They used any method they could think of to accept the 'King's shilling'. The King's Shilling was the bonus given by the crown for enlisting in the British army. The favorite haunt of the recruiters, dressed in ordinary clothes, were the pubs and inns. They would get unsuspecting young men totally intoxicated. The next day they would find they had accepted the 'King's Shilling' - they were to join the regiment as one of the new redcoats.
There are stories that the "King's shilling" was hidden in the bottom of pewter tankards and having drunk his pint, the poor man found that he had unwittingly accepted the King's offer - this gave rise to the introduction of glass-bottomed tankards.
These new redcoats had no choice in the matter - the alternative was the death sentence. Another source for new supplies of Redcoats were the British courts - for many offences a judge would commute a prisoner's sentence to enlistment with the Redcoats.
Acceptance of the 'King's Shilling' meant enlistment for life! After stoppages or deductions they were left with about 8 pence per day - the equivalent pay at today's rate would be about 25 cents. The stoppages included deductions for food, their uniforms, for washing, for the paymaster, for the surgeon and for a host of useless and unmilitary fopperies. The British Redcoats - Discipline The new Redcoats were understandably resentful - the British Army addressed this issue but instigating a strict regime of discipline.
Even the most minor infringements were treated with severe corporal punishment such as public flogging - the number of lashes were determined by the commander of the redcoats regiment. To be found guilty of stealing or desertion had only one sentence - death by hanging. The British Redcoats - Morale The imposition of strict discipline ensured that the British Redcoats 'toed to the line'.
But their commanders and officers had to address the question of morale. They did this by instilling a deep sense of pride in the regiment and a strong sense of identity and comradeship. Every one of the Redcoats learnt about the history and victories of their regiment. They knew the names of the heroes of previous battles and the deeds of bravery and valor.
Morale was also boosted by the wives of the Redcoats who were allowed to accompany their husbands. From the late 17th century to the early 20th century, the uniform of most British soldiers, apart from artillery , rifles and light cavalry , included a madder red coat or coatee.
From onwards, the more vivid shade of scarlet was adopted for all ranks, having previously been worn only by officers , sergeants and all ranks of some cavalry regiments. The term redcoat originated in 16th century Tudor Ireland as a derogatory term for the British, as British soldiers in Lord Lieutenant of Ireland's army wore red coats, the first time British soldiers collectively had a red uniform, the term was then brought to America and Europe by Irish emigrants.
In it's mentioned that the Irish rebel Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone had " shot in red coats like English soldiers" — the inference being that English soldiers in Ireland were distinguished by their red uniforms. The red coat has evolved from being the British infantryman's ordinary uniform to a garment retained only for ceremonial purposes. The new English Army was formed of 22, men, divided into 12 foot regiments of men each, one dragoon regiment of men, and the artillery , consisting of guns.
The infantry regiments wore coats of Venetian red with white facings. A contemporary comment on the New Model Army dated 7 May stated "the men are Redcoats all, the whole army only are distinguished by the several facings of their coats".
Reenactors in the red-coated uniform of the 33rd Regiment of Foot as worn during the Napoleonic Wars between and Note the brighter scarlet of the officer on the right. There had been isolated instances of red military clothing pre-dating its general adoption by the New Model Army. The uniforms of the Yeoman of the Guard formed and the Yeomen Warders also formed have traditionally been in Tudor red and gold.
The English red coat made its first appearance on a European continental battlefield at the Battle of the Dunes in A Protectorship army had been landed at Calais the previous year and "every man had a new red coat and a new pair of shoes". To the amazement of continental observers they stormed sand-dunes feet 46 m high fighting experienced Spanish soldiers from their summits with musket fire and push of pike.
Blood does in fact show on red clothing as a black stain. Prior to colonels of regiments made their own arrangements for the manufacture of uniforms under their command. This ended when a royal warrant of 16 January established a Board of General Officers to regulate the clothing of the army.
Uniforms supplied were to conform to the "sealed pattern" agreed by the board. From an early stage red coats were lined with contrasting colours and turned out to provide distinctive regimental facings lapels, cuffs and collars. Examples were blue for the 8th Regiment of Foot , green for the 5th Regiment of Foot , yellow for the 44th Regiment of Foot and buff for the 3rd Regiment of Foot.
However some regiments were subsequently able to obtain the reintroduction of historic facing colours that had been uniquely theirs. British soldiers fought in scarlet tunics for the last time at the Battle of Gennis in the Sudan on 30 December They formed part of an expeditionary force sent from Britain to participate in the Nile Campaign of , wearing the "home service uniform" of the period including scarlet tunics, although some regiments sent from India were in khaki drill. A small detachment of infantry which reached Khartoum by steamer on 28 January were ordered to fight in their red coats in order to let the Mahdist rebels know that the real British forces had arrived.
The uniform of the Coldstream Guards c. Even after the adoption of khaki service dress in , most British infantry and some cavalry regiments continued to wear scarlet tunics on parade and for off-duty "walking out dress", until the outbreak of the First World War in Scarlet tunics ceased to be general issue upon British mobilisation in August The Brigade of Guards resumed wearing their scarlet full dress in but for the remainder of the army red coats were only authorised for wear by regimental bands and officers in mess dress or on certain limited social or ceremonial occasions notably attendance at court functions or weddings.
As late as , consideration was given to the reintroduction of scarlet as a replacement for the dark blue "No. Surveys of serving soldiers' opinion showed little support for the idea and it was shelved.
In the modern British army, scarlet is still worn by the Foot Guards , the Life Guards , and by some regimental bands or drummers for ceremonial purposes. Officers and NCOs of those regiments which previously wore red retain scarlet as the colour of their "mess" or formal evening jackets.
Some regiments turn out small detachments, such as colour guards, in scarlet full dress at their own expense. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment has a scarlet tunic in its winter dress.
Scarlet is also retained for some full dress, military band or mess uniforms in the modern armies of a number of the countries that made up the former British Empire. The epithet "redcoats" is familiar throughout much of the former British Empire, even though this colour was by no means exclusive to the British Army.
The entire Danish Army wore red coats up to and particular units in the German, French, Austro-Hungarian, Russian , Bulgarian and Romanian armies retained red uniforms until or later. Amongst other diverse examples, Spanish hussars , Japanese army and United States Marine Corps bandsmen, and Serbian generals had red tunics as part of their gala or court dress. However the extensive use of this colour by British, Indian and other Imperial soldiers over a period of nearly three hundred years made red uniform a veritable icon of the British Empire.
The significance of military red as a national symbol was endorsed by King William IV reigned — when light dragoons and lancers had scarlet jackets substituted for their previous dark blue, hussars adopted red pelisses and even the Royal Navy were obliged to adopt red facings instead of white.
Most of these changes were reversed under Queen Victoria — A red coat and black tricorne remains part of the ceremonial and out-of-hospital dress for in-pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
In the United States, "Redcoat" is associated in cultural memory with the British soldiers who fought against the colonists during the American Revolutionary War : the Library of Congress possesses several examples of the uniforms the British Army used during this time [18] Most soldiers that fought the colonists wore the red coat though the Hessian mercenaries and some locally recruited loyalist units had blue or green clothing.
It was not the only regiment to be wearing a colour other than red, although red was quite common. At some time during and possibly as a result of the constitutional upheavals that deposed James II and enthroned Willaim III, the coat colour was changed to red.
This seems to be a universal change, possibly distinguishing the English from Irish and Dutch troops. From this we can see that although the standardisation of the uniform of the regular army was recognised in the early 18th century, the tradition of the red coat was already becoming established. Looking further back, in parliament ordered its New Model Army to be all dressed in red.
But the four regiments of foot that held Lincolnshire during the years of the Commonwealth were not of the New Model Army, which leaves some scope for variation.
Prior to the Parliamentarian army of , we have little information about the uniform colours for the troops that were raised in Lincolnshire during the civil war. The notable exception to this was the regiment raised by the Earl of Lindsey, which later became The Kings Lifeguard of Foot. However, this may be another half-truth. The men that the Earl of Lindsey recruited from Lincolnshire, were from the part of Lincolnshire called Lindsey.
0コメント