Season's Greetings to All - and the appropriately coloured Colours of the English Queen's Own Regiment of Marines Later 4th Foot 1702-1703

My last posting before the holiday is the colours of the English Queen's Own Regiment of Marines, later 4th Foot, 1702-1703, from a verbal description in the Wardrobe Accounts. They are remarkably similar flags to those of the Foot Guards, although the Colonel's colour is white rather than crimson; possibly a useful ploy to make the enemy confused about what quality of troops they are facing! For a detailed account of the regiment see Kronoskaf here: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=Queen_Consort%27s_Foot

The regiment mostly served in Spain and Portugal in the War of the Spanish Succession.

The company colour motifs depicted here are a pomegranate, a wheatsheaf and a wild boar. The pomegranate was an old badge of Catherine of Aragon; the wild boar that of Richard III. The motto Semper Eadem was used by Elizabeth I. (All noted by Lawson in A History of the Uniforms of the British Army, Vol 1(1).)

 

For the Attention of Jim Purky of https://altefritz.blogspot.com/ and the Fife and Drum Forum:

For the Attention of Jim Purky of https://altefritz.blogspot.com/ and the Fife and Drum Forum:

The Sharpe South Essex flags you commissioned are now complete and have been for some months.

Messages do not seem to be reaching you through our usual channels of communication, which I have tried multiple times - email, your blog or the Fife and Drum Forum.

I am therefore posting this public message in the hope that you see it or a third party brings it to your attention and we can complete the transaction i.e. I can let you have the final flag sheet by email and you can pay me via Paypal. 

 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thank You.

David Morfitt. 

Flags carried by French Swiss Infantry Regiment Stuppa possibly 1672-1701 and Brendlé 1701-1738

First raised 17th February 1672 by Pierre Stuppa. A Swiss regiment, one of four permanent Swiss regiments in the French army after the Swiss Guards; Stuppa was a captain in the Swiss Guards and given the task by the king, Louis XIV, of raising the units. Originally 12 companies each of 200 men. Regiment Stuppa was raised in the cantons of Solothurn, Aargau, Fribourg and Grisons/Graubünden. Became Brendlé in 1701, Séedorf in 1738, Boccard in 1752 and Salis-Samade in 1782.

These flags were carried at least 1701-1738 but probably earlier too.

Service to the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (mostly from Susane):  

1672 Army of the Netherlands: Siege of Doesbourg; combat of Woerden; taking of Utrecht (where it was left as garrison to 7th November 1673).
1674 Expedition of the Duc de Luxembourg to Holland; destruction of Bodegrave and Swammerdam.
1674 Battle of Seneffe; Captain Burckart and other officers were killed in the attack on the village of Fay.
1675 Capture of Liège; helped cover the sieges of Dinant, Huy and Limburg.
1676 Sieges of Landrecies and Condé; helped cover the sieges of Bouchain, St Ghislain and Aire.
1677 Now called Stuppa Vieux to distinguish it from another Swiss regiment of the same name raised 1677, the regiment served at the siege of Cambrai and its citadel. Part of the Corps of the Duc d'Orléans before St Omer; fought bravely at Cassel where six officers were wounded. Capture of St Omer and St Ghislain.
1678 Sieges of Gand and Ypres; 11th August in the combat at St Denis where seven officers were wounded.
1684 Siege of Luxembourg.
1689 1st battalion at the battle of Walcourt.
1690 The whole regiment was at the battle of Fleurus where four officers were wounded.
1691 March - Siege of Mons.
1692   Siege of Namur; after the capture of the town and during the attack on the citadel, especially Fort Guillaume, there was a sortie on the night of 17th-18th June. In repelling the sortie Lieutenant-Colonel Frey of the regiment was killed, as was Major Sprecher during the final assault, which was carried with such fury that the king gave a louis d'or to each grenadier.
1692 Battle of Steenkerque; Stuppa was in the second line behind Regiment Bourbonnais. During the battle the regiment fought the Danish Guards, sustaining a tremendous firefight for an hour without either side giving way. Eventually, supported by the Swiss Guards, Stuppa pushed the Danes back and defeated them. Of the four battalions of Stuppa, only three captains survived unwounded from this furious attack. Lieutenant-Colonel Russinger, Major Courten, captains Zurlauben, Burckart, Socin, La Hire Sülzer, Tellung and two lieutenants were killed. Colonel Stuppa and nineteen other officers were wounded; 613 sergeants and soldiers were wounded, 242 mortally. After this the remnants of the regiment went into garrison at Lille, from where during the feast of Christmas they sortied to take Furnes.
1693  Conquest of Hui; battle of Neerwinden brigaded with Regiment Surbeck where it performed prodigies and suffered heavy casualties including Captain Petitot; siege of Charleroi where the 4th battalion stayed after its conquest.
1695 Defence of the fort and canal of La Knocque where ensign Sock was killed; July siege of Dixmude; August bombardment of Brussels.

1696 Flanders; then coast of Picardy. While passing through Arras, the regiment was the victim of a terrible accident. The 3rd and 4th battalions had been lodged in the Hôtel de Ville. The floor of the 2nd floor gave way under the weight of the 4th battalion, which collapsed onto the 3rd battalion. There were 150 men killed or wounded.
1697 Flanders; capture of Ath. At the peace sent as garrison to Lille.
1698 Camp of Compiègne; to Douai where reduced to three battalions.

1701 Became Brendlé
1702 Cannonade of Peer and siege of Trarbach; in garrison at Bruges
1703-1704 Pikes were given up. Pikemen, who had previously worn Swiss national costume, were armed with muskets and dressed in the same red uniform as the other soldiers in the regiment.
1705 Siege of Huy
1706 Relief of Fort-Louis on the Rhine; back to Flanders where the 1st and 3rd battalions were sent to Mons and the 2nd to Ath. 200 men were sent from Mons to guard Termonde. These 200 plus the battalion at Ath were soon captured by the Allies but a large number escaped and the 2nd battalion was reorganised at Landrecies. Captain Iseling and lieutenant Husy were killed in the defence of Ath.
1707 The regiment was sent to Toulon which was besieged by the Imperialists. The siege was lifted and the enemy recrossed the Var.
1708 Return to Flanders; battle of Oudenarde, where it was little engaged.
1709 Fought valiantly at the battle of Malplaquet where it supported the efforts of the Piémont brigade and also the retreat of the Maison du Roi. During the retreat Brendlé formed the extreme rear guard of the whole army.Captain Geschwind was killed.
1710 Heavily involved in the defence of Douai to its surrender.
1711 The regiment was distinguished in the storming of the fort of Arleux then garrisoned Valenciennes, threatened by the enemy.
1712 Contributed to the success of the enterprise of Denain, and took part in the sieges of Marchiennes, Douai and Du Quesnoy
1713 Siege of Landau; on 2nd July helped Regiment Navarre to repel a sortie which put the siege in peril. Captain Wickhart and lieutenants Horner and Ze-Rhym were killed. During the siege of Freiburg the regiment was on the left bank of the Rhine in the Lines of the Lauter and at the peace put into garrison at Metz.

The uniform, according to Hall, seems to have fluctuated between red with blue facings and blue with red facings throughout the period discussed here!

And here are the flags in action with Simon Miller's troops (picture by Simon Miller):

Colours carried by the English 1st Foot Guards 1703 - from verbal description in the Wardrobe Accounts

Lawson's A History of the Uniforms of the British Army From The Beginnings To 1760 Volume 1 lists the entries in the Wardrobe Accounts which mostly involve the Guards regiments. This is my depiction of three of the colours of the 1st Foot Guards 1703.

They fought in many of the major actions of the War of the Spanish Succession; the Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet as well as in Spain, including the battle of Almansa. A detailed account of the regiment can be found on Kronoskaf here: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=1st_Foot_Guards so with limited time and energy at the moment I feel there is not a lot of point my spending time writing my own and delaying posting the flag sheet! The basis of Kronoskaf's account is Hamilton, F. W.: The origin and history of the First or Grenadier Guards, London: John Murray, 1874 which can be found on archive.org: https://archive.org/search?query=The+origin+and+history+of+the+First+or+Grenadier+Guards.

Flags Carried by Celle Infantry Regiment La Motte possibly 1683-1702

First raised 1665. Commanding officers: From 1683 Oberst Charles de la Motte-Chevallerie (died 1702 as General-Major); 1702-1727 Oberst David de Gauvain, a Huguenot

This unit was from the Principality of Brunswick-Celle which was absorbed by Hanover in 1705. From 1702 this regiment was a subsidy regiment which served with the allies against the French through much of the War of the Spanish Succession.

When fighting against the French in 1674 the regiment wore green coats with red facings and the French called them les perroquets, the parrots. Colonel Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, was at that time commanding a French regiment under Turenne and the regiment stopped his attack at the centre of the allied army. When the Celle troops joined the allies against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession he is supposed to have asked where the brave perroquets were. Uniform colours went from green to white (with various facings) in the late 1680s and into the 1690s, and by 1704 were red with black facings. For full details of all the uniform changes, see Hall's book (title below).

The flags depicted are based on one captured in 1693 and depicted in the Triomphes Louis XIV. Flags of this pattern were possibly carried up to 1702 but a different design was probably carried from 1704 under Gauvain. I shall probably eventually depict the flag carried by the unit under Gauvain, as depicted in Hall's book on the Uniforms and Flags of the Armies of Hanover, Celle and Brunswick 1670-1715. (The book is currently on special offer on the Pike and Shot webpage here: https://pikeandshotsociety.org.uk/store-2/?model_number=Uniforms-and-Flags-of-the-Armies-of-Hanover-Celle-and-Brunswick-1670-1715 It is still not cheap, even so, but is well worth the price for all the well-researched detail it provides.)

Service from 1674 (selected from the detailed list of camps and actions in Hall): 

1674 Battle of Enzheim; 90 killed (KIA) and 90 wounded in action (WIA)
1675 Battle of Türkheim; siege of Trier
1676 Pomerania: Sieges of Bremen, Stade, Anklam and Demmin
1677 Pomerania: Siege of Stettin
1678 Pomerania: Siege of Stralsund
1685 Hungary: Battle of Grana; siege of Neuhäusel
1689 Flanders: Battle of Walcourt; Rhine: siege of Mainz followed by the taking of the city with 61 KIA and 100 WIA; siege of Bonn
1693 Flanders: Battle of Landen: Hungary: siege of Belgrade with 8 KIA and 32 WIA
1695 Flanders: Siege of Namur
1702 Rhine: Cannonade of Sessenberg; siege of Stephanswerth; disarming of Brunswick
1702 Flanders: Siege of Liege with 6 KIA and 12 WIA
1704 Bavaria: Battle of Schellenberg with 3 KIA, 3 WIA and 7 missing
1704 Bavaria: Battle of Blenheim with 34 KIA and 65 WIA
1706 Flanders: Siege of Menin
1708 Flanders: Battle of Oudenarde with 1 KIA and 10 WIA
1708 Flanders: Combat of Wijnendale with 4 KIA and 30 WIA
1709 Flanders: Siege of Tournai 
1709 Flanders: Battle of Maplaquet with 43 KIA and 218 WIA
1710 Flanders: Siege of  Douai with 48 KIA and 126 WIA
1711 Flanders: Siege of Bouchain

And these may have been the uniforms from 1692-1704, although the blue facings are debatable (after Hall):

 

 

Flags Carried By French Infantry Regiment Villequier; Le Tellier; La Motte 1706-1713

Raised 3rd February 1706 by d'Aumont de Villequier

Given 1709 to N. Le Tellier

Given 1712 to N. De La Motte

The heraldic merlettes (birds without beaks or claws) on the Villequier flag are taken from the Aumont coat of arms.

 

Service:

Garrisons in Flanders

Hall mentions service at the sieges of 1708 Lille and 1709 Tournai but the detailed Kronoskaf accounts of those sieges with their orders of battle make no mention of this regiment.

Disbanded 31st December 1713

Grey/white coat, blue cuffs, waistcoat, breeches and stockings as here in 1706:

 

Flags Carried By French Infantry Regiments Lesparre then Lassay; De la Mothe d'Hugues 1695-1714

As part of the "French Infantry Regiments nobbled or knocked about at Blenheim 1704" theme here are the flags of French Infantry Regiments Lesparre 1695-8 then raised as Lassay 1702; De la Mothe d'Hugues 1710-1714.

1695 Lesparre, L de Madaillan de (later Marquis de Lassay)
1698 Disbanded
1702 Raised as Lesparre, L de Madaillan de, Marquis de Lassay
1710 Marquis de la Mothe d'Hugues
1714 Disbanded

One battalion strong.

The account in Hall suggests that the flags as shown were carried by both regiments but I have seen no definitive evidence of that.

Service:

1695-1698 Catalonia
1703 Army of the Rhine; sieges of Breisach and Landau; battle of Speyerbach
1704 Battle of Blenheim [where it was badly knocked about, with 39 officers and NCOs captured plus 200 other ranks. It was one of the unfortunate 9 battalions overrun by the central allied attack which clinched the battle. See Stanford Marlborough Goes To War, Pike and Shot Society, now available at a reduced price: https://pikeandshotsociety.org.uk/store/ ]
1705 Army of the Moselle
1706 Capture of Fort Louis, Drusenheim, Lauterburg and the Isle de Marquisat
1707-1710 Lines of the Lauter
1710 Army of Flanders
1712 Battle of Denain; capture of Douai, Le Quesnoy and Bouchain

1714 Disbanded 30th October

The uniform is unknown.

Flags carried by French Infantry Regiments Silly 1702-1705 then Maillé de la Tour Landry 1705-1714

Raised 7th May 1702 by M. de Silly
1705 Given to Charles André, M. de Maillé de la Tour Landry
1714 Disbanded

Hall and Boeri cast doubt on the identification by Susane of the regiment as Silly and suggest it may have been Maillé de la Tour Landry from 1702... So, sadly, all that joking may have to be dropped!

The red bars nebulé are found on the heraldry of Maillé de la Tour Landry but also in the form of a single bar on those of the Silly family so the flags may possibly date from 1702 and not only from 1705.

Service:

1702 Garrisons in Flanders
1703 Rhine
1704 Battle of Blenheim [where it was posted on the left flank, far away from the fiasco that was the occupation and defence of the village of Blenheim! It was one battalion strong and in the 2nd line, brigaded with French infantry regiments Bourbon and Enneville under the Chevalier de Montmorency]
1705 November The journal of the Marquis de Dangeau (which can be found on Google books and archive.org) for November 1705 mentions the surrender of the French garrison at "Santvliet" which included the regiment de Maillé, "a new and very weak regiment" ("un régiment nouveau très-foible" which last word I interpret as faible; either a mistranscription or a variant of the word from the pre-standardised 18th century! The description may in part be an attempt to excuse the capitulation of the place). Does this perhaps suggest the regiment was badly knocked about at Blenheim and "reformed" under new management i.e. M. de Maillé de la Tour Landry?
1705-1714 Garrisons in Flanders

Anna Beek in her sheet showing flags captured from the French in the WSS depicts the ordonnance flag, under the erroneous name of Regiment O'Brien. It was, according to Fouré (Trophées de la Guerre de Succession d'Espagne), captured at the siege of Bouchain in 1712.

And this was the uniform in 1705:

Standards of the English Life Guards and Horse Grenadiers Under Queen Anne 1702

Building on, and in a way completing, my recent posts on the English/British Guards cavalry are these standards of the Life Guards and Horse Grenadiers of 1702, early in the reign of Queen Anne and using her cipher. As before I refer the reader to the complex accounts of these units on Kronoskaf's War of the Spanish Succession pages. These units unfortunately did not actually serve in the War of the Spanish Succession but their standards may be of use given the paucity of flags for this period. I have recreated these standards from verbal descriptions in the Great Wardrobe Accounts. They add a little variety with a green variant!

 

Standards of the British Horse Guards (Life Guards) under William and Mary 1689-1694

Comparing these with the 1713 standards I posted previously, it can be seen that the basic colours remained the same (apart from the fringes, which were gold and silver in 1689) although the motifs changed quite significantly, with the earlier standards showing the royal cipher and the 1713 standards showing the traditional national heraldic emblems for England and Scotland (the rose and the thistle). The Great Wardrobe Accounts suggest changes of standards in the 1690s, for example after the death of Queen Mary in 1694, when new standards were issued with the cipher of William III alone in 1696.

Most of the troops served at the Boyne in 1690 and then in the 1690s at the battles of the Leuze, Steenkerque and Landen in Flanders. More detail of the changes involved, and complicated disbandings and amalgamations, can be found on Kronoskaf here: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=1st_Troop_of_Life_Guards 

 

Standards of the British Horse (or Horse Grenadier) Guards 1713

These standards are too attractive not to be posted, although the units did not serve in the War of the Spanish Succession and the design is really too late for use in the earlier periods. They are recreated from verbal descriptions in the Great Wardrobe Accounts. However, given the paucity of well-documented British cavalry standards for this period, they may still be of use for those not too obsessed with absolute accuracy and are anxious to give every unit a standard...

The Kronoskaf WSS site has the histories of these units under Household Cavalry at: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=British_Army#Household_Cavalry

My version of the Colours of the Huguenot Cambon, Red And White Regiments 1690s, after the Jan Wyck Painting of the Battle of the Boyne 1690

I recently posted McNally's interpetation from his book on the Campaign of Aughrim 1691 of the Huguenot infantry colours as depicted in the Jan Wyck painting of the Battle of the Boyne 1690, which was painted in the 1690s. Having examined the detail of the painting which McNally claims shows the Huguenot regiment Cambon I find I disagree with McNally's interpretation and so I have produced my own version of the flags of Cambon's and the Red and White Huguenot Regiments, which are simpler than his.

For the previous posts see:  https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2025/10/colours-of-huguenot-red-and-white.html and https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2025/10/colours-of-colonel-du-cambons-huguenot.html

 

Flags Carried By French Infantry Regiment Robecque Walloon; St Vallier 1688-1714

This was another French infantry regiment captured at Blenheim and is no.128 in my list of French infantry flag sets...

First raised 24th October 1688 by Philippe-Marie de Montmorency, Prince de Robecque 

Hall says: "The red/isabelle colours match the arms of Montmorency."

Service:
1688 Army of the Alps
1690 Battle of Staffarde
1691 Conquest of Nice

1691 13th December given to Charles de Montmorency, Prince de Robecque, brother of the previous colonel

1693 Battle of La Marsaglia
1696-1697 Army of the Rhine
1701 Army of Germany
1702 Battle of Friedlingen
1703 Siege of Breisach; then put into garrison there
1704 Army of Bavaria; taken prisoner at the battle of Blenheim

1704 26th October given to the Comte de Saint-Vallier [who was captured at Blenheim]

1705 Prisoners exchanged
1706 Army of Flanders; battle of Ramillies
1708 Defence of Lille; battle of Oudenarde
1709 Defence of Tournai; taken prisoner there and exchanged the same year
1710-1714 In garrisons in Flanders

1714 7th April Given to Henri-Bernard de la Croix, Chevalier de Saint-Vallier, brother of the previous colonel

1714 15th November "reformed" (Susane) - disbanded (Hall)!

There is also some confusion with another possible flag design carried by the regiment when commended by the Comte de Saint-Vallier.

And the uniform 1700-1704 was like this:

 

Two More Troop Standards of the English Royal Regiment of Horse 1685

For further information see the previous post here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2025/01/troop-standard-of-english-royal.html So that is now five troop standards of this regiment 1685 that I have posted.

 

Flags Carried By French Infantry Regiment Aunis 1684-1749

I created these over three years ago but have only just done the write up; there is a link with some recent French flags as this was one of the infantry regiments captured at Blenheim in 1704. There are now 127 French infantry flag sets (actually more as some include variants!) on the blog.

First raised 1684 and given to Armand-Scipion-Sidoine-Apollinaire-Gaspard, Vicomte de Polignac. One battalion strong.

Service (from Susane):

1692 Army of Flanders; siege of Namur; battle of Steenkirken
1693 Served on the coasts
1694 Army of Italy
1695 Army of Catalonia
1696 Army of Italy; siege of Valenza
1697 Army of the Meuse
1702 Army of the Rhine; battle of Friedlingen where the colonel was wounded
1703 Siege of Breisach; siege of Landau; battle of Speyerbach

1704 Given to Charles Hugues, Comte de Lyonne

1704 Army of Bavaria; battle of Hochstedt [Blenheim]; one of seven regiments taken prisoner in the village of Blenheim [Iain Stanford's Marlborough Goes To War tells us the regiment was 2 battalions strong at Blenheim]
1706 Exchanged
1706-1710 Served on the Rhine

1710 Given to Henri-Antoine-Thomas, Chevalier de Brancas-Courbon

1711 Army of Flanders; combat of Arleux
1712 Battle of Denain; capture of Douai, Du Quesnoy and Bouchain

Given 1734 to the Comte de Chatellux

1739-1740 Campaigning in Corsica

1742 Army of Flanders

1743 Given to César-François de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chatellux

1745 Army of the Lower Rhine

1745 Given to François-Emery de Durfort, Comte de Civrac

1746 Army of Flanders; siege of Mons; siege of Charleroi; siege of Namur; battle of Rocoux; to Provence for the relief of Antibes
1747 Battle of the Assiette; the colonel was badly wounded there

1747 Given to Michel-Armand, Marquis de Broc

1747-1748 Served in the Alps to the peace

1749; grenadiers to the Grenadiers de France and the rest incorporated in the Regiment of Languedoc

And this was the uniform in the 1740s:

 

Colours of the Huguenot Red And White Regiments 1690s, after the McNally Aughrim Book

As I quoted in my earlier post on the blue colours of Colonel Cambon's Huguenot Infantry Regiment (here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2025/10/colours-of-colonel-du-cambons-huguenot.html ), "Interestingly, McNally refers to the three Huguenot infantry regiments as the Red, White and Blue regiments of foot (frustratingly with no mention of source for that statement). On the basis that, in the English Civil War, units so called had flags of the corresponding colours, and that it rarely referred to uniform colours, does that mean that it is possible that the three Huguenot infantry regiments had red, white and blue flags? If Cambon's flags were blue, which of La Melonière's and Belcastel's had white or red?"

So here are my versions of the colours of the Red and White Huguenot Regiments, which you can allocate to the regiments of Melonière and Belcastel as you see fit, in the absence of any definitive evidence about which carried which! (If anyone does know, please tell me!)

In the White Regiment colours we do have the heraldic solecism of a metal on a metal, with the gold fleurs de lys on white, but this is common on French flags of the 17th and 18th centuries so I see no special problem with that. Flagmakers often took liberties with the old rules of heraldry.

I interpret the flags on the Jan Wyck painting rather differently from McNally and will post my versions soon.

Colours of the English 2nd or Coldstream Guards 1684

To keep things ticking over here is a relatively simple set of flags, the colours of the 2nd or Coldstream Guards in 1684 (but which may also have been carried through the 1670s):

 

Kronoskaf's WSS site has a detailed account of the regiment here: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=2nd_Foot_Guards saving me the effort! The colours changed often over the next twenty years so these are suitable only for a short period...

My Latest Dutch Aylva Colonel's Flag (with my other Aylva flags) with Simon Miller's Regiment WIP

Looking good!

  

Picture from Simon Miller

Colours of Colonel Du Cambon's Huguenot Regiment of Foot 1690 as reconstructed by Michael McNally

I recently acquired Michael McNally's Helion volume St Ruth's Fatal Gamble on the 1691 Aughrim campaign and the end of the war in Ireland. It has a depiction of the colours of Cambon's Huguenot infantry regiment as carried at the Boyne in 1690. The book says (p.282) "the reconstruction has been based on the relevant section of Jan Wyck's painting of the Battle of the Boyne, in which the crossing of the third battalion of the Huguenot Brigade can be clearly made out, together with the unit's white colonel's colour and a blue company colour which has golden decoration in the canton on the upper hoist side". I have examined a reasonably high resolution digital version of the Battle of the Boyne painting and cannot find the regiment as described! But apparently there are many versions of that painting and perhaps I have not found the one that shows the Huguenot regiment as McNally describes it...

Here is my version of the flag set as reconstructed in the McNally book:

  

Interestingly, McNally refers to the three Huguenot infantry regiments as the Red, White and Blue regiments of foot (frustratingly with no mention of source for that statement). On the basis that, in the English Civil War, units so called had flags of the corresponding colours, and that it rarely referred to uniform colours, does that mean that it is possible that the three Huguenot infantry regiments had red, white and blue flags? If Cambon's flags were blue, which of La Melonière's and Belcastel's had white or red?

Update: I have found an image of the Boyne painting that may show what McNally interprets as the Cambon regiment with the flags shown; here is a zoomed in snapshot. I can just about see the blue canton with golden decoration on the upper hoist side, I think!

 

 

Colonel's flag of Dutch Infantry Regiment Aylva (Probably 1690s) According to Robert Hall

Although he does not show an illustration of it and quotes no source, Robert Hall describes this Colonel's flag for Dutch Infantry Regiment Aylva. My other post on the regiment can be found here, for service details etc.: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2024/10/flags-and-uniform-dutch-infantry.html

 

Flags of Spanish Swiss Infantry Regiment Jung Reding or Nuevo de Reding 1743-1768

These are the flags of Spanish Swiss Regiment Jung Reding or Nuevo Reding or Joseph Reding or José Reding, all variant names for the same regiment according to source.

First raised 1743. For much of its life 2 battalions, each of 4 companies, each of 150 men.

These flags were probably carried from 1743 at least until the new regulations of 1768.

These were a recent commission for Lewis Simpson-Jones who was happy to see them offered on the blog.

Uniform dark blue with red facings (lapels and cuffs) and turnbacks, dark blue breeches and white gaiters.

Speculative Standards and a Guidon for Huguenot Cavalry and Dragoon Regiments in Ireland 1689-1698

To complete the set of speculative flags for Huguenot regiments raised by William III, I have now created two very speculative versions of a cavalry standard for the Duke of Schomberg's Regiment of Horse of 9 troops, raised July 1689 and disbanded 1697-8, and a guidon for the Marquis de Miremont's Regiment of Dragoons of 6 troops, raised 1st October 1695 (although there is some uncertainty about the actual date, which may have been earlier) and disbanded 1697-8. (I can find no evidence of the dragoon regiment seeing action or service in Ireland.)

I have done two versions of the standard of Schomberg's cavalry regiment; one is more elaborate with a Huguenot motto (which means After Darkness [Comes The] Light) and the escarbuncles in the corner from Schomberg's coat of arms.

The English coat of arms on Schomberg's standards is taken from the infantry flags of a British Protestant (and probably Huguenot) regiment serving with the army of Savoy and which were captured by the French and illustrated in the Triomphes Louis XIV. I have created the two Savoy flags and posted them on the blog here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2024/03/flags-of-savoy-1693-1704-battalion-flag.html and here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2024/03/flags-of-savoy-1693-1704-colonels-flag.html

Schjomberg's was 395 strong in June 1690, according to Sapherson. At the Boyne 1st July 1690 they were only 240 strong. After the death of Schomberg at the Boyne the regiment's colonel was Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, and then later it was the Earl of Galway. At Aughrim the regiment apparently had 60 killed and 13 wounded, an odd proportion and the opposite of what might be expected.

Sapherson says that Schomberg's wore a light grey uniform with red lace or trim, buff breeches and white hat lace, from what source I know not.

Three Speculative Flag Sets For Huguenot Infantry Regiments In British Service - WSS Variants

Now here's the tale (and a tall tale it is too! ;-)). When the three Huguenot infantry regiments were disbanded in 1697-8, their flags, which had miraculously survived intact, were laid up in store. When new Huguenot regiments were raised in 1706 a bureaucrat (name now unknown) remembered those flags and thought it would be very economical to issue them to some of the newly raised regiments. In the event, only three Huguenot regiments were actually sent abroad and Paul de Blosset's Foot was absorbed into the first, Frederick de Sibourg's Foot, in 1708. 

In reality, we do not know what flags were carried by these regiments. I was asked to adapt my speculative 1690s William III Huguenot flags by substituting the cipher of Queen Anne for that of William III so they can be used for the WSS regiments.

So, you have the choice of my three sets of speculative flags to use, for Sibourg's Regiment or Paul de Blosset's Foot or Count Nassau's Foot. Kronoskaf WSS discusses all the regiments here: https://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=British_Army#Regiments_of_Foot including the three which were never properly raised in 1706.

 

Three Speculative Flag Sets For Huguenot Infantry Regiments In British Service 1689-1698 - Updated!

Five regiments of Huguenots were raised from 1689:

One of cavalry, the Duke of Schomberg's Regiment of Horse of 9 troops raised July 1689 and disbanded 1697-8

One of dragoons, the Marquis de Miremont's Regiment of Dragoons 6 troops raised 1st October 1695 and disbanded 1697-8

Three regiments of infantry:

Colonel de la Melonière's Regiment of French Foot raised 4th April 1689 and disbanded 1697-8
Colonel du Cambon's  Regiment of French Foot raised 4th April 1689 and disbanded 1697-8
The Marquis de Caillemotte's  Regiment of French Foot raised 4th April 1689 and disbanded 1697-8

The infantry probably wore grey coats, according to Sapherson. They carried no pikes and apparently suffered badly at The Boyne as a result.

I've now added a third set of flags as with three actual Huguenot infantry regiments we can't have only two speculative flag sets! The third one has a pattern of five emblems in each quarter as is depicted on the flags from the 1680s of the Queen's Majesty's and Clifton's Regiments of Foot.

 

And now I feel I shall have to produce a dragoon guidon and cavalry standard for the Huguenots too! 

The upper flag in each set is the company colour and the lower flag a Colonel's colour. 

 

As I explained in my previous blog post "in Robert Hall's book on Dutch flags and uniforms 1685-1715 he cites a statement from August Kühn (based on an unknown source) that "Huguenot regiments had black flags with white crosses and the emblems of the country which supported the regiment"" and so these are my ideas based on that somewhat vague description. The elaborate Maltese cross has long been a Huguenot emblem, although it was not, it seems, until the 19th century that it was widely used and accepted by Huguenots. However, even if somewhat anachronistic for the late 17th century, I feel it is too distinctive, attractive and decorative not to be used - so I have!

There is an old article from 1911 printed in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London which can be found on Archive.org here; https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofhug913hugu/page/n9/mode/2up I ploughed through it all and there is not one mention of the detail of uniform or flags. However, it does give some information on the service of the units, and names officers and lists casualties etc.. The article begins at page 476.

Possible designs for speculative flags for British Huguenot Infantry Regiments Raised By William III 1689-1699

In Robert Hall's book on Dutch flags and uniforms 1685-1715 he cites a statement from August Kühn (based on an unknown source) that "Huguenot regiments had black flags with white crosses and the emblems of the country which supported the regiment" and following that statement I have put together a couple of possible designs for British Huguenot regimental flags. They are probably ludicrously elaborate compared with the operational reality of the army in the 1690s but, if we are going to give our troops flags, then they should at least be impressive!