A drummer's most constant work was not on the battlefield but in camp, where the drum was the army's clock. A soldier's whole day was marked out by specific beats: reveille to wake the camp, the calls to assemble, to draw rations, to attend church or witness a punishment, and the tattoo at night that sent the men to their tents and put out the fires. He learned dozens of these calls by heart, each an unmistakable order in sound. Drummers were often the youngest in the regiment, boys grown up in the ranks, and a good one was prized — in garrison and on the march, the rhythm of the drum was the rhythm of military life itself.

The figure is caught mid-beat — sticks in motion over the drum slung at his hip, in the green Nassau coat heavy with gold drummer's lace and the red-plumed fur cap. Drummers marched with the colour party and the command, so he belongs at the front of a Nassau diorama: set him beside a Nassau Grenadier with Regimental Colour at the head of the column, take his orders from a Nassau Grenadier Officer, and have him beat the time for a line of Nassau Grenadiers loading and firing.

W. Britain model 36181. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.