2nd Battalion Light Coy Coldstream Guards 1815

[Jimbo]

Hi all
Can anyone please tell me if during the Waterloo campaign (& previous dates) if a Sergeant of the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards "Light Company" would have carried a Baker rifle rather than a Brown Bess?
I seem to remember seeing this somewhere but can't place my finger on it
I'd appreciate any info if possible
Cheers
Jim

 

[Nap]

Jimbo ,

You might be thinking of the Stormtroopers KGL Sgt who has a Baker Rifle

As for the Ft Guards this shows the 3rd Guards Lt Coy Sgt with a Brown Bess so I cannot see any reason why the Coldstreamers would be different , although in the book it does state that they might have carried a " lighter and more refined version" of the musket .

Nap

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks Kev
I just seem to remember seeing an illustration of a Coldstream light coy sergeant carrying a Baker rifle & I thought at the time that it was a bit odd but maybe possible?...this is for a conversion that I've been thinking about.
Cheers
Jim

 

[MCPWilk]

Light companies of Line Regiments were armed with the Brown Bess. It is of course possible that in the field some soldiers did their own thing. I understand that British weapons were of a slightly larger calibre than the French, so British troops could use French ammunition, but the converse was not true.

Mike

 

[Mirofsoft]

see this page by a specialist
100 days : all regiments, all countries, all illustrated with a plate
http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/detail_uniteBR.php?rubrique=U&unite=7&nation=1

and for the guard
http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/detail_uniteBR.php?rubrique=U&unite=1&nation=1

 

[Tony Barton]

I think it's unlikely that a Baker would have been used " unofficially" by units not entitled to it, because the ammunition was quite different , and it needed two flasks , patches and a sword bayonet. The remarks above about the KGL, who looked very like the Guards , even down to the blue wings , may be where the thought comes from.
I'm not sure whether it's absolutely certain ( these things rarely are ) but by 1815 all Light Infantry Battalions , and all Light Companies of Guards and Line are supposed to have been armed with the New Land Pattern Light Infantry musket, which had a backsight and a curly long brass trigger guard. You can see my version on this figure :
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/private-coldstream-guards-at-hougoumont.72003/

When you make big figures you have to look at this kind of detail .If I might be pedantic for a minute , there's not really such a thing as a " Brown Bess " but instead a series of quite distinct official patterns of musket, starting with the Pre-Land pattern of the 1720s.By 1815 the Infantry in general were armed with the India Pattern musket .If you like this sort of detail, I might recommend "British Military Longarms 1715-1865" by D.W.Bailey .

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks guys for the info much appreciated,
I think you nailed it Tony with your mention of the New Land pattern Light Infantry musket with it's curly trigger guard & backsite, this is what I must have seen and mistook it for a baker rifle.
Cheers
Jim