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This impressive book covers the British army during the period of the Seven Years' War and American War of Independence, looking at the uniforms and equipment of the infantry, cavalry and guards regiments.
The colour illustrations are the heart of the book. In the Infantry section each regiment gets a full page showing a selection of uniforms, with 1783-85 at the top of the page, 1768-71 in the middle and 1751-55 at the bottom. Officer's uniforms are on the left, Private's on the right, with normal troops on the outside, then Grenadiers and finally Light Companies in the middle. The famous red coats get most of the attention, with sixteen illustrations per regiment (other parts of the uniform are covered in the commonalities chapters). Details of buttons, chest plates, caps and lace are placed around the coats.
The same basic layout is followed for the Foot Guards, although with slightly fewer variants. The Cavalry differ in that there are fewer variations of uniform to report - just Officer's and Private's dress for three dates, but the gap is filled by the details of the regimental horse equipment and in particular the evolution of the saddle.
There are also useful sections on the equipment carried by the soldiers of this period, including weapons, ammunition and ammunition storage and those items of the uniform that were common to all regiments.
If you need a guide to the British army uniforms of this period then you will struggle to do better than this. The main target market is presumably the figure painter, and here the full page of illustrations for each regiment really pays off. Painting is a visual skill, and so these illustrated examples for each regiment, with all of the correct details of facing colours and other bits of trim really pays off and is much easier to use than the more usual lists or tables.
Chapters
Part One - The Cavalry Commonalities
1 - Cavalry Headwear
2 - Cavalry Coats and Jackets
3 - Cavalry Buttons and Lace
4 - Cavalry Stocks, Gloves and Shirts
5 - Cavalry Netherwear
6 - Cavalry Accoutrements
7 - Cavalry Horse Furniture
8 - Cavalry Weapons
Part Two - The Cavalry
Introduction
9 - Regiments of Household Cavalry
10 - Regiments of Heavy and Light Cavalry
Part Three - The Infantry Commonalities
11 - Infantry Headwear
12 - Infantry Coats and Jackets
13 - Infantry Buttons and Lace
14 - Infantry Stocks, Gloves and Shirts
15 - Infantry Netherwear
16 - Infantry Tartans of the Highland Regiments
17 - Infantry Accoutrements
18 - Infantry Weapons
Part Four - The Infantry
Introduction
19 - Regiments of Foot Guards
20 - Regiments of Foot
Appendix A - Rank Distinctions of Officers and Enlisted Men
Appendix B - Facings and Loop Table
Appendix C - Cavalry and Infantry Lineage, 1730-1815
Appendix D - The Sources
Author: Carl Franklin
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 376
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2012