Highlanders!

I can't avoid it any longer. There were two big Highland regiments at El Teb and Tamai so I have just put in an order from the Perries for the Gordon Highlanders which I will try and get painted up over Christmas. A big 22 figure unit. So now I will have to paint tartan. Giles Allison, on his AWI site, had a tutorial I think!

Not looking forward to it!

2nd Battalion The Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers

Depending on the sources there were between 334 (Asquith), 343 (Preziosi) and 350-400 (Featherstone) troops of the Royal Irish Fusiliers present before El Teb. At 1:33 this gives between 10 and 12 figures. I am going for the lower figure of 10. This is small for a TSATF unit as British units are supposed to be 20 figures but until I have played a game I won't know if this works or not.

The Royal Irish Fusiliers had been formed in 1881 from the 87th and 89th Foot and some local militia forces from Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan. Both regiments had been formed in 1793 as a result of the war with France. The 87th served in the Peninsula where they became famous at the battle of Barossa on March 5th 1811 when the first French Imperial Eagle was taken by Sergeant Masterman (and not Richard Sharpe!).

The 1st Battalion were with Graham in Egypt in 1882 and saw action at Tel-el-Kebir.

There are several sources which describe them as wearing the new grey uniforms and they are illustrated like this in the picture in the Royal Engineers museum in Chatham. I have already painted four figures in this uniform so only need to do another six which I will try to get done next weekend.

Green or Grey?: The King's Royal Rifle Corps in the Sudan

The reason that I haven't painted anything for the Sudan for a bit is that I had intended that my next British Unit, after the Naval Brigade, would be the King's Royal Rifle Corps (formerly the 60th foot: the Royal Americans of Napoleonic wars fame). However, I have run into a problem as regards their uniform.

The recent Perry uniform guide in Wargames Illustrated showed them as wearing the same grey uniform as the other troops, except with their usual black leather equipment. I started to paint the 18 figures I needed in this way. Then I picked up the Mahdist Wars Source Book from TVAG and there it said "Marling mentions that while in Egypt after Tel-el Kebir the 60th rifles wore green serge jackets". Then it mentions a print of the Battle of El Teb at the Royal Engineers Museum at Chatham which shows them wearing green jackets with red collars, Black trousers and white helmets. The Donald Featherstone Osprey, Khartoum 1885 says the same thing.

Now "Marling" is Lieutenant (later, Colonel Sir) Percy Scrope Marling VC of the KRRC who served with the mounted infantry (why don't the Perries make a mounted infantry pack?), won his VC at Tamai and published his memoirs Rifleman and Hussar (London: John Murray, 1931).

Here is his grave in All Saint's Church, Selsley. He died in 1936.

Now my thinking has gone as follows: both the Osprey and the Savage and Soldier article reprinted in the Mahdist Source book are fairly old items (around ten years). Also, the uniforms worn in Egypt in 1882 were different from those worn in 1884 (line troops wore red in the Egyptian campaign, for example). If new uniforms were going to be issued specifically for this campaign then surely they would have been issued to everyone? I would also have thought that the Perries research would have been more up to date.

Yet, there is a quote that says that when the KRRC arrived in Suakin from Egypt they wore "stained and tattered fighting kits" which indicates that they were not, in fact wearing the new uniforms (introduced in January 1884).

So, on balance, given the existence of the coloured print in Chatham (I am going to try to get hold of a reproduction of the print from the Royal Engineers Museum) which, interestingly shows all the other troops, accurately, with grey coats (as opposed to most contemporary paintings which show the red home service uniforms in a bit of artistic licence) then I think I will go for the dark green uniform.

The black, rather than green, trousers are, again, a bit of an oddity. Whilst during the Napoleonic Wars the 60th foot wore grey trousers (as opposed to the 95th's green) I can see no evidence that their trousers would have been a different colour from their jackets and indeed, later photographs of the KRRC in the Boer War show them wearing jackets and trousers of the same colour (even though it is well know that the green of their jackets was so dark as to almost look black).

The white helmet is odd but not unknown (the Royal Marines had white helmets in the Sudan) although earlier in the Zulu War the Rifles helmets were dyed khaki (with tea, usually).

I think the final decision was made for me this evening when I painted up the base colour of one of my riflemen as green. He just looks better! Of course it will be a fiddle painting the other five figures green when I have already done their black belts but the rest will just need a quick coat over the top.

Maybe now I will actually get going again.

Finally, here is my grandfather, Hadden Perceval Bowen Harris, in his King's Royal Rifle Corps uniform thirty years later. He soon got bored with all that infantry rubbish and joined the Royal Flying Corps where he learned to fly and ended up working for AVRO, after the war.

Royal Naval Brigade: Uniforms: Officers

RN officers wore dark blue double breasted jackets with gilt buttons. Some wore white single breasted jackets. They wore white shirts with black ties. Trousers were white or blue. All leatherwork was black or brown, including shoes, although boots were worn as well.

Helmets were white with blue pugarees (or puggaree, pugree or pagri depending on how you spell it. From the Hindi for turban, anyway, derived from the Sanskrit parikarah).

Rank insignia were in gold on sleeves and were as shown:

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3761

Royal Naval Brigade: Uniforms: Ratings

I have completed my unit of Naval Brigade sailors. I have painted 14 figures, which is more than I need: five or six would be more accurate at a ratio of 1/33. But I felt that I needed a few extra for smaller skirmish and non-historical actions.

Uniforms

The information about uniforms for the sailors of the Naval Brigade is probably more unclear than for any other British unit in the Sudan. Partly this is because they are not a homogenous unit but consisted of sailors from a number of different ships. Even working out which ships they came from is not easy as these changed over the course of the campaign. Also artists of the time have shown them in different uniforms. I suspect they would not have displayed such a heterogenous look as I have depicted them in.

Headgear

White covered (or blue, i.e. without the cover) round caps with black headbands, black ribbons and the name of the sailor's vessel in gilt wire on the headband.

An alternative was the wide-brimmed straw Sennet hat. Sennet was a particular type of straw much used in the Orient. Naval slang for this hat was a Benjy. They were abolished by the Royal Navy in 1921.

This is a Canadian version from the early Twentieth Century.

Perry Miniatures do not offer a figure in a Sennet hat, even though Michael Perry mentions and illustrates the hats on his useful uniform guide on the Perry miniatures website.

http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html

(go to The Sudan-Extras).

Copplestone Castings used to do RN sailors in Sennet Hats but they have withdrawn them.

Redoubt do some but the figures are crude and I suspect that they are far too large to use with the Perry figures.

http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=731095ef8c2b705fb650fd93fcea3595

There is a picture from the time illustrating sailors in Sennet Hats and white trousers.

Jackets

These are mainly illustrated as dark blue serge blouses worn over a white shirt with a black neckerchief. White blouses are illustrated too. With the dark blue blouse the collar could be light blue with three white stripes (as I have done them) or plain dark blue (no stripes) to match the blouse. With white blouses the collar was, again, light blue with white stripes or plain white. No buttons of course.

Trousers

Dark blue or white.

Leather belts and equipment

I have seen these described as black or brown with brass buckles.

Shoes

Everyone seems to agree that these were black.

Leggings

Brown or drill canvas or black leather.

Water Bottle

I have seen this described as having a grey felt cover.

So, it seems that you can use pretty any combination of these and probably be right!

Tomorrow I will look at the officers' uniform.

Royal Navy and Royal Marines badges of rank

I am about to start painting some officers so needed to find out about rank badges.

This is for the Royal Navy:

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3761

This is for the Royal Marines:

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001004001009

These are the modern ones but I don't expect they have changed that much!

Uniforms: First British Expeditionary Force Feb - Mar 1884: Cavalry Brigade

Cavalry Brigade

10th Hussars

The 10th hussars had also arrived from India and were wearing khaki.

19th Hussars

Mounted Infantry

Uniforms: First British Expeditionary Force Feb-Mar 1884: 2nd Infantry Brigade

2nd Infantry Brigade

1st Battalion 42nd Regiment (Royal Highlanders - the Black Watch)

Ist Battalion 65th Regiment (Yorks and Lancs)

Another regiment that had arrived from India.

Royal Marine Light Infantry

Naval Brigade

Some artist show them wearing sennet hats but as the Perry figures have caps I will stick with these.

Royal Artillery

Uniforms: First British Expeditionary Force Feb-Mar 1884: Ist Infantry Brigade

These are what the different units wore for El Teb and Tamai. Pictures are scanned from the Miniature Wargames article by Michael Perry. An online version can be found on the Perry Miniatures Website. Look at the Sudan Extras page.

http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html

As I paint the relevant figures I will add pictures of them as well.

1st Infantry Brigade

1st Battalion 75th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders)

Wearing the grey uniforms specially devised for the campaign and their normal kilts. It is very difficult to get an idea of what shade of grey was used. I have seen it depicted as everything from a light blue-grey to quite a dark almost slate grey. I am going for a light battleship grey.

3rd Battalion 60th Regiment (King's Royal Rifle Corps)

Wearing the grey uniform with their normal black leather accoutrements and buttons. These should be the quickest figures to paint anyway!

2nd Battalion 89th Regiment (Royal Irish Fusiliers)

They had arrived from India so wore the India service khaki uniforms.

6/1 Scottish Division Royal Artillery