Highly Speculative Reconstruction of the flags of Dutch Infantry Regiment 16 Cromwell/Dolman/Cary/Van Marion/Van Meynderswijk

I've been asked to reconstruct plausible flags for various Dutch infantry regiments. Boxel's 1672 Dutch Manual of Arms gives a list of infantry flags, usually with cryptic detail, and says of this unit (then Dolman) "Root en Wit verdeelt" which means "red and white divided". Mugnai in his Helion volume on the Dutch army of 1660-1687 claims this means divided in four. Taking this as a starting point, I looked through Hall's volume on Dutch infantry flags of 1685-1715 to see if any flags of that period were quartered in design and the only flag quartered is that of Haersolte, 1701 Salm, 1701 Ranck, 1715 Rantzouw; it is depicted in the Triomphes Louis XIV in blue and chamois. I have used the detail of that flag for this highly speculative but very attractive recreation of the flags of  Cromwell/Dolman/Cary/Van Marion/Van Meynderswijk (IR16 in the Helion volume). The top flag is a battalion flag and the two flags below on each sheet possible designs of the colonel's flag. The heraldry of the two variants is that of Holland and Gelderland, the two provinces to which the unit was attached. First raised in 1605, it was an English unit until 1665, hence the very English names of the first three colonels. It fought at Maastricht in 1673 and Seneffe in 1674. In the 1660s the regiment was red coated. The regiment was disbanded in 1678. 

Reconstruction of the flags of Dutch Infantry Regiment 9 Pfalz-Birkenfeld/Hüffel (after fragmentary remains depicted in Triomphes Louis XIV)

These flags are my reconstruction of the flags of Dutch IR 9 Pfalz-Birkenfeld/Hüffel after the very fragmentary remains depicted in the Triomphes Louis XIV of a flag captured by the French at Neerwinden in 1693. The fragments appear to be those of the colonel's flag and the corner details strongly suggest the main motif was a saltire, unusual for a non-Scottish unit in Dutch service. Hall in his book on the Dutch suggests the possibility of the Dutch lion at the centre of the flag, as I have shown it here. The upper flag with a red field is a very speculative regimental flag, the flag below the colonel's flag. I was also asked to depict the flags with a motto so also offer these for those who might like them.

Pfalz-Birkenfeld IR No.9 Province of Holland, 1 battalion

Oberst 1673-1704 Johan Karl Pfalzgraf von Birkenfeld; 1704 on, Friedrich Johann Baron von Hüffel

Service:
1702: Siege of the citadel of Lüttich
1703: Siege of Bonn
1706: Battle of Ramillies; siege of Ath
1709: Battle of Malplaquet
1710: Siege of Aire
 

 

And the uniform in the late 17th to early 18th century was something like this:

 

 

French Cavalry Standards at Warburg 1760 - Problems and Solutions

As so often with 18th century French cavalry standards, we do not know the emblems emblazoned on many of the standards carried by the French cavalry at Warburg. The list below shows what we do know and my suggested standards offered on the blog:

Montcalm - completely unknown (solution: use whichever of my generic standards appeals!)
Beauvilliers - Aurore with fringe gold and silver but emblem unknown (see below for my suggested solution)
Bourbon - Done and on the blog; see: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2022/06/experimental-french-cavalry-standards.html

Royal Étranger - Done and on the blog; see: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2022/06/french-cavalry-standard-royal-cavalry.html
Archiac - Red with gold embroidery and fringe but emblem unknown (solution: use one of my generic red standards)
Saint Aldegonde - Done and on the blog; see: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2023/08/warburg-french-flags-project-standard.html

La Reine - Known and still to do
Balincourt - Yellow with gold  embroidery and fringe but emblem unknown (solution: use one of my generic yellow standards)
Crussol - Red with gold embroidery and fringe but emblem unknown  (solution: use one of my generic red standards)

Royal Piémont - Done and on the blog; see: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2022/07/french-cavalry-standard-royal-piemont.html
Descars - Aurore with gold embroidery and fringe but emblem unknown (solution: use one of my generic aurore standards)
Espinchal - Ponceau with black border and gold embroidery and fringe but emblem unknown (see below for my suggested solution)

The generic French cavalry standards can be found on the blog here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2024/05/generic-standards-for-french-cavalry.html and here: https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2024/07/further-generic-standards-for-french.html (for the aurore and ponceau red ones)

As noted above, I still have the standard of the regiment La Reine to do!

And for detailed information on the battle of Warburg and the French regiments there please see: http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1760-07-31_-_Battle_of_Warburg

Guidons of the Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) c.1690-1715

Percy Sumner, in his article (with J. O. Dalrymple) UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT OF THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS PART I—1678 TO 1751 in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol. 15, No. 59 (Autumn, 1936), pp. 151-170, quotes from the letters of Colonel Lord John Hay of January 1705 describing the regimental standards as "embroidered upon blue damask" with blue staves. Sumner then goes on to say that, of course, the standards of dragoons were guidons. He speculates that they probably bore the white saltire of St Andrew before the Union with England in 1707 and that the mention of embroidery suggests a badge placed on them, "most likely the Thistle and Crown, with the motto "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" in the centre". This is my reconstruction of the guidons based on that description.

I am not entirely convinced by the mention of the white saltire so I have done two versions, one with and one without. These can be regarded perhaps as the pre and post 1707 versions, if you so wish, or use the version without the saltire for the whole period!

And a detailed account of the regiment can be found here: http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php/Scots_Dragoons

Four Generic English Queen Anne Cipher Dragoon Guidons for 1702-1714

Written records tell us (e.g. the Great Wardrobe Accounts (" Boughton Papers ") preserved in the Round Tower, Windsor Castle) that English dragoon and cavalry guidons and standards of the period 1689-1715 often carried the monarch's cipher with a crown above on a coloured damask sheet, with various fringes. I therefore offer these four generic dragoon guidons with Queen Anne's cipher for the period 1702-1714, which will be useful for the all too many English dragoon regiments of the WSS for which we do not know their guidons. 

Three Damask Troop Guidons of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons 1685

At the coronation of James II in 1685 the 8 troop guidons of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons (later the 1st Dragoon Guards) were recorded. I have depicted the guidons of the Lieutenant Colonel, with the golden escarbuncle, a badge of Henry II; of the 1st troop captain, two silver ostrich feathers in saltire; and of the 6th troop captain, a phoenix in flames, a badge of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Kronoskaf site has a detailed history of the regiment here: http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=1st_Royal_Dragoons

Three Generic Damask Cavalry Standards With Queen Anne's Cipher For The Period 1702-1714

The three damask cavalry standards with Queen Anne's cipher, useful for the period of her reign 1702-1714:

I shall do further variants with the William III cipher and that of William and Mary...

Three More Generic Plain Damask English Cavalry Standards for the 1690s-1715

Here are three further coloured plain damask cavalry standards that will be useful for the period 1690s to 1715.

1685 Standards of Peterborough and Plymouth's Horse Regiments (which will also be useful as "generic" standards for other regiments)

As we know so little, these plain damask standards will also be useful as generic standards for other British cavalry regiments of the period up to 1715. I shall be doing more standards of this type in other colours plus some with the ciphers of William and Mary and Queen Anne, some of which are recorded authentic standards. (And Peterborrow is a contemporary spelling; no standardisation at that period!)

The Earl of Peterborough's Horse was first raised by James II in 1685 as part of his moves against Monmouth's Rebellion. It remained loyal to James until he ran away. It fought under William III in Ireland in 1689-1690 and was at the battles of the Boyne 1690 and Aughrim 1691 plus various sieges. It fought in the Nine Year's War from 1694 to 1697.

During the War of the Spanish Succession it served entirely in Spain and was at the battle of Almansa in 1707 and the battles of Almenar and Sarragossa in 1710 plus numerous sieges before being captured at Brihuega in 1710. It was exchanged in 1711 and returned to England. It later became the Second or Queen’s Regiment of Dragoon Guards.

The Earl of Plymouth's Horse was also first raised by James II in 1685 as part of his moves against Monmouth's Rebellion but was too late to participate in its suppression. Like Peterborough's Regiment it remained loyal to James until he ran away. It campaigned in Scotland 1689 against a Jacobite rebellion. It also took part in the Nine Year's War where in 1692 took part in the unsuccessful attempt to relieve Namur and in the Battle of Steenkerque; in 1693 in the Battle of Landen; in 1694 in the siege of Huy; and in 1695 the siege of Namur. At the end of 1697, it returned to England.

In the War of the Spanish Succession it served entirely in Flanders, being at the battles of the Schellenberg and Blenheim in 1704, Ramillies in 1706, at Oudenarde in 1708 and Malpaquet in 1709 plus many sieges. Later the Third or Prince of Wales’ Regiment of Dragoon Guards.

For much more detailed accounts of both regiments see the following Kronoskaf WSS pages:

Earl of Peterborough's Horse http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=Harvey%27s_Horse

Earl of Plymouth's Horse http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=Wood%27s_Horse

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

For text see the previous post; here are two further troop standards of the Royal Regiment of Horse, later Royal Horse Guards Blue:

Troop Standard of English Royal Regiment of Horse 1685

First raised 1650 as a Cromwellian regiment of horse. Transferred to royal service on the restoration of Charles II in 1660; became the Earl of Oxford's Regiment in 1661, later called the Oxford Blues in contrast to the red coated Life Guards. In 1685 it was part of James II's army that defeated Monmouth's Rebellion. In 1688 it was part of William III's army and it fought in Ireland at the Boyne after fighting in Flanders at the battle of Walcourt. It did not serve abroad until the War of the Austrian Succession where it fought at Dettingen in 1743 and Fontenoy in 1745, suffering heavy casualties. It was renamed The Royal Horse Guards Blue in 1750. In the Seven Years War it fought at Minden, 1759, Warburg 1760 and Villinghausen 1761.

This was one of the troop standards in 1685:

At least eight other troop standards are known for this regiment in 1685 and I shall be posting some of the others later.

We have a major problem with depicting British cavalry standards between the 1690s and the 1740s in that we know very little about them. That being so, wargamers who wish to field British cavalry units in the War of the Spanish Succession can choose to have no standards (which would be heresy) or use earlier standards. Given the longevity of high quality cavalry standards in many nations at this period, it seems to me that the latter course makes perfect sense. It would probably be best, though, to avoid standards carrying the ciphers of disgraced monarchs like James II in the 1690s and early 1700s!

The uniform in 1685 included a blue coat lined red with gold buttons and buff breeches.

Colours of North and Grey's British Regiment of Foot in the War of the Spanish Succession

First raised 1685 by John Granville, Earl of Bath. In the War of the Spanish Succession the proprietor was from 15th January 1703 until 1715: William, Lord North and Grey

The flags here depicted are shown in a manuscript drawing of 1726 in the Bodleian Library which mostly depicts the flags of Grove's Regiment, the successor to North and Grey's, later the 10th Foot. The MS seems to show the then current flags of Grove's Regiment mixed with those of the previous North and Grey's. The interpretation of the illustration in S M Milne's Standards and Colours of the Army 1661-1881 is that these flags with the sun in splendour on a red field are the flags of North and Grey's Regiment as carried in the War of the Spanish Succession.


Uniform in the War of the Spanish Succession is debatable; the left hand figure is as shown by Kronoskaf WSS and Baccus's guide to WSS uniforms; the right hand figure is based on the description in C S Grant's guides to the Armies and Uniforms of Marlborough's Wars.

Kronoskaf's WSS site has a very long and detailed account of the formation and history of the regiment here: http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=Sir_Beville_Granville%27s_Foot based largely on Cannon's account of the history of the 10th Regiment of Foot dated 1847 which can be downloaded as a PDF from archive.org here: https://archive.org/details/cihm_48345

 

(I have depicted the colours of the Earl of Bath's Regiment in 1685 on one of my two sheets of British flags, which I can email on application; send a message via my Contact Form on the blog if you wish me to send them to you.)

Colours (or flags) of British Royal Scots or 1st Foot 1685 to probably 1707 (plus uniform WSS)

I recently did these as a favour so thought I'd also post them on the blog in case anyone else needs or wants them.

Kronoskaf's WSS site has a humongously large account of the regiment which saves me a vast amount of effort so I refer anyone needing a detailed account to that site here: http://kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=Royal_Foot

 

And this was probably the uniform in the WSS:

And here are the flags with Simon Miller's splendid troops in a photograph he recently sent me (he still has to finish the bases):