British red coats

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Real reason - red dye was the second cheapest - after none, so when the New Noddle was formed it used red as cheapest dye, none being too similar to the large Newcastles Rgt, on t'other side.

IanS

[Hertsblue]

I always understood that it was the red sash the officers wore, and that was large enough to carry a wounded man in, that was supposed to hide the blood.

[irregularwars]

Real reason - red dye was the second cheapest - after none, so when the New Noddle was formed it used red as cheapest dye, none being too similar to the large Newcastles Rgt, on t'other side.

IanS

This was my understanding too - red was the prefered colour because it happened to be the cheapest at the time when uniformity really kicked off.

Now, the first reference to red coated musketeers serving in an English army is another thing altogether. Before Hugh O'Neill (Baron Dungannon, later Earl of Tyrone) rebelled against Elizabeth I (1593? 1594?), he provided her with English trained Irish shot, all provided with red jackets/doublets in her struggles against other Irish lords. As far as I know, that is the earliest reference to red as a uniform as part of an English force.

Of course, Lykourgos the pseudo-historical Spartan lawgiver suggested that Spartans should all dress in red as it was the manliest of colours.

Neither of these points take away from the fact that our cousins across the waters need to wear brown trousers, at least from time to time. When do you think that tradition started then...? Not as early as 1812 sure?

[get2grips]

I don't reckon they beat us...I think someone in the British Parliament had a premonition of what America would become and got the hell out

http://www.usdebtclock.org/