Battalion Infantry 6th Regiment and 23rd or Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1812

Aquatint by J C Stadler after Charles Hamilton Smith, 1812.

Although the 1812 regulations introduced the 'Belgic' shako, the British redcoat's uniform and equipment did not change greatly. It still consisted of a short-skirted jacket, trousers, buff leather cross-belts with a shoulder-belt plate at their intersection, a musket, an ammunition pouch with bayonet, a haversack to be hung at the side, a canvas knapsack and a greatcoat. The latter would be rolled up and strapped to the top of the knapsack.

From Charles Hamilton Smith's 'Costumes of the Army of the British Empire, according to the last regulations 1812', published by Colnaghi and Company, 1812-1815.