King James' Lifeguard flag 1690

[yar68]

Mark,

I've posted the flag for the Dutch Garde du corps up on my blog, here's the link.

http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... corps.html

[MNFS]

Thanks Ray, I owe you a pint!

It looks really fantastic!

Best,

Mark

[turrabear]

i actualy think that this is king james royal standard rather than the life guard standard . i think the that the illustration's in mcnally's book the battle of aughrm are the actual standard' of king jame's life guard.. the illustration of the death of st ruth by sean o brogain also show the same standards as those illustrated by robert hall.

[yar68]

Your totally correct it is the Royal standard of James, I read somewhere (can't remember where) that they used James' standard as their own. I've never seen the Aughrim book so I cannot comment on the flag pictured.

[quindia]

The Army of James II by Stephen Ede-Borrett shows the same flag as the Hall print from the Aughrim book... A red or crimson field with a crown over the JR cypher, and a scroll with 'DIEU ET MON DROIT' below with three small crowns at the bottom.

Information on this period is scattered and often contradictory. Sapherson's books are often the first place I go for information, but were first published in the late 80's and sometimes contain outdated data - Sapherson's shows the King James II standard as the flag carried by the Irish Guard (and indeed it might have been on parade, but not in battle). Work continues to uncover new sources for the Dutch and Danish (and no doubt other armies as well - I just know about the research of these two). One of these days we will get a new book that brings all of this updated stuff together (hell, maybe I'LL write it).

I have been struggling with sketchy reference for my commercial project as well. In the end, all you can do is utilize the best information you have available and sometimes make a guess! Nine out of ten people would not know that your flag wasn't carried by the Lifeguard (or at least we think it wasn't)... this forum probably happens to contain the tenth person out of a dozen tens!

[yar68]

I totally agree Clarence, I've also got the James II Sapherson booklet, surely though the flag mentioned is the English Lifeguard flag pre revolution period, which then would have changed to the William cypher? So cannot be the same unit as the Jacobite Lifeguard? I may be wrong????
According to my notes and books the Jacobite Lifeguard didn't go over with James, when he landed in Ireland, so were they a newly formed regt, any ideas??

[quindia]

Rebel could answer that - The flag I described was for the 1685 lifeguard so I'm not sure why Hall's print in the Aughrim book uses it too, though I have been assured before that Hall has access to better sources than we do...