I got my bust completed a couple of weeks ago and just got the pics done today. I know next to nothing about the English Civil War or the forces that fought in it. The site i got this from had some nice info about colours and i did some digging to find out more.
It seems that both side wore very similar uniforms and while each regiment would were a certain colour, each colour was worn by a number of units on both sides, and red was very popular. Units would often have a cloth of a certain colour tied about the arm or hat or even sprigs of a certain tree or plant so they could tell friend from foe.
At the end of 1642, Parliament established the Eastern Association to help help improve its admin. It comprised the militias of 5 counties from East Anglia, a Parliamentarian stronghold and one of the richest parts of England thanks to its agriculture. After bearing the main burden of the war effort for 2 years, in late 1644, the Association announced it could now longer carry the cost of the army. Parliament then decreed the formation of the New Model Army, the nations first standing army. The NMA included a number of units from the Association and it was was formed along very similar lines. And after complaints about some of the senior officers, and after an ordinance was passed by Parliament, command of the NMA was put into the hands of professional soldiers.
One of the first counties to join the EA was my home county of Norfolk and one of the foot regiments of the EA was Sir Miles Hobart Regiment of Foot, recruited from Norfolk this was one of the units that wore red and were known as the Norfolk Redcoats, as far as i know, this is the first time the term Redcoats was attached to a specific unit. In 1645, it was disbanded and some of it sent to the NMA.
When the NMA was formed, it adopted the red uniform worn by many regiments. In 1660, with the Restoration of the Monarchy, the NMA was disbanded, the King kept a small standing army, the birth of the English army which was 1707 became the British army. The new army was formed from Royalist forces that had been in exile and elements of the NMA. Its was based along the same lines as the NMA and also adopted the red uniform, which was worn by British soldiers for over 200 years and was of course famiously lead to the British army simply being known as The Redcoats.
My soldier is wearing a red uniform. I have painted the feathers in his hat yellow and green as this are the current colours of Norwich City football club, my home city. And while of course the club did not exist in the 1600's, i like to think that this is a soldier from my home city, formally part of Sir Miles Hobart's Regiment and now in the NMA.
As my sig suggests, i am proud to come from the County of Norfolk, birthplace of Admiral Lord Nelson. But what i have learnt builidng this makes me realise just how much of a leading role the county played in ending absoloute Monarchy, despite being a supporter of our current Monarchy, as well as its part it forming what would become the British army, which i proudly served in for 22 years, as well as being the first place to be identified with the one piece of equipment that identified the army for over 200 years.
The Redcoat.