They're the Britains "Deetail" figures. Made of a nice hard plastic so they could be converted into almost anything and, just to make life easier, the bases came off with no trouble at all. Plus they were so cheap that if you did have a disaster, you weren't looking at a whole month's pocket money going down the drain. I loved 'em. I had a a load of British infantry of the Indian Mutiny converted from the American Civil War confederates (the grey plastic took paint better thatn the Union's dark blue).
How I miss them!
BTW, Mike. That cider cup in the middle of your cabinet is great.