kaiser	Pompadour	White
2	Erzherzog Franz	Black	White
3	Herzog Albert	Pompadour	Yellow
4	Czartoryski	Dark Blue	Yellow
5	Zeschwitz	Grass Green	Yellow
6	Melas	Light Blue	Yellow
7	Carl Lothringen	Dark Blue	White
8	Hohenzollern	Scarlet	Yellow
9	Nassua-Usingen	Light Blue	White
10	Mack	Black	Yellow
11	Anspach	Scarlet	White
12	Kavanagh	Grass Green	White

By 1802, the Cuirassier arm was down to 8 regiments, each of 6 squadrons of 135men. 

Austrian Cuirassiers, 1809

Regt #	Inhaber	Facings	Buttons
1	Kaiser Franz	Dark Red	White
2	Erzherzog Franz Josef	Black	White
3	Herzog Albert zu Sachsen-Teschen	Dark Red	Yellow
4	Erzherzog Ferdinand d’Este	Grass Green	White
5	Marquis Sommariva	Light Blue	White
6	Moritz Liechtestein*	Black	Yellow
7	Carl Eugen Prinz v. Lothringen	Dark Blue	White
8	Prince Hohenzollern	Scarlet	Yellow

* before Aspern-Essling, Baron Friedrich von Gottesheim

Kürassiere reginet (K.R) #8, also named Grossfurst Constantin at one point,. 

These are Minifigs probably painted in the late 1970's. Far from my best work, but they have given good service for many decades!

Note the red crest on the trumpeter's helmet, That and the lack of Cuirass were about the only distinctions for the trumpeters in the Cuirassier regiments. 

The sheepskins were white in the earlier years, later black, often with a scarlet edging. 

At last I get points for the hand painted flags!

K.R #4, variously know as Kronprinz (Crown Prince) or Erzherzog Ferdinand d' Este

Actually, the metal of the Cuirasses should be blackened. 

The standard bearer's bandlolier often had a waxy design in the facing color down the front (seen on K.R #8 above). 

Although painted as solid facing color, the collars were in fact white with a frontal tab in the facing color only, piped white. 

Similarly, the turnback's on the tails of the Cuirassier coats were actually white with thick edging in the facing color, rather than solid facing color as I did for these veteran figures. 

Note the carbines!

K.R. #5, Marquis Hannibal Sommariva.

Their light blue facings are often depicted as closer to royal blue, as seen here. Note the facing colored stitching on the bandolier of the standard bearer. 

This unit carries an early commercially printed flag. 

For some  Austrian Cuirassiers using modern figures, see here and also here.