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Reference books for British Infantry uniforms of the Seven Years War

Discussion in '"Today in History", Literature & Media Review' started by billyturnip, Mar 29, 2017.

  1. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    British Army Uniforms of the American Revolution 1751 - 1783

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    The Thin Red Line: Uniforms of the British Army Between 1751 and 1914


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    British Infantry Uniforms Since 1660

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    Uniforms of the Seven Years War, 1756 - 63


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    Armies and Uniforms of the Seven Years War: Prussia and Allies v. 1

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    No doubt there are others but these are the books from my own collection that I use for reference.
    Chrisr, JonH, mick3272 and 2 others like this.
  2. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Agree with the choice ..got all of these ..great references in all

    Nap
    billyturnip likes this.
  3. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England

    If you have anymore please feel free to add them here kev.
  4. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Here's a couple .....I have more if I can remember where !!


    Be good to see other members books on this subject

    Nap

    image.jpeg image.jpeg
    billyturnip likes this.
  5. JonH Active Member

    Some great looking references there. I'm trying to find a good ref. for the uniforms of the French-Indian war - all sides.Is there any one book you'd recommend?
    Jon
    billyturnip likes this.
  6. Tom W. Well-Known Member

    Country:
    Germany
    The best of the batch is Carl Franklin´s book.Very precise CAD paintings and especially a chapter for every Regiment,where they fought(AWI and French-Indian wars).It will be sold at Amazon at a very reasonable price.Less than I payed two years ago :cry:!
    JonH and billyturnip like this.
  7. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England

    Thanks Jon, if there is a single book on the French-Indian War I'm afraid I don't have it. I would be interested to know if there is one though.
    JonH likes this.
  8. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England

    Funnily enough there is a pretty damning review on Amazon about the Franklin book and it has also received reviews elsewhere concerning it's accuracy.
    However my aim in this thread was just to show what is available. :) Having said that I don't mind if the subject of accuracy of any of these books is brought up for discussion.
    mick3272 likes this.
  9. arj A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Here's a 'blast from the past' from the old fogie library ..
    Lawson Vol 2.jpg
    It's full of contemporary detailed information.
    The book is volume 2 of a set of 5, and the rear cover details the contents of the other four ..
    Lawson Vol 2 - rear.jpg

    Cheers,
    Andrew
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  10. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    By the same author, bet I know some he doesn't! :D

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    I'm hijacking my own threads now, just goes to show nobody's safe. :troll:
    napoleonpeart likes this.
  11. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England

    I am watching you Mr Turnip

    image.jpeg ....sorry Roger couldn't resist it .......

    Nap
    billyturnip likes this.
  12. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    napoleonpeart likes this.
  13. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    I've got Franklin's book, too. I waited months on a pre-order at Amazon, till it became available. I find it an excellent reference for its scope, and for the way it's organized. As a reference, it's easy to follow and the sequence makes sense. It's the polar opposite of Osprey's "King George's Army" series.

    I've got the Mollo-MacGregor book, too, another good reference, for the text and the illustrations.

    I have the Partizan Press book and was disappointed in it, because there was no new content, that I didn't already have in other references. I think it also perpetuates some errors, but I don't recall exactly which. I think it's got the old info about the Brunswick (Wolfenbuettel) infantry flags, for example. I've always had the impression that it's written primarily for wargamers.

    I've got Digby Smith's book, too. Again, no really new content, as I recall, and I think it's also got some typos or other editing errors. Some may say that's not that big a deal, but for us as consumers, when we pay our money, we expect a level of quality commensurate with the price. I'll have to go back and look through it for examples, though, to make my comment a fair one.

    As an aside, my well-worn and well-thumbed-through copy of Christopher Duffy's "The Army of Frederick the Great" (2nd edition) is replete with red marks, where I noted typos, grammatical errors and other editing failures. I don't think it's the author's fault, I think his editor failed. Some are glaring--sentences without a verb, for example. I've had a mind to mail it to Duffy, but it's been years since the second edition was released. Someone must have pointed it out.

    I've also got a couple of the old Almark books, on the Guards, for example, and some cavalry. I'll have to make a list tonight and post it back here.

    Prost!
    Brad
    Chrisr, billyturnip and napoleonpeart like this.
  14. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Brad, I think the British army of the period are pretty poorly covered compared to the French, Prussians and Austrians.
    In my opinion the Osprey series on Louis XV's Army are among the best Osprey have done, Chartrand and Leliepvre is a winning combination, shame the King Georges Army books aren't up to this standard.
  15. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    I rank Osprey's books on the armies of the Seven Years' War as 1: Army of Frederick the Great, 2: Louis XV's Army, 3 and last, King George's Army. I guess I'd order the series on the Austrians at the same level as the Prussian and French, too. What makes them so much better than the KGA series is that they are ordered in a clear, rational, reasonable, common-sense way. "Here's some historical background, and now, here are the branches of service: Cavalry, regiment by regiment; Infantry, regiment by regiment; Artillery and other services, unit by unit. Each with an ordered listing of uniform details. Here's a table listing the colors of units that had them, with all of the relevant details". I think the series on the Tsarina's army is also laid out like that, too. The KGA series is all over the place, just a mish-mosh of details.

    The Osprey book on Frederick the Great's allies is organized a little differently, too, in that it doesn't apply a filter just of arm-of-service, but it also splits out light troops from line troops, across arms of service. So, if you want to find out about the hussar units, you don't want to look in the cavalry section, but in the section on light troops. That, and the author refers to the Reichsarmee consistently as "Imperialists", which is not quite the same thing as "Imperial". That leaves a taste in my mouth like I'd chewed tin foil.

    Prost!
    Brad
    Chrisr and billyturnip like this.
  16. Chrisr PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    Australia
    Thanks for posting these Roger and thanks for the comments on the books Brad. I have now ordered the Franklin and Mollo -MacGregor books.

    Cheers
    Chris
    theBaron and billyturnip like this.
  17. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    I thought I should offer some new content to this discussion, not just observe on the previous comments. Here are some additional resources I use, for the British Army in the Seven Years' War.

    First is"British Cavalry in the Mid-18th Century", by David Blackmore:

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    I've found it to be a good reference, especially in its organization, which is key to a good reference, I think, as we discussed above. Blackmore uses a lot of Morier's paintings as pictorial references. I was very pleased to add this to my library, because I didn't have a good overview of the British cavalry before this (and I hadn't yet gotten Franklin's book at that time). I got this from Dennis Shorthouse's "On Military Matters", by the way: http://onmilitarymatters.com/pages/dfindex.php

    Next up, a pair of Almark books, authored by Charles Stadden, on the Coldstream Guards and the Life Guards:

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    While they cover the full history of both units, I got them for references specifically on the 1740s and the Seven Years' War. For the Life Guards, I was tracking down info on the Horse Grenadier Guards, to paint these lads:

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    During the same hunt on eBay, I picked up this booklet on the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards:

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    and these two Almark references on British colors and standards. This reminds me, though, that the Osprey books on British colors is pretty good, that is, I find it useful enough as a reference. I have that somewhere on the shelf, too.

    Speaking of Osprey, when they issued this number, I had to pick it up for my library:

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    It's pretty good, though as I noted, the organization is a little different, and the author doesn't know the difference between "imperial" and "imperialist". Still, the overview of the British army provides a good, quick reference, that serves as a key or index for further searches in more extensive books. The book also provides a useful overview of the other major combattants serving in the western German theater.

    Though it's not about the British army, I picked this up and count it among my references for King George's armies. Dr. Summerfield's "Hanoverian Army of the Seven Years War":

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    Shameless plug--this is another book I bought from Dennis Shorthouse. I have Ortenburg's book on the Hanoverian army, which is a very good reference in its own right. This book provides a supplement or expansion (believe it or not, I couldn't remember the English word just now, all I could think of was Ergänzung and I had to look it up to translate back).

    And last but not least, this little book by Preben Kannik:

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    I picked that up at a flea market years ago. It's a brief encyclopedia, put together much like the various Mollo books. That is, there is a brief text introduction, then a series of numbered color plates, followed by another text section with the articles for each image. Not exhaustive, of course; there's far too much content for this to be anything by an overview. But when I needed an example of the 20th Foot as they appeared at Minden, this book had that specific example. It's a nice-to-have.

    Anyhow, these are in my reference library, and I recommend them to anyone, if you have the opportunity to get any of them.

    Prost!
    Brad
    oldtrousers and billyturnip like this.
  18. billyturnip A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Thanks for the additions Brad.
    theBaron likes this.
  19. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    I have all of the books shown apart from the Hanoverian Army by Summerfield-thanks for the info Brad it's on the birthday list for June!

    Keith
    theBaron and billyturnip like this.
  20. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    You're very welcome, gents, and thank you for the kind words!

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