From my research I don't believe Leven's Regiment had a Grenadier Company at the time of Killiecrankie. When it comes to the thorny problem of "Lauder's Fusiliers", as there were no actual Fusilier units in Scotland at the time, it is highly likely that this was an ad hoc unit probably composed of t...
Put not your trust in princes (specifically Stuart ones): James VI/I - Lock up your good-looking sons. :wink: Charles II - Makes war on his own people and imported an "Irish Army" Charles II - In the pay of a foreign power. :oops: James II/VII - Relgiously ambivilant. Imported an "Irish" Army like h...
Gentlemen A "wah" is a wind-up in army parlance (as regular viewers of the ARRSE website will attest). They are designed to catch the unwary into lengthy and ill-advised dissertations into everything and anything which may have no basis in reality (usually involving the hiring of the "outrage bus")....
Assuming this subject is not a "wah" - I noted when researching the Williamite War in Ireland that the Jacobites, when arming their infantry units, found that many of the pikes brought out of storage were unusable as the pike shafts were rotten. They had probably been in storage since the Restoratio...
I couldn't find the previous thread on "Cannon's Irish" but please find below details from my own research. Originally, James promised the Scots Jacobites Irish reinforcements as early as April 1689. This was to be a brigade of foot, under Maj Gen Thomas Buchan, consisting of the Earl of Antrim's, C...
Reference the figures shown in the latest WSS 1688 Special. I've just got my copy and would like to point out that the Reiver figures in the comparison article were not Reiver figures. In fact, the comparison photos do very poor justice to the actual Reiver figures (see the Dutch Guard photos in Bar...
As Rob said, the term "Brigadier" (as a rank) was not adopted by the British Army until 1928. Prior to that the term Brigadier-General was the correct term, from the reign of James II until 1922 (from 1922 until 1928 the title Colonel- Commandant was used). Initially, the "rank" was actually an "app...
In regard to Mass, I'm afraid that Bibio is correct. The last thing Presbyterians (or any other non-conformists or low churchmen) would take was Mass. Communion yes, but Mass would have been seen as Popish and therefore, unlike Henri IV ("Paris is worth a Mass"), beyond the pale.
There always appears to be some confusion in regard to Marines, Marine Artillery and Marines of the Guard. The French did not have Marines per se (in the way the British and Americans would now understand) and troops serving with the fleet were drawn from regular army units (a habit adopted by the B...
To add a"lighter" note, I'm reminded of a definition of the four nations of the home islands givien during an Army seminar in the early 80s (I can't tell you where as I'd have to.. well you know.) The Welsh - Pray on their knees...... and upon their neighbours. The Scots - Keep the Sabbath holy... a...
According to Walton "Harbord's Independent Troop" was present in Ireland at late as June 1690 and the State Papers, Ireland (according to Sapherson) lists "Mr Harbord's Horse" (1 Troop) as part of the "Establishment of Horse, Foot & Dragoons for Ireland 1689/90". As to why there was a hiatus between...
Reference Mr Harbord's perfidy, the information is contained in "The Boyne and Aughrim: The War of the Two Kings" by John Kinross (p.34). Not only did he appear to have purloined the £406,000 (actually worth £48,720,000 in today's money) but he sold Army horses to farmers in The Wirral on route to H...
