Redcoats of the early 18thc

By Marcellus Laroon. Investigating what British troops looked like in 1719 and remembered this painting

The painting shows two boys, probably of the Keppel family, the elder dressed as an officer in the Grenadier Company of the Coldstream Guards, and the younger as a private soldier in the same Grenadier Company.

Between them is a young girl with her King Charles spaniel. It is interesting that the uniforms are so clearly portrayed and that their flintlock muskets are resting against the wall behind them. Apart from its general charm, the picture is most important in that it clearly portrays the uniforms worn by officers and privates of the Grenadier Companies of the Coldstream Guards in the early 18th century.