"British 1st and 2nd battalion Colours" Topic
6 Posts
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Timmo uk | 28 Nov 2012 2:15 p.m. PST |
Can somebody please tell me what the typical differences of the colours carried by the first and second battalions were? For example, both the 1/88 Connaught Rangers and the 2/88 were in Wellingtons army and there were other regiments with two battalions in the army. I'm painting 18mm ABs and using GMB flags. Would it really matter or be noticeable if I used the same flags for both battalions? |
Rod MacArthur | 28 Nov 2012 3:07 p.m. PST |
Timmo, Most British battalions had colours with a central shield design containing the inscription (in Latin numbers) of the regiment, ie "LXXXVIII" Regt for the 88th. According to Keith Over's "Flags and Standards of the Napoleonic Wars", those regiments with more than one battalion had an inscription below this (still on the central shield) showing 2nd Batt etc. Keith Over does not make it clear whether 1st Battalions had any such designation. I suspect not, since at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in 1804 only two Regiments had more than one battalion (1st Foot and 60th Foot) so there would have been no need to have such an inscription on most 1st battalion's flags. There were variations for regiments with central badges, some of whom had the regimental number and any battalion number in an oval in the top quadrant nearest the flagpole (ie in the centre of the Union Jack on the Regimental Colour). The Foot Guards were of course different and each Regiment had three 1st Colours, Colonel's, Lieutenant Colonel's and Major's, all crimson with various badges), one carried by each battalion, and a set of company colours which were Union Flags carrying various central badges, (24 for 1st Foot Guards and 16 for Coldstream and 3rd Foot Guards) one of which was also carried by each battalion. The pattern of which battalions carried which company colours was worked out in rotation. Rod |
Timmo uk | 28 Nov 2012 3:38 p.m. PST |
Thank you for your detailed answer. That's given me something to think about at least. |
GiloUK | 28 Nov 2012 4:32 p.m. PST |
Timmo – I looked into this when I did the second battalion of the 71st Foot for the AWI. At that time the second battalion flags had a "yellow wavy" in the right hand corner of the flags. I had to hand paint this flag and you can see it here: link IIRC, there was a different device in the same place for a third battalion. I'm afraid I don't know if this practice was still extant in the early 1800s. Giles |
Timmo uk | 29 Nov 2012 2:52 a.m. PST |
Giles Many thanks – another fabulous unit of yours. Nicely done hand painted flag as well. Grahame of GMB emailed me last night about some new releases and had seen this thread, it seems that generally by the time of Napoleonic wars if the second battalion was doing anything it was to have a tiny number under the regimental designation on the Kings Colour. In 18mm it would so small as not not really be worth worrying about, so I wont. There was no hard and fast rule though and as Rod mentions other systems were in use so I will be raising second battalions where appropriate so I can vary the composition of my 3rd Division depending on what year I'm playing. |
Rod MacArthur | 29 Nov 2012 5:05 a.m. PST |
Giles, The 18th century system of "wavys" etc was what differentiated the Colonel's Lieutenant Colonel's and Major's colours, a throwback to the three original battalions (two pike and one musket) per regiment of the 17th century. As I recall it, the Colonel's colour had a plain flag, the Lieutenant Colonel's had a Union Jack in the top quadrant nearest the pole and the Major's a Union Jack and a wavy blazon coming from its lower corner towards the centre of the flag. I believe that by the Napoleonic Wars only the Foot Guards used this system for their crimson King's Colours. Keith Over's book also mentions that the Foot Guards had several Colonel's, Lieutenant Colonel's and Major's colours per Regiment, which complicates which ones were used by which battalion even more. Rod |
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