The 2nd Guards at Hougoumont

I very nearly let the Waterloo 200th anniversary go unsung, but with a mad rush I have just managed to squeeze this chap in on the day . As usual with these big figures, I try and use the best materials to recreate the various textures.











The figure:

He’s a Dragon 1/6th body, one of the taller ones, so he’s actually 5’11” tall. I’ve called him Matthew Akers, recently volunteered from the Berkshire Militia, persuaded by the very substantial bounty and the prospect of some excitement, something he is unlikely to find in the Militia. He may regret that decision by later in the day.

When you start a project like this , you need to plan it all and do quite a lot of reading , to check out all the details. The sources don’t agree perfectly , and some details we shall never know, but the main outlines are clear. There are a couple of early articles in Military Illustrated which have been very helpful . The jacket pattern comes from an article on existing soldiers’ coats , of which there are about eight .

His uniform is very similar to the Line version , but has a couple of small distinction, with the lace in plain white worsted, and wings of facing colour rather than red.
The jackets were made from heavy broadcloth , lined in white kersey, with dark blue facings and tin buttons, and worn over a white flannel sleeved waistcoat and a large linen shirt, the collar of which was confined by the polished leather stock .




The cap or shako was the 1812 model, with a false front copied from a Portugese style. Made of felt with a leather peak and decorated with a brass plate and a festoon of worsted cords. The Light Company wore green cords and tuft ,and may have had an additional buglehorn badge over the main plate with the Garter Star , the badge of the Regiment. Most of the time the ornaments were stuffed inside( along with tobacco etc ) and the cap was covered with a waterproof oilcloth cover.




The knapsack is the 1811 model, which can now more certainly be reconstructed (not the completely spurious “ Trotter “ knapsack which never existed) .
I’ve followed the dimensions given by reconstructors, but I confess it looks a bit big.






Most of the armies had spent the night in the open in torrential rain, lying in their blankets in the mud. The rain stopped and the sun came out, but they must have been pretty filthy by the time the battle started. The 2nd Guards were presumably able to take some shelter in the buildings of Hougoumont, so perhaps they were slightly less filthy before the battle started.I've tried not to overdo it, but in reality he might have looked much worse than this.

A very interesting and different figure. Well done on an excellent piece of work.

Cheers

Huw

Heck of a lot of hard work in that
Cheers
Paul

A very skilfully executed project.

Cheers,
Andrew

Always like your projects Tony...and you basically taught me to sculpt (through the articles on 1/6 forum) so thanks for that.

Colin

Very well done. Excellent recreation of the various materials involved.

As always Tony this is a great result from a huge amount of research.
An amazing talent Mate.
Keith

Tony its always a pleasure to see your work and this one terrific!

Rich

A truly wonderful rendition......surely a museum piece Reminds me of those great manneqins created by the late Eugene Leliepvre, and certainly equal in their attention to fine detail. My sincere congratulations.

Alan

An excellent piece of work, is there a link anywhere to the sculpting on the 1/6 forum? I don't understand the trotter comment though are you saying somebody made it up? Well done on this.

Very, very nice! I really enjoy seeing your creations.

Thanks for all the kind words.
Would there be any interest in a short article on how these are put together ? It' s not really the same as making a sculpted figure, though I do sculpt the head and the hands.

OldTaff, the comparison with Lelieprve is very flattering, , thank you, though I have access to a much wider range of materials than he did.

Scotty , it's now generally accepted that the " Trotter " knapsack, with the wooden frame, was an early misunderstanding that got perpetuated through countless authors. Research by re-enactors in the 90s ,particularly by Frank Packer , which looked at original documents, proved that there was first the open-sided envelope type of knapsack ( going back to the 1770s and used as late as the 1820s in some campaigns , then a closed-sided type ( as shown here ) which was approved in 1811 , and appears in several depictions of the Waterloo period. They were made from painted canvas, with no frame .The Trotter company went out of business in 1805, so is irrelevant .
These knapsacks are beautifully depicted in Pierre Turner's wonderful book " Soldier's Accoutrements of the British Army 1750-1900 ", Crowood Press, which no enthusiast ( nor sculptor ) should be without.
I believe there is some very recent research which has discovered one of these 1811 packs lurking in Sweden, but I'm not certain of the details.
The first wooden frame doesn't appear until about 1826.

Hello Tony

I think the comparison with Leliepreve is absolutely well deserved.

Secondly thanks for the reference concerning packs which is very interesting.

Finally I'd love to see an article as to how your out these figures together. So a giant yes please from me!!

Cheers

Huw

Amazing figure Tony!

Yes, I'm certain everyone would like to see how you construct a figure, particularly with regard to research and references which are a cause of regular (and often heated) debate on this forum. You must have a wealth of knowledge on the 'cut of the cloth' and garment construction which would benefit sculptors in any medium.

Are the early Military Illustrated articles you refer to the ones by Glenn Steppler?

All the very best,
Jon.

That would make very good reading Tony please do

-Rich

Gosh, that face is something else !

Joe

Hi Tony.
Fantastic work a real treat to see. I would put my name on the list for an article to see how you put these figures together.
Thanks for sharing .

Peter.

It is great to see Tony here as well. I am a great admirer of his work and since I am also working 95% at 1/6th I have learnt (and continue to ..) a lot from him.
For me the work of T.Barton is the best you can get out of figure modelling.
I've said it before, the combination of great traditional modelling skills and the 1/6 techniques can really produce wonders.