An Officer and Private of the 52nd Regiment of Light Infantry, 1812

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

Like other light infantry units, the 52nd's primary role was as mobile skirmishers who acted as a screen to the main infantry formations. The officer shown here carries a light curved sabre rather than the heavy, straighter swords of regular line infantry officers.

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.