Hi all
I have an urgent enquiry for the hive-mind related to a documentary project I'm helping with.
The 1st Foot Guards were given their new title the Grenadier Guards in 1815 in commemoration of their role in defeating the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo. But did the Waterloo distinction and the subsequent change in title result in the Grenadier Guards "winning the right to wear" the famous bearskin cap?
This claim is repeatedly made around the internet (eg https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/modern-bearskin/), and in several books (unsourced!) but is not mentioned as far as I can tell in comprehensive 1870s regimental history "Origin and History of the First Or Grenadier Guards". I am a bit skeptical because bearskin caps (often referred to as grenadier caps) obviously existed in the eighteenth-century and were worn pre-Waterloo. That said, it seems plausible that the 1st Foot Guards' new title from 1815 would have allowed the entire regiment to sport bearskins, everyone now being grenadiers - but I'd feel more comfortable with some evidence to back up this tradition.
But does anyone here have any information that might be able to verify this claim? I'd be enormously grateful for any help Napoleon Series members could provide.
All the best
Eamonn

A fair question, although logic and contemporary illustrations did support the proposition that with the title of 'Grenadier' Regiment for the First Foot Guards came the grenadier cap and white grenadier plume for all ranks- which had not been the case before.

Congratulations on a satisfying- and rapid- conclusion.

As you point out, bearskin caps had been in evidence since the mid C18th, and regulation from 1768 for grenadiers, drummers and, of course, for the three fusilier regiments who had been wearing the bearskin cap in all ranks for nearly fifty years when the First Foot Guards were granted their distinction in 1815. Not to forget the 2nd Roysl North British Dragoons (aka. the Scots Greys) who also wore the bearskin grenadier cap from the late C18th (or the Life Guards who briefly adopted a bearskin cap in the post-war Regency period).