The British sergeant in the 1770s was the steady center of his company — typically a fifteen-year veteran by the time he reached the rank, drawn from the better-conducted corporals, paid roughly twice the private's shilling, and responsible for drilling the new draft, dressing the line in action, and bringing the dead and wounded off the field after it. Where the line officers came in from the gentry on commissions purchased from London, the sergeant rose from the ranks on the strength of conduct and competence alone, and the company's working day belonged largely to him. The grenadier company sergeant was further-selected from this body: chosen by his captain for size, steadiness, and reliability, set in front of the regiment's tallest and strongest men, and expected to carry the right of the line through whatever the day brought. By 1780 the British army had begun phasing the sergeant's halberd out in favor of the musket carried under the regulation infantry drill, and this figure shows the field-service mid-point of that transition.

This W. Britain figure shows a 43rd Foot grenadier sergeant at the march — musket carried on the right shoulder, lock plate forward, the rest of his sergeant's regalia in clear view. The order is the post-1768 grenadier company uniform with the NCO's additions: tall black bearskin cap with brass front plate, red regimental coat with the 43rd's white facings (collar, lapels, cuffs, and turnbacks) and the regimental lace at the buttonholes, white waistcoat, white breeches, black tall gaiters fastened above the knee, white cross-belts. The crimson silk sash worn around the waist marks him as a sergeant, the short hanger sword hung at the left hip is the NCO's regulation side-arm, and the flank-company wings at the shoulders set him apart from the battalion-company NCOs. He marches at the head of the grenadier company alongside the grenadier ranker, and counterparts the line-company NCOs like the 43rd Foot sergeant with halberd — two figures showing the regiment's NCO ranks in mid-transition from the parade-ground halberd to the field-service musket.

Model: 16122 / W. Britain 1/30 (60mm) / matte finish / 1 piece set