Smith's Costumes: Week Seventeen
Welcome back to our exploration of Charles Hamilton Smith's Costumes of the Army of the British Empire, in which we'll be looking at a different print every week of the year.
This week we're looking at Grenadiers and Light Infantry of the 29th or Worcestershire Regiment of Infantry on Duty at Home. [1]
The 29th is quite an interesting regiment. Not only were they important to several Napoleonic War battles, but they played a key part in a seismic event in early American history.
Colonel Thomas Farrington was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot in 1694. It disbanded in 1698, then he raised it again in 1702. [2] At the time, it would have been known by the names of its colonels. [3] It served in the Nine Years War, then the War of the Spanish Succession, before spending spent three decades in Gibraltar. This was followed by a trip to the North American theater of the War of the Austrian Succession. [2] Finally, in 1751, when the British Army reorganized, the regiment was given the number 29 in the infantry order of precedence. [2]
This is an iconic print to many Americans. On the right, a line of British soldiers, led by their captain, fire into the crowd of American civilians on the left. Several people lay dead. In America, this event is known as the Boston Massacre, which is taught as one of the incendiary events preceding the American Revolution. [4] As it turns out, those soldiers are from the 29th, members of the unit's grenadier company. [2] They were defended at trial by John Adams, who was able to secure not guilty verdicts for Captain Preston and six of the eight men accused of firing upon rioters. [4] Two were convicted of manslaughter, it having been proved they fired their weapons [2,4} They were punished by having their thumbs branded. [4]
After a brief period in England, the regiment returned to Canada in 1776 to once again fight against the Americans. The 29th fought in several battles in the American War of Independence (and had two of their flank companies captured at Saratoga). With the British defeat, they withdrew back to Canada, then England in 1787. [2]
The county affiliation with Worcestershire had been given in 1782, and so it was there that it re-recruited. [2] Recruiting parties would typically consist of three or four enlisted men under the command of a sergeant. [5] Drummers were often directly involved in the recruiting process, music being a means of attracting recruits. [5] During this period, the 29th had a regimental tradition of black drummers, begun sometime in the 1750s and which lasted until 1843. [2] The musters of the 29th in the 18th century regularly detail these men as "recruiting," a practice which lasted until 1807. [5] In that year, drummer John Sampson of Barbados was murdered when recruiting in Aberdeen. [5] While the exact circumstances of his death are unknown, after 1807, white Privates were appointed as Drummers and sent on these missions instead. [5]
The 29th would next fight the French in the French Revolutionary Wars. Two detachments served as marines on British ships at the Glorious First of June in 1794, which earned the regiment a naval crown. It then served at Alkmaar in Holland in 1799. [2]
In July 1808, the 29th was one of the first British units to deploy for the Peninsular War. [2] At Roliça, Colonel Lake of the 29th dashed up a narrow gully and miraculously reached the top. [6] However, he had done so without waiting for the rest of the British center and found himself cut off behind enemy lines. [6] Lake was killed and almost all of his men were casualties before help could reach him. [6] This forced Sir Arthur Wellesley to alter his plans.[6] Although the battle was won, the failure of the 29th made it rather more costly and dramatic than it would have otherwise been. [6] The British lost 487 men, more than half of which came from the 29th. [6]
The survivors redeemed themselves at Vimeiro (1808), where they assisted in mowing down a French column. [6] A mob of French infantry was sent fleeing down a blood-stained slope. [6] This success was followed up at Talavera (1809), where under General Hill they toppled the enemy off the Medellin crest into the Portina gully below. [6] The 29th was key in taking the crucial ridge, and therefore also in the British winning the battle. [6] It captured two French colours, leading to a mention by Sir Arthur Wellesley that they were "the best Regiment in this Army." [2]
The regiment was also at the Battle of Albuera (1811), commanded by Beresford. Wellington, arriving several days later, visited some of the wounded and said, "Men of the 29th, I am sorry to see so many of you here." A veteran replied, "If you had commanded us, my Lord, there wouldn't be so many of us here." [6]
The 29th had earned glory, but such success came at a great cost. After Albuera, the regiment was so depleted it had to return to England to recruit back up to full strength. [2] This may be the reason that the print shows the soldiers on duty at home. [1]
In 1814, the regiment deployed to Canada for the War of 1812. [1] A year later, it was sent to Belgium for the Waterloo campaign. [1] However, in both cases it arrived too late to see any major action. [2]
After 1815, the 29th spent the next six decades on garrison duty in England, Ireland, Mauritius, India, Malta, Canada, and the West Indies. While in India, it fought in several battles. In 1873, The 29th and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot began recruiting from the same Worcester depot. Eight years later, they were combined to form The Worcestershire Regiment. [2]
We have looks at the 1742, 1770, and 1812 uniforms, although the 1770 print obviously isn't as detailed as it wasn't meant to be a military fashion plate. These pictures really give a look at the shift in both general and military fashion. The coats of '42 and '70 are much longer, the cuffs and trimmings far more dramatic. The jackets in '12 are far shorter and tighter. All three share the regiment's yellow facings (other copies of the '70 print do show as yellow).[3] The men wear red breeches in the earlier looks, although they seem to have white cuffs in '42 that are missing in '70. By 1812, we've shifted to pantaloons. It's obvious that '42 is wearing white gaiters (you can see the straps go under the shoes). It's likely that '70 and '12 are as well, albeit in black, though it's harder to tell. The '42 belts are a natural color, while by '12 they use ones which are kept white with pipe clay. The soldier in '42 has more around his waist-- a bayonet perhaps, and a sword as well as a bag, where as by '12 they have full packs on their back rather than their hips. As for hats, we go from a tricorne to shakos and bearskins.
Although I do like the long coats and the tricornes, the 1812 look is certainly cleaner.
If you'd like to look at the full series of weekly posts exploring Smith's Costumes of the Army of the British Empire, search the tag #CABE Project 2026.
Sources:
[1] https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1950-11-33-33
[2] https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/29th-worcestershire-regiment-foot
[3] https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2004-10-87-61
[4] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/adams-boston-massacre/
[5] Ellis, J. D. “DRUMMERS FOR THE DEVIL? THE BLACK SOLDIERS OF THE 29TH (WORCESTERSHIRE) REGIMENT OF FOOT, 1759-1843.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 80, no. 323, 2002, pp. 186–202. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44230826. Accessed 28 Apr. 2026.
[6] Longford, Elizabeth. Wellington: Years of the Sword. Harper and Row, 1969. pp. 149-52, 155, 193-94, 258
