This painting by C B Newhouse comes from the Brown Digital Repository and is titled ‘The National recruits’ party, a state of trial’ The recruiting party consists of the 79th Cameron Highlanders and the Scots Greys. The fifer and drummer are clearly from the 79th, wearing green jackets with red facings. The chest and sleeves are covered with white lace which would actually be patterned lace. The artist has observed that the drummer has moved his sporran to the right hip to avoid friction with the drum. The drum is plain, not decorated like later regimental drums. Both the fifer and the drummer have shoulder belts to carry swords. They have white hackles on their feather bonnets but the recruiting sergeant has a green hackle, being from the Light Company. The sporrans look as if they are correctly depicted and there is an attempt at showing the Cameron of Erracht tartan, so that although there is a cartoony look about the painting, there are enough aspects to lend credibility to the details of the uniforms.
The British army had a tradition of drummers and fifers providing a morale boost to marching men, and from the middle of the 18th century drummers wore reverse colours so that a regiment that had green facings dressed the regimental drummers in green coats with red facings. (This did not apply to ‘Royal’ regiments who had blue facings.) This custom lasted until 1831 when an order was sent out that drummers were to have red coats. The date of this painting is 1835 so it seems that either the artist based the painting on observations made a few years previously, or the 79th defied the order and continued to dress the drummers in reverse colour jackets, which is the more likely explanation. The fifer would have been part of the regimental corps of drums, he is probably a drummer who also played the fife and bugle.
