Wednesday, April 24, 2019

The Regimental Lace Conundrum?

NB:  I am still trying to learn how to get format the way I want with this app.  I hope the inexplicable changes in font and spacing do not distract to much from the information I am trying to share!






Much of my current research time has been spent looking into the issue of the uniforms of the 42nd regiment during their 1756-67 deployment to North America.  In this I was attempting to nail down when the regiment switched from a single breasted to a lapeled coat, and the ensuing change in the style with which the regimental lace was sewn to the coats.  This turned out to be a rabbit hole of epic proportions.    What I seem to have found is that regimental lace and falling collars were only worn by the Grenadier company of the 42nd until the Spring of 1761.  At that time the regiment’s coats switched from the classic single breasted coat shown in all the images of the regiment to a lapeled style of coat, and most likely the lace was at that time changed to the Bastion style of lacing. But that style of coat was not worn for very long, as I shall lay out later.    

I have come to this conclusion based off of a review of all the known images of enlisted men of the Regiment going back to the time of their being formed into a regiment from  Independent Companies, as well as a number of written sources.

A review of the images shows 19 (watercolors, engravings and oil paintings) without any lace, 2(watercolor and oil) showing lace, 1 image (42 Clothing book) showing what might be button holes bound with a contrasting color and 6 images that it is impossible to tell if there was or was not lace on the coat. So in some respects, not lacing the coats has been staring us in the face for the last 30+ years that I have been doing Highland reenacting, but it never clicked.  For me it is rather ironic.  The 78th company that I helped found, we wanted to do the 42nd, but the cost of the lace was more than a Brown Bess musket! 







Detail from "Fashionable people thronging St James's Park"  c.1745 Attributed to Joseph Nickolls shows 2 sholdiers of the Highland Regiment, one without lace on his regimental coat. 

https://www.rct.uk/collection/405954/st-jamess-park-and-the-mall-0



Farquar Shaw, Highland Regiment Mutineer
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/37050/farquhar-shaw-d1743-jacobite-soldier




The images that do have lace are Morier’s Grenadier study and Sandby’s “Horse Fair on Bruntsfield Links”  The Sandby which was executed roughly contemporary to the Morier shows a figure, I feel is a Recruiting Sergeant.  The figure is wearing a laced coat, but with no falling collar.  The image is dated 1752, during the time the Regiment was stationed in Ireland.  The figure is either wearing what is probably plain white, or silver lace.  (How early the Sgt’s of the 42nd were paying for silver lace out of their own pocket,  is one of the great questions that will hopefully be answered by looking at the Agent’s book in the Lloyd’s of London Archive.) 

Detail from “Horse Fair on Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh” 1752, Paul Sandby
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/19098/horse-fair-bruntsfield-links-edinburgh

The below invoice is undated, from COL Murray's papers.  but we know that it is clothing sent in 1757, as that was the only time that Admiral Holburne  was in North America.  


         Coats sent by Fisher & Pearse on Board the Transport  with Admiral Holburne
      197 Centinels Coats
      100 Grenadiers Ditto
        39 Sergeants
          1 Sergt Major
        19 Drummers
          4 Pipers
          1 Drum Major
        40 Corporals Knots
        20 of Red thread, 8 White, 400 needles, 40 thimbles
            NB 4 Pipers caps with red feathers sent with this clothing
            NB 4 Pipers knots ordered to be sent


           A copy of this sent to the LtCol & Quartermaster on the back of the Invoice of Tartan.
John Rylands University, Manchester University, Bagshawe Muniments, I-XI. Correspondence and Papers, V. Lord John Murray (d. 1787) and his Wife Mary, nee Dalton (d. 1765), 5/1/1-460. Correspondence, 1-408. Bound manuscript volume of copies of letters and regimental orders concerning the 42nd or Royal Highland Regiment (1756-7)

With this invoice it shows there was something different about the Grenadier coats that caused them to be accounted for as a separate line item.  When the 2nd Battalion of the 42nd was raised in 1758, there was no separate accounting for Grenadier coats, and the provided Grenadier caps were issued out 4-6 per company.  Why this was done is not known at present.  It should be noted that the 2d battalion was a full 10 company battalion that combined the 3 1757 Additional companies of the 42nd with 7 new raised companies to form a full battalion. 

This from the 2/42 Quartermaster Record Book, Item A333-2 in the Black Watch Regimental Museum.

           Account of the Clothing sent from London to Perth for the use of the 42nd or Royal

               Highland Regiment

                                    698 Private mens Coats

                                      13 Drummers
                                        1 Drum Major
                                      27 Sergeants
                                        1 Sergeant Majors
                                        1 Pipers
                                        1 Piper Major
                                        1 Ditto            Cap
                                        6 yards Dummers Lace
                                      14 Drums with Cases
                                        2 Colors, Staff and Case
                                    100 Private Mens Caps
                                        4 Serjeants Caps
                                        2 Drummers Caps
                                        4 Corporals Caps
                                        3 Officers.   



In addition to the images there are quite a few pieces  of written documentation that support that no lace was being worn by the majority of the members of the regiment.  The most telling is the results of a meeting of the General Officers Clothing board. This is found in WO 7-26.  Thanks to Alex Burns for his help in acquiring these War Office papers.  To set the stage, it is worthwhile to look at entries not just for the 42nd, but also for the 78th Regiment.


                                                         London, 10 Dec 1759
     Sir,

     Mr Ross Agent to Col Frasers Battalion having represented to His Excellency Field Marshal Lord       Viscount Ligonier that there having been no lace last year upon the clothing of the said battalion,          and that there is not time at present for making the quantity requisist to lace the clothes according        to the Directions of the General Officers of the Clothing Board, His Lordship orders me to                  acquaint you that he has consented to that Battalions clothing be made up(For this time only)              without lace, with which I am to desire you will be pleased to acquaint the Clothing Board. 

                                                                       I am
                                              Sir, Your most obedient Humble Servant

                                                               Rob Napirer Adj General
     To Wm Fauquier Esq



So here we see that despite the request to make uniforms for units going to North America without lace not being approved in 1758, that some Regimental Agents were doing just that.  So then the next week, the 42nd's clothing patterns are presented and:

 



                                  
     Sir,

             I am ordered by the Clothing Board held here today, to acquaint you that as they approached  the case of want of time to lace COL Fraser’s Battalion has been misrepresented to his  Excellency Field Marshal Lord Viscount Ligonier; and Lord John Murray’s Patterns, which  were under the same Circumstances, and therefore postponed at the last board, were on this day provided properly laced and lapelled; and Mr Mann the Clothier having engaged to the  board that Col Fraser’s shall be laced and lapelled in time; They desire you will present to his  Lordship that as the reason for not complying with the General Order is hereby removed.   They imagine his Lordship will think it proper that they should see his Majesties Orders   complied with and have ordered that the Patterns of a clothing properly laced and lapelled to  be exhibited at another Board to be held on Monday next. I am with the Greatest respect,

                                                                     Sir

                                       Your most Obedient Humble Servant

                                                                Wm Fauquier

                      To LT General Napier



At the time of  this inspection the clothing for Campaign season 1760 would have already been shipped to North America so the earliest that the change to a coat with lapels and laced for the enlisted men could have happened was for the Campaign season of 61, and we see in the surviving Stewart Orderly book the following entry: 


                                                     Montreal 27 th  April 1761. Reg tl  Orders.
The tailors to be employed in altering the mens waistcoats according to the pattern of last year  but to make them longer in the body and the button­holes broader in order to correspond the  better with the lace on the new clothing. Such men who have spare waistcoats are to have theirs  altered first, beginning with the oldest company, afterwards as the season grows warmer the men  who have one waistcoat may more conveniently spare them, as they will be altered in one day.  Such men who have no sufficient waistcoats of any kind, must wait till the arrival of the clothing  in order to have their old coates converted into waistcoats.



My reading of this is that the entire regiment now had bastion laced coats and waistcoats, as seen in 2 images of officers, one being the Campbell of Melfort image below, the other being an officer of the 42nd that is shown in the Dominic Serres painting titled "The British Attack on the Citadel of Martinique, January 1762. That image can be found here:  




 The coats of both of these officers certainly have lapels and bastion loop lacing, and Campbell of Melfort’s white waistcoat has bastion lace loops on it as well. 


Captain John Campbell of Melfort, circa 1762Black Watch Museum, Balhousie Castle (Photograph Courtesy of Ian McCulloch)























It should be noted that the Officers of the regiment had adopted lapels and collars as much as a year earlier than this.  


                        Gen. Orders given at Fort Edward 31 st January 1760.
       The officers of both battalions (it is agreed) are to be uniform in their regimental frocks,  which are to be made with a lapel, a collar and a slash cuff, the buttons to be the same as those sent from England for their new lac d Regimentalls.





With all of this, it would seem that we could now make a good assumption of when the Regiment switched to laced and lapeled coats.  But nothing is ever easy when it comes to uniforms.  On Christmas Day 1762 the 42nd Departed New York on its way to Martinique, and then eventually Havana.  An Army acclimatized to a Northern North American winter arriving in the Caribbean would certainly require a readjustment.  General Monckton, the Expedition commander ordered that "The Commanding Officers of the Corps will order the linings to be ript out of the mens coats, the lapels taken off and the skirts cut shorter.  The General recommends to them, providing their men with something that is thin, to make sleeves for their waistcoats as the troops may be ordered to land in them." (as quoted in "Sons of the Mountains", Vol I p 271)  So the 42nd were ordered to cut their new style uniforms into something resembling what the unit had just gotten in trouble for 2 short years ago. 


A final piece in nailing down the lack of lace is from the Journal of John Grant, recently transcribed and edited by Earl Chapman &  Ian McCulloch.  In the journal Grant relates the following regarding the uniform worn by both the officers and men during the regiments Caribbean service.  " I was ordered with another officer to make a report to Brigadier General Grant.  We were equipped in jackets without lace made to resemble [the] soldiers’, with a haversack with provisions on one side and a canteen of liquor on the other.  Our few change of shirts &c. wrapped in our plaid which was wound round our chest." (A Dangerous Service, p 168)




While the 42nd was in the Caribbean, shipping their uniforms for the 63 Campaign season was hitting a snag, as the members of the Clothing Board were delegating and passing the buck on approving as evidenced by this letter.



                                                     Comptrollers Officer, 24 Aug 1762
     Sir
     Major General Tallbot (Who was desired by the Board to view LT General Murray’s Clothing)           being out of town, I should take it as a favor if you would take that trouble on, you in his room,           which is a thing very customary .  I am with the greatest respect
                                                                              Sir
                                                                    You Most Obedient humble servant
                                                                    Wm Fauquier

     To Maj General Webb

Either due to the slow pace of the Clothing Board bureaucracy, or the unit moving so fast that their uniforms for the year never caught up with them, the 42nd never received their clothing issue for 1763.  Redeploying from Havana to Philadelphia, marching west, fighting the Battle of Bushy Run and garrisoning Fort Pitt, all on the cut down uniforms that they left New York with in December of 1762.  It was not until late in 1764 that the men started to receive back pay and uniforms.  A letter from Captain William Grant to Henry Bouquet on 24 July 1764 that states that the members of the 42nd garrisoning Fort Pitt were near mutiny because they had not been paid in a very long time, plus there was a rumor their rations were going to be cut, and be more expensive and the final straw was that they had not having received uniforms in 2 years.  Bouquet papers Vol VI, p 598.   This makes for a rather threadbare look, not the post war "Spit and Polish" that many would be expecting.  


This post might be considered a 2d Draft of something that I have been working on for going on 2 years now.  It is subject to revision as I continually gain access to new information.   As it stands, should 42nd reenactors consider if they are going make  Grenadier caps, or take a seam ripper to their coats, or just ignore this totally? 

If anyone has actual primary source information on this subject they are willing to share, I would love to see it, but actual documentation, not a modern art image from an Osprey book.  












Saturday, November 10, 2018

Yes, Highland Regiments did use Knapsacks!


In this installment I want to discuss one of the biggest reenactor urban legends regarding F&I  Highland troops, that is that Highlanders never used knapsacks!   Nothing could be further from the truth, but somehow, somewhere back in the 1980's someone came up with the idea that all of the normal requisite gear and equipment that every other British soldier carried, somehow that Highlanders carried this in the back pocket of their plaid.  Now never mind that carrying all that equipment in that manner would not be secure, but also would rip the connection between plaid and coat, it is simply an unsupportable idea.  Something that is almost as interesting to me as historical research is the “Anthropology of Reenacting” where I try and figure out how we as a hobby made certain choices, especially wrong ones so as to craft better arguments as to why we should change.  In that vein I think the no knapsacks idea comes from 2 places.  The first being that in the 42nd Orderly Book extract, there is no talk of knapsacks, only tumplines, and then the following quote from a Revolutionary War OB from the 84th Regiment.  "Some men in the Battalion have been observed carrying provisions and other baggage in their plaids. This un-soldier like practice is positively forbidden." Halifax, November 13th, 1777, Murdock MacLaine's Papers.

So with these two bits of information, the no knapsacks idea perhaps sprang? 

We have military logistics documents showing knapsacks were issued to both battalions of the 42nd and the 78th, and we have other official military documents showing that members of the 77th lost knapsacks at Bushy Run.  Then we even have a soldiers memoir where he speaks of seeing a fellow member of the 78th wearing a knapsack.  Ample proof of Knapsacks being used here in the F&I period.  

But first, let’s look at what a soldier was expected to carry.  This comes from a list of the equipment carried by members of the 60th Grenadiers while on campaign here in North America.  Compiled by LT Baillie, it is most often simply referred to as Baillie's List.

A knapsack with strap and buckle Containing:
2 shirts, 2 stocks, 2 pairs of stockings
A pair summer breeches
A pair shoes
A clothes brush, pair shoe brushes, blackball
A pair leggings & garters, a handkerchief
2 combs, a knife & spoon

This document can be found in the Bouquet Papers:  Lieutenant Alexander Baillie to Colonel Henry Bouquet, 28 August 1762, Bouquet Papers, series 21648, part 2, 77-78.


The Regiments knapsacks:

42nd Regiment 

An Account book of COL Murray, Commander of the Royal Highland Regiment, found in the Murray Papers, Bagshawe Muniments, John Ryland's Library, University of Manchester;NRA 10462 Bagshawe  we have a list of equipment issued to the Highland Regiment in 1756 on the eve of their departure to North America.  That list includes an entry for 1060 knapsacks. 

A second account, that being the 1758 Quartermaster Record Book of CPT Stewart (Record of Issues of Clothing by Quartermaster Adam Stewart, Account of Clothing, BWRA 0253.) of the newly raised 2d Battalion has 700 knapsacks being delivered for issue to the newly raised unit.  NB:  The 42nd had in 1757 received authorization to raise 3 Additional companies, these companies became the basis for the 2d Battalion.  That is why it would appear that the 2d Battalion was 300+ knapsacks short compared to the 1st Battalion. 
From 1762 this document, part of a number of loose papers from CPT Stewart, that did not end up in the Black Watch Regimental museum, but rather in another collection on the other side of Perth, that being Blair Castle, we have this:  NRA 11000 Stewart-Murray Account of the Particulars sold belonging to the Deceased William Tait, Drummer RH Regt, 19 May 1762:
Fhilebeag
2 pair shoes
4 pair hose
Silk vest
One Shirt
One Knapsack

It should be noted here that knapsacks, paid for by off reckonings were considered the personal property of the soldiers and would leave the service with them, or be sold in a Vendu after their death. 

One last document relating to this issue is the request for reimbursement for lost equipment at Bushy Run, which Maj Allan Campbell submitted, and COL Bouquet endorsed, listed 59 knapsacks lost by the 42nd.

I’m purposely not addressing the use of tumplines by the 42nd.  That will be for a later installment.     


77th Regiment

Surviving documentation for both clothing and equipment for the Montgomery’s Regiment is scanty,  but we do have Captain Robert Grant’s 12 Aug 1763 request for reimbursement for equipment the77th lost at Bushy Run, which lists The following:

12 Sergeants Plaids, 23 Privates Plaids, 100 shirts, 47 pairs of shoes, 93 pair of hose, 21 stocks, 8 rollers, 8 jackets, 23 Knapsacks, 17 Haversacks, 8 Camp kettles, 23 tumplines, 1 bonnet, 3 pair of leggings, 6 wooden kegs, 1 shoulder belt and 1 kilt belt. 


78th Regiment

Regarding the 78th Jeff Campbell has been going thru the surviving documents in the Clephane papers and has posted many of the pages of this Company level account book showing knapsacks as being issued the 78th prior to departing Scotland.  Check out Jeff’s blog entry at:

  http://frasers78th.blogspot.com/2017/07/accoutrements-worn-by-78th-regiment-of.html

In some cases soldiers were issued 2 knapsacks.  This might be because as the 78th was marching to their departure point, a barn that many of them were lodged in caught fire and possibly some members lost their possessions.  This incident was related by Vol Sgt Thompson of the 78th, as seen in “A Bard of Wolfe’s Army”  Another bit of documentation from that same source relates to a dismissed drummer from the 78th walking away from the regiment with a knapsack on his back.   
“The Poor devil, with his knapsack, went away on his business!”  Thompson, J., McCulloch, I. M., Chapman, E. J., David M. Stewart Museum., & 78th Fraser Highlanders. (2010). A bard of Wolfe's army: James Thompson, gentleman volunteer, 1733-1830. Montreal: R. Brass Studio.


With all this information, we can say without a doubt that the Highland Regiments used knapsacks.   Of course the next question is what did they look like.  For that I direct you to the following links:



Thanks for reading.


Wednesday, September 26, 2018

78th F&I Chelsea Hospital Admissions.

Here is the first follow up, 78th Chelsea Hospital Admissions.  This list is both longer, and a bit disjointed.  Perhaps some subsequent  78th Regiment listings are mixed in with the 78th Fraser's entries.  Did the clerk record the year wrong, or is this a later 18th Century copy?  Also unlike the 77th where there are a fury of entries after the regiment was  disbanded, with the 78th there are entries thruout the war.  Is this a case of Fraser being proactive at sending his wounded home, or the result of the 78th being involved in more conventional campaigns, better medical care and close to ships that could send the men home, while the 77th was deep in the interior?  Like most research, it often causes more questions than it answers.

Once again, look at some of these ages, a 50 year old drummer with 24 years of service, a 46 year old Sergeant Major with 36 years of service!  Ample documentation for a wide range of ages, not just 18 year olds led by late 20  year old Officers and NCO's that some would like reenacting to be.


Sgt Ja Willamson
39
19
Ulcered Breast
20 July 175?
Ian McAlhum
34
2 ½
Wounded Head
Ditto
Don Cattanach
46
7
Lost his Left Eye
18 Dec 1759
Don Livingstone
22
2 ½
Wounded
18 Mar 1760
CPL Ian Cameron
20
2 10 Months
Wounded

Alex McColl
34
2 10/12
Wounded

CPL Ian MacDougle
22
2 10/12
Shot thru right arm

CPL Don Ross
31
3
Wound Fingers
4 Dec 1759
Duncan Duff
28
3
Lost his Rt hand
Ditto
CPL Don MacDonald
22
3
Lost his rt thumb
Ditto
CPL Ian Cameron
31
2 10/12
Wounded
18 Mar 1760
CPL Donald MacDonald
36
4
Wounded Breast
23 Dec 1760
Arch Stuart
23
2 10/12
Lost a leg
18 Mar 1760
Robt Thompson
36
2 ½
Wounded Head
20 Jul 1759
CPL Tho Fraser
50
26
Lost his Sight
20 Oct 1759
CPL Ian McLaren
26
4
Lost use of his left arm
Ditto
Dun Cameron
36
20
Wounded
23 Dec 1760
Alex Monroe
63
30
Infirm
Ditto
Simon Munro
24
4
Lost the Use of his legs
Ditto
Rob Carr
41
24
Lost his arm

CPL Alex Fraser
48
20
Wounded Thighs
4 Dec ????
Murl McEnzie
63
16
Old & infirm
23 Dec ????
Dun Kenedy
52
8
Wounded
Page Loss
Donald Grant
24
4
Wounded
Page Loss
Chas McLachland
30
4
Lost his right leg
Page Loss
CPL Don McDonald
24
4
Wounded Head
23 Dec 1760
David Morris
28
4
Consumption
27 Feb 1761
CPL Angus McDonald
40
4
Lost use of Left Arm
28 Oct 1760
CPL Alex Fraser
50
22
Worn Out
11 Jan 1764
CPL Don Campbell
57
25
Bruised
8 Sept 1761
Allen McKay
50
20
Wounded in the hand
Ditto
Will Lawson
27
4
Wounded in the Arm
Ditto
Ja Jamieson
23
4
Wounded in the Leg
Ditto
CPL Evan Cameron
30
4
Wounded in Arm & Leg
Ditto
Don McLeod
20
2
Lost a Leg
5 Dec 1780*****
CPL In Fraser
44
4 ¾
Wounded in left Leg
28 Oct 1760
Duncn Ross
35
4
Wounded Head
8 Sept 1761
SGT Ian Campbell
48
28
Worn Out
6 Jan 1764
Drummer Dan Gunn
50
24
Ditto
Ditto
Dond Stuart
30
8
Very Severly Wounded
Ditto
CPL Malcom McNaut
37
15
Wounded Shoulder
Ditto
Ja Hunter
30
7
Consumptive&Wounded
Ditto
Will McLeod
54
26
Worn Out
Ditto
Ian McNabb
31
7
Wounded both thighs
Ditto
Ian Campbell
47
7
Wounded Head&Thigh
Ditto
Page Loss
30
7
Epilictick Fitts
Ditto
Dougle Campbell
60
11
Consumptive
Page Loss
Don Fraser
34
7
Wound Shoulder
6 Ditto (Page Loss)
Walt McNicholl
54
13
Ruptured
11 Ditto
Ja Campbell
45
7
Wound ?????
29 May 1760
Dan McMaster
30
12
Scurvey
28 Oct 1760
Tho Fraser
24
4

Ditto
CPL Alex McKenzie
26
4
Lost use of his Lt Arm
Ditto
CPL Arch McDonald
31
4 ¾
Wounded RT Arm
8 Sept 1761
Wm McPherson
27
7
Wounded
Ditto
Hugh Fraser
35
3
Lame in Left Leg
4 Dec 1759
Dan McFarlane
38
4
Wounded Groin
8 Sept 1761
SGT Angus McDonald
47
13
Gravel
Ditto
SGM? Prosperus Stevenson
65
33
Lost his speech
30 Nov 1779
CPL Ian MacDonald
36
2 10/12ths
Lost the use of his limbs
18 Mar 1760
Angus Steward
50
17
Bruised in Drawing
11 Jan 1764
CPL Alex McKenzie
24
7
Disabled by Wounds
11 Jan 1764
Ian Furguson
30
7
Shot in the hand
1 May 1764
Cpl Don McDonald
28
2 ½
Fitts & Wounded Head
4 Dec 175 (Page Loss)
Cpl Ian Campbell
27
7 ¾
Wounded thighs
Page Loss
SGM Tho Laing
46
36!
Worn Out
Page Loss
Peter Graham
54
3
Disabled ankle lost the use of his limbs
Page Loss