Redcoat:TheRegimental Coat of the British Infantryman, c 1808 -15 [ 1]

G. A. STEPPLER

arshal Bugeaud recalled the appearance of theBritish infantry he had faced during the

Peninsular War: ' . . . the English, silent andimpassive, with ordered arms, loomed like a redwall; their aspect was imposirg . . '. His imageand others like it have been enduring; and theuniforms of the stolid infantrymen whom the Mar-shal held in such regard have long been a popularsubject of study, illustration and reconstruction.Yet for all the effort expended, there remains muchto be discovered and explained. It is extraordinary,for instance, that until the appearance of this articlean authentic surviving example of a Line ranker'scoat of the period has never, to our knowledge,been the subject ofa published colour photograph inan English-language publication.

hile today the survivingregimental coats and

jackets of officers are fre-quently encountered, thoseof the other ranks are rareindeed - and yet the scale ofproduction of military cloth-ing in Britain during theNapoleonic 'Wars wasunequalled before the FirstWorld War. A private soldierwho was discharged eitherkept his regimental coat or, ifnot entitled to it at the time ofhis discharge, left it with hisregiment to be handed on tonew recruits. Regimentalcoats were good, substantialitems of clothing; and, as fewwho had served in the rankscould afford not to make useof them in their new civilianlives, they were worn untilliterally worn out. If theywere not kept by the ex-sol-dier himself. there seems alsoto have been a ready marketfor used military dress.

'The Rudille Pit' (GeorgeWalleer's Costume of Yorkshrre,1814). Aformer solilier at work inhis regimental coat - a rare depic-tion of the Jate oJ so much of thecommon solilier's clothing. Al-though olfering little useJul detail,it is worth noting the ouercIlimpression of a tight, amost tooclose-ftting j acleet. ( C ourtesty P. J.Haythomthwaite)

(l)Superior numerals refer to notes at the end of

this anicle.

Indeed, it would seem that ofthe handful of other ranks'coats which sti l l survive,none of them were actuallygiven out to and worn bysoldiers. (1)

This extremely poor rate ofsurvival has left us with littletangible evidence of theactual appearance of the pri-vate soldier's regimentals.The work of early 19th cen-tury artists offers some of themissing detail, but, as is wellknown, it can be as mislead-ing as it is helpful. The samemight well be said of the sur-viving coats. A closer lookcan tell us a great deal, butonly if set against a widerknowledge of the army'smethod of procurement andof the difficulties of large-scale oroduction before theadve.ri of the sewing machineand the universal acceptanceof the tailor's tape measure.

COLONELS ANDCLOTHIERS

Each year on 25 Decemberthe private soldier was enti-tled io a new regimental coat,which, with certain otheritems of clothing dueannually, was furnished bythe clothing contractorengaged by his colonel. Themilitary clothiers who sup-plied such regimental clqth-

irg were concentrated inLondon and Dublin, those inthe former providing cloth-ing for regiments on the Bri-t ish Establishment, those inthe latter for regiments car-ried on the Irish Establish-ment. Taking full account ofthe time needed to make andship each year's clothingmeant that preparations hadto begin well in advance. Theprocess of preparing theclothing which was to beworn, say, in 1812, began inthe early months of the pre-ceding year, 1811. InLondon,on an appointed day, the co*lonel's clothier would havehis proposed patterns for theensuing year brought to asmall house in Westminster.where they would beinspected by the generalofficers of the army's Cloth-ing Board.

It was the duty of theBoard to ensure that anyclothing made for soldiersconformed to existing regu-lations. To fulfill this chargethe members scrutinised thepatterns shown to them,being particularly carefulover the quality of the mater-ials, but also noting thedetails of cut and ornamen-tation, workmanship andsize. Approved patterns weresealed. and it then fell to the

clothier to have made enoughcoats, and other items, conformable to 'the sealed pat-tern'. 'When the clothing wascomplete, a final check wasmade at the clothier's ware-house by two militaryofficers appointed as Inspec-tors of Clothing. If approvedthe batch was given a 'ViewCertificate', and was then senton to be packed and shippedto the colonel's regiment.hopefully to arrive in time forthe commencement of thenew clothing year.

The clothier himself was aman of business and his posi-tion in the trade afforded himthe opportunity of consider-able profits. The actual task ofmaking up the clothing wassub-contracted to tailors,who in turn might them-selves let contracts. With theenormous increase in demandfor military clothing duringthe Napoleonic Wars, muchwork eventually found itsway into very unskilledhands.

Poorly paid and needyfemale labour, in particular,was exploited in what wasthen called 'the contract-sys-tem' and later became looselyknown as 'sweating'. Bysplitting up the work intosmall tasks, each of whichwas easily learned, it was

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possible to use people with noprevious training and whowere generally willing towork for lower wages than aproperly apprenticed tailormight expect. In 1813 onegroup.of wretched women atCovent Garden werereported to earn but 5d. a dayfor making soldiers' coats -when a journeyman soldier-tailor, working for his regi-ment, could expect 2d. formaking a pair of shoulderstraps, and a shilling for acoat. Quality in the clothier'sproduct was bound to suffer.

THE QUARTER-MASTER'S TROUBLES

Packed in bales and casks. theregiment's clothing began anoften arduous journey to itseventual owners. Even shortjourneys could be hazardous,and if destined for remotecolonial stations the clothingcould be many weeks at sea,at the mercy not only ofnature but also of the enemy.Nonetheless, Britain's sol-diers could count themselvesfortunate, for their nation'simmense wealth and herstrength et sea put themamong the best supplied andequipped soldiers of their

^ge. This could not, of

course, protect them fromthe privations inherent inactive campaigning and dis-tant service, and the manyreferences to the ragged andpatched appearance of Well-ington's regiments are wellknown - nor were those whofought at Waterloo entirelyimmune. But where suchproblems arose from thebelated arrival, or non-arri-val, of the annual clothing,the soldier could at leastexpect an eventualcompensation.

Upon the arrival of theclothing at the regiment, thequartermaster and his ser-geant assessed any damage.They would be glad enoughto find the clothing'quite dry'and in reasonably good order.Water damage could occureasily, even on the shortestjourney, and poor packingand careless handling couldmake everything muchworse. In 1816. as a result ofashort passage to Cambrai,one battalion of the Cold-

stream Guards lost 17 coats,73 waistcoats, 6 pairs oftrousers and 36 shakos. 'somuch damaged by water as torender them Totally unfit todeliver to the Men as new'. Inanother bale three coats wereso 'very much chafed andlarge holes cut thro . . as torender them totally use-less'(2). It fell to the quarter-master to minimize the loss tothe regiment, and to impro-vise where he could notreplace.

Whatever else had to bedone to the clothing, its arri-val signalled the start of theonerous task of actually fit-ting the men with their newgarments. The annualexpenses of every soldieralways included a charge for'altering his clothing to makeit fit'. For a short period justbefore the outbreak of warwith revolutionary France,

colonels had been free to havetheir regimental clothing sent'in Piece' (i.e. in materials),together with a pattern coatapproved by the ClothingBoard. From the standpointof fitting the clothing to thesoldier, this was consideredmuch more satisfactory thanhaving to alter clothingwhich was already made up,for it was 'necessarily taken topieces and made up afresh,that it may fit the men'(3):War, however, necessitatedthe shipment of ready-madeclothing. In 7794 the libertyto send the annual clothing'inpiece' was withdrawn,although wherever possibleregiments continued torequest items 'in piece', espe-cially breeches. As explainedby Sir John Moore, those'made by the Clothiers nevercan be alter'd so as to fit theMen comfortably'(a).

2t

Battalion Company, 9th (EdstNorfolk) Regiment; eoat (ll in ourlisting; Mus6e Royal ile I'Armde,Bruxelles. The 1/9th took part inthe Corunna anil Walehercn um-paigns in 1808 anil 1809. In 1810itrctumedn the Iberian Peninsula,where it remained on serdce untilwithilrawn in 1814 and sent briefyto Canada. InJune 1815 the batta-Iion rctumeil to Europe, mksingWateiloo but remaining in France

for sewral years as part of the armyof occupation. A seeonil battalion(raised in 1799 anil re-formeil in1804) aniueil in Portugal in 1808,anil continueil in the Peninsula(princQally at Gibrultn) until be-ing sent home in 1813, uhere itwas disbandeil at the enil oJ 1815.

The buttons bear a'9' beneath aerown, the whole sunouniled by acloseil eircle. A similar, unilateilbutton is in the Parkyn Collectionat the National Army Museum.The irregular laee on the uppereilge of the eollar may be a substitu-tion by the clothier's subcontractorwhen his supply of proper lace ranout. The proper lace hail two blackstripes, now Jailed to brown. Fac-ings, yellow. (Photogtaph MusdeRoyal de I'Arm6e, Bruxelles)

Regimental coats weresupplied in sizes gradedaccording to height and'stoutness', but too often itseemed as though there wasin fact only one size - toosmall! The Foot Guards inparticular had difficultieswith coats that were none toogenerous in cut. The Cold-stream, being 'composed ofmuch Stouter Men, and of ahigher Standard than those ofthe Line' on several occa-sions received clothing whichwas quite inadequate. Almost200 of the coats received bythe 1st Battalion in southernFrance in 1814 were found tobe 'too small to be fitted toany of the men'. Even aftermuch cutting up and resew-itg there re,rnained '160Coats, all 5ft 6In small, not aman in the Battn as they willfit'. Attempts to avoid theusual trouble over fitting, by

sending in beforehand'Mea-sures' of the men. did notnecessarily produce thedesired result. The use of thetape measure was in itsinfancy, and suppliers com-monly insisted on a heightonly, matched simply to'small, middling or large'.

The quartermaster couldalso expect a certain amountof missing or damaged lace,missing buttons, weak seamsand poor sewing. His troub-les are again graphically illus-trated by the Coldstream,whose 2nd Battalion, in 1816,

Battalion Company, 26th (Ca-meronians) Regiment; coat (2);Musde Royal de I'Arm6e, Brux-elles. The 1/25th saw seruirc in1808 and 1 809 in Spain and on theWalcheren expedition. In 1811 itwas sent to Portugal and in 1812anived at Cibraltar, where it re-mained until withdrawn in 1822.A second battalion, raised in 1803,passed the war in lreland and Stot-land, being disbanded in Scotlandin 1814.

Two similar, but not identitalcoats sutvive Jrotn thk regiment.Their orovenante is not tlear. Thisone ha7 lost oll of its buttons, exceptthose Jor the shoulder straps. Therear view shows that the pocket

faps have a functional buttonwhich is omitted on the other exrcnrrcat oJ the 26th, rcat (4). (Photo-graph Musie Royal de I'Armfu,Bruxelles)

received a consignment ofshako covers in such 'an unfi-nished state' that some had'the Holes work'd thro forthe feather and some withoutany'. The strings . of .thecovers were suPPosed to tre atthe right side, 'instead ofwhich some are made so as tobring the strings some to theright, some to the left, somebefore & some behind'.Worse still, many of thecovers were 'too short by anInch & some more'. Six tail-ors had to be set to work tocorrect the faults. Coats suf-fered too. Many of thosereceived in 1818, while theyappeared to look very goodwhen viewed from the front,had skirts 'rather Shorter thanusual . . many of them is anInch and some 2 Inches tooshort in The Rear . . . '

FITTING THEREGIMENT

Ideally a battalion wouldhooe to find in its ranks atleast one tailor for each of itscompanies. The companytailor was to help his com-rades keep their clothing inrepair, but upon the arrival ofthe annual clothing all tailorswere assembled at regimental

headquarters and put to workfitting the clothing for theentire regiment. Each soldierhad to be measured, his cloth-ing altered, the seams re-inforced and the lace resewnwhere necessary. The coatswere generally done first, andeach company was workedon in succession.

To ensure that this task wasdone as quickly as possible,the tailors were subjected to astrict regime which entailedlong hours, with very littletime away from their work.

Quite typically, the tailors ofthe 76th Regiment were to beat work at six o'clock in themorning in summer, or atdaylight in winter, and wereto cease their Iabours only atsunset, though in winter theymight well work by candle-light unti l eight o'clock.While the annual clothingwas ' in hands', the tailorswere excused all duty andforbidden to do any work forofficers or NCOs. The strict-ness of their regime owed nota little to the low regard inwhich many officers seem tohave held them. A fondnessfor liquor was always sus-pected, and only throughcareful monitoring did there

seem any chance ofputting 'acheque upon the taylors, notto run throueh the work in acareless, idle"manner'(5).

Regimental orders seemedalways to assume a certainreluctance in the tailors, des-pite the remuneration paidfor their work. As an occuDa-tional group, early 19th cin-tury tailors had an unenviablereputation for ill-health, theresult of cramped workshopsand long hours of sedentarywork. bent over their taskwhile sitting cross-legged. Itmay easily be imagined thatthose who had enlisted toescaDe such conditions werenot necessarily pleased to findthemselves compelled towork again as tailors for theirregiment. No doubt too,many had come from theworst end of the tailoringtrade - unapprenticed men,or 'Dungs', who had foundtheir work as uncongenial asit was unrewarding. A regi-ment's tailors might well bevery Poor representatives oftheir craft, and ' if a Tailor isnot eoual to be Master Tai-lor'. t ire chore of immediatesupervision could simply fallon a sergeant appointed toit(6).

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THE SURVIVORSA great many hands shared indetermining the final appear-ance of the soldier's coat. Thedemands of regimental'oeco-nomy', and the rigours ofhard service both during andafter its useful military life,have destroyed all but a hand-ful. Those that survive seemto have done so by escapingactual wear - though the

provenance of almost all ofthe current survivors has yetto be thoroughly investi-gated. The best known arethose in France and Belgium,with other examples inNorthern Ireland, and as farafield as the United States andRussia.

For clarity of cross-refer-ence, we have numbered theknown surviving examples

Left:.Battalion Company, Sjrd Regi-ment ; coat (5) ; Musde de I' Empiri.The 1/83rd embarked in 1805 forCape Town and remained thereuntil 1817, when it departed JorCeylon (Sri Lanka). The 2ndBattalion, raked in 1804, prouidedreinforcements for and itself sawseruice in the Peninsulafrom 1809to 1814, after which it returned toIreland. Before i* dkbarulment, in1817, a large detachment was sentto the lst Battalion at the Cape.

The coat was once in the collec-tion of the painter Edouard De-taille, and is one of two suruiuors

from the 83n1. Both coats wouklseem to be associated with the 2ndBattalion, being lined for wear innorthern climes. The janle com-pany 'wings' on this example are amuch later addition, whose cut andornaffientation are quite out ofkeeping with the rest of the rcat.Nevertheless. with a shako and ac-

of Line (as opposed to Militia)other ranks' coats in boldtype - this sequence is purelyarbitrary, and intrinsic to this

cont inuedonp^g" 26

coutrements, it provides a strikingimpression of the men who formedthe 'red wall' so uivklly recalled byMarshal Bugeaud. (PhotographMusie de l'Empiri, rcurtesy Mar-tin Windrow)

Above:Crenadier Company, 87th (ThePrinte of Wales's Own lrkh) Regi-ment; coat (7); RIF Museum, Ar-magh. The 1/87th embarked forSouth America in 1806, and the

follow ing y ear pro ceeded Jrom thereto Cape Town. In 1810 it sailedJorMauritius, and was later sent toIndia. The 2nd Battalion, raised in1804, Ieftfor the Peninsula in 1808and remained with the Peninsulararmy until returning home fromsouthern Frante in 1814. The 2/87th was disbanded in 1817.

An exact date for the coat cannot

be ascribed, but its beingJully lined,exceptJor the sleeves, sugests thatit was intended for the 2nd Bana-lion. Lace, one red stripe. Facings,green.

Prior to its purchase in Paris bythe RIF Museum in 1962, it wasin the collection oJ Raymond Des-uarYeux. (Royal Irkh FusiliersMuseum)

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tr$

Left:Battalion Company, 26th (Ca-meronians) Regiment; coat (41;Musie de I'Empdri. Being on thebish Establishment, the regimenthad i* clothing provided by lrishdothiers. The jat pewter buttons,bearing'26' encircled hy a wreath,are marked on the back with thename oJ Renshaw and Woodhouse,Dublin-

Subcontracting the work on rcatsproduced many disoepancies. Thepocket faps on this coat ldtk theadditional buttons, seen on coat(2), with which to dose the pocket.Possibly the two 25th coats areslightly difJerent in date, or perhapsmore probably the omission of theadditional pocket fap buttons onthis example was an ouersight.The 'loops' oJ regimental lace

Left and below:Battalion Company, 83rd Regi-ffient; rcat (61; Musde de I'Armie,Les lnualides, Paris. The regimen-tal lace has one red stripe (outeredge) and one green. The buttonsare adorned with '83' only. Thechesl loops wer( to be 'set on hori-zontally', but in thk case the up-permost ones have been giuen adistinct slope, which beromes moregradual towards the waist. ln con-trast to the coats of the 26th Regi-ment, those of the 83rd arc cutsquare at the waist, the skirts stdrt-ing about 3in. back from the rcntre

front.Buttonholes were never tul on

this rcat, no doubt an oversight hythe tlothiet's subtontrattors, andevidente that this particular coatwds never altered and Jitted for at-

tual wear. Possibly the missing but-tonholes were the reason it was putaside and in the end never made useoJ. A loop of lace has been removed

from each cuff. At present the coathas hooks and eyes to hold it closed.The other surviuorfrom the 83rd-rcat (51 - k properly huttonholed.Note the absente ttJ shoulder straptuJting.

The dull madder red rclour wasin rcntrast to the bri,qhter xarletused in sergeants' rcats. New,'fresh coloured' rcats soon faded,espcdally if exposed to intensetropical sunli,qht.

This rcat seerns at one tiffie tohave heen in the rcllettion of Ce-neral Vanson. (Photograph Musiedr I'Armie, @urtesy MartinWindrow )

(made of white worsted wool, and

for this regiment inlerwoven withone blue stripe between two yel-low ) were to be 4in. in length at thetop of the chest, and gradually re-duced in length to only jin. at thewaist. On this coat the tapering oJthe loops is uery noticeahle, but it ;sIess pronounred on the other (xist-

ing coat, (2). By regulation, con-jrmed in 1802, collars were to be '3Inches in Breadth', but this exam-ple stands 33hin. high. Note thatthe drawn thread tufting at the endsof the shoulder straps is red andwhite, as is also the case on coat(2).

The coat was formerly in thecollettion of Edouard Detaille.(Photograph Musde de I'Emptri;couftesy Martin Windrow )

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Light Company, 104th Regiment;eoat (8); Cape Ann HistoricalAssociation, Cloucester, Massa-chusetts. The 104th was originallyraised as the New Brunswick. Regi-ment of Fencible Infantry for ser-vice in British North America, butin 1810 became a regiment of theLine. Its service was passed in whatis now Canada, wherc it assisted inthe defence of the then British col-onies tluring the War of 1812. Thercgiment was disbanded in 1817.

The provenance of the suruiuingrcat un be e*ablkhed with somecertainty. It is one oJ 1,100 (des-tinedJor the 104th at Quebec) cap-tured by an American privateer,

from Salem, during the Anglo-American war. The capture k re-eorded in contemporary coftespon-dene, from which it is known thatthe coats were subsequently sokl tothe United States Almy and used

for musicians. This one, howeuer,remained with the Webber familyof Cloutester, Massachusetts andwas giuen by a descerulant to theCape Ann Historical Associationin 1945.

It prouides an interesting exam-ple of an unused coat, as supplieilby a London dothier. From theposition oJ the one extant button onits right cuff (and another on therear of the left cuff) it seems prob-able that it was neverfully prouideilwith cuff buttons when it left theclothier. Lace, one black stripe(outer edge) and one rcd stripe.Facings, pale bulf ftf-white).(Cape Ann Historial Assotiation,special thanks to Marion A.Hanling)

series of articles. They aregrouPed under currentlocation:Belgium: iulus|e Royal de l'Ar-mAe et d'Histoire Militaire,Bruxelles(1) Battalion company, 9th

Regiment of Foot (EastNorfolk)

(2) Battalion Company, 26thRegiment of Foot(Cameronian)

(3) Light Company, uniden-tified, possibly Militia

France: Musie de I'Empdri,Salon de Prouence(4) Battalion Company, 26th

Regiment of Foot(Cameronian)

(5) Battalion Company, 83rdRegiment of Foot

France: Musde de l'Armde, LesInualides, Paris(6) Battalion Company, 83rd

Regiment of FootNorthern lreland: Royal lrishFusiliers Regimental Museum,Armagh(7) Grenadier Company,

87th Regiment of Foot(Prince of Wales's Own

Irish)United States: Cape Ann His-torical Association, Cloucester,Mass.(8) Light Company, 104th

Regiment of Foot

In Russia there are twojackets, from the 42nd and43rd Regiments, possiblyacquired by Alexander I atabout the time of Waterloo orthe subsequent occupation ofParis('). In addition, theBomann Museum at Celle in'West Germany has a fine col-lection of coats from theKing's German Legion

which, importantly, includesthree sergeants' coatsfurther examples of 'British'military clothlng supplied byLondon clothiers. m

To be continued: The secondpart of this series will considerthe euolution ofthe soldier's coat,the materials used, its cofistruc-tion and ft.

Notes and sources:(1) For the cavalry there is ajacket inthe National Army Museumascribed to Lance Corporal Gill, 1stLife Guards.(2) All references to documents oftheColdstream regiment are by kind

permission ofthe Lt. Col. Command-ing Coldstream Guards. Furtherdetails in Journal of the Sodety forArmy Historical Research (Summer,1889).(3) Public Record Office, WO 30/13B: Royal Warrant, 8 July 1791,clothing.(4) British Library, Add Mss 57547,27 November 1802.(5) Bennett Cuthbertson, A System

for the Compleat Interior Managementand Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry,Dubl in 1768, p.87.(6) Standing Orders, 106th Regi-ment, 1795, p.23.(7) Notes fromJohn Mollo. Furtherinformation on these and any othercoats would be welcomed.

Acknowledgements for assistanceduring the preparation of these arti-cles will be listed in the final oart.

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