New Figure from Victory Miniatures, 150mm, Officer First Foot Guards, St.James' Palace, 1805

[MCPWilk]

I neglected to mention that this figure is now available from Victory Miniatures (http://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/). Sergeant and private as well as a number of assorted bases to follow.

Happy Easter,

Mike

 

[MarquisMini]

beautiful figure indeed, 150mm scale is great for dispplay.
Best regards

 

[Mirofsoft]

A bit to " Wood Soldier " for my taste

 

[Mat Lambert]

A bit to " Wood Soldier " for my taste

I'm not sure I agree - I think the pose is just formal and reflects nicely contemporary illustrations of the period. At first impression this may look wooden but there is nice detail on the figure and there's nothing particularly unnatural about the pose.
Just my opinion.
Cheers Mat

 

[MCPWilk]

A bit to " Wood Soldier " for my taste

The pose is taken from plate I in Wellington's Foot Guards (Osprey Elite No. 52), an illustration of a Sergeant, Private and Officer of the First Foot Guards on duty guarding their sovereign, King George III, at St James Palace. I will model the sergeant and private in similar poses. The point I made in my original post was that it is very difficult to find models of British troops of the time in parade dress, most figures are of troops on campaign in the Peninsula or at Waterloo.

Best wishes to all,

Mike

 

[Colin_Fraser]

No expert on the uniform but I thought the 1st guards were awarded the right to wear the bearskin as a result of the Grenadiers of Napoleon's guard at Waterloo in 1815. Perhaps it was just the Grenadiers title.

Colin

 

[MCPWilk]

Infantry (line and Guards) battalions had ten companies; eight centre companies and two flank companies. The centre companies wore tufts on the ends of their epaulettes, the flank companies had wings. The light company was on the left of the line. The headgear was as for the rest of the battalion, namely a shako, but the plume was green and the shako badge sometimes included a bugle. The grenadier company paraded on the right of the line. On parade the correct headgear was the bearskin, with a white plume. Bearskin design changed in 1802 to that modelled on this figure. On campaign, the grenadiers wore a shako, but with a white plume, rather than the white over red plume of the centre companies.

The Foot Guards adopted the bearskin for all companies after Waterloo, and the First Foot Guards adopted the title of Grenadier Guards. There is some dispute as to which regiment of the Imperial Guard they had defeated at Waterloo, but it was almost certainly not the Imperial Guard Grenadiers.

The best reference for British Waterloo uniforms is probably British Napoleonic Uniforms: The First Complete Illustrated Guide to Uniforms, Facings and Lace: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Uniforms and Braids, by C.E.Franklin, although there are several Osprey books as well as The Thin Red Line: Uniforms of the British Army Between 1751 and 1914 by D.S.V. Fosten and Bryan Fosten.

Best wishes,

Mike

 

[billyturnip]

A lovely piece and it's nice to see a British soldier in ceremonial uniform of this period for a change. In my opinion the pose suits the figure perfectly.
I seem to remember reading it was the Chasseurs of the Guard the 1st Foot Guards faced at Waterloo.

Roger.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Merci - I think I recall it was a large mulyi-battalion force of primarily Middle Guard defeated at Waterloo but most would have worn the bearskin in some form.

Colin

 

[MCPWilk]

There is an Imperial Guard bearskin in the National Army Museum in London. A very sorry looking headdress it is too. I suspect that most of the fur has fallen out over the past two hundred years. It is essentially just a tube, with a peak, front and back plates. I think a lot of the confusion around the Imperial Guard Regiments is because of the variety of bearskin headdress worn. Some had peaks, some back plates, some front plates, some had two or three of the above, they all had at least one of the above.

Mike

 

[Mat Lambert]

Very well researched Mike. I always got confused about the Grenadier guards / bearskin issue and you explained it clearly thanks.
Anyone else looking forward to the Waterloo anniversary in 2015 - I'm hoping there will be loads of events and specials on TV (well, more than usual anyway).
Cheers Mat