All the relevant London Gazette extracts:
London Gazette 6/9 August; Prince George of Denmark's Foot, Privates' hats "laced with "a broad gold-coloured lace."
London Gazette 13/17 August 1689; Lisburne's Foot, private's hat laced "with gilt " lace.
London Gazette 27/30 August 1691; Atkins's Foot, private's hat "black edged with white."
London Gazette, 25/28 July 1689; 15th Foot private's Granadeer 's cap edged "with white, with the King's cypher."
London Gazette 30 June/4 July 1687; 1st Dragoon Guards "a white Holland waistcoat"
London Gazette 22/25 August 1687; 10th Foot; coats blue, loops red and white.
London Gazette 24/28 October 1689; Monmouth's Foot; coat grey, faced blue, loops red.
London Gazette 10/13 February and 17/20 February 1689/90; Cutts's Foot; coats red, lined dove colour, loops black and white.
London Gazette 16/20 September 1686, 1st Foot Gds.; deserters, some in grey coats faced with black velvet.
London Gazette 23/26 April 1688; 9th Foot; deserters, coats "grey lined with black."
London Gazette 27/31 January 1686/7; 3rd Dragoons; deserters, "grey coat, sleeves "faced with black."
London Gazette 18/31 August 1690; 7th Dragoon Guards; deserter with red coat and over this "a grey coat with black buttons."
London Gazette 13/17 June, 1689; Lisbume's Foot, deserter in his uniform buff- coloured coat, and "with a red cloth surtout."
London Gazette 25/28 November 1689 and 17/20 February 1689/90; Cutts's Foot; deserters in red coats lined and faced Isabella, and red surtouts faced ditto. A red coat lined with Isabella-coloured baize, and red surtout faced with same, with black and white looping ; another "with all his mounting except the surtout."
London Gazette 1/4 September and 22/25 September 1690; 1st Ft. Guards; deserters with "red loose coats over " their other coats; and "in red coats" both having upper red "coats over them."
London Gazette 24/28 November 1687; Anne of Denmark's Horse; deserter with " coat red lined yellow," but "cloak red faced red."
London Gazette 11/15 April 1695 and 34/28 March 1698; Macclesfield's Horse; deserters with "coats red lined grey" but "grey cloaks."
London Gazette 2/6 June 1692 and 17/20 June, 1700; 5th Dragoon Guards; ''waistcoats of striped stuff," and "white waistcoats."
London Gazette 17/20 June 1700; 5th Dragoon Guards; deserter with "coat red lined white," but "cloak red lined red."
London Gazette 21/24 April 1684; the Blue ; deserter with "tawny-coloured breeches."
London Gazette 9/13 June 1687 ; Prince George of Denmark's Regiment; a red coat with "an old yellow coat under it"; (The regt. had worn yellow coats in 1685).
Friday, 25 December 2009
Colonel Clifford Walton (1)
The relevant extracts from the chapters dealing with the war in Ireland up to the Boyne, from Colonel Clifford Walton's 'A History of the Uniforms of the British Army 1660-1700' (references at end where applicable)
*It may interest some readers to know that the uniform of "Lord Galmoy's Regiment of Horse in Ireland" consisted of "light grey coats, brass buttons and lined red." "a black hat laced with galoon and a buff shoulder-belt; the arms, carbine, pistols and sword." "Some of the horses were grey." Londonderry Gazette 27. April 1688: 52
*Regular Irish establishment troops (Jacobite):
Tyrconnell's, Russell's, Galmoy's (Horse)
An un-named dragoon regiment
MacCarthy's, Clancarty's, Newton's (Foot) 52
Montjoy's Foot split, "the Protestants under Colonel Lundy and Major Gustavus Hamilton joined the garrison of Londonderry." 52
*"All the regular troops siding with James were well armed and equipped" 53
Jacobite levies "far from perfectly equipped" 53
*No Williamite regulars in Ireland save for "six out of the thirteen companies of Mountjoy's Regiment" 53
*Three Regiments of Foot were subsequently embodied out of the Derry men, namely Mitchelburne's, White's and St. John's." True and exact account of the Regiments of Horse and Foot in the Service of King William and Queen Mary, and also an account of the Irish forces under the late King James, &c. Lisburn, 26. May, 1690 54
*They [people fleeing French pillagers elsewhere in Ireland] met together [in Inniskilling], elected officers and formed themselves into a stong body of Horse with an adjunct of Foot. Gustavus Hamilton, lately of Mountjoy's, became Colonel, and Thomas Lloyd Lieutenant-Colonel. Such was the origin of that still choice Regiment the Inniskilling Dragoons which was draughted from amoung those troops after the battle of Newton-Butler [31. July 1689], and was then placed under the command of Sir Albert Cunningham. Captain Wynne of the Ninth Foot was sent down from Londonderry to embody another Regiment of Dragoons and this... was equally famous as the Fifth Royal Irish Dragoons." 55
*"The minority of the Sixth [Dragoons] were originally from Donegal" 55
*"Owsley's Horse" was the third of the cavalry Regiments raised at Inniskilling. True and exact account... 55
*"The efforts of the brave Inniskilling men did not stop here. They presently organsied three Regiments of Infantry, of which a representative survived in Colonel Zacharias Tiffin's corps, now the Twenty-Seventh Inniskilling Regiment." "The three Inniskilling infantry Regiments were Tiffin's, Gustavus Hamilton's, and Lord George Hamilton's (or Colonel Lloyd's)" History of the Wars in Ireland by an Officer in the Royal Army, London 1689 55
*"Shortly before the final relief of Derry, Colonel Wolseley... was sent to assume command of all the Inniskilling forces, and to regiment and brigade them." 56
*"The Twenty-Seventh, led by Colonel Tiffin [in 1689]." 59
*Many of the regiments [raised by William in England] consisted of troops so raw that they were not even in uniform, while some had not yet been furnished with their arms." Schomberg's despatch 3. March 1690 62
*Schomberg signed his name 'Schonberg' and "his seat on horseback was the envy of every cavalry officer" 62
*Reference to "Colonel Maxwell" 63
*"The Inniskilling Horse and Fifth and Sixth Inniskilling Dragoons" described as "volunteer irregulars, some on big horses, some on small, some furnished out with a very fair imitation of a regular trooper's equipments, others with nothing military but their arms; some had holsters, while others carried their pistols stuck into their belts; and the majority of the privates had their servants riding up behind on small ponies called 'garrons.'" Schomberg's despatch 20. August 1689 66
*When they [the 27th] had reduced a body of James' troops to surrender at Belturbet in June they made it an especial condition that the enemy should surrender all the 'red coats' they had: and they obtained on that occasion enough red coats to clothe two companies; but when they got their new uniform from england it turned out to be grey." 66
*"The uniform of the Inniskilling Dragoons was also probably grey in 1691; it was at all events apparently peculiar, for Sir Albert Conyngham, asking for the clothing at Belfast, writes 'for I think no-one else will desire them being the livery of "my regiment"'" 66 Conyngham to Clarke 16. March 1691
*"When at Dundalk in September/October 1689, there was a skirmish between the Irish outposts and an English outpost consisting of 300 men of the Twenty-Seventh Foot, 'every man [of the 27th] stripped off his coat so that instead of a grey regiment they appeared in white, being their usual way of fighting.'" 66 True and impartial account...
*"To crown all, [Schomberg's] army was without shoes for men or horses, and was even insufficiently clothed." Schomberg's despatches 3. & 8. October, 26. December 1689 72
* "In the last year of the reign of Charles the Second the independent companies with which Ireland was at that time garrisoned were regimented. All the regiments then formed either clung to King James on the Revolution or else (with a single exception [the 18th]) were disbanded by William. 78
*The Twentieth, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth (as well as the Nineteenth) had all been raised since the arrival of William in England." 79
*"The Twenty-Fourth['s] uniform was blue." 79
*"The Seventh Dragoon Guards... [appear] to have been, for the first year of [its] existence [1688], clothed in blue." 79
*"Drogheda's... uniform was the same as that of the Twenty-Third." 79
*"Lisburne's men... wore blue coats and orange or dark buff facings." 79
*"Lord Kingston's... red" 79
*"Ingoldsby's... wore blue coats and red stockings" 79
*"Rosscommon's... wore red coats" 79
*"The Duke of Bolton's wore blue." 79
*Raisings:
20th - Exeter
23rd - Wales and bordering counties
24th - Shropshire
7th DGs - Derbyshire
Lisburne's - "Principally from Herefordshire"
Kingston's - Warwickshire
Ingoldsby's - Staffordshire
Rosscommon's - Wiltshire
Drogheda's - Wales
*Confidential inspection reports made at the review at Dundalk, 28. October 1689:
"Kirke's (2nd Foot), men pretty fine, but very badly clothed, many sick; Lieutenant-Colonel, Major, and some of the Captains ''assez bons officiers, mais les subalternes ne sont pas des messieurs, et beaucoup de jeunes gens.'
Beaumont's (8th Foot), Major very assiduous, but the Lt-Col. neglects the regiment; pretty well clothed.
Stewart's (9th Foot), Colonel good, but his officers not of the best.
Hanmer's (11th Foot), very badly clothed.
Wharton's (12th Foot), good Colonel, well clothed, has sent into Scotland for surtouts: but much bad company, and debauchery, and drinking.
Meath's (18th Foot), best regiment in all the army, both as regards clothing and good order, and the officers generally good. The soldiers being all of this province, the campaign is not so hard on them as on others.
Bellasyse's (22nd Foot), hardly any good Officers, and an entire absence of good order, clothing not good; but Brigr. Bellasyse expected to work reforms.
Herbert's (23rd Foot), Colonel very assiduous, but too easy to the Officers, who are the most negligent that can be imagined. Often he is the only Officer present with the regiment, which he never quits; yet the regiment is in a bad condition; clothing good, but arms almost useless.
Dering's (24th Foot), regiment has fine men and fairly clothed: but, except the Major (Ramsay) the rest of the Officers 'n'est pas grand chose,' and know nothing of their Companies, which is the case in many other regiments: the Colonel dead and his brother, next in command, always absent from the regiment.
Lloyd's Inniskillingers, and Tiffin's (27th ditto), men fine, but not clothed, and without swords, as are the great part of the English regiments: officers good fellows, but with no experience.
Ingoldsby's, Colonel ill, and as incapable as are almost all the other Officers, who are usually absent and are so greedy of money that the soldiers can scarce get paid; very badly clothed, and without shirts; as bad a regiment as possible, except Drogheda's which is worse.
The regiments are not complete, and yet the Commissary passed them as complete only five days ago." 79-80
*"Schomberg had spent the winter [1689-90] in restoring health and discipline to his shattered forces. Five regiments were broken up to recruit the rest." These being "Drogheda; Ingoldsby's; Zauchy's; Rosscommon's; and Hamilton's [the un-numbered Hamilton's, I assume]. But Drogheda's and Hamilton's can have been only partly so as they shared in the subsequent campaign." 84
*"Sir John Lanier, Colonel of the First Dragoon Guards." 85
*"With difficulty did James obtain from France a contingent of seven thousand three hundred men thouroughly armed and equipped, and even for these he had to send back in excahnge an equal number of Irishmen." 88
*"The Irish officers were all natives, differing little from the soldiers." King James II Autiobiography 88
*"The Fifth and Sixth Foot" Accompanied William in 1688 from Holland
*"Count Maynard Schomberg" 106
*"The writer describes the Danes as 'well disciplined, well clothed, arms bright as silver, all firelocks and cuttock boxes, their colour green lined red, blue lined red, and blue lined white, grey lined blue, and every man a cloak or such a coat as the Dutch Guards wear, and you shall not see a man with a hole in any part of his clothing: those I see of the Horse are white lined white and buff waistcoats.'" Letter from Belfast, 13. March 1690 107
*"The soldiers of the two armies were dressed so much alike that it was found necessary to adopt some emblems of distinction; every English soldier wore a green twig in his hat; while James's people were distinguished by white cockades." 108
*"The Dutchmen walked into the water ten abreast" 111
*"The on-rushing wave of Irish cavalry shattered itself against this immoveable rock bristling with seventeen-foot pikes [of Cutts']." 116
*"Cutts's Regt. was subsequently disbanded: its uniform was red, with Isabella[sort of yellowish-grey]-coloured facings and linings and breeches, and with loops of black and white for the Granadeers." Londonderry Gazette 1689-90 116
*It may interest some readers to know that the uniform of "Lord Galmoy's Regiment of Horse in Ireland" consisted of "light grey coats, brass buttons and lined red." "a black hat laced with galoon and a buff shoulder-belt; the arms, carbine, pistols and sword." "Some of the horses were grey." Londonderry Gazette 27. April 1688: 52
*Regular Irish establishment troops (Jacobite):
Tyrconnell's, Russell's, Galmoy's (Horse)
An un-named dragoon regiment
MacCarthy's, Clancarty's, Newton's (Foot) 52
Montjoy's Foot split, "the Protestants under Colonel Lundy and Major Gustavus Hamilton joined the garrison of Londonderry." 52
*"All the regular troops siding with James were well armed and equipped" 53
Jacobite levies "far from perfectly equipped" 53
*No Williamite regulars in Ireland save for "six out of the thirteen companies of Mountjoy's Regiment" 53
*Three Regiments of Foot were subsequently embodied out of the Derry men, namely Mitchelburne's, White's and St. John's." True and exact account of the Regiments of Horse and Foot in the Service of King William and Queen Mary, and also an account of the Irish forces under the late King James, &c. Lisburn, 26. May, 1690 54
*They [people fleeing French pillagers elsewhere in Ireland] met together [in Inniskilling], elected officers and formed themselves into a stong body of Horse with an adjunct of Foot. Gustavus Hamilton, lately of Mountjoy's, became Colonel, and Thomas Lloyd Lieutenant-Colonel. Such was the origin of that still choice Regiment the Inniskilling Dragoons which was draughted from amoung those troops after the battle of Newton-Butler [31. July 1689], and was then placed under the command of Sir Albert Cunningham. Captain Wynne of the Ninth Foot was sent down from Londonderry to embody another Regiment of Dragoons and this... was equally famous as the Fifth Royal Irish Dragoons." 55
*"The minority of the Sixth [Dragoons] were originally from Donegal" 55
*"Owsley's Horse" was the third of the cavalry Regiments raised at Inniskilling. True and exact account... 55
*"The efforts of the brave Inniskilling men did not stop here. They presently organsied three Regiments of Infantry, of which a representative survived in Colonel Zacharias Tiffin's corps, now the Twenty-Seventh Inniskilling Regiment." "The three Inniskilling infantry Regiments were Tiffin's, Gustavus Hamilton's, and Lord George Hamilton's (or Colonel Lloyd's)" History of the Wars in Ireland by an Officer in the Royal Army, London 1689 55
*"Shortly before the final relief of Derry, Colonel Wolseley... was sent to assume command of all the Inniskilling forces, and to regiment and brigade them." 56
*"The Twenty-Seventh, led by Colonel Tiffin [in 1689]." 59
*Many of the regiments [raised by William in England] consisted of troops so raw that they were not even in uniform, while some had not yet been furnished with their arms." Schomberg's despatch 3. March 1690 62
*Schomberg signed his name 'Schonberg' and "his seat on horseback was the envy of every cavalry officer" 62
*Reference to "Colonel Maxwell" 63
*"The Inniskilling Horse and Fifth and Sixth Inniskilling Dragoons" described as "volunteer irregulars, some on big horses, some on small, some furnished out with a very fair imitation of a regular trooper's equipments, others with nothing military but their arms; some had holsters, while others carried their pistols stuck into their belts; and the majority of the privates had their servants riding up behind on small ponies called 'garrons.'" Schomberg's despatch 20. August 1689 66
*When they [the 27th] had reduced a body of James' troops to surrender at Belturbet in June they made it an especial condition that the enemy should surrender all the 'red coats' they had: and they obtained on that occasion enough red coats to clothe two companies; but when they got their new uniform from england it turned out to be grey." 66
*"The uniform of the Inniskilling Dragoons was also probably grey in 1691; it was at all events apparently peculiar, for Sir Albert Conyngham, asking for the clothing at Belfast, writes 'for I think no-one else will desire them being the livery of "my regiment"'" 66 Conyngham to Clarke 16. March 1691
*"When at Dundalk in September/October 1689, there was a skirmish between the Irish outposts and an English outpost consisting of 300 men of the Twenty-Seventh Foot, 'every man [of the 27th] stripped off his coat so that instead of a grey regiment they appeared in white, being their usual way of fighting.'" 66 True and impartial account...
*"To crown all, [Schomberg's] army was without shoes for men or horses, and was even insufficiently clothed." Schomberg's despatches 3. & 8. October, 26. December 1689 72
* "In the last year of the reign of Charles the Second the independent companies with which Ireland was at that time garrisoned were regimented. All the regiments then formed either clung to King James on the Revolution or else (with a single exception [the 18th]) were disbanded by William. 78
*The Twentieth, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth (as well as the Nineteenth) had all been raised since the arrival of William in England." 79
*"The Twenty-Fourth['s] uniform was blue." 79
*"The Seventh Dragoon Guards... [appear] to have been, for the first year of [its] existence [1688], clothed in blue." 79
*"Drogheda's... uniform was the same as that of the Twenty-Third." 79
*"Lisburne's men... wore blue coats and orange or dark buff facings." 79
*"Lord Kingston's... red" 79
*"Ingoldsby's... wore blue coats and red stockings" 79
*"Rosscommon's... wore red coats" 79
*"The Duke of Bolton's wore blue." 79
*Raisings:
20th - Exeter
23rd - Wales and bordering counties
24th - Shropshire
7th DGs - Derbyshire
Lisburne's - "Principally from Herefordshire"
Kingston's - Warwickshire
Ingoldsby's - Staffordshire
Rosscommon's - Wiltshire
Drogheda's - Wales
*Confidential inspection reports made at the review at Dundalk, 28. October 1689:
"Kirke's (2nd Foot), men pretty fine, but very badly clothed, many sick; Lieutenant-Colonel, Major, and some of the Captains ''assez bons officiers, mais les subalternes ne sont pas des messieurs, et beaucoup de jeunes gens.'
Beaumont's (8th Foot), Major very assiduous, but the Lt-Col. neglects the regiment; pretty well clothed.
Stewart's (9th Foot), Colonel good, but his officers not of the best.
Hanmer's (11th Foot), very badly clothed.
Wharton's (12th Foot), good Colonel, well clothed, has sent into Scotland for surtouts: but much bad company, and debauchery, and drinking.
Meath's (18th Foot), best regiment in all the army, both as regards clothing and good order, and the officers generally good. The soldiers being all of this province, the campaign is not so hard on them as on others.
Bellasyse's (22nd Foot), hardly any good Officers, and an entire absence of good order, clothing not good; but Brigr. Bellasyse expected to work reforms.
Herbert's (23rd Foot), Colonel very assiduous, but too easy to the Officers, who are the most negligent that can be imagined. Often he is the only Officer present with the regiment, which he never quits; yet the regiment is in a bad condition; clothing good, but arms almost useless.
Dering's (24th Foot), regiment has fine men and fairly clothed: but, except the Major (Ramsay) the rest of the Officers 'n'est pas grand chose,' and know nothing of their Companies, which is the case in many other regiments: the Colonel dead and his brother, next in command, always absent from the regiment.
Lloyd's Inniskillingers, and Tiffin's (27th ditto), men fine, but not clothed, and without swords, as are the great part of the English regiments: officers good fellows, but with no experience.
Ingoldsby's, Colonel ill, and as incapable as are almost all the other Officers, who are usually absent and are so greedy of money that the soldiers can scarce get paid; very badly clothed, and without shirts; as bad a regiment as possible, except Drogheda's which is worse.
The regiments are not complete, and yet the Commissary passed them as complete only five days ago." 79-80
*"Schomberg had spent the winter [1689-90] in restoring health and discipline to his shattered forces. Five regiments were broken up to recruit the rest." These being "Drogheda; Ingoldsby's; Zauchy's; Rosscommon's; and Hamilton's [the un-numbered Hamilton's, I assume]. But Drogheda's and Hamilton's can have been only partly so as they shared in the subsequent campaign." 84
*"Sir John Lanier, Colonel of the First Dragoon Guards." 85
*"With difficulty did James obtain from France a contingent of seven thousand three hundred men thouroughly armed and equipped, and even for these he had to send back in excahnge an equal number of Irishmen." 88
*"The Irish officers were all natives, differing little from the soldiers." King James II Autiobiography 88
*"The Fifth and Sixth Foot" Accompanied William in 1688 from Holland
*"Count Maynard Schomberg" 106
*"The writer describes the Danes as 'well disciplined, well clothed, arms bright as silver, all firelocks and cuttock boxes, their colour green lined red, blue lined red, and blue lined white, grey lined blue, and every man a cloak or such a coat as the Dutch Guards wear, and you shall not see a man with a hole in any part of his clothing: those I see of the Horse are white lined white and buff waistcoats.'" Letter from Belfast, 13. March 1690 107
*"The soldiers of the two armies were dressed so much alike that it was found necessary to adopt some emblems of distinction; every English soldier wore a green twig in his hat; while James's people were distinguished by white cockades." 108
*"The Dutchmen walked into the water ten abreast" 111
*"The on-rushing wave of Irish cavalry shattered itself against this immoveable rock bristling with seventeen-foot pikes [of Cutts']." 116
*"Cutts's Regt. was subsequently disbanded: its uniform was red, with Isabella[sort of yellowish-grey]-coloured facings and linings and breeches, and with loops of black and white for the Granadeers." Londonderry Gazette 1689-90 116
Sunday, 29 November 2009
A PDF on Huguenot emigés in foreign armies
http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2008/2074/pdf/militaer9_2_Btr01.pdf
Does what it says in the tin basically, courtesy of the University of Potsdam
Does what it says in the tin basically, courtesy of the University of Potsdam
Thursday, 26 November 2009
A few things
1. http://like-a-stone-wall.webs.com/ is an excellent website, with some lovely pictures of a Boyne game which was fought earlier this year
2. Brownsing the pdfs on Internet Archive (an excellent pastime), I have some choice quotes regarding the period, with a vague theme of uniforms:
"the scene passing in the Irish camp... was highly characteristic of the people and the cause they advocated. 'Twas the dawn
of the Sabbath morning, and its advent was solemnized
by those religious observances, the preparations for which
had been made through the preceding night. And those
ceremonies being ended, the troops were drawn out in the
same order of battle in which they had, for the last two
days, been awaiting the arrival of the enemy. As they
stood in their mingled uniforms of red and green, with
colors advanced, and their old battle-flag, bearing the
emblem of an early civilization, and standing out above
the long line of tents that formed the background, they
made a most gallant show, which the import of the hour
and the associations of the day and place rendered deeply
solemn and impressive. "
From "The battle-fields of Ireland, from 1688 to 1691: including Limerick and Athlone, Aughrim and the Boyne" by John Boyle. Rather tantalising references to green uniforms and the mysterious 'emblem of an early civilization'
"It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the fire of
the enemy's cannon ceased along the whole line, and the
assaulting columns, in their v aricolored uniforms of buff,
blue, and scarlet, moved down to the intrenchments as
gayly as if on parade, and halted. The fire within the
town also ceased, and an ominous silence settled over the
scene, the combatants on each side, standing with bated
breath, and as motionless as statues. An unusual drought
prevailed, — not a drop of rain had fallen for three weeks ;*
the weather was intensely hot, and the sun threw a flood
of unobstructed light upon dome and spire, while the river
glided away through its autumnal foliage, as placid as if
peace had returned and war should revisit it no more.
Some time passed on, and suspense was becoming pain-
ful, when the signal : one ! two ! three ! pealed forth. The
British grenadiers were over the palisades in a twink-
ling, hurling their destructive missiles, and followed by
the Dutch Guards, while the cannon rang out again
along the whole front, excepting the point of assault."
As above. Mention of buff uniforms among a very evocative passage depicting the Siege of Limerick.
"There happened to be
a large accumulation of this grey cloth in the French
warehouses, for in the winter of the same year a quantity
sufficient for 20,000 uniforms was sent to Ireland. But
there is one point that lends a piquant interest to the busi-
ness of clothing the Mountcashell brigade. The Irish
troops clamoured for red coats, and Lord Mountcashell
received an assurance that when new uniforms had to be
provided they should be in red. It is curious to find these
poor Irish exiles, who had gone forth from their own land
because they had been persuaded that England was their
natural enemy, protesting that they would wear the English
national uniform and no other. Their flag also was the
English flag. It was St. George's Cross, with a lion in gold,
and above it a golden crown in the centre. No one thought
of the Green Flag or the Harp in those days ! "
From "The battle of the Boyne, together with an account based on French and other unpublished records of the war in Ireland" by Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger
"Each of the contending princes had some ad-
vantages over his rival. James, standing on the
defensive, behind intrenchments, with a river
before him, had the stronger position, but his
troups were inferior both in number and in
quality to those which were opposed to him.
He probably had thirty thousand men. About
a third part of this force consisted of excellent
French infantry and excellent Irish cavalry. But
the rest of his army was the scoff of all Europe.
The Irish dragoons were bad ; the Irish infantry
worse. It was said that their ordinary way of
fighting was to discharge their pieces once, and
then to run away bawling " Quarter " and
"Murder." Their inefficiency was, in that age,
commonly imputed, both by their enemies and
by their allies, to natural poltroonery. How
little grounds there was for such an imputa-
tion has since been signally proved by many
heroic achievements in every part of the globe.
It ought, indeed, even in the seventeenth cen-
tury, to have occurred to reasonable men, that
a race which furnished some of the best horse-
soldiers in the world would certainly, with judi-
cous training, furnish good foot-soldiers. But
the Irish foot-soldiers had not merely not been
well trained ; they had been elaborately ill
trained. The greatest of our generals repeatedly
and emphatically declared that even the admir-
able army which fought its way, under his com-
mand, from Torres Yedras to Toulouse, would,
if he had suffered it to contract habits of pil-
lage, have become, in a few weeks, unfit for
all military purposes. What, then, was likely to
be the character of the troops who, from the day
on which they enlisted, were not merely per-
mitted, but invited to supply the deficiencies of
pay by marauding? They were, as might have
been expected, a mere mob — furious indeed, and
clamorous in their zeal for the cause which
they had espoused, but incapable of opposing a
steadfast resistance to a well-ordered force. In
truth, all that the discipline, if it is to be so
called, of James's army had done for the Celtic
kerne had been to debase and enervate him.
After eighteen months of nominal soldiership he
was positively farther from being a soldier than
on the day on which he quitted his hovel for
the camp.
William had under his command nearly thirty-
six thousand men, born in many lands and speak-
ing many tongues. Scarcely one Protestant
Church, scarcely one Protestant nation, was un-
represented in the army which a strange series
of events had brought to fight for the Protestant
religion in the remotest island of the West.
About half the troops were natives of England.
Ormond was there with the Life Guards,
and Oxford with the Blues. Sir John Lanier,
an officer who had acquired military experi-
ence on the Continent, and whose prudence
was held in high esteem, was at the head of the
Queen's Regiment of Horse, now the First Dra-
goon Guards. There were Beamont's foot, who
had, in defiance of the mandate of James, re-
fused to admit papists among them, and Hast-
ings's foot, who had, on the disastrous day of Kil-
liecrankie, maintained the military reputation of
the Saxon race. There were two Tangier battal-
ions, hitherto known only by deeds of violence and
rapine, but destined to begin, on the following
morning, a long career of glory. The Scotch
Guards marched under the command of their
countryman James Douglas. Two fine British
regiments which had been in the service of the
States-General, and had often looked death in
the face under William's leading, followed him
in this campaign, not only as their general, but
as their native king. They now rank as the fifth
and sixth of the line. The former was led by
an officer who had no skill in the higher parts
of military science, but whom the whole army
allowed to be the bravest of all the brave,
John Cutts. Conspicuous among the Dutch
troops were Portland's and Ginkell's horse, and
Solme's Blue Regiment, consisting of two thou-
sand of the finest infantry in Europe. Germany
had sent to the field some warriors sprung
from her noblest houses. Prince George of
Hesse Darmstadt, a gallant youth who was
serving his apprenticeship in the military art,
rode near the king. A strong brigade of
Danish mercenaries was commanded by Duke
Charles Frederick of Wirtemberg, a near kins-
man of the head of his illustrious family. It
was reported that, of all the soldiers of William,
these were most dreaded by the Irish, for cen-
turies of Saxon domination had not effaced the
recollection of the violence and cruelty of the
Scandinavian sea-kings ; and an ancient prophecy
that the Danes would one day destroy the
children of the soil was still repeated with
superstitious horror. Among the foreign auxi-
liaries were a Brandenburg regiment and a Fin-
land regiment. But in that great array, so
variously composed, were two bodies of men
animated by a spirit peculiarly fierce and im-
placable, the Huguenots of France thirsting for
the blood of the French, and the Euglishry of
Ireland impatient to trample down the Irish.
The ranks of the refugees had been effectually
purged of spies and traitors, and were made
up of men such as had contended in the pre-
ceding century against the power of the house
of Yalois and the genius of the house of Lor-
raine. All the boldest spirits of the uncon-
querable colony had repaired to William's camp.
Mitchelburne was there with the stubborn de-
fenders of Londonderry, and Wolsely with the
warriors who had raised the shout of " Ad-
vance " on the day of Newton Butler. Sir
Albert Conyngham, the ancestor of the noble
family whose seat overlooks the Boyne, had
brought from the neighborhood of Lough Erne
a gallant regiment of dragoons, which still
glories in the name of Enniskillen, and which
has proved on the shores of the Euxine that it
has not degenerated since the day of the
Boyne. "
A great dramatic, if perhaps slightly opinionated, description of the opposing forces at the Boyne, from "Battle of the Boyne," no author given. Interesting to see the myth of a Finnish regiment repeated, and the description of the 5th Regiment as Colonel Cutt's, whereas I'm pretty sure it was Edward Lloyd's
2. Brownsing the pdfs on Internet Archive (an excellent pastime), I have some choice quotes regarding the period, with a vague theme of uniforms:
"the scene passing in the Irish camp... was highly characteristic of the people and the cause they advocated. 'Twas the dawn
of the Sabbath morning, and its advent was solemnized
by those religious observances, the preparations for which
had been made through the preceding night. And those
ceremonies being ended, the troops were drawn out in the
same order of battle in which they had, for the last two
days, been awaiting the arrival of the enemy. As they
stood in their mingled uniforms of red and green, with
colors advanced, and their old battle-flag, bearing the
emblem of an early civilization, and standing out above
the long line of tents that formed the background, they
made a most gallant show, which the import of the hour
and the associations of the day and place rendered deeply
solemn and impressive. "
From "The battle-fields of Ireland, from 1688 to 1691: including Limerick and Athlone, Aughrim and the Boyne" by John Boyle. Rather tantalising references to green uniforms and the mysterious 'emblem of an early civilization'
"It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the fire of
the enemy's cannon ceased along the whole line, and the
assaulting columns, in their v aricolored uniforms of buff,
blue, and scarlet, moved down to the intrenchments as
gayly as if on parade, and halted. The fire within the
town also ceased, and an ominous silence settled over the
scene, the combatants on each side, standing with bated
breath, and as motionless as statues. An unusual drought
prevailed, — not a drop of rain had fallen for three weeks ;*
the weather was intensely hot, and the sun threw a flood
of unobstructed light upon dome and spire, while the river
glided away through its autumnal foliage, as placid as if
peace had returned and war should revisit it no more.
Some time passed on, and suspense was becoming pain-
ful, when the signal : one ! two ! three ! pealed forth. The
British grenadiers were over the palisades in a twink-
ling, hurling their destructive missiles, and followed by
the Dutch Guards, while the cannon rang out again
along the whole front, excepting the point of assault."
As above. Mention of buff uniforms among a very evocative passage depicting the Siege of Limerick.
"There happened to be
a large accumulation of this grey cloth in the French
warehouses, for in the winter of the same year a quantity
sufficient for 20,000 uniforms was sent to Ireland. But
there is one point that lends a piquant interest to the busi-
ness of clothing the Mountcashell brigade. The Irish
troops clamoured for red coats, and Lord Mountcashell
received an assurance that when new uniforms had to be
provided they should be in red. It is curious to find these
poor Irish exiles, who had gone forth from their own land
because they had been persuaded that England was their
natural enemy, protesting that they would wear the English
national uniform and no other. Their flag also was the
English flag. It was St. George's Cross, with a lion in gold,
and above it a golden crown in the centre. No one thought
of the Green Flag or the Harp in those days ! "
From "The battle of the Boyne, together with an account based on French and other unpublished records of the war in Ireland" by Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger
"Each of the contending princes had some ad-
vantages over his rival. James, standing on the
defensive, behind intrenchments, with a river
before him, had the stronger position, but his
troups were inferior both in number and in
quality to those which were opposed to him.
He probably had thirty thousand men. About
a third part of this force consisted of excellent
French infantry and excellent Irish cavalry. But
the rest of his army was the scoff of all Europe.
The Irish dragoons were bad ; the Irish infantry
worse. It was said that their ordinary way of
fighting was to discharge their pieces once, and
then to run away bawling " Quarter " and
"Murder." Their inefficiency was, in that age,
commonly imputed, both by their enemies and
by their allies, to natural poltroonery. How
little grounds there was for such an imputa-
tion has since been signally proved by many
heroic achievements in every part of the globe.
It ought, indeed, even in the seventeenth cen-
tury, to have occurred to reasonable men, that
a race which furnished some of the best horse-
soldiers in the world would certainly, with judi-
cous training, furnish good foot-soldiers. But
the Irish foot-soldiers had not merely not been
well trained ; they had been elaborately ill
trained. The greatest of our generals repeatedly
and emphatically declared that even the admir-
able army which fought its way, under his com-
mand, from Torres Yedras to Toulouse, would,
if he had suffered it to contract habits of pil-
lage, have become, in a few weeks, unfit for
all military purposes. What, then, was likely to
be the character of the troops who, from the day
on which they enlisted, were not merely per-
mitted, but invited to supply the deficiencies of
pay by marauding? They were, as might have
been expected, a mere mob — furious indeed, and
clamorous in their zeal for the cause which
they had espoused, but incapable of opposing a
steadfast resistance to a well-ordered force. In
truth, all that the discipline, if it is to be so
called, of James's army had done for the Celtic
kerne had been to debase and enervate him.
After eighteen months of nominal soldiership he
was positively farther from being a soldier than
on the day on which he quitted his hovel for
the camp.
William had under his command nearly thirty-
six thousand men, born in many lands and speak-
ing many tongues. Scarcely one Protestant
Church, scarcely one Protestant nation, was un-
represented in the army which a strange series
of events had brought to fight for the Protestant
religion in the remotest island of the West.
About half the troops were natives of England.
Ormond was there with the Life Guards,
and Oxford with the Blues. Sir John Lanier,
an officer who had acquired military experi-
ence on the Continent, and whose prudence
was held in high esteem, was at the head of the
Queen's Regiment of Horse, now the First Dra-
goon Guards. There were Beamont's foot, who
had, in defiance of the mandate of James, re-
fused to admit papists among them, and Hast-
ings's foot, who had, on the disastrous day of Kil-
liecrankie, maintained the military reputation of
the Saxon race. There were two Tangier battal-
ions, hitherto known only by deeds of violence and
rapine, but destined to begin, on the following
morning, a long career of glory. The Scotch
Guards marched under the command of their
countryman James Douglas. Two fine British
regiments which had been in the service of the
States-General, and had often looked death in
the face under William's leading, followed him
in this campaign, not only as their general, but
as their native king. They now rank as the fifth
and sixth of the line. The former was led by
an officer who had no skill in the higher parts
of military science, but whom the whole army
allowed to be the bravest of all the brave,
John Cutts. Conspicuous among the Dutch
troops were Portland's and Ginkell's horse, and
Solme's Blue Regiment, consisting of two thou-
sand of the finest infantry in Europe. Germany
had sent to the field some warriors sprung
from her noblest houses. Prince George of
Hesse Darmstadt, a gallant youth who was
serving his apprenticeship in the military art,
rode near the king. A strong brigade of
Danish mercenaries was commanded by Duke
Charles Frederick of Wirtemberg, a near kins-
man of the head of his illustrious family. It
was reported that, of all the soldiers of William,
these were most dreaded by the Irish, for cen-
turies of Saxon domination had not effaced the
recollection of the violence and cruelty of the
Scandinavian sea-kings ; and an ancient prophecy
that the Danes would one day destroy the
children of the soil was still repeated with
superstitious horror. Among the foreign auxi-
liaries were a Brandenburg regiment and a Fin-
land regiment. But in that great array, so
variously composed, were two bodies of men
animated by a spirit peculiarly fierce and im-
placable, the Huguenots of France thirsting for
the blood of the French, and the Euglishry of
Ireland impatient to trample down the Irish.
The ranks of the refugees had been effectually
purged of spies and traitors, and were made
up of men such as had contended in the pre-
ceding century against the power of the house
of Yalois and the genius of the house of Lor-
raine. All the boldest spirits of the uncon-
querable colony had repaired to William's camp.
Mitchelburne was there with the stubborn de-
fenders of Londonderry, and Wolsely with the
warriors who had raised the shout of " Ad-
vance " on the day of Newton Butler. Sir
Albert Conyngham, the ancestor of the noble
family whose seat overlooks the Boyne, had
brought from the neighborhood of Lough Erne
a gallant regiment of dragoons, which still
glories in the name of Enniskillen, and which
has proved on the shores of the Euxine that it
has not degenerated since the day of the
Boyne. "
A great dramatic, if perhaps slightly opinionated, description of the opposing forces at the Boyne, from "Battle of the Boyne," no author given. Interesting to see the myth of a Finnish regiment repeated, and the description of the 5th Regiment as Colonel Cutt's, whereas I'm pretty sure it was Edward Lloyd's
Lloyd's & Babington's
5th and 6th Colours from Warflag for the Spanish Succession, speculative so they don't get a re-drawing
Saturday, 21 November 2009
More re-enactors
Very orange-looking Gardes te Voet colour cross (I think that's what it is)
You can just make out what looks like the Zurlauben colonel's colour
A more tooled-up version of what I assume is the Douglas' colour (I assume this is the blue colour from the last batch of photos) with a red scroll at the top and thistle device in the centre, as well as what appears to be an IHSV flag with all-red cantons, note also what looks very much like the flag of the French-Irish Berwick Regiment (not at the battle, far as I know)
Different view of the above
Some cavaliers
Nice view of a (very brightly-coloured) colour of Lord Bellew's
The Garda hard at work preventing anybody from attempting an actual re-fight of the battle, interesting to see the very improvised-looking Jacobite uniform with brown facings, and the very decorated coat behind him, which looks very like a Gardes-Francaises coat but I would assume is a drummer's, perhaps for the Famechon or Zurlauben regiments?
Meath/Re-enactments
Came across this in my goings
http://www.meath.ie/tourism/heritage/heritagesites/battleoftheboynesite/
I am aware that re-enactments aren't the best source of accurate information, but here we go anyway, four photos from the site:
Musketeer all in red, could be Louth's for the Jaobites or George Hamilton's, Henry Bellias' or John Hanmer's for the Williamites
Flags of Colonel Hastings', Earl of Antrim's (slightly more turquoise than usual) and the Queen Dowager's
Some cannons, note the long, straight trails
What I assume is Hery Dillon's flag on the far left, a blue flag of some sort with a red and white device on it, and what is perhaps a French colonel's colour
The cavalry, L-R: yellow facings, green saddle trimmed gold; red facings, yellow saddle trimmed red; an officer, red faced red, orange (?) saddle faced gold; red coat faced yellow
No idea what regiments these are, if any
The tea shoppe, which looks pleasant
http://www.meath.ie/tourism/heritage/heritagesites/battleoftheboynesite/
I am aware that re-enactments aren't the best source of accurate information, but here we go anyway, four photos from the site:
Musketeer all in red, could be Louth's for the Jaobites or George Hamilton's, Henry Bellias' or John Hanmer's for the Williamites
Flags of Colonel Hastings', Earl of Antrim's (slightly more turquoise than usual) and the Queen Dowager's
Some cannons, note the long, straight trails
What I assume is Hery Dillon's flag on the far left, a blue flag of some sort with a red and white device on it, and what is perhaps a French colonel's colour
The cavalry, L-R: yellow facings, green saddle trimmed gold; red facings, yellow saddle trimmed red; an officer, red faced red, orange (?) saddle faced gold; red coat faced yellow
No idea what regiments these are, if any
The tea shoppe, which looks pleasant
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