War of Spanish Succession: Bavarian Drummer Question

[Major Weenie]

Right,

So I just managed to finish some more of the figures for my interminable
"Paint Both Sides for the Battle of Blenheim" in 15mm project.
The photos are up under the Subject "Danes in 15mm," or something like that.

Anyway, next in like for painting are some Bavarian battalions.
Which brings up the question, "What sort of coat do Bavarian drummers wear"

Is it a sort of 'National Livery,' like the French ?
Or is it reversed colors, like the English ?
Or is it the same color as the men, but with slight decoration, like the Danes ?

As always, many thanks for the helpful info. which I expect will come flooding in from TLAF.
MW

[Phil Robinson]

I have not painted WAS Bavarians for anyone but other German states I have done have been in the coat colour of the rest of the battalion.

[delbruck]

As I recall it was mostly a reverse color. In some cases sergeants and officers may also have worn different uniforms than the rank & file.

[Vern]

All from The Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars vol 1 by CS Grant (I've no special knowledge)

“Drummers and fifers wore the same colour coats as the musketeers with white lace on jacket (etc) ”

+

“The officers wore same colour coats as the men, but NCOs wore coats of the facing colour with sky blue cuffs”

Hope it helps

[delbruck]

Besides Grant I used to have a couple of booklets on the Bavarians. I could only find one (John Wilson, 1992, Gosling Press). He gives some individual variations, such as:

Leib Regiment
Rank & file: sky blue coat, linings, waistcoat & breeches, white cuffs, grey stockings.
Grenadiers: sky blue coat, linings, waistcoat, breeches, & cuffs, grey stockings. Black bearskin with red bag.
NCO's & musicians: white coats. No other details.

[Arthur]

It's a tricky question, for which you will find varying answers. The Bavarians appear to have had their drummers and NCOs in reversed colours during the 1680's, as was the practice among many late C17th German armies. At some point however - either in the late 1690's or more probably at the start of the War of the League of Augsburg - Bavarian musicians appear to have switched to coats which were identical to those of the rank and file but with added lace on the sleeves and 'swallows nests' on the shoulders. This is how Robert Hall depicts them in 1704 :  




Some sources maintain that NCO's still wore reversed colours during the 1703/1704 campaigns but I haven't seen any period evidence to support that theory.  

[Arthur]

And since I remembered I had him bookmarked somewhere, here's a Bavarian drummer circa 1694-1704 according to Anton Hoffmann who is a more reliable source than Wagner or even Knötel, I think :

[Major Weenie]

Many thanks to everyone.

Now I just need to finish painting the unit !!!

Thanks again,
MW

[Calimero]

It's not that clear from the pictures but did they wear gaiters like the British or "socks" like the French? I wonder...

[Arthur]

Stockings reaching above the knee up to the 1690s and possibly as far as the end of the War of the League of Augsburg in 1697 :




White buttoned gaiters from 1697/1700 onward and possibly earlier :




Hoffmann shows the gaiters in use as early as the early to mid 1690's as well :

[Calimero]

Thanks Arthur!

BTW, how the hell do you find all those pictures of source material and upcoming figures? Either you Googlefu is waaaaay better than mine or you have special powers… 

[Arthur]

 

The correct answer has to be special powers, obviously...

That plus following the work of certain sculptors such as the Perry twins and Paul Hicks on a regular basis, and having lots of bookmarks for the historical periods I'm interested in.

Plus following Umberto Eco's sage advice of sticking to the subjects you know and avoiding those you know nothing about in order to avoid making a fool of yourself.

Being somewhat manic-obsessive - i.e slightly bonkers - helps a lot as well...     

[Calimero]