Post
by barr7430 » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:55 am
This is another of my pet subjects.. how critical is the choice of under clothes colours in the period. I'll give the anwer first to save reading any of my musings!:
Don't think the colour matters: white, off white, grey, grey brown, red faded to pinkish, red brown? any mixture of the these within the same unit.
Reason: Colonels paid for and clothed/equipped their men. Many did it on the cheap and rebilled the authorities for the full price. Corruption was rife (epic some would say). There is a thread somewhere else on this board with the story of Mr Harborne (Paymaster? for William III in Ireland) he seems to have appropriated the equivalent of £40,000,000 (for the avoidance of doubt that is 40 million pounds equivalent in modern money) from the army's war chest!
Dyes were not fast, clothing quality for soldiers(perhaps on the lowest level of civilized society) was probably appauling and so will have worn out quickly.. proabably not replaced by the regiment.
So, anything you like really!
"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right"
Henry Ford