"The Army of James II 1685--1688. The Birth of the British " Topic

…Army

"This new book in the Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 series by Helion & Co was announced already in late 2016. However, those with an interest in the post-Restoration British army had to wait until August 2017 before the title finally became available. The (long) wait was well worth it! With The Army of James II 1685--1688, that has as sub-title The Birth of the British Army, mr Stephen Ede-Borrett delivered a fine monograph and very useful contribution to the available literature on the armed forces of the later Stuart monarchs…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Mr Ede-Borrett also stepped into the breach at Saturday's "Century of the Soldier" conference in Shrewsbury, when one of the listed speakers had to drop out at the last minute, and gave an excellent presentation on this very subject.

I haven't seen the book yet, but everyone I know who has says it is a splendid work.

my copy turned up yesterday, from the first flip through it looks splendid indeed…

I still have his original pamphlet from the 1980s, which was very good, so this should be a greatly expanded version.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but in one of two first volumes of his History/British Army…Fortescue posited that the 1688-1710 BA was much different than what evolved later circa 1740-SYW, and that transformation was pretty much due to Walpole.

The 1688+ Army was not the Lord/servant army that later existed but one of relatively equal footing and respect.

Again, unless I missed something as I am dragging this up from reading said tomes several years ago!

Glad you like it boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Thanks for cross-posting my review :-)

It is a good book, well worth the money. As said in my review, but that is maybe more my opinion, it is more a book on the regiments of the army of James II, than a book on the army itself.

Wienand

Bought this at SELWG on Sunday. Nicely put together and whilst Wienand is correct that it is mainly about the individual regiments, it does have a lot of good general information about the army as well. Definitely worth the money.

Sorry, I should have added that the author makes it clear that his work is a supplement to John Childs' book, not a replacement for it. Hence, the structure of the Army is not addressed to a great extent because it has already been covered.

@Wienand,

I recently sent you an email about your "Colonial Soldiers" book, specifically volume 1. Did you get it?

You did and have replied. Thank you.

(Note to others:- The book I'm ordering relates to the army of Charles II which returned from Tangiers in the year he died and thus formed a prominent part of James' forces.)