Adult British Redcoat Fancy Dress Costume Mens, Revolutionary War Halloween Outfit, Historical Colonial Jacket for Theater

Product Information

Each regiment and corps of the British Army has an allotted facing colour according to Part 14 Section 2 Annex F of the British Army dress regulations. Where full dress is currently not used, the notional colours can be ascertained by the colours of the mess dress; if the regiment in question has not been amalgamated with another. The Intelligence Corps, SAS and SRR have never had a design of full dress, and the SAS nor SRR had a design for mess dress. The Intelligence Corps mess dress colour of cypress green is "traditionally unacceptable", [9] and the full dress facing colours of the SAS and SRR can be inferred from their beret colours according to this section of the regulations. The London Regiment and existing Yeomanry regiments have a variety of colours for their various sub-units. As the uniforms of Rifles regiments traditionally aped those of the hussars, a somewhat similar lambskin busby is worn by The Rifles and the Royal Gurkha Rifles, with coloured plumes to distinguish them. However, these busbies do not feature bags like in their hussar counterparts. Esposito, Gabriel (24 March 2015). Armies of the War of the Triple Alliance 1864-70. p.44. ISBN 978-1-4728-0725-0. There had been instances of red military clothing pre-dating its general adoption by the New Model Army. The uniforms of the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders, both formed in 1485, have traditionally been in Tudor red and gold. [6] The Gentlemen Pensioners of King James I wore red uniforms with yellow feathers in their hats. [7] At the Battle of Edgehill, the first battle of the English Civil War, Royalist troops wore red coats, as did at least two Parliamentary regiments. [8] However, none of these examples constituted the national uniform that the red coat was later to become. [9] 16th century [ edit ] Red coats worn by Williamite forces during the Williamite War in Ireland. Irish commentators referred to soldiers of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland as "red coats" as early as 1561.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Mirouze, Laurent (2007). The French Army in the First World War – to Battle 1914. pp.49–50. ISBN 978-3-902526-09-0.

Get great features with your free account

The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, Vol. 4: To JOSEPH REED Cambridge, January 4, 1776. "..the red coats I mean..." Dark blue: all other Army units (except Scottish line infantry regiments and the Royal Irish Regiment) Material Regulations for the Army, Volume 3, Pamphlet 16, Optional Items of Dress (Note that Mat Regs have now been replaced by Army Dress Regulations so this reference is no longer current) Walton, Clifford Elliot (1894). History of the British Standing Army. A.D. 1660 to 1700. Harrison and Sons. p. 362. ISBN 9785879426748.

The red coat evolved from being the British infantryman's normally worn uniform to a garment retained only for ceremonial purposes. Its official adoption dates from February 1645, when the Parliament of England passed the New Model Army ordinance. The new English Army was formed of 22,000 men, paper strength, comprising eleven regiments of cavalry each of 600 men for a total of 6,600, twelve regiments of infantry each of 1,200 men for a total of 14,400, and one regiment of 1,000 dragoons and the artillery, consisting of 900 men. The infantry regiments wore coats of Venetian red with white, blue or yellow facings. A contemporary comment on the New Model Army dated 7 May 1645 stated: "the men are Redcoats all, the whole army only are distinguished by the several facings of their coats." [9] [18] Prior to 1707, colonels of regiments made their own arrangements for the manufacture of uniforms under their command. This ended when a royal warrant of 16 January 1707 established a Board of General Officers to regulate the clothing of the army. Uniforms supplied were to conform to the "sealed pattern" agreed by the board. [25] The style of the coat tended to follow those worn by other European armies. From an early stage red coats were lined with contrasting colours and turned out to provide distinctive regimental facings (lapels, cuffs and collars). [26] Examples were blue for the 8th Regiment of Foot, green for the 5th Regiment of Foot, yellow for the 44th Regiment of Foot and buff for the 3rd Regiment of Foot. General issue of full dress uniforms ceased at the start of the First World War. The Household Division resumed wearing their scarlet and blue full dress in 1920, but for the remainder of the Army it was only worn by regimental bands, or else on certain limited social or ceremonial occasions (an example of the latter was the 1937 Coronation when mounted detachments from participating cavalry regiments were issued with full dress uniforms for the occasion). [37] The reason for not generally reintroducing the distinctive full dress between the wars was primarily financial, as the scarlet cloth required expensive red cochineal dye. [38] There were also stipulations as to the way the men wore their hair. At a time when most of the troops would have had long hair, the regulation was to wear it queued. It was to be "tied a little below the upper part of the collar of the coat, and to be ten inches in length" with one inch of hair below the tie. [49] Soldiers were not allowed to cut their hair as it prevented the queued appearance.

Other references

Blue: General officers and Colonels, The Life Guards, 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, The Royal Dragoon Guards, The Queen's Royal Lancers, Foot Guards Regiments, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, the Royal Welsh, Adjutant General's Corps, Honourable Artillery Company (Artillery dress), Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers The National Archives, London, War Office, WO 3/19, p. 329, Infantry and Cavalry to wear their hair Queued That the term "redcoat" was brought to Europe and elsewhere by Irish emigrants is evidenced by Irish nobleman and soldier Philip O'Sullivan Beare, who mentions the 'Battle of the Redcoats' event in his 1621 history of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, written in Latin in Spain. He wrote of it as "that famous victory which is called 'of the red coats' [ illam victoriam quae dicitur 'sagorum rubrorum'] because among others who fell in battle were four hundred soldiers lately brought from England and clad in the red livery of the viceroy." [3] From the mid-17th century to the 19th century, the uniform of most British soldiers (apart from artillery, rifles and light cavalry) included a madder red coat or coatee. From 1873 onwards, the more vivid shade of scarlet was adopted for all ranks, having previously been worn only by officers, sergeants and all ranks of some cavalry regiments. [5] History [ edit ] Earlier instances [ edit ] Carman, W.Y.; Simkin, Richard (1985). Uniforms of the British Army — the Infantry Regiments. Exeter: Webb & Bower. ISBN 978-0-86350-031-2.