[PW] British Military uniforms, rural dress ca. 1815

[Dana Dalrymple]

Here are a few more suggestions for books if you can find them:
1.  _British Military Uniforms from Contemporary Pictures, Henry VII to
the Present Day_ by W.Y. Carman (1957).  This looked like it had pretty
good descriptions of various regimental uniforms for that time period
and will point you to other sources.  It's not available on Google books
yet.
2.  For the rural dress, the best book I found here was _Rural costume:
its origin and development in Western Europe and the British Isles_ by
Alma Oakes and Margot Hamilton Hill (1970). (Snippets only on Google
books). It is somewhat generic when it comes to that time period, but
would give you some clues. _Costumes of everyday life; an illustrated
history of working clothes_ by Margot Lister also has some suggestions,
but it is even more general.  Some more ideas anyway.
* * * * * * * *
Dana Dalrymple
Reference Librarian
Spokane Public Library
Read. Learn. Discover.


-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
Dolan Williams
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 11:12 AM
To: Project Wombat
Subject: [PW] British Military uniforms, rural dress ca. 1815

      Needed for preparation of illustrations and a scale-model diorama
depicting action described in Thomas Hardy's short story, The Grave by
the Handpost, [the principal protagonist of which is Sergeant-Major Luke
Holway],  information about 1) British army uniforms of the Peninsular
Campaign era [1808-1814] and Waterloo [1815], and 2) British rural dress
circa December 1815. 
              
              Specifically, I need drawings, reference material, or
descriptions of the [undress?] uniform of a sergeant-major of an
infantry [foot] regiment which had served in the battles of Busaco,
Fuentes d'Onore, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Quatre
Bras, and Waterloo, or order of battle data for British units
participating in those battles. 
   
              Hardy makes only veiled reference to a specific unit in
which Luke Holway served, saying early in the story that he is "a
private soldier in the uniform of some line [i.e., regular army]
regiment". When the younger Holway returns to his native Wessex, toward
the end of the story, Hardy states he served "under Wellington" in the
battles noted above. Luke's father, Sergeant Samuel Holway, served "...
in His Majesty's ___d Regiment of Foot", and one might presume the
younger Holway would have joined the same unit [though Hardy only
identifies this unit as the " ___d Foot", possibly, but not necessarily
his father's old regiment]. It could be inferred that Luke served
continuously in the same regiment in which he began as a private soldier
through to his ascent to the rank of sergeant-major.
   
              Sources consulted:   
   
                          The Model Soldier Guide, Clyde A. Risley and
William F. Imrie, Richmond Hill, NY, I/R
Miniatures, 1965.
                          Military Uniforms in Color, Preben Kannick,
New York, Macmillan, 1968.
                          Toy Soldier Review [periodical], North Bergen,
NJ, Vintages Castings, 1984-
                          Miniaturas Andrea [annual catalog], Madrid,
1990
 
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/english/thsna/illustr/gbh.htm [website]; shows
four illustrations by                                     George M.
Patterson from the British periodical, the St James's Budget, Christmas
Number (pub. 30 November) 1897, pp. 8-11,
   
              I will be most grateful for any information sources you
can suggest.  I'm not a regular subscriber to the Project Wombat list,
so I'd like to request that any answers be sent directly to my e-mail
address?
   
  Thanks and best regards.
                          

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