Sunday, 8 February 2015

Painted Irish Legion figures


I've posted the rest of the images on the Gallery Page.


  1. These look fantastic. Did they really have green jackets? I am sure Giles would have got it right, though!

    1. Hello Legatus, the 2nd (Cundinamarca) light Infanry battalion of the Irish Legion, who were part of the Riohacha expedition in 1820 were reported to have worn green tunics (according to John Fletcher on his booklet about the British and Irish Legions). As did the Irish troops raised as part of MacGregors expeditions (1st Salabrietta Light Infantry). Most of these Irish units though were very small, and later so devasted by disease and desertion, that any remaining companies that reached Venezuela were amalgamated into Cazadores Britanicos under Maj. Ferrier (and it appears were issued with red tunics). In reality, most Patriot units, the Legion included, wore a mix of colours, taking whatever came to hand, in a climate/campaigns where uniforms quickly turned to rags.

    2. Hi LH. As Mark says, as lot of info on the uniforms is conjecture and represents an ideal that is unlikely to have been met in practice. My nod to this was to vary the colours of the trousers and add lots of patches. So this unit is painted as the 2nd Light Infantry, but with a fair amount of artistic licence.