Types 1812-16

The officer on the left of this painting by H Oakes Jones wears a greatcoat which has a caped collar. The gorget, sword belt and waist sash are worn over the coat. His source for this must have come from a Hamilton Smith print. The lieutenant next to him has the short jacket of the period which is buttoned over to reveal gold button loops on the red cloth. The gold shoulder wings, normally worn only by flank company officers were worn by all officer of the regiment. The officer in the middle with his back to us is a field officer as shown by the gold epaulettes on top of his shoulder wings. This odd fashion lasted about a decade. The back of his fur cap shows a red circle with a gold embroidered grenade. His sword is slung from a waistbelt worn under his jacket. This is because he would normally be on horseback on parade. They all wear grey overalls. On special occasions they would wear white or pale buff breeches with knee boots. The figures on the right are a fusilier and a Colour Sergeant. The fusilier is in marching order with a valise on his back and a rolled greatcoat. The valise was badly designed and unpopular, the cause of much grief on the retreat to Corunna in 1809. Both of them have shoulder wings but the Colour Sergeant has only one belt, slung over his right shoulder, for the sword. He has no need of the belt that supports the ammunition pouch as he does not have a fusil, only a spontoon. His rank is denoted by a single-stripe Colour badge on his right arm and three stripes on his left. The crimson and blue sash around his waist was worn by sergeants and warrant officers. All ranks had peaks on the front of the fur cap.