Bearskin
Encyclopedia
Cap
A cap is a form of headgear. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head and have no brim or only a visor. They are typically designed for warmth and, when including a visor, blocking sunlight from the eyes...
, usually worn as part of a ceremonial military uniform. Traditionally, the bearskin was the headgear of grenadiers, and is still worn by grenadier and guards regiments in various armies.
Origins
The cloth caps worn by the original grenadiers in European armies during the 17th century were frequently trimmed with fur. The practice fell into disuse until the second half of the eighteenth century when grenadiers in the British, Spanish and French armies began wearing high fur hats with cloth tops and, sometimes, ornamental front plates. The purpose appears to have been to add to the apparent height and impressive appearance of these troops both on the parade ground and the battlefield.During the nineteenth century, the expense of bearskin caps and difficulty of maintaining them in good condition on active service led to this form of headdress becoming generally limited to guardsmen, bands or other units having a ceremonial role. The British Foot Guards
Foot Guards
-British Army:The Foot Guards are the Regular Infantry regiments of the Household Division of the British Army. There have been six regiments of foot guards, five of which still exist. The Royal Guards Reserve Regiment was a reserve formation of the Household Brigade in existence from 1900-1901...
and Royal Scots Greys did however wear bearskins in battle during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
and on peacetime manoeuvers until the introduction of khaki
Khaki
This article is about the fabric. For the color, see Khaki . Kaki, another name for the persimmon, is often misspelled "Khaki".Khaki is a type of fabric or the color of such fabric...
service dress in 1902.
Immediately prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, bearskins were still worn by guard or other units in the British, Belgian, Danish, Dutch, Russian and Swedish armies. This did not include use of the busby
Busby
Busby is the English name for the Hungarian prémes csákó or kucsma, a military head-dress made of fur, worn by Hungarian hussars. In its original Hungarian form the busby was a cylindrical fur cap, having a bag of coloured cloth hanging from the top. The end of this bag was attached to the right...
and other types of smaller fur headdress sometimes confused with the high bearskin. The Italian Sardinian Grenadiers had discarded bearskins in the nineteenth century but were to readopt them for limited ceremonial wear in modern times.
Belgian Army
Until 1914 bearskins were worn in parade uniform by the Regiment der Grenadiers ("Regiment of Grenadiers") of the Belgian Army. The modern regiment has readopted this headdress for limited ceremonial purposes.British Army
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
and the action in which they gained their name, the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
were permitted to wear the bearskin. This tradition was later extended to the other two regiments of Guards
Foot Guards
-British Army:The Foot Guards are the Regular Infantry regiments of the Household Division of the British Army. There have been six regiments of foot guards, five of which still exist. The Royal Guards Reserve Regiment was a reserve formation of the Household Brigade in existence from 1900-1901...
. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
and officers of Fusilier
Fusilier
Fusilier was originally the name of a soldier armed with a light flintlock musket called the fusil. The word was first used around 1680, and has later developed into a regimental designation.-History:...
regiments also wear the bearskin as part of their ceremonial uniform. The bearskin should not be mistaken for the busby
Busby
Busby is the English name for the Hungarian prémes csákó or kucsma, a military head-dress made of fur, worn by Hungarian hussars. In its original Hungarian form the busby was a cylindrical fur cap, having a bag of coloured cloth hanging from the top. The end of this bag was attached to the right...
, which is a much smaller fur cap worn by the Royal Horse Artillery
Royal Horse Artillery
The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...
and hussar regiments in full dress. Nor should it be confused with the similar but smaller 'Sealskin' cap worn by other ranks of the Royal Fusiliers, actually made of raccoon skin.
The standard bearskin of the British Foot Guards is 18 inches tall, weighs 1.5 pound
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
s, and is made from the fur of the Canadian black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
. However, an officer's bearskin is made from the fur of the Canadian brown bear
Brown Bear
The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
as the female brown bear has thicker, fuller fur, and is dyed black. An entire skin is used for each hat. The British Army purchase the hats, which are known as caps, from a British hatmaker which sources its pelts from an international auction. The hatmakers purchase between 50 and 100 black bear skins each year at a cost of about £650 each. If properly maintained, the caps last for decades; some caps in use are reportedly more than 100 years old.
Opposition
On August 3, 1888 The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that bearskin caps might be phased out because of a shortage of bear skins. The article stated that, at that time, bearskin hats cost £7–5s each (about 35 contemporary US dollars; £600 in 2007 pounds) and noted “it can readily be seen what a price has to be paid for keeping up a custom which is rather old, it is true, but is practically a useless one save for the purpose of military display”.
In 1997 Minister for Defence Procurement
Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support
The Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology is a junior Defence minister in the Ministry of Defence of Her Majesty's Government....
Lord Gilbert
John Gilbert, Baron Gilbert
John William Gilbert, Baron Gilbert PC is a British Labour politician.Gilbert was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, St John's College, Oxford and New York University....
said that he wanted to see bearskins phased out as soon as possible due to ethical concerns, but no replacement was available at that time.
In 2005 the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
began a two-year test of artificial fur for the hats. The army has already replaced beaver hats and leopard skins, worn by some of its soldiers, with artificial materials. In March 2005, Labour MP Chris Mullin
Chris Mullin (politician)
Christopher John Mullin is a British Labour Party politician and diarist who was the Member of Parliament for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010...
called for an immediate ban on bearskin hats stating that they "have no military significance and involve unnecessary cruelty."
Animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
has protested against the continued use of real fur for the guards’ hats, alleging that the animals are killed cruelly. For several years, PETA members have held demonstrations, including one with 70 naked protesters at St. Peter's Hill, near St Paul's Cathedral, in 2006. PETA wants the fur hats to be replaced with synthetic materials and claims that the Ministry of Defence has not done enough to find alternatives.
In February 2011, Joss Stone appeared in a PETA advert targeting the Ministry of Defence, showing the 23-year-old soul singer holding a teddy bear that covers her naked body and features the slogan 'Bear Hugs, Not Bear Caps'."
Army officials say approximately 100 skins are taken every year from the annual cull of thousands of bears by native Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
hunters in a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
government programme to keep numbers under control.
Nations that currently use bearskins
: Belgian Federal Police-
- Mounted Royal Escort (1938) : Canadian ForcesCanadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
- Royal 22e RégimentRoyal 22e RégimentThe Royal 22nd Regiment is an infantry regiment and the most famous francophone organization of the Canadian Forces. The regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army...
(1914), - Governor General's Foot GuardsGovernor General's Foot GuardsThe Governor General's Foot Guards is one of three Household regiments in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army, along with The Governor General's Horse Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards. The GGFG is the most senior militia infantry regiment in Canada."Civitas et Princeps Cura Nostra" is...
(1861), - Canadian Grenadier Guards (1764),
- The Royal Regiment of CanadaThe Royal Regiment of CanadaThe Royal Regiment of Canada is the largest army regiment in the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve. It is an infantry unit based in Toronto, Ontario, part of Land Force Central Area's 32 Canadian Brigade Group....
(1885): Royal Danish ArmyRoyal Danish ArmyThe Royal Danish Army is the land warfare branch of the Danish Defence Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard.For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods, abandoning its traditional role of anti-invasion... - Royal Life GuardsDen Kongelige LivgardeThe Royal Life Guards is an infantry regiment of the Danish Army, founded in 1658 by King Frederik III. It serves in two roles: as a front line combat unit, and as a guard/ceremonial unit to the Danish monarchy...
or Den Kongelige Livgarde (1658): Italian ArmyItalian ArmyThe Italian Army is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft... - 1st Grenadier Regiment Granatieri di Sardegna
- 8th Cavalry Regiment Lancieri di Montebello: Royal Netherlands ArmyRoyal Netherlands ArmyThe Royal Netherlands Army is the land forces element of the military of the Netherlands.-Short history:The Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, but its origins date back to 1572, when the so-called Staatse Leger was raised...
- The Guard Grenadiers or Grenadiers Garde (1829) - now Garderegiment Grenadiers en JagersGarderegiment Grenadiers en JagersGarderegiment Grenadiers en Jagers is a regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army; it is one of two, along with the Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene that is classed as 'Guards'...
: Swedish ArmySwedish ArmyThe Swedish Army is one of the oldest standing armies in the world and a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces; it is in charge of land operations. General Sverker Göranson is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army.- Organization :... - The Royal Life Guards or Kungliga Livgardet (1521): British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
- the five regiments of Foot GuardsFoot Guards-British Army:The Foot Guards are the Regular Infantry regiments of the Household Division of the British Army. There have been six regiments of foot guards, five of which still exist. The Royal Guards Reserve Regiment was a reserve formation of the Household Brigade in existence from 1900-1901...
- the Royal Scots Dragoon GuardsRoyal Scots Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
(Carabiniers & Greys) - the Honourable Artillery CompanyHonourable Artillery CompanyThe Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Today it is a Registered Charity whose purpose is to attend to the “better defence of the realm"...
- Mounted Royal Escort (1938) : Canadian Forces
Modern use by military bands
In addition to the specific units named above, bearskins are worn by limited categories of other military personnel with ceremonial functions. These include the band and corps of drums of the British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's Honourable Artillery Company
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Today it is a Registered Charity whose purpose is to attend to the “better defence of the realm"...
, the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
, band and pioneers
Assault Pioneer
An Assault Pioneer is an infantry soldier who is responsible for:* The construction of tools for infantry soldiers to cross natural and man-made obstacles as well as breaching of enemy fortifications;...
of The Royal Regiment of Canada
The Royal Regiment of Canada
The Royal Regiment of Canada is the largest army regiment in the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve. It is an infantry unit based in Toronto, Ontario, part of Land Force Central Area's 32 Canadian Brigade Group....
, band of the Sri Lanka Artillery
Sri Lanka Artillery
The Sri Lanka Artillery is a corps of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of 7 regular regiments and 2 volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda.-History:...
, and drum majors of the Royal Highland Fusiliers
Royal Highland Fusiliers
The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland....
- 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland; United States Marine Band
United States Marine Band
The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the United States...
, the United States Army Band
United States Army Band
Founded in 1922, the United States Army Band – known as "Pershing's Own" – is the premier musical organization of the United States Army. Before 2002, the United States Army Band was the only Washington-based military band to have participated in a theater of foreign combat operations...
, the United States Navy Band
United States Navy Band
The United States Navy Band, based at the historic Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served the nation as the official musical organization of the United States Navy since 1925...
, the United States Coast Guard Band
United States Coast Guard Band
The United States Coast Guard Band is the premier military band of the United States Coast Guard based in New London, Connecticut.The current director is Commander Kenneth W. Megan.- History :...
, the United States Air Force Band, and the United States Army Field Band. Drum majors of the various service academies, as well as unit, division and fleet bands across the USA and worldwide, also frequently use the bearskin in ceremonial missions. Drummers and drum majors of the Pipes and Drums of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment is a parachute infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Sydney. 3 RAR was initially formed in 1945 as the 67th Battalion and has seen active service in Japan, Korea, Malaya, South Vietnam, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq...
use the bearskin as well.
Royal Thai Guards
The Royal Thai Guards of the Thai Royal Family uses a bearskin-like headgear in their ceremonial uniforms, especially in "Trooping of The Colours" held every Year in December. The colour of the headgears varies from black, pink/red and blue, depending to the units of the wearers.Vatican Gendarmerie
The Papal Corpo della GendarmeriaCorps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City
The Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano is the gendarmerie, or police and security force, of Vatican City. The corps is responsible for security, public order, border control, traffic control, criminal investigation, and other general police duties in Vatican City...
wore bearskins as part of their ceremonial uniform until this force was disbanded in 1970.
Non-military bands
In the United States a small number of university bands founded through military means also adorn their drum majors with these headpieces as opposed to their synthetic counterparts. One example being the drum majors of the Purdue University "All-American" Marching Band.See also
- Feather bonnetFeather bonnetThe feather bonnet is a type of military headdress used mainly by the Scottish Highland infantry regiments of the British Army from about 1763 until the outbreak of World War I. It is now mostly worn by pipers and drummers in various bands throughout the world...
, which slightly resembles a bearskin. - BusbyBusbyBusby is the English name for the Hungarian prémes csákó or kucsma, a military head-dress made of fur, worn by Hungarian hussars. In its original Hungarian form the busby was a cylindrical fur cap, having a bag of coloured cloth hanging from the top. The end of this bag was attached to the right...