Keep Your Powder Dry

As I was about to post about the Tower Hamlet's Regiment of the London Trained Bands, and about to go down my usual ranty rabbit hole about coat colours I thought it better to write a general post about Trained Bands. This got out of hand a little and became the coat colours series, without even touching upon the Trained Bands.  When I first started my ECW project I took at face value lots of information from what I believed to be 'trusted' sources: it only took a little  cursory reading to quickly realise that many of these 'trusted' sources replicate the same errors. Which is why my original Tower Hamlet's Regiment wore red coats and carried the 'wrong' flag. They were quickly given the correct flag, but the red coat issue was slowly nagging me. They have since been rechristened John Birch's, and the Tower Hamlets LTB has been raised anew. This post is a bit more than  Coat Colours Part 5 Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part

We've already met Lord Hopton and his Regiment of Horse, so if you'd like to find out a little bit more about Lord Hopton, and his friendship across the lines of battle with Sir William Waller have a look at my entry for his Regiment of Horse. Hopton's Foot were raised around Bristol in 1643. It is believed that they took place in the storm of Bristol in July of that year. Parts of the Regiment took part in the siege of Gloucester, a skirmish at Stow, First Newbury and the standoff at Farnham. The full Regiment fought at Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge, Lostwithiel, Second Newbury and the relief of Donnington. In 1645 it is thought that they besieged Taunton, took part in the battle of Langport, were besieged at Bristol, and possibly besieged at Lacock House. Their last actions were at Torington and Pendennis Castle. Richard Symonds recorded the Regiment as wearing blue coats and carrying red flags with white five pointed stars as devices. Painted by Alan Tuck

Due to the continuing lockdown for the global pandemic, instead of writing more #ECWtravelogue entries, my attention has once again turn to units that appeared, briefly, at the dawn of this blog. Keeps me sane; and, judging by the surge in viewing figures (got another follower- woohoo!), I hope it is entertaining everyone stuck at home. Today's spotlight falls upon Colonel James Wardlaw, and his Regiment of Dragoons. James was a Scot who began his military career fighting for Gustavus Adolphus. He was sent, with several other Scots officers, to Russia where they were tasked with reforming the Russian army to  western European standards. This led to him being part of the Russian army that besieged Smolensk in 1634. He returned to Scotland in 1641 with the intention of joining the Covenanter cause, but his ship was blown off course to Newcastle. He was arrested and sent to prison in York, where he served four months in jail. Upon release he was employed by the Earl of Essex, w

Welcome to part 4 of my coat colours series. I had originally planned to write blog entries on the New Model Army, Regiments of Dragoons, and Regiments of Horse but, as you'll see those pages would be pretty sparse and barren. The rest of my coat colour posts are here: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   And if you are stuck wondering how to convert this information into what colours to use and what model paint colours , the links might help you start. Parliamentarian Regiments of Dragoons Colonel Richard Browne Red November 1642 ( National Archive SP28/144/pt2/28-35 ) Grey 1645 (National Archive 144/2 f30r; British Library MS Add 18982 f409v) Parliamentarian Regiments of Horse   There are a number of records detailing the issue of helmets, back and breastplates and coats of buff, and

Copley's was a Parliamentarian Regiment of Horse serving with Lord Fairfax’s army of the Northern Association. Raised in 1643 they fought at Adwalton Moor, within a couple of months they were transferred from being an independent troop to one of the troops of Thomas Fairfax's Regiment of Horse. By April 1644 Copley was made Colonel of his own Regiment of Horse - it is unknown if his original troop formed the basis of this new Regiment or if they were a completely separate unit. This 'new' regiment besieged York, fought at Marston Moor, continued besieging York, and fought at the Battle of Pontefract. Then it gets a little confusing. It is thought that Fairfax's and Constable's Regiments of Horse were reduced into Copley's Regiment. It appears to have been the case in a number of regional armies that 1645 saw a reduction in the number of regiments either through disbanding or merger. This was partly as a result of the self-denying-ordinance and part

The spotlight falls upon Sir William Waller's Regiment of Horse. Raised in 1642, it'll come as no surprise that they were stalwarts of the Southern Association, and wherever Sir William went... his Regiments were sure to follow. They took Portsmouth early in 1642 for Parliament; fought at Edgehill, present at Turnham Green, stormed Farnham Castle and Winchester, took Arundel Castle, besieged  Chichester, and that's just what they got upto in 1642. Stormed Malmesbury; fought at Highnam; helped take Monmouth, Chepstow and Ross on Wye; fought at Ripple Dean (a very overlooked battle it must be said); siege of Hereford; siege of Worcester; skirmishing at Chewton Mendip, Beckington, Leigh and Monckton Farleigh; battle of Lansdown; siege of Devizes; more skirmishing at Beckhampton and possibly Andover too; Roundway Down; Basing House; Alton Church; siege of Arundel; Cheriton; Newbury skirmishing; Cropredy Bridge; lots more skirmishing; back to Basing House; Second Ne

The latest instalment  of the coat colours series looks at the Scots. A set of coat colours that you can really go wild with the colour palette. Or maybe not.  When I wrote this I was only really interested in the Covenanters; for a slightly more in depth look at what well dressed Highlanders and Irishmen wore around town have a look  Coat Colours Part 3b: The Army of Montrose . The rest of my coat colour posts: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   The  too long didn't read  answer is: paint it Hodden Grey.  Here's a list of regiments that have a reference for coats being issued - those coats issued, were 'probably Hodden Grey'.  Those regiments with a specific reference to Hodden Grey are described as 'Hodden Grey'. There are a handful of regiments who, wait for it, quite possibly d