British Army
Hierarchical Path: Seven Years War (Main Page) >> Armies >> British Army
Introduction
The modern British Army was created in 1660, after the Restoration. Initially, there were English, Royal Scots and Irish armies, respectively financed by the parliaments of these countries. By 1685, the English Army counted only 7,500 men in marching regiments and 1,400 men in permanent garrisons. In 1689, during the Nine Years’ War (1688-97), Parliament established control on these armies. The same year, the English Army was expanded to 74,000 men and, in 1694, to 94,000 men. In 1697, it was reduced to a cadre of 7,000 men.
In 1707, with the Acts of Union, the English Army and the Scottish Army were combined under one operational command.
At the beginning of the Seven Years' War, the British army had been reduced to about 18,000 men besides the garrisons of Minorca and Gibraltar and 6 or 7 independent companies in the American colonies.
État-Major
General Officers (in 1755)
Guard
Household Cavalry
Life Guards
- 1st, or His Majesty's Own Troop of Guards
- 2nd, or The Queen's Troop of Guards
- 1st Troop, Horse Grenadier Guards
- 2nd Troop, Horse Grenadier Guards
Royal Horse Guards or The Blues
Foot Guard
1st Regiment of Foot Guards
2nd Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards
3rd Scots Regiment of Foot Guards
Line Infantry
Organisation
Generalities about the uniforms
Generalities about weapons and equipment
Generalities about drill (as per the "Exercise for the Foot", 1757)
Generalities about the colours
Regiments of Foot
N.B.: Other units were also raised but never received a number:
- Campbell's Argyleshire Fencibles
- Sutherland's Highlanders
- New York Independent Companies
- South Carolina Independent Companies
New England Provincial Infantry Regiments
Organisation
Generalities about the uniform
Connecticut Provincials
Delaware Provincials (aka Lower Counties Provincials)
Georgia Provincials (aka Georgia Rangers)
Maryland Provincials
Massachusetts Provincials
New Hampshire Provincials
New Jersey Provincials
North Carolina Provincials
New York Provincials
Pennsylvania Provincials
Rhode Island Provincials
South Carolina Provincials
Virginia Provincials
East India Company Infantry
Government of Madras
Madras European Regiment
Madras Sepoy Battalions
Government of Bombay
Bombay European Regiment
Bombay Sepoy Battalions
Government of Bengal
Bengal European Regiment
Bengal Sepoy Battalions
Militia
British militias
Colonial militias
Regiments of Horse
Organisation
Generalities about the uniforms
Generalities about the colours
1st (The King's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards
2nd (The Queen's) Regiment of Dragoon Guards
3rd Regiment of Dragoon Guards
1st Regiment of Horse, or The Blue Horse
2nd Regiment of Horse, or The Green Horse
3rd Regiment of Horse (Carabiniers)
4th Regiment of Horse, or The Black Horse
East India Company Cavalry
Dragoons
Organisation
Generalities about the uniforms
Generalities about the colours
| 1st (Royal) 2nd (Royal North British) |
6th (Inniskilling) |
11th Ancram 12th Whiteford |
Light Dragoons
Organisation
Generalities about the guidons
15th or Eliott's Light Horse
16th or Burgoyne's Light Horse
17th or Aberdour's Light Horse
18th or Hale's Light Horse
19th or The Drogheda Light Horse
20th Inniskilling or Caldwell's Light Horse
21st Royal Foresters
Artillery
Equipment - Guns, Mortars, Carriages
Organisation
Field Artillery in North America
Royal Regiment of Artillery
Royal Irish Artillery
New England Artillery
East India Company Artillery
Madras European Artillery
Bombay European Artillery
Bengal European Artillery
Engineers
Corps of Engineers
Royal Military Artificers and Labourers
Light Troops
Organisation
Generalities about the uniforms
British Light Infantry Regiments
New England Rangers
Brewer's Rangers
Danks' Rangers
Dunn's Rangers
Gardiner's Rangers
Gorham's Rangers
Hazen's Rangers
James Rogers' Rangers
Robert Rogers' Rangers
Stark's Rangers
Logistic
Supply
References
Books:
- Barnes, R. Money: A History of the Regiments and the Uniforms of the British Army, London 1951
- Barnes, R. Money; C. Kennedy Allen: The Uniforms and History of the Scottish Regiments, London 1956
- Bowling, A.H.: British Infantry Regiments, London 1970
- Bowling, A.H.: Scottish Regiments and Uniforms 1660-1914, London 1971
- Blackmore, David: British Cavalry in the Mid-18th Century, Nottingham 2008
- Britain’s Soldiers. Rethinking War and Society, 1715-1815, edited by Kevin Linch and Matthew McCormack. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
- Carman, W.Y.: British Military Uniforms from Contemporary Pictures, Henry VII to the Present Day, London 1957
- Edwards, T.J.: Standards, Guidons and Colours of the Commonwealth Forces, Aldershot 1953
- Fortescue, J. W.: A History of the British Army Vol. II, MacMillan, London, 1899
- Funcken, Liliane and Fred: Les uniformes de la guerre en dentelle
- Großer Generalstab, Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilung II (Publisher). Die Kriege Friedrichs des Großen. Dritter Teil: Der Siebenjährige Krieg 1756–1763. Vol. 8 Zorndorf unf Hochkirch, Berlin 1910, page 409-419 and appendix: supplement 19, page 38
- Haswell Miller, A.E.; Dawnay, N.P.: Military Drawings and Paintings in the Royal Collection, Volume I: Plates, London 1966
- Haswell Miller, A.E.; Dawnay, N.P.: Military Drawings and Paintings in the Royal Collection, Volume II: Text, London 1970
- Hill, J. Michael: Killiecrankie and the Evolution of Highland Warfare, War in History 1, no. 2 (1994): 125-139.
- Holmes, Richard: Redcoat, Harper Collins, London, 2001
- Hurl-Eamon, Jennine: Marriage and the British Army in the Long Eighteenth Century: ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
- Katcher, Philip R. N.: King Georg's Army, Reading 1973
- Knowles, L.: Minden and the Seven Year's War, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton & Co. Ltd, London, 1914
- Lawson, Cecil C.P.: A History of the Uniforms of the British Army, From the Beginnings to 1760, Volume I, London 1940
- Lawson, Cecil C.P.: A History of the Uniforms of the British Army, From the Beginnings to 1760, Volume II, London 1941
- Lemonofides, Dino: British Infantry Colours, London 1970
- Lemonofides, Dino: British Cavalry Standards, London 1970
- McCormack, Matthew: Embodying the Militia in Georgian England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015
- Mollo, John; McGregor, Malcolm: Uniforms of the Seven Years War 1756-63, Blandford Press 1977
- North, René: Military Uniforms 1686-1918, New York 1970
- Parkman, Francis: Montcalm and Wolfe, Collier Books, New York, 1884
- Rogers, H.C.B.: The British Army of the Eighteenth Century, London 1977
- Stuart, Reid; Chappell, Paul: King George's Army 1740-93 (1) Infantry, Men-At-Arms Series 285, Osprey Publishing 1995
- Stuart, Reid; Chappell, Paul: King George's Army 1740-93 (2), Men-At-Arms Series 289, Osprey Publishing 1995
- Stuart, Reid; Chappell, Paul: King George's Army 1740-93 (3), Men-At-Arms Series 292, Osprey Publishing 1996
- Summer, Ian, Hook, Richard: British Colours & Standards 1747-1881 (1) Cavalry, Elite Series 77, Osprey Publishing 2001
- Summer, Ian, Hook, Richard: British Colours & Standards 1747-1881 (2) Infantry, Elite Series 81, Osprey Publishing 2001
- Way, Peter Way: Class and the Common Soldier in the Seven Years’ War. Labor History 44, no. 4. (2003): 455-481.
- Way, Peter: Militarizing the Atlantic World: Army Discipline, Coerced Labor, and Britain’s Commercial Empire. Atlantic Studies: Global Currents 13, no. 3 (2016): 345-369.
- Way, Peter: ‘Rebellion of the Regulars: Working Soldiers and the Mutiny of 1763-1764. William and Mary Quarterly 57, no. 4. (2000): 761-92.
- Way, Peter: Venus and Mars: Women and the British Army in America during the Seven Years’ War. In Britain and America Go to War: The Impact of War and Warfare in Anglo-America, 1754-1815, edited by Julie Flavell and Stephen Conway, 41-68. Gainesville / FL: Florida University Press, 2004.
- Wickes, H.L.: Regiments of Foot, Reading 1974
Manuscripts and working papers:
- Schirmer, Friedrich: Die Heere der kriegführenden Staaten 1756 - 1763. Edited and published by KLIO-Landesgruppe Baden-Württemberg e.V., Magstadt, 1989
- Sapherson, Alan: A Basic Guide to Armies & Uniforms of the Seven Years War, 1. The British, Active Service Press 1988
Contemporary documents, paintings and copper engraving series:
- A representaion of the CLOATHING of His Majesty's Household, and of all the Forces upon the Establishments of GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 1742
- Morier, David: paintings in the Royal Collection, 1748-1751
- The Royal Clothing Warrant, 1751
- Etat nouveau. De l'Armée Angloise, ou de la Grande Bretagne, comme elle se trouve effectivement l'anée 1758. Jacques Andre Frederic, Augsbourg
- Exercise for the Foot, with the differences to be observed in the dragoon exercise For 1757, 1757.
Internet:
- Aylor, Ron: British Regimental Drums and Colours
- Hurl-Eamon, Jennine: Deadbeat Dads? A Closer look at the Married Men Who Joined the Army in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Dr. Jennine Hurl-Eamon, History. Accessed 22 August 2018.
- Wikipedia – British Army
Acknowledgements
Michael Zahn and Dr. Sascha Möbius for suggesting additional books to add to the present section
