How were these guys actually equipped?

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Pat Holscher
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Scotland_Forever!.jpg
Scotland_Forever!.jpg (2.61 MiB) Viewed 4192 times
Scotland Forever. A painting depicting the Scots Greys at Waterloo.

So, hows the painting hold up, and how would these guys actually have been equipped?
JV Puleo
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Lady Butler... generally she was very good. Her husband was a Lt. General which helped give her access to things like Regimental Museums and the survivors of battles she painted although she was already a well-known military artist when she married. She was born in 1846 so she wasn't old enough to remember Waterloo but she may have known men who were there and must have known men who were actually at some of the scenes she painted, like "The Roll Call" in the Crimea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings ... son-butler
Tony Barton
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The first thing to say about this painting is that despite its popularity , it's miles from what actually happened. The Greys ( brigaded with the Royal Dragoons and the Inniskillings , both of whom barely get a mention because of this bloody painting ) advanced across a road, though a hedge, and gaps hastily formed in their own Infantry, before " walking over the French " , as an eyewitness described it . So no galloping , since there was scarcely time to form from threes into line before they hit the French Infantry columns. They then carried on across the valley to attack the French guns, doubtless at some speed. But the initial charge that did all the damage happened at little more than a walk.

Even worse is the 1960s film depiction , about which words fail me.

It's in a way surprising how much detail had passed from memory by the time Lady Butler painted this , since she made errors : they didn't have their decorative saddlecloths ( scarcely visible anyway ), and the men wore moustaches and oilcloth cap covers,and grey rather than blue overalls. The Guidons were not carried.
But the overall impression is tolerably accurate.
And all the equipment is as shown : cloak rolled before the saddle , valise behind . Men armed with carbines and straight swords. There were of course items not really apparent like haynets and waterproof groundsheets and so on, but they are not really relevant.
Philip S
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a movie reconstruction of the charge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vlcuvrM1po
Tony Barton
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That is exactly the film version which is such rubbish.
Dave Carter
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Although I can't quote sources for this, I am told that the latest research suggests that the Greys were actually mounted mainly on bays and other generally brown horses at Waterloo. With a coalition army hurriedly thrown together, I guess it's not beyond possibility that they would have been equipped with whatever was available, even if it wasn't the desired designer colour.
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