Army

9 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F.  •  Link

"The army" of 1660 in the Diary are Gen. George Monck's regiments, which were the germ of the British Army.

"After the death of Oliver Cromwell, the Protectorate died a slow death, and with it died the New Model army. For a time in 1659 it looked as if the New Model army forces loyal to different Generals might wage war on each other. But in the end the New Model Army regiments which had been garrisoning Scotland under the command of General George Monck were able to march on London, to oversee the Crowning of Charles II, without significant opposition from the regiments under other Generals.... With the exception of Monck's own regiment which became the Coldstream Guards, the New Model Army disbanded after the Restoration of 1660." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_…

"The Restoration of Charles II saw the Model Army kept as a standing force, and the King raised further regiments loyal to the Crown. On 26 January 1661 Charles II issued the warrant that is acknowledged as the official beginning of the British Army." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hist…

pedro  •  Link

Coldstream Guards.

The modern-day Coldstream Guards is directly descended from Monck's Regiment of Foot and is therefore the oldest Regiment in continuous service with the British Army.

http://www.army.mod.uk/coldstream…

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Cost of disbanding.....Sir William Doylie reports from the Committee for disbanding the Army, what Progress hath been made in that Service, declaring what Forces they have paid off; what Sums have been paid to every particular Garison, Regiment, Troop, and Company, and for discharging of Ships; as also, what Forces are not paid off; with an Estimate what Money will be necessary to pay off the Land Forces, to the Sixth of November instant, and the Ships to the Seventeenth of September last: And what Money, both certain and casual, the Parliament hath consigned to those Uses, with a Balance between the Charge and the Money consigned: The Substance whereof is as followeth; viz.

Disbanded in England...................... . £...........s...d...........£............s..d.
Twenty-two Garisons .......................20,023....18..7.........217,986....3..9
General Officers with the Train.............1,642....13..6
Fifteen Regiments of Foot................117,966...-6
Four Regiments of Horse...................55,353...11..2
Six Ships paid off.............................23,000--
Disbanded in Scotland.
The General Officers and Train ............797...11..3.¼.........32,416..14..8¼
Edinburgh Garison................................206.....4-
Two Regiments of Foot....................20,149...8..8
One Regiment of Horse.....................£11,263..10..9
Sum Total issued and paid ..............................................£250,402..18..5¼
Forces to be disbanded in England.
Eleven Garisons................................13,877...4-...............£359,734..15..10
Three Regiments of Foot....................39,308..13-
Nine Regiments of Horse, ................168,416 ...8..10
with the Life Guard of Horse
Nineteen Ships, by Estimate..............138,132..10-
Forces to be disbanded in Scotland, or paid off.
Garisons...........................................3,118...-2....................75,681...14..6
Four Regiments of Foot......................48,685..19-
Major General Morgan's Troop............3,636...8..10
Lord Falkland's Regiment of Horse......20,241...6..6
Total .................................................................................£.435,416..10..4
Besides divers Sums falling under several Heads in the said Report specified.
Monies appointed by Parliament, to pay off the Forces by Land and Sea.
Assignations on the Three Months Assessments, commencing 24 June 1660
..............................................................23,000-....................-413,000--
And........................................................40,000--
By the Poll Bill, estimated a...t...............210,000--
Two Months Assessments.....................140,000--................£.413,000--
So there wants, to answer the Sum paid, and the
Charge of the Forces to be disbanded, amounting, together, to
...............................................................
£685,819...8 s. 9 ¼ d.
........................................the Sum of.......£ 272,819..8..9 ¼
Besides the said other Sums from casual and uncertain Charges, estimated at...£150,000--
And so the Money to be provided on the clear Balance is............ £.422,819..8..9 ¼
The Total of the Monthly Charge, by Land and Sea, in England and Scotland,
undisbanded, is, by the said Report, computed at............£ 32,653..12-
He also reports an Account of the Monies received into the Treasury of the Chamber of London, at Guildhall, upon the Account of the Poll Bill, amounting to .................73,185...4-
Received upon the Loan...........................................24,445
In Toto................................................................. £.97,630...4-
Of which paid by the Book.......................................86,376..15..4
Resting in Cash, to Balance.......................................11,253...8..8
Which said last-mentioned Account was read

From: 'House of Commons Journal Volume 8: 6 November 1660', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660-1667 (1802), pp. 175-77. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…. Date accessed: 20 February 2006.

Pedro  •  Link

The English Army in Portugal.

(Part 1, up to present 13th June 63 Diary date…summary from L.M.E. Shaw, Trade, Inquisition and the English nation in Portugal.)

They would be known as Auxiliary forces, enabling one state to help another, without formal declaration of war. It would also avoid the expense of keeping a standing army. Charles bore the cost of recruiting, arming and transporting. Once landed their pay would the responsibility of the King of Portugal.

The force landed on 7th July 1662, consisting of…2 Regiment of horse (each 500 men), and 2 Regiment of foot (each 1000 men).

They came under the command of Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, and were marched straight to the front line in the Alentejo. One month later Maynard (Consul) reported to Clarendon that the government had been forced to issue proclamations to the effect that the church was forbidden to protect and give sanctuary to Portuguese citizens murdering or wounding Englishmen. Fanshawe (Ambassador 62-63) pressed for public justice to be done to those committing such excesses, but without avail. He told the King of Portugal that the troops were being shown an invincible antipathy, never seen before.

Inchiquin accused Macedo the Secretary of State of designing their destruction and left for England around October 1662. The troops were then put under the command of Marshal Schomberg, whose mother was English, and was liked and respected by the English Brigade.

Pay was a big problem as the troops thought they would receive the same rate as paid by Charles, but they were wrong. Inchiquin was aware of this, and feeling that they may make the sailors take them back, swore his officers to secrecy. After seven months they had only received one month’s pay, and were “daily mouldering away.” Their numbers were reduced to 250 horse and 1,400 foot by death and desertion. In March 63 Charles allowed £6,000 from the Dowry money to make up the difference between Portuguese and English pay. It became usual that they were paid in sugar and the English merchants sold it on their behalf.

Pedro  •  Link

The English Army in Portugal (1662-68)

Sam writes…“to the great honour of the English beyond measure.”

I think that it is worth noting that the great honour that the troops received was virtually only in dispatches, and in the hearts of the common people.

Clarendon wrote to Castelo Melhor in forceful terms saying that the King was pained to hear that the troops were regarded by Portugal as a burden, when they were not only being deprived of pay, but also of the honour and glory due to them for performing onerous and dangerous tasks with valour and success. Schomberg was disgusted with the attitude of the ministers and told them that if the English were not wanted in Portugal, they should be sent home.

Including reinforcements, a total of 5000 men were sent between 62 and 68, and by 68 there were only 1000 left, 80% had been lost. Colbatch considered that the troops gradually won the respect of the common people who began to use the expression “word of an Englishman” as meaning a firm promise.

In September 1668 Southwell (Consul) wrote to Arlington…

“I do not believe there is to be found again in the world a better body of men. Never any fought more bravely in the field or lived more quietly in their quarters, and being equal in discipline as in their valour, only their enemies complain, and not the inhabitants, who it has been affirmed to me, did now with tears wave them from the frontiers.”

Pedro  •  Link

Another view of current events in Portugal.

Summary from J. Childs…The Army of Charles II.

Don John invaded in 63 with an army of 16000, the weak Portuguese garrisons withdrew to Evora, but John soon took the city. Schomberg recommended an attack with the field army to confront the Spanish under the very walls of Evora.

As they approached the Spaniards marched to meet them on the banks of the river Eudigby. A Spanish effort to force the river was repulsed by 150 English musketeers, but then John executed a flank march and crossed the river higher up. The Portuguese marched to head him off, but again he out-manoeuvred them by driving to Estremos. However he moved too slowly and Schomberg was able to pin his rearguard and then draw the entire Spanish army into the battle at Ameixial.

The infantry of both armies occupied high ground on each wing, the valley separating the two enemies. It was the plan to attack the Spanish horse as they stood unsupported by an infantry in the valley, and the honour was granted to the British Foot. They advanced within “push of pike” of the Spaniard and then gave their volley. The Spanish retired leaving their cannon in the hands of the British. Later in the action the Spanish cavalry counter attacked the British infantry, but by adopting a square formation and holding their fire to the last possible moment, the assault was beaten off. The Portuguese had given them up for lost as they had never seen infantry allow the enemy to approach so close before giving fire.

In the valley the English horse could not match the achievements of the infantry. There one charge was premature and not supported by any Portuguese cavalry. Not until the British foot marched down the hill to their assistance were the Spaniards finally beaten and driven from the field.

Pepys was shown a report of the battle in the Lisbon Gazette…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The need for disbanding Monck's Army at the Restoration was made the more urgent by the recent difficulty in disbanding the New Model Army and the constitutional crisis resulting therefrom of 1647-1649.

For several weeks in late 1647, after the defeat of King Charles I in the first hostilities of the Civil War, representatives of the New Model Army and the radical Levellers met in Putney, in the county of Surrey (now in South West London) to debate the future of England. There was much to discuss: who should be allowed to vote, civil liberties and religious freedom. The debates were inconclusive, but the ideas aired in Putney had a considerable influence on centuries of political thought.

The Debates themselves were not widely known at the Restoration, but the issues were. The debates opened on 28 October and were transcribed by secretary William Clarke and a team of stenographers. From 2 November however, until their end on 11 instant, all recording ceased. The debates were not reported and Clarke's minutes were not published at the time. They were lost until 1890 when they were rediscovered at the library of Worcester College, Oxford, and subsequently published as part of the Clarke Papers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putn…

In a 43 min. podcast of BBC's Radio 4's *In Our Time* Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Putney Debates.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Red coats

From the mid-17th century to the 19th century, the uniform of most British soldiers, (apart from artillery, rifles and light cavalry), included a madder red coat or coatee. The red coat has evolved from being the British infantryman's ordinary uniform to a garment retained only for ceremonial purposes. Its official adoption dates from February 1645, when the Parliament of England passed the New Model Army ordinance. The new English Army was formed of 22,000 men, divided into 12 foot regiments of 600 men each, one dragoon regiment of 1000 men, and the artillery, consisting of 900 guns. The infantry regiments wore coats of Venetian red with white facings. A contemporary comment on the New Model Army dated 7 May 1645 stated "the men are Redcoats all, the whole army only are distinguished by the several facings of their coats".

The English red coat made its first appearance on a European continental battlefield at the Battle of the Dunes in 1658. A Protectorship army had been landed at Calais the previous year and "every man had a new red coat and a new pair of shoes". The English name from the battle comes from the major engagement carried out by the "red-coats". To the amazement of continental observers they stormed sand-dunes 150 feet (46 m) high fighting experienced Spanish soldiers from their summits with musket fire and push of pike.

The adoption and continuing use of red by most British/English soldiers after the Restoration (1660) was the result of circumstances rather than policy, including the relative cheapness of red dyes. Red was by no means universal at first, with grey and blue coats also being worn. There is no known basis for the myth that red coats were favoured because they did not show blood stains. Blood does in fact show on red clothing as a black stain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red…

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1660

1667