Aww, you capped a Marine for me. (Though he looks like he needs a musket. Poor thing.)
And that guy does look a bit like Cute Marine.
Right. Plumes. There's two or three things about plumes.
There are three colours of plume - two solid and one which has two colours. The two solid ones are worn by members of the flank companies - if you imagine ten blocks of men, the blocks on each end will wear a plume made of a single colour.
The Light Company (on the left, facing forward) wear plain green. These are men who are trained, like riflemen, in skirmishing. They are generally shorter and quicker than the others in the regiment.
The Grenadier Company (on the right, facing forward) wear plain white. These men are the tallest and strongest men and were originally trained in throwing grenades.
The men of the eight 'battalion' or 'line' companies wear white-over-red plumes, two-thirds white over one-third red (the same as the Marines). These are the men who stand in the line and do the bulk of the volley firing.
The other thing is that the style of the shako - the hat - changed. Originally it was a simple 'stovepipe' type of shako, which was basically a cylinder with a flat top, with the plume worn centre front.
In 1812, a new style of shako was authorised, with a lower crown and a 'false front'. This was known as the 'Belgic' shako, or '1912 pattern' shako. It was worn with the plume on the left and plain white cords for everyone but the Light troops who had green cords. Even more confusingly, the Rifles kept the old pattern of stovepipe shako.
At Waterloo, the Belgic shako was worn by all British soldiers apart from Riflemen, Highlanders (who had their own Highland bonnets) and the 28th (Gloucesters) who, for some reason, retained the old pattern.
I capped lots of marines for you, actually! And I did wonder why that one didn't have a musket. Neither did his mates here:
Ah, that's a lot of info! But what I was asking particularly about was why his plume is red on white, like the one that came with your dorkhat, instead of white on red that you made.
The one that came with my dorkhat was red over white, which is incorrect, and made of feather, which is more incorrect. I made the new white over red one that you fixed to it - and very nicely, too. Thank you.
At a guess, I would say the costume department scuffed up making the plumes for their dorkhats, and made their plumes the other way round than the army ones. Maybe they felt they should vary them a bit?
Maybe they got tired of holding them on in high winds?
Seriously, though, I've never seen a chinstrap on a dorkhat in any AoS film or TV series featuring Marines. They'd be pretty useful. I read about hats in the pre-shako era (late 1790's) as having some sort of strap or tie that went under the queue at the back, rather than under the chin, and was thus 'invisible' or as invisible as a strap can be. I'd guess that if dorkhats ever had any sort of strap, it'd be something like that, that went under the queue, giving a tidier look from the front.
(Queues were formally got rid of in late 1808/early 1809, for the Army and also, presumably, for the Marines, who followed the Army but were a little behind with it. Hence why Thompson still wears a queue in May 1809.)
I love that you're just calling them dorkhats generally. :D
Chinstraps would indeed be pretty useful, and St. Helena looked like a pretty windy place. And if they no longer wore queues, they wouldn't even have enough hair to use a hatpin. (Heehee, dorkhats with hatpins... They could be made to look like tiny bayonets.)
Comme ça:
Now what's the story with plumes like that? I remember you telling me something but now I've forgotten.
There's also this random redcoat who's running and falls in the mud, poor fellow:
And this one at the bottom edge who I thought looked like Cute Marine:
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And that guy does look a bit like Cute Marine.
Right. Plumes. There's two or three things about plumes.
There are three colours of plume - two solid and one which has two colours. The two solid ones are worn by members of the flank companies - if you imagine ten blocks of men, the blocks on each end will wear a plume made of a single colour.
The Light Company (on the left, facing forward) wear plain green. These are men who are trained, like riflemen, in skirmishing. They are generally shorter and quicker than the others in the regiment.
The Grenadier Company (on the right, facing forward) wear plain white. These men are the tallest and strongest men and were originally trained in throwing grenades.
The men of the eight 'battalion' or 'line' companies wear white-over-red plumes, two-thirds white over one-third red (the same as the Marines). These are the men who stand in the line and do the bulk of the volley firing.
The other thing is that the style of the shako - the hat - changed. Originally it was a simple 'stovepipe' type of shako, which was basically a cylinder with a flat top, with the plume worn centre front.
In 1812, a new style of shako was authorised, with a lower crown and a 'false front'. This was known as the 'Belgic' shako, or '1912 pattern' shako. It was worn with the plume on the left and plain white cords for everyone but the Light troops who had green cords. Even more confusingly, the Rifles kept the old pattern of stovepipe shako.
At Waterloo, the Belgic shako was worn by all British soldiers apart from Riflemen, Highlanders (who had their own Highland bonnets) and the 28th (Gloucesters) who, for some reason, retained the old pattern.
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Ah, that's a lot of info! But what I was asking particularly about was why his plume is red on white, like the one that came with your dorkhat, instead of white on red that you made.
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At a guess, I would say the costume department scuffed up making the plumes for their dorkhats, and made their plumes the other way round than the army ones. Maybe they felt they should vary them a bit?
Me with the original plume in The Hat:
Me, with new plume in The Hat:
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Also their dorkhats have chinstraps and yours doesn't. Why's that? (I assume you automatically know EVERYTHING about it if it's related to marines.)
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Seriously, though, I've never seen a chinstrap on a dorkhat in any AoS film or TV series featuring Marines. They'd be pretty useful. I read about hats in the pre-shako era (late 1790's) as having some sort of strap or tie that went under the queue at the back, rather than under the chin, and was thus 'invisible' or as invisible as a strap can be. I'd guess that if dorkhats ever had any sort of strap, it'd be something like that, that went under the queue, giving a tidier look from the front.
(Queues were formally got rid of in late 1808/early 1809, for the Army and also, presumably, for the Marines, who followed the Army but were a little behind with it. Hence why Thompson still wears a queue in May 1809.)
Reply
Chinstraps would indeed be pretty useful, and St. Helena looked like a pretty windy place. And if they no longer wore queues, they wouldn't even have enough hair to use a hatpin. (Heehee, dorkhats with hatpins... They could be made to look like tiny bayonets.)
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