"Irish troops?" Topic

I have some questions regarding Irish troops in the English Civil War:

Were the troops Charles planned to bring over from Ireland simply Englishmen serving in Ireland or the Irish Catholic royalists?

Does anyone have any information on their appearance?

Hi McSorly

This will answer your question:

link

The Nantwich Campaign and the localised pocket sized war between Byron and Brereton is one of my favourite aspects of the Civil War.

Cheers
Mark

If you are specifically looking for Catholic Irish troops used in Great Britain, the obvious ones to consider were north of the border. Montrose's Irish soldiers were vital to the early stages of the Royalist rebellion against the Scottish Covenanters. They were highly trained, experienced troops who were far more militarily important than the highlanders.

What I have read tends to suggest that it is likely that they dressed fairly conventionally. I tend to think that most of Montrose's army (except for some of the highlanders) would have worn 'hodden grey', much like most of the Covenanters. I know that a lot of cloth was seized fairly early on. (I think, from Aberdeen, but some of my reference books didn't seem to follow me when I emigrated.) If you could find out what colour cloth was produced there then it is a fair bet that the britches and coats of most of the Irish would be that colour.

If its Montrose's Irish you want to do then the bulk of them were native Irish from Ulster. That means trews not conventional ECW dress. As Benedict Arnold says above Hodden Grey will predominate. The Irish had their women with them and any cloth captured would be turned into the sort of clothes they knew how to make. There were a few Palesmen too and for them conventional ECW dress will do.

"What I have read tends to suggest that it is likely that they dressed fairly conventionally."

This old chestnut raises its head again. I don't know what you have read but the contemporary reports – the sources- say the very opposite. Spalding, Gordon etc repeatedly say they were dressed like highlanders and could not be differentiated from them. Given that they came from a trews wearing part of Ireland it is likely that this meant trews. There is no evidence that they wore breeches. The cloth they seized was from Perth after the captured the town at the start of the campaign but what they made out of the cloth was likley to have fitted their own cultural background.

"That being said… there are shots of Fallschirmjäger using a Marder II on the Russian front and a SdKfz. 251/1 in Italy."

You're right, the FJ divisions also also could have Marders in their Pzjgr Abt. along with towed guns.

The Shots of Sdkfz 251 in Italy with an FJ on board (a much used photo sequence) is not from an FJ unit but an HQ vehicle from HG Pz. division when they were part of the Fallschirm Korps at Anzio.

Good grief … last time I post on the captured plans of Charles.