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Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:35 am
by hattie
Does anyone have any details on possible coat colours and standards for Col Henry Bulstrode's regiment? They fought as part of Skippon's Brigade at First Newbury.

Thanks

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 8:08 am
by Friedrich August I.
hattie wrote:Does anyone have any details on possible coat colours and standards for Col Henry Bulstrode's regiment? They fought as part of Skippon's Brigade at First Newbury.

Thanks
Not sure if this of any help but it seem's that this Regiment of Foot wore blue coats acording to the list here

http://www.fysh.org/~katie/wargames/ECW/units2.txt

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:48 pm
by BerkshireJacobite
I've been researching First Newbury recently to create the armies in little metal figures. I couldn't find anything conclusive specific to Bulstrode's, but from the following sources I have the following conclusions for Essex's army generally at that battle, where a coat colour for a specific regiment is not stated:
Morris 1993: grey or red
Roberts 2003: red or grey
Barratt 2005: red or grey
Scott 2008: grey or red
Not terribly helpful, but I would go for grey coats, as 68% of the coats issued to the Parliamentary army at Bierton were grey.

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:54 am
by hattie
Thanks for the info. I'll go with grey as you suggest.

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:12 am
by BerkshireJacobite
Listed below with my conclusions on unit strengths and coat colours of Royalist and Parliamentary foot at the First Battle of Newbury, based on my research in possibly the world's largest collection of books on the battle (i.e. Newbury Central Public Library).
I am sure you have done your own research, but for the sake of others basically the Royalists at this battle wore red or blue, and the Parliamentarians wore grey or red. However, one can credibly depict some of the regiments in the other colours listed, with perhaps reference to their descriptions at other battles. I have given the London trained bands and auxiliary units[*] coat colours based on their unit names, based not on any sources, but personal preference for the sake of variety! (Some sources say they had no uniform colour.)
It is reasonable to assume that as soldiers clothes wore out, attempts would have been made to re-clothe them in their original regimental coat colour.
I hope this is of some help.
The coat colours below are based on Scott 2008, Barratt 2005, Roberts 2003, Morris 1993.
Royalist Foot
Belasyse, 1800
Astley B:Red or Blue
Astley J:Blue
Belasyse: Red or Blue
Blagge: Yellow
Bolle: White/Grey
Dutton: White/Grey
Dyve: Yellow
Herbert: Red or Blue
Owen: Green
Prince Maurice: Red or Blue
Washington: Red or Blue
Gerard G, 1000
Gerard G: Red or Blue
Lloyd: Red or Blue
Molyneux:Blue
Northampton:Red or Blue
Stradling: Red or Blue
Vaughan: Red or Blue
Byron N, 1500
Grandison (ex-Fitton):Red
Lord General:Red
Oxford garrison:Red or Blue
Prince of Wales:Red or Blue
Sandys:Red or Blue
King's Lifeguard, 500: Red
Darcy,800
Blackwell:Black?
Darcy:Blue
Eure:Red or Blue
Tyldesley:Red
Vavasour,1000
Bassett: Red or Blue
Mansell: Red or Blue
Price: Red or Blue
Vavasour: Yellow
Williams:Red or Blue
Lisle, 900 (commanded musketeers):Red or Blue
TOTAL: 7500

Parliamentary Foot
Barclay, 1050
Barclay: Red
Holmstead: Red
Tyrell : Green
Holburn, 800
Holburn:Grey or Red
Langham:Blue
Thompson: Grey or Red
Essex, 650:Orange
Skippon, 1050
Brook: Purple
Bulstrode: Grey or Red
Skippon: Red
Robartes, 750
Constable: Blue
Martin: Grey
Robartes:Red
Mainwaring, 2400
Mainwaring: Red
Springate: Grey or Red
Blue Auxiliaries:Blue[*]
Red Auxiliaries: Red[*]
Rearguard, 2300
Blue Trained Band:Blue[*]
Red Trained Band: Red[*]
Orange Auxiliaries:Orange[*]
TOTAL 9000

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:05 am
by hattie
Thanks for such a comprehensive list. The challenge is to make a table top army look a little more varied than just blue or red. I'm close to completing Brooke's regiment and have gone for not too much purple and a lot of greys and browns to reflect a non uniform, uniform.

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:46 pm
by BerkshireJacobite
One of the difficulties (or perhaps, 'opportunities' - ugh!) of depicting ECW units as they might have appeared in battle is that most of the regiments were usually under-strength and tended to be grouped into brigades (or tertia), without knowing which regiment provided what proportion. Your plan to paint the figures in a mixture of colours based on the probable/possible coat colours of the contributing units, with the fall-back option of grey/red for parliamentarians or red/blue for royalists seems right.
Also, I am not sure whether each brigade was deployed as a single block or as two or three blocks. From what I have read of First Newbury, it seems that most of the regiments (and contingents from regiments) were amalgamated as brigades. For example Skippon's brigade in Essex's army, if we assume that it consisted of Skippon's, Bulstrode's and Brooke's regiments, and totalled 1,050 men, was it deployed as a single block of pikes flanked by two shot 'sleeves', or was it two or three blocks of shot/pike/shot? I would suggest that as the 'ideal' foot regiment of the time was of 1,000 men, then it would have been one block. However, would Belsyse's brigade of 1,800 men in the Royal army have been one block or two or even three? I suppose it should depend on your own feeling from what you have read and what looks right on the table-top, depending on what man to figure ratio you are using.
In my list of foot units, I should have pointed out that from the sources (sounds a bit grand, when in fact I mean books from the library) I have read that the London units, i.e. the trained bands, the auxiliaries, with Mainwaring's and Springate's, seem to have operated as separate regiments.
I probably should get out more... :oops:
PS - What figures are you using?

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 4:21 pm
by hattie
Well, you're absolutely right. It would no doubt have been a mixed bag of colours and sizes. I guess the limiting factor in terms of unit size would have been the ability of commanders to command and control. Big units (I'm guessing) would have been pretty unwieldy unless they come in a big block - I assume there would have been little room or need for finesse on the 17th Century battlefield.

Do I reflect this in my little armies? No, of course not! I have a standard size Regiment (or Company or Tertia) of 32 men in a reasonably standard colour. And I dont even wargame with them. They just sit on my shelves - currently 7 going on 8 regiments of foot and 2 of cavalry. I'm interested in Newbury because my parents used to live on the site of the battlefield and I spent many hours walking or running up and down the various hills.

I use the standard Renegade/Bicorne mix and would love to add a bit more variety. I spoke to the Bicorne man at the recent Reading show and asked if he was ever going to add to the range. He suggested that he had more figures ready but they were not yet in production. I asked when they would be but he said he didn't know. I didn't get the impression they were imminent

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:56 pm
by BerkshireJacobite
My interest is also re-creating armies in miniature with little thought given to wargaming! For me the 'fun' is researching, collecting, painting and (privately) admiring the results.
I am interested in 17th century history, political and religious, as well as military, and I now live in Newbury. My main interest is in re-creating the armies of the Williamite/Jacobite war in Ireland, but having found lots of books in the local library on the ECW battles of Newbury, and the civil war generally, I decided to start making up the forces of 1643. As and when I finally re-create the armies of First Newbury, I may offer them to the local museum. I will probably use Irregular 2mm blocks/figures for this, as they are cheap and allow for a three dimensional panorama on a modestly-sized table top.

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:11 pm
by hattie
Ah yes, but when you do them in 2mm what colour coats will Bulstrode's Regiment have?

Re: Bulstrode's Regiment

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:07 am
by BerkshireJacobite
Grey, if I was to represent them specifically, as this seems to have been the main colour used in Essex's army at the time, but it would depend on how they were to be placed on the tabletop/display with neighbouring units. So Red is also possible!
Are there any records of Bulstrode's at other battles, and if so, what coat colour did they wear then? If they wore a distinct colour at previous or subsequent battles this might inform us of what they wore at First Newbury.
I am no expert on 17th century clothing, nor of dyeing technology, but paintings depicting people from the period (and painted much later) are generally of upper-class types who would have worn more expensive/fashionable clothes with brighter colours than the general population. Dull colours, especially various shades of grey/black, and brown, would have been more common, and - crucially when outfitting hundreds of men - much cheaper.