The Marines became "Royal" in 1802, the title granted by George III on the recommendation of Earl St Vincent — a mark of trust earned in part during the great fleet mutinies of 1797, when the marines' steadiness helped hold the navy together. Aboard a ship of the line their station said as much: quartered between the officers aft and the seamen forward, they furnished the sentries, the boarding parties, and the musketry from the fighting tops, and they helped serve the guns when the ship cleared for action. "Per Mare, Per Terram" — by sea and by land — they fought in nearly every major action of the war, Trafalgar among them.

The figure wears the drummer's reversed colours — a white coat faced and laced in red, where the rank and file wore red faced blue — with the black shako and white-over-red tuft, white trousers and black gaiters, the rope-tensioned drum with its Royal Marine badge slung at the hip. Aboard ship he beat the crew to quarters; ashore he marched with the landing party. Set him on a quarterdeck beside Admiral Nelson, range him against his opposite number in the French Imperial Guard Drummer to show both armies' musicians, or fall him in with the British 1st Foot Guards Colour for a display of Britain's forces by sea and land.

W. Britain model 13091. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted base. Boxed.