army of James II

[markdo]

Now that my little army of Monmouth is complete I've turned my attention to James II. Ideally I'd like an army to face both Monmouth and William 3 years later.
I need advice about the changeover from matchlock to flintlock. I've read that Dumbarton's regiment was entirely matchlock, but does anyone know how the changeover occurred in other regiments.
Should I have a mixture of match and flint in each regt? Or is there evidence of some regts switching en masse from one weapon to the other on a given day? What proportion of the army had made the switch by 1688?
Would it be fair to arm the militia units entirely with matchlocks for 1688?
Mark

[Captain of Dragoons]

Hello Mark

The Regiment of Royal Fusiliers was rasied by James II to guard the Artillery Train. They would of been armed with the Flintlock due to their duties with the artillery.

I do not believe they were part of the Monmouth Campaign but were around for William III's invasion.

cheers
Edward

[markdo]

That was a quick response, thanks very much.

Mark

[Rebel]

Mark,

it'll probably come down to which individual units you want to model and the period. Under Charles II the Coldstreamers converted twice whilst under James the trend was a mix which was then changed by William in 1688 when he "Tyrconnelled" the English Establishment to root out any possible Jacobites in the ranks and then restored again when he reissued matchlocks to those units that he re-established before sending them off to foreign fields.

Cheers,


Mike.

[markdo]

Thanks very much.
I've just been perusing BLB. Am I right that matchlock/flintlock doesn't make any difference?

Mark

[barr7430]

YES YOU ARE RIGHT.

It makes no distinction

[markdo]

Thanks Barry.

You were posting last week regarding Irish regiments which were poorly armed. Would it be a good idea to mark them out by having, say 2 stands of pikemen behind, a variation on the 3 pikeman stand to show units which are mixed pike/musket?

Mark

[quindia]

You could still use three stands, but make the CENTRAL block a pike unit rather than placing an extra pike stand behind...

Barry mentioned something similar here

[Diomedes]

Both of the English Foot Guards regiments were entirely flintlock according to Sandford's Description of the Coronation of James II. The issue documents in the National Archives suggest that the bulk of the rest of the regiments of foot had matchlocks with, perhaps, one in ten flintlock armed. Interestingly when Kirke asked for firearms to equip his new recruits (while he was still in the West) he was told to use the matchlocks taken from Monmouth's Army (the letter exchange is in the National Archives at Kew).

It's worth noting that the National Archives contain a number of issue and muster documents from James' reign and they all confirm the proportion of 1:2 pike to shot (incidentally the same as the 1704 - no, that date is correct -issue to three newly raised regiments of foot).

Stephen E-B

[Churchill]

Ray.

[EvilGinger]

If I recall correctly the ratio of of pike to shot 1:3 was the "ideal" 1n the 1740's but seldom reached but by 1780-90 this had dropped to 1:5 0r 1:6 in those units that still had them & whilst I believe something like 18 pike where supposed to be issued to a British company in 1704 the only actual pole arms carried where by the sergeants & to a lesser extent officers and those where used more to enforce dressing and discipline than fight with.

the only sort of unit with that much pike would be hastily raised and very ill equipped ones, and Ireland & Russia seem to be the most likely places for that to happen .

edit for 1740 above read 1640 60hour working weeks will do that for you

Ginger

[Rebel]

Ginger, Russia then....The Franco-Irish correspondence (which is partially quoted as a table in my Osprey on the Boyne) actually gives specific numbers for certain regiments down to what type of weapon was being carried and its' state of repair.

BTW Don't denigrate the "improvised" weapons carried, there are references to individuals being cut "from collar to navel" with a scythe blade on a half-pike staff.......

- Mike

[Churchill]

Ray.

[EvilGinger]

I dont farm tools are down right viscus after all the medieval English bill is only a slightly modified farm tool in ifs basic form and those as an ex bill man can be scary even when blunted, and dont get me started on axes.

Ginger

[Adam Hayes]

I thought the rule was that if you can't spell the word ridiculous, you weren't allowed to call people it?