Fine figures in toy soldier style produced by

The Red Box Toy Soldier Company


1640 - 1655 - The Civil Wars - representative figures

 

In the early part of the 'civil wars', 'uniform did not exist - there was no standing army, and though some regiments began to have uniform clothing (mainly the 'trayned bands of militia), it depended on the purse of the colonel who raised it and his choice of colour and to some extent style

 By the time of the 'new modelling' of the Parliamentary Army, a deep red colour (with facings) became prominent (though again some differences still existed) - the 'dye' used being a mixture of iron oxides (called Venetian red) - there is also evidence that red had also been used to clothe some of the King's regiments while he was at Oxford in 1643

This Venetian red colour was notoriously fugitive and difficult to produce as an even dye colouring in the production of the cloth

Facings in the Parliamentary army slowly became 'standardised, blue, green, yellow and white being the preferred colours used, and this was reflected in the ensigns carried

By the time of establishment of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 'red' was identifiably the colour of the English soldier - the Civil Wars against the Monarchy had ended, but Cromwell's army still needed to establish control over Scotland and Ireland, and the ruthless reputation of the 'Ironsides' became established   

The figures above illustrate the common style of 'uniform' prevalent at this time, (and throughout the armies of Europe)

It should be noted that the pike was the favoured weapon early in this period, breast and back plates were still worn by the pikes, but the tassets (thigh guards) were discontinued - the use of matchlock muskets increased in order to protect the pike companies, and slowly became more used as the wars progressed, until by the time of the Protectorate, they were the main offensive weapon, supported by pike companies

The basic colour which we use for these early 'red' regiments is shown with (Venetian red) the line drawings below (many of which are copied or adapted from drawings in Bowling's book), but different colours were well in evidence through the early Civil War as material was available, and as dirt and army 'life' happened - of particular interest was 'Watchet blue',

The 'facing' colours in the Protectorate mainly continued to be those in use throughout the later part of the civil wars, that is white, blue, green, and yellow

 

 

 


 

 

 

'Uniforms' 1640 - 1655

The Restoration

Uniforms 1655 - 1684

Back to The Army, new modell'd


Phase 1 - The First 'British' Army

Phase 2 - The Civil Wars, Commonwealth, Protectorate and Restoration


Phase 3 - The Army of James II


Phase 4 - The Williamite Army and the Army of Queen Anne