Earl of Antrims regt

[simon boulton]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the LOA period and am avidly reading up on it. I'm currently reading 'The Seige of Derry' by Carlo Gebler. On page 69 it talks about the arrival of the Earl of Antrims regt in Derry. It says they were called Redshanks because of their - legs and says they were all highlanders. It then goes on say that there was a lack of uniforms, not all of them wore the kings livery and many lacked firearms. This has confused me because the osprey book on the Boyne shows a soldier of the antrim regt in normal attire wearing a grey coat with reg cuffs and red trousers.
Was there a highland regt in the Irish Jacobite army? Sorry if I'm showing my ignorance here.
Best wishes
Simon

[barr7430]

This is one of fascinations of this period but also one of the potential banana skins for any period.
Reference books like good illustrations and that which shows the dress of Antrim's Regiment(In the Boyne book) is in the theoretical context probably correct.
What those poor blokes actually wore in the field would be a totally different matter. It may be that none had uniforms, maybe some had, maybe whoever the eye witness was saw a 'company' of Antrim's who were just off the boat, march past in their own 'highland clothes'. Maybe they fought in them.
You may not think this answr very helpful Simon but what I'm saying is that if you wanted to dress your version of Antrim's partially or totally in highland dress I don't think anyone could criticise you
My guess is that very few Jacobite regiments looked like 'normal' regular infantry. Some didn't even have muskets! The regular Army in England wasn't even very large at the time and if you look at the huge increase in size of the Army between 1688 and the early 1690s, take into account that most regiments were financed by their Colonel's and recognise that these colonel's were often dishonest, profiteering, land owners..... finish the sentence as you will.

Paint whatever you think will convey the spirit of the regiment. Prints in my humble opinion are merely an orientation guideline

Barry

[simon boulton]

Barry,
many thanks for your reply, I think my preference will be to add a few highland figures to the regt for a bit of variety. Interestingly, the osprey book includes the review of the army on 1/2 October 1989 and lists Antrims regt as having 63 officers, NCO's, drummers etc, 411 with firearms, 46 with pike/half pike and 56 unarmed. This is a very high percentage of firearms for the jacobite army. I agree that in this period you have can make your own decisions and interpretations.
Best wishes
Simon