Tuesday 9 June 2009

Follow-up To Ralphus' Post on the Maritime Regiment

As a quick follow-up to Ralphus' earlier post on the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, I'm hoping someone can help with a bit of a mystery.

Following the link provided to the Essex Militia, and then going to their "Portraits" page here, there is a shot of the Maritime detachment with their colours, which they unfortunately don't display well for us "painter-gamer" types. However, the colours shown appear to be almost identical to a flag shown on Barry Hilton's LoA site in the Gallery being carried by Trelawney's Regiment, shown here.

I have done some searching today, but without much success, except that I found several other versions of a standard for Trelawney's at a later date that bears no resemblance to this flag on Barry's site. I would love to get something close to an authoritative answer, with sources, for the Maritime Regiment carrying this flag. They did fight as part of the English contingent under Turenne, so would make an excellent "change of pace" unit for my Franco-Dutch Wars forces.

Any assistance will be appreciated.

Bill

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill,

I'm a bit confused. My sources indicate that Trelawny's Foot was not the successor regiment to the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment, but rather successor to the New Tangier Regt (raised 1680), the Duchess of York's Regt. (1684), and I can find no reference to it serving under Turenne.

Regards,

Dan

Ref: Georg Tessin, "Die Regimenter der Europäischen Staaten im Ancien Regime des XVI. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts".

Iain Stanford. An unpublished list of English and Scottish regiments complementing Tessin.

Ralphus said...

I thought some companies of the Admiral's Regiment under Churchill were absorbed into the Royal English Regiment?

Anonymous said...

Ralph,

Yes, but they were not from Trelawny's Foot which was a later regiment. My comments related to Trelawny's.

Dan

Ralphus said...

Oh sorry. Yes Trelawney was an officer in the Royal English Regiment, then the Earl of Plymouths.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Trelawny
Maybe for a flag the Lord High Admiral's colour could be something to do with it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Lord_High_Admiral_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg

Sir William the Aged said...

Dan and Ralphus;

Perhaps I didn't explain as well as I should have, but you have both hit upon the source of my own confusion.

I can find no source that indicates that the Admiral's Maritime Reg was ever part of Trelawney's, and didn't mean to imply that Trelawney's ever was the successor to the Maritime Reg or served under Turenne.

However, from the Wiki site on the history of the Royal Marines (and supported by at least 2 other Royal Marine "official" historical sites), I find the following quote:

"The Regiment was very distinctive, being dressed in yellow, rather than the Red coat of the other regiments, until 1685. John Churchill, later the 1st Duke of Marlborough, was the most famous member of this regiment. A Company of Foot Guards served as Marines to augment the Marines of the Admiral's Regiment during the key sea battle, the Battle of Solebay in 1672. Marlborough's conduct as an Ensign in the Guards during the battle so impressed James that he commissioned him a Captain in the Admiral's Regiment after four marine captains died during the battle. Marlborough served eight years in the regiment and led a battalion of the regiment in the land battle, the Battle of Enzheim in 1674. The regiment was disbanded in 1689 shortly after James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution. The Buffs replaced them as third in precedence in the British Army."

There is also a specific reference to the clothing warrant for the unit for the Duke of Monmouth's Flanders campaign of 1678 under the "Uniforms" heading of the US living history group, to whit:

"The warrant of 1 February 1678 for the Duke of Monmouth's Flanders Expedition is the basis for our uniforms. It describes the clothing of a typical soldier in the army of Charles II."

My question is this: I can find no sources for the flag (or colours) of the Admiral's Maritime Reg except on the living history site of the Essex Militia, which is not diplayed clearly, but bears a striking resemblance to a flag that Barry Hilton has used to depict Trelawney's Foot in the Gallery on his LoA site.

I have already e-mailed Barry and the contact for the Essex Militia site requesting their sources for the flags depicted. I suspect that someone has employed a bit of artistic license in their depiction, because I can find other sources for Trelawney's Foot with an entirely different set of colours, there is no tangible connection between Trelawney's and the Maritime Regiment, and I did find one written source for the Lord High Admiral's (James') Regiment which stated that the colours, like the coats, were in the Stuart gold or yellow in James' honor. However, before I undertake to paint the Admiral's Maritime Reg, I would like as accurate a "package" of source material as possible, hence my post and questions.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Bill,

Found this quote in HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE ROYAL MARINE FORCES.
VOL. I. London 1845

" This regiment, which consisted of twelve companies, without grenadiers, had yellow coats lined with red; and their colours bore the Red Cross of St. George, with the rays of the sun issuing from each of its angles."

It would seem that Barry has it right for the Duke of York and Albany's regt.

Dan

Sir William the Aged said...

Thanks for the confirmation Dan. Actually, it's the Essex Militia that got it right, Barry is using this standard for a red-coated unit that he's calling Trelawney's Regiment.

I also found a source on one of the Royal Marine web sites that stated that the "Lord High Admiral's Regiment would have been entitled to carry the Lord High Admiral's colours or standard as James was the Regiment's Colonel". And I found this flag on the WarFlag site for the late 17th century, which is a madder red field with a yellow-gold "fouled anchor". I haven't found any sources that state categorically that they actually did carry it into battle, but I at least feel comfortable painting the regiment now with the flag you described (and which the Essex Militia carries when in their persona as the Maritime Regiment), and using the Lord High Admiral's flag for the Colonel's colours.

Bill