"Britsh Royal Artillery units" Topic

Which British artillery units in the AWI wore the Royal artillery helmets as opposed to the tricorne?

TIA,
Dave

Dave;
If I recall correctly, I will defer to Historygamer, or Brendan Morrissey if he still haunts these halls… The 4th BN of the RA provided the companies of artillery for service in North America.

I could be wrong, and there could have been other units, but that is what comes to mind immediately.

Cheers;
Eric

According to the Macmillan book, "Uniforms of the American Revolution", these were the artillery units in N. America during the period 1775-1783:
1st Bn. Royal Artillery,
1st Coy.
3rd Bn. Royal Artillery,
1st Coy.
3rd Bn. Royal Artillery,
6th Coy.
4st Bn. Royal Artillery,
1st-5th and 8th Coys.
Since these were all Royal Foot artillery, I don't think that any would have helmets.

Hi:
By helmet, do you mean:

– the Tarleton (only introduced in 1793 for the RHA, AFAIK)

Or – the leather caps that were introduced for the Saratoga campaign?

The caps ordered for Burgoyne's column were made from cut-down cocked hats with horse hair crests added. Otherwise gunners, I believe, would have worn regulation cocked hats- at least to begin with.

In the regulars, helmets were worn by light dragoons and perhaps light infantry companies of certain regiments of foot, (in the early days anyway).

Thanks to all for the helpful responses. I really appreciate the input.

And Du-oh! I didn't even think to check Mollo's book. Thanks for the slap to the head.

Dave

So I was told by the British Brigade Master Gunner that Tarleton helmets were worn by the RA at a certain point. I'll see if I can find out more about that.

Not sure what the QR artillery wore, but that would also depend on the year too.

Don't forget the Royal Irish Artillery had about 100 men volunteer to serving in North America joining the 4th Bttn. I would guess they wore their Irish uniforms till the next issue from the 4th Bttn clothing.

Royal Irish Artillery had subtle differences- facing details, button pairing and lace, which would have diminished somewhat as time went on. In 1777, their uniforms appear to have been adapted in line with other elements in Burgoyne's expedition.

royalirish.com/history