The question of livery colours is something I have mentioned before and I have put together a master list which I eventually intend to publish as an appendix to my own WOTR wargame rules, Bills Bows and Bloodshed.
In theory the troops' livery should be the background colour/s of the long standard. Where a colour is the top strip of the standard this goes on the wearer's right (our left when we view) and the lower colour goes on the wearer's left (our right as we view). It is unclear what happens when the colours go over the shoulder to the wearer's back. The colours may repeat or reverse. It is more likely to reverse if the sleeves are also in livery colour (see the Burgundians in the Osprey Men at Arms).
For greatest economy go for for popular livery colours first (especially at 15mm scale) and simply change the colour party or base for one showing the banner or standard of a different family.
Examples:
Red: red is used by Richard Neville (junior) Earl of Warwick. According to some sources Sir William Stanley also used red although a ballad suggests red and white for Sir William.
Also used by Lord Berkeley;
Thomas Courtney Earl of Devon;
Lord Grey of Ruthin. It may also be the troop livery of John Howard as Duke of Norfolk but several contemporary documents say his household colour was black. It is possible that Howard's retinue wore red but his close household or just the family members wore black.
Blue/Yellow: Francis Viscount Lovell;
John De La Pole Duke of Suffolk.
Red/Black: Richard Neville (senior) Earl of Salisbury;
John Neville Marquis Montague;
various Percy Earls of Northumberland. This combination is unfortunate as the Nevilles and the Percys were neighbours and were fighting each other before the Wars of the Roses started.
It should also be noted that a renegade branch of the Nevilles, who sided with the Percys and Henry VI wore reversed colours of Black/Red.
It should also be noted that later Percy standards show three colours possibly to prevent confusions between the families. See also Blue/White below.
Black/Red: Stafford Dukes of Buckingham;
Lord Cobham;
White/Green: the Tudor family including Jasper Earl of Pembroke and later Henry Earl of Richmond/Henry VII. If creating a colour party for Henry note that – at Bosworth – Henry displayed the royal banner of quarterly France and England which infuriated Richard III as it was also HIS banner. This may have led to Richard's fatal charge.
Edward Neville as Lord Abergavenny displayed green and white.
White/Blue: King Henry VI but he had few troops of his own – he mainly relied on the Beauforts;
the Beaufort Dukes of Somerset;
William Neville Lord Fauconberg – who was a Yorkist! It is possible that the Calais garrison under Andrew Trollope wore this livery as they were directly employed by the king.
Blue/White: Richard Duke of York. You will see that this will cause immediate confusion with the White and Blue of the king. Instead of inheriting the family colours on the Duke of York's death, the sons Edward (Edward IV), George Duke of Clarence and Richard of Gloucester/Richard III symbolically dyed the white half in the blood of their dead father and brother and switched to blue and murrey which is a wine red similar to dried blood. So a Blue and Murrey unit can double for any of the sons of York. Just change the colour party.
It is possible that Richard Duke of York died at Wakefield in 1460 due to an accidental confusion (or deliberate deception) over livery colours of incoming troops, luring him out to his destruction. It is noticeable that his sons changed their colours around this time but it is recorded that Edward IV also used 'bends' – strips of coloured cloth like gym bands.
In 1475 Edward IV settled a long overdue bill for 'crimson cloth' for bends for his knights and squires who had fought at Towton in 1461. This probably pre-dated his later livery of blue and murrey.
It is clearly dangerous to change colours in mid-campaign but Edward may also have feared confusion with Henry VI and Beaufort's own white/blue at Towton. Thus he issued red bends for his troops to wear over either his new blue/murrey or his late father's existing blue/white livery. Sons normally adopted their father's livery so it is possible that Edward still made some use of the old blue/white at Towton, with the red bends across them, while also distributing to his own new colours – IF he had time to.
This shows a red bend in use:
link
My only quibble with this re-enactor picture is that I think the bend goes over the wrong shoulder. This is a bend sinister which indicates illegitimacy in heraldry.
