Keep Your Powder Dry

Regular readers (hello both of you) will recognise the name Sir Gervase Lucas, we've already 'met' his Regiment of Horse . Just as his Regiment of Horse were based at Belvoir* Castle, so were his Regiment of Foot. Being based at the Castle, they didn't get out much: they fought in and around the castle; venturing out to fight at Cotes Bridge; Newark; were besieged at Belvoir Castle; they left Belvoir Castle to reinforce Lichfield and were certainly present when Lichfield fell, although it isn't certain if they were besieged in the Close. Sir Gervase had helped escort King Charles from the battlefield at Naseby to safety, and after the Civil Wars would be rewarded by Charles II by being made Governor of Bombay, with a salary of £2 a day (and an initial sweetener of £1500). Sadly he didn't get to enjoy this job for long, as he died within a year of taking it up. No known coat colours are recorded, so pure conjecture gave them blue coats. A handful of headswaps, mo...

 Having been asked the tricksy question,  What is it: The English Civil War, The British Civil Wars or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms? Pictures from Holly Holy Day 2020, Nantwich's annual celebration of the battle I will attempt to answer it... I must point out that all are valid terms, but some are possibly more valid than others (to bastardise some Orwell). We'll start with... The English Civil War (ECW), probably the most widely known and used term to describe the series of conflicts that occurred in the British Isles during the reign of Charles I. Has it's problems, according to an old joke it wasn't English, it wasn't civil, and it wasn't just a singular war. But in the common vernacular, widely understood.  The British Civil Wars (BCW) a much more accurate term than ECW: British including all of the nations that existed in  the British Isles. Some take issue with the word 'British' arguing that Britain (a name that is oft used to refer to the mod...

Who'd have thunk it, another year of KeepYourPowderDry? Due to Covid restrictions there was no party this year, so here's a pic from a previous works do - a goats and goblins theme (the accounts department do like their fancy dress). Regular readers will notice that the Saturday boy wasn't invited as his mum wouldn't let him out after the state he'd left the downstairs loo in , after the last works 'do'. First off there are quite a few people I need to say thank you to: everyone who has visited and read my posts, I still find it bemusing that so many people are interested in my nonsense; also, those of you who have taken the time to write kind words about the blog; a special thank you to all the fellow bloggers who link to this site from their own blogs. This year has seen KeepYourPowderDry pass an enormous milestone - visitor numbers have just eased past 126,000 hits! Which is really quite staggering when I didn't really expect anyone to read what I...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will no doubt have been wondering why some 'wargamer favourites' haven't made an appearance on this blog yet - the King's Lifeguard, Hesilrigge's lobsters and so on... Well wait and wonder no more. I will spare you the long boring story why they have only just made it to the the painting table over three years after they were originally purchased. Here they are now, and expect a return to Royalist and Parliamentarian units for the next few months. Don't be confused by the the grand title of this Regiment of Foot - they were just that, a regular Regiment of Foot. The actual lifeguarding bit is down to the Gentlemen Pensioners (not to be confused with the King's Lifeguard of Horse, who were a different unit altogether, although WargamerFacts™ insists that the two cavalry units are one and the same). In the the modern British Army this Regiment would have the words "King's..." or "King's Own..." at...

I can put off painting tartan for only so long, so time to grasp the nettle and get down to it. So here are the next clan of marauding men from the Highlands. Led by their Clan Chief, Sir Lachlan Maclean 1st Baron Morven, they fought at Inverlochy; Auldearn; and Kilsyth. They were present at the loss of Mull (Leslie came to the Island with a strong force of horse and foot in search of eight Irishmen, who were sheltering on Mull: seven were caught and executed, the eighth fleeing)   and the defence of Duart Castle. Sir Lachlan died in 1650 and the Chiefdom passed to his son Sir Hector Maclean. Hector was commissioned as colonel of foot of a Regiment to be raised from Argyll and Bute highlanders; they joined the army at Stirling in 1651 and fought at Inverkeithing. The Clan lost 500 men at Inverkeithing, as well as Sir Hector. It was during this battle that seven brothers died protecting their Clan Chief. Each brother crying "Another for Hector" as they stepped forward...

Not having been frightened off from 'painting tartan' a second highland regiment rolls off the painting table. This time Donald Farquharson of Monaltrie’s Highland Regiment of Foot. Donald Oig Farquharson of Monaltrie was called ‘the pride of Braemar'; he spent six months at court and clearly made an impression, as Charles would always call him "my man". Whilst visiting Edinburgh King Charles was informed of Donald being threatened in a fray by some Covenanters, the King angrily exclaimed, “Who dares be so bold as to touch my man, Donald Farquharson?”  Donald would be slain by a pistol-shot in street fighting in Aberdeen on 16th March 1645. His death was much lamented by the Marquis of Montrose, who had his body buried with military honours in Drum's Aisle of St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen. A Victorian plaque marks the supposed spot. When I paint 'tartan' I pick about four base colours and paint randomly, on this occasion the two highland officers in ...

Every so often a little snippet of information turns into a day of book diving and visiting some of the more esoteric corners of the world wide web.  Ballads such as  The Valiant Commander with his Resolute Lady  tell us of women wearing men's clothes and taking up arms; and, there are many myths and legends of women donning men's clothes to fight in the wars - but is this fact or fiction? The lot of camp followers and the women working as spies is relatively well documented (in C17th terms that is!) but did women cross dress and actually get to the sharp pointy end of things?  Professor Mark Stoyle of Southampton University investigated, and wrote a paper on the subject (I)n 1643, a draft proclamation was drawn up, setting out required standards of behaviour for Charles I’s army. It included a hand-written memo in the margin from the king himself stating ‘lett no woman presume to counterfeit her sex by wearing mans apparall under payne of the severest punishmen...