Bearded soldiers

[centurion]

Originally posted by BIG MIKE
As far as the ww2 jeep pioneers , I think they were British SAS.

Oh come on now, I can tell the difference between SAS and Foreign Legionnaires in a jeep and I know a French pioneer’s uniform when I see one (for a start the former often wore thobes – arab head dress – and the latter kepis).

Originally posted by BIG MIKE
In battle the pioneers were to protect the colours and rallied around them. When trooping the colours they were attached to the Grenidier co'y's.

I’m not sure what dates you are referring to. In Wellington’s army the pioneers did not protect the colours. In battle the Kings and Regimental colours were carried by ensigns with an escort of sergeants officially armed with half pikes (but quite often with firearms sometimes cavalry carbines) and placed immediately behind the battalion commander and between the two central companies. Company colours were no longer carried in battle at this time. [see amongst many sources The Armies of Wellington - P J Heythornthwaite] At one time the whole of the 5th Division was used for road building and earned the nickname The Pioneers. This approach was repeated in WW1.

Originally posted by BIG MIKE
As for the British Each Regt had 3 Pioneers sgts and 8 pioneer cpl's with and one senior sgt who had a beard all other men were clean shaven, regulations. Winter time most of the pioneers got away with out shaving only if they were not in garrison, but in the field supposedly they got away with it.

Beards were very common in the mid Victorian army for both other ranks and officers and all arms of service (interestingly enough the Royal Navy seems to have been less bearded than in later years). I enclose some examples including artillery, cavalry and infantry.

The lancers shown are all survivors of the charge of the Light Brigade note the bearded lance corporal. One photo (too big to post) of the Royal Sappers and Miners of the Crimean period shows a Sergeant, Corporal and Private all bearded. Many well known officers were bearded. A formal shot of the Royal Engineer officers attached to Lord Chelmsford’s command in Zululand has several bearded offices, one wearing a VC – being Lt Chard of Rorkes Drift fame (Lt Bromhead was also bearded – ‘Zulu’ wasn’t completely accurate). Sam BrowneVC (inventor of the belt of the same name) was bearded as was General Sir Garnet Wolseley (the basis for Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘modern major general’). Highland regiments appear to have been particularly prone to outbreaks of hirsuteness.
By 1890 photos show a major decline in the beard. However Queens Regulations at the time specifically specified that all Pioneers who can grow beards must grow beards. [Army and Navy Gazette 1890]
By WW1 many armies (including the British and New Zealand) were raising pioneer battalions and pioneer companies in the line regiments were becoming effectively ceremonial distinctions (much as the grenadier and light companies were to do). I would guess that it was at this time that the regulation limiting beards came into full effect. The current Logistics Corps in the British Army has subsumed the pioneer battalions

The Persian (Iranian today) army in the 1850s wore European uniforms (based on Napoleons Imperial Guard) and were to a man bearded