Keep Your Powder Dry

Sir Arthur Erskine of Scotscraig’s Regiment of Foot was raised in 1643. Raised by the clergy of Scotland to be " ane regiment for maintenance of religion"   they became known as The Ministers' Regiment. There are stories of them wearing black coats made from old clerical clothes donated by Ministers. Sadly there doesn't appear to be any contemporaneous evidence for this: we do know that a number of presbyteries were ordered to raise specific numbers of men for the regiment, and that the men were to be furnished with a "good piece" or £40 for their equipage. A similar story occurs in the American Revolutionary War, of black robed regiment raised by ministers. As with the Ministers' Regiment, there is no evidence for the American regiment wearing black. In both cases it could be a reference to the black coated ministers who raised the regiments. Whether this is true or not, it gives me a blooming good excuse to paint some Covenanters in not-hodden gre...

January 2023 update: The Cheshire Civil War Centre is currently having a bit of a spruce up. The museum is still open but, to be honest, doesn't quite look its best at the moment. The rather grandiosely titled Cheshire Civil War Centre isn't a museum you have never heard of, rather it is a new initiative by Nantwich Museum . The Centre has a very good group page on Facebook (Cheshire Civil War Centre at Nantwich Museum). The Nantwich Museum now looks at the impact of the Battle of Nantwich in the larger picture of the Civil War in Cheshire, the museum has expanded some of it's existing displays, and has an expanded education program about the Wars. Highlight of the exhibits is an original letter signed by Sir Thomas Fairfax. Currently on display are a number of items on loan from Chester's Grosvenor Museum, including a pair of mortuary swords found in a well. The Winsford Hoard - another loan item from Grosvenor Museum Worth a visit if you are in t...

Part three of the KeepYourPowderDry guide to Civil War flags and colours looks at where we can see illustrated examples of Civil War flags, and also where we can get some for our armies. But first a plea to editors, authors and publishers of future volumes concerning flags of the Civil Wars: please push the boat out with your production values - books of flags need colour illustrations! First off we have to consider the three volume series English Civil War Flags and Colours from Partizan: Volume 1 covers the English Foot, Volume 2 Scots Colours, and Volume 3 the Bill Carmen collection. These volumes state the primary source material for the flag designs illustrated. Volume 1 was written by Peachey and Prince who intended to write a second volume (they make several references to it in the text of Volume 1) but it never made its way into print.  The latest reprint of Volume 1, earlier versions have a different cover Volume 1 has an absolute wealth of information ins...

Part two of the KeepYourPowderDry guide to Civil War flags and colours looks at evidence - surviving flags, and contemporary records. Surviving Flags There is a watchett (blue green) piles wavy ensign in the collection at the  National Army Museum   (not on display), which very little is known about. One source claims it predates the Civil Wars (early 1630s), whereas NAM currently believe it dates from 1688 and belonged to Prince William of Orange (before he became King William III) Picture courtesy of the National Army Museum Of course, the ensign belonging to Sir John Gell's Regiment of Foot takes pride of place in the refurbished NAM. I have read that when the museum was conserving Gell's flag, and the museum was undergoing major refurbishment, that it was planned to alternate display of the two flags in the NAM collection. Antony House  in Plymouth, have a yellow ensign on display with black lion devices (possibly belonging to Alexander Car...

This is the first of three KeepYourPowderDry guides to Civil War flags. This part looks at the rationale and rules why Civil War flags looked like they did. Not often I get to channel my inner Dr Sheldon Cooper, I doubt it will ever happen again. All of what follows is conjecture, and in some cases fairly tenuous at best. We don't actually know what conventions were used, if they were universally applied, or how they worked. Much of what we know is based upon the reporting of London Trained Band musters, and the partial records and correspondence of Alexander Venner who made flags for several Parliamentarian regiments. Only 3 other known flags follow the same system as the London regiments, so you can see how the word 'conjecture' might well be doing a lot of heavy lifting. Nobody wrote down the answers to our questions, and the evidence that we have is too small a sample to make blanket deductions. With that caveat firmly in mind... To understand Civil War flags we need ...

A bit of an afterthought it has to be said: Tate Britain leaves me, well a little underwhelmed to be brutally honest. However, what has piqued my interest is an exhibition of William Dobson's portraits. Dobson was held to be the finest English born portrait artist of his age, and became artist to the Charles's Royal Court in Oxford. He pretty much took over once Van Dyck was no longer on the scene. A small exhibition, which is on display until the end of this month, so you'll need to get a wiggle on if you want to see it. Dobson's most famous portrait of the Civil wars, Richard Neville Prince Rupert, Colonel William Legge and Colonel John Russell Quite like the detail in "Portrait of An Officer" Elsewhere in the gallery the 1540 gallery has a rather famous bust of Carolus Rex, which caused a little consternation to the pair of elderly visitors from the US who were very confused as to who it could be - they calmed down when I poli...

I've seen a few discussions along the lines of "how do I take good pictures of miniatures" on different fora over the past few months. I can't help you take good pictures, but I might be able to help you take half decent pictures. King Charles will be our model for the day. (Picture taken in portable studio mentioned below) I also like cameras. There I've said it. Now that is out in the open we can move on. I can happily drop phrases like 'macro', 'bokeh' and 'full frame' into a conversation, but my eyes glaze over when 'f-stops' get mentioned. As a glasses wearer of 40+ years I let the camera do the hard work, so it is 'automatic' all the way here. First we need to talk about cameras. Photography anoraks will drone on and on about cameras for ever, if you allow them. Simple answer is, got a smartphone? Answer yes? Then the camera in your phone will be more than adequate. No camera phone? Then you'll need a ca...

A jolly to Paris led to a slight painting detour via Napoleon's Rheinbund regiments, but I'm back in seventeenth century England again. What do we know about Tyldesley's Dragoons? In a nutshell - not a lot to be honest. We know that Thomas Tyldesley commissioned William Blundell to captain a company of dragoons. Blundell had got himself into trouble ''inciting riots" in the 1630s so was probably quite suited to a military life. Thomas has the dubious distinction of claiming the first recorded casualty of the First English Civil War. A street fight on 15th July 1642, claimed the life of Levenshulme linen weaver Richard Perceval, when Royalists tried to force the town to hand over its gunpowder stores. Perceval, was allegedly killed by Thomas Tyldesley. Proceedings were begun against Thomas for the killing; however, on 11th August the House of Commons ordered the judges in Lancashire to cease the action. Most likely raised in Lancashire, believed to have d...

...is the title of the latest in the Royal Armouries Arms and Armour Series. This book is absolutely fantastic. Well illustrated throughout, using portraits and period illustrations to introduce each section, then copious colour photographs of artefacts from the RA collection. Keith Dowen has penned not only an excellent primer to the period (if you are new to the Civil Wars) but also, a volume that a seasoned Civil War enthusiast would benefit from too. This is how an arms and armour book should be, take note Osprey and Helion! Available now from the RA museum shops or their online store. Remember you can always save the postage costs by picking it up in person, if you do you might as well have a look around whilst you are there. Be rude not to. Also available on Amazon from 1st April. Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars K. Dowen, Royal Armouries Museums £12.99 Apologies to Mr Dowen, my autocorrect keeps turning him into a Mr Downton, all corrected now. (Must ...