"Waller's Foot at Lansdown, 1643" Topic

I'm trying to find information on Waller's foot at the battle of Lansdown in 1643.

I'm reading Adair's Roundhead General, Barratt's Civil War Campaigns in the Southwest, and the Battlefields Trust web site.

I'm aware of Strode's Foot (incl. remnants of Stamford's). Any sources for uniform or colors?

Anyone know the other regiments present? Seems most of the attention goes to the Cornish foot opposing him and Haselrige's Lobsters…

Thanks,

Steve
Age of Glory

Kind of a mustard yellow.
link

I think the Yellow coats apply to his own regiment in his second army. Not sure if he took his own regiment for this campaign.

Yellow may be a definite option, though. Thanks for the link.

Hi ageofglory,

Indeed, Waller's own foot weren't raised until later in 1643.

Here's a list of Parliamentary foot regiments at Lansdown

Tom Essex (ex-Lord St John),
Sir John Merrick,
Sir Robert Cooke,
Sir Horatio Cary,
Thomas Stephens,
Alexander Popham,
William Strode?

I think the most detailed orbat is in 'The Battles of Lansdown and Roundway Down' by Robert Morris published by Stuart Press here link

Thanks, Timbo. I thought you might be along… You may have just cost me quite a bit with that link. I'm not sure they have any books I don't want!

I know exactly what you mean aofg :-)

You might also be tempted by the 8-volume 'Fall of the West' series by Peachey and Turton they sell (check the Armies page). Incredible detail on the Western Parliamentarians of the early war. Probably only worth it if you're very much into this sort of thing though!

Oh, coat colours – all unknown, apart from Merrick's in grey. Peachey argues that the provincial units probably were never issued coats as there are so many reference to Merrick's as greycoats but no mention of coat colour in the many references to the other western regiments. Tom Essex's probably did have a uniform coat colour as they were originally Lord St John's regiment of Essex's field army, which were definitely issued coats. Unfortunately nobody noted which colour coats St John's received!

Not entirely relevant as it covers Waller's later army but some interesting ECW armies' material here (and associated links on that page): link

Cheers,

David
nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.co.uk

According to John Adair (Cheriton 1644: The Campaign and the Battle) "In June [1643], in order to face the combined Royalist armies of the Marquess of Hertford and Sir Ralph Hopton… [Waller] despite a recruit of perhaps 500 foot from Bristol… could muster no more than between 1200 and 1500 compared with 4000 in the Royalist army."

Stuart Asquith, in his article "The Battle of Lansdown Hill 1643" in Miniature Wargames magazine #231 August 2002, bemoans that there seems to be precious little available unit identification for Waller's Western Association army. His guesstimate, based on working backwards from the Roundway Down fight, is five regiments of infantry amounting to 4000 overall – clearly at odds with Adair but, as Asquith states, "At Landsdown Hill Sir William Waller took up a [typically] strong defensive position and his reluctance to stage a major field action would tend to support the view that the Parliamentarian forces did not enjoy numerical superiority over the Royalists." Hence, I would go along with Adair's number.

Can I add some information on the names provided and ask a few questions.

Lt-Colonel Tom Essex, unpopular governor of Bristol replaced by Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes and may constitute the ‘500 foot from Bristol' mentioned by Adair.

Sir John Merrick's uniform was a light grey coat with a white lining showing at the cuff turnbacks. Merrick's men were therefore also known as the 'London Grey Coats' or 'Sir John Merrick's Regiment Of London Grey Coats'. Did he fight at Lansdown?

Colonel Sir Robert Cooke of Highnam

Can I query the inclusion of [Colonel] Sir Horatio Cary as I understand him to be a Royalist Cavalry officer? I believe that there was a Major Horatio Carew in Waller's Cavalry at Edgehill and also a cavalry officer Captain Horatio Carey at the same battle.

Colonel Thomas Stephens, was he the governor of Gloucester (1644)?

Colonel Alexander Popham of Littlecote

Colonel William Stroud of Barrington

Blues 4

Hi Blues,

I'll dig out the Morris book I mentioned and have a look tomorrow but off the top of my head-

Yep numbers are a bit tricky, certainly 5 regiments were mentioned at Roundway but this is thought to refer to 5 'units' if you like, with some weak regiments brigaded together to form a decent size, as seems usual in the ECW (eg Royalists at Naseby). Also there's the question of what reinforcements Waller received from Bristol between Lansdown and Roundway. I'd go for a figure of approx 2000 foot for Lansdown, but it could be lower, I certainly think that 4000 is a wild overestimate. Certainly many of the 'regiments' were no more than small detachments or remnants of units.

Yep Tom Essex's men were indeed the foot from Bristol.

Merricks were certainly grey coats but not so sure that the shade of grey or lining is known – do you have a ref for that? I don't know if Merrick himself was there, but his foot had had a trying time of it having retreated all the way from the Cornish border.

Thomas Stephens – hmm, doesn't ring a bell as Gov of Gloucester, I thought Massey was replaced by Morgan, but could well be wrong, must check. There was a Col. Henry Stevens who raised a regiment in Gloucester in time for the main siege of Aug '43, this was later taken over by Massey and known as the Governor's Regiment. Thomas Stephens foot were indeed raised around Gloucestershire so they might well be related.

Cooke's was raised at the same time, partly from captured Welsh Royalists of Lord Herbert's little army that ironically had used Sir Robert's house at Highnam as a base for their ill-fated siege of Gloucester, till they were defeated and captured in a joint op between Waller and Massey.

IIRC (will check this) Sir Horatio Cary's foot were also newly raised in the Gloucs area. He did indeed later change sides to become a Royalist Colonel of Horse. His Royalist troop's cornet bore the 'Cuckolds wee come' dig at Essex – probably Waller wouldn't have minded ;-). Don't know for sure but he might well be the Major in Waller's horse – I must have a look at Laurence Spring's book.

Thanks all!

On the troops from Bristol, I noted in Brassey's ECW Uniforms that they imported huge quantities of madder red dye from Holland and a bit of blue as well (a ratio of about 10/1 red/blue, IIRC). So perhaps red coats for them wouldn't be too far off the mark.

Timbo W,

Thanks for your continuing input on this thread. Regarding Colonel Sir John Merrick's greycoats my source, unfortunately, is no greater than the BBC.

link

My view so far as wargaming is concerned is, if no coat colour is mentioned then paint up a mix of bland or neutral colours and add a few more of the colour you prefer, not all in the front rank.

Alternatively, the colours in the family coat of arms could be a starter. In Popham's case, red and white.

Cheers

Blues 4

Right ho, dug out the Morris book,

One thing to be aware of is that these are based on snippets and a bit of supposition, so seem the most likely units but aren't in all cases definitively proven.

Merrick's – as shown in the BBC link they had gone West and ended up besieged in Exeter, but they had also left 2 companies in garrison at Gloucester. These 2 coys probably accompanied Waller to Lansdown, maybe brigaded with or reduced into Tom Essex'. (so please ignore my mis-remembering of them retreating from Cornwall!)

Tom Essex's (all or a majority) had been drawn out of Bristol garrison by Waller for the Highnam campaign in April. So they had come from Bristol in a roundabout fashion but probably aren't the 500 mentioned by Adair.

Cooke's, Thomas Stephens' and Cary's were all newly raised by Waller's commission in Gloucestershire ie April-May 1643.

Strode's Somerset foot is a bit uncertain. Prior to Lansdown at least 2 companies were skirmishing with the Royalists around Glastonbury, then after Lansdown the regiment were left in Bath while Waller advanced to Devizes. So its unclear as to whether they were on the battlefield at Lansdown or were holding Bath.

Alexander Popham's were another Somerset Rgt and again a bit unclear. While half the regiment at least were at Roundway, Waller received reinforcements from Bristol the day after Lansdown, that included detachments of Popham's and Nathaniel Fiennes'. So more probably not at Lansdown. There are conflicting stories on how many men Nathaniel Fiennes had left in Bristol and how many he sent to Waller, mainly due to Fiennes' trial.

On Merrick's Greycoats shade and lining I guess that someone might have taken the Haythornthwaite illustration a little too literally.

Agree the lack of info on ECW coats does mean you can do them how you prefer! Red, grey or blue seem a pretty safe bet as these were the most popular recorded coat colours. Coats of arms are very useful for getting ideas for inventing suitable flag designs, more often than not the field colour does match the predominant colour of the Colonel's arms. As its ECW of course this isn't a hard and fast rule!!