Wellington's Army:
Uniforms of the British Soldier
1812-1815
review by Paul Chamberlain
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Plates by Charles Hamilton-Smith Text by Philip J. Haythornthwaite Greenhill Books, 2002 ISBN 1-85367-501-6 Hardback, £40.00 Anyone with a library of books on the British Army of the Napoleonic Wars will have seen some of Hamilton-Smith's illustrations reproduced, often in black and white, and the National Army Museum sells colour postcards of some of the studies. However, Greenhill have done us all a favour by publishing the collection of British Army uniform plates in colour, in a similar format to their previous book on Napoleon's Elite Cavalry. Charles Hamilton-Smith had a varied career in the British Army, serving in the 8th Light Dragoons, Hompesch's Hussars, the 60th (Royal American) Regiment, the 18th (Royal Irish) regiment, and the 6th Foot. He had experience as the Island Engineer in Jamaica, plus undertook some intelligence work, while spending much time serving as a Deputy-Assistant Quartermaster General at the Horse Guards. He had considerable artistic skills and an enquiring mind, plus a wide range of interest including natural history, costume and topography. Wellington's Army contains a chapter entitled ' The Artist and His Work' and relates the story of Hamilton-Smith's life. This in itself makes for a fascinating read about a remarkable man. He was a prolific artist, producing (by his own estimation) 38,000 drawings on various subjects. The work that we are familiar with is his 'Costumes of the Army', illustrating the uniform changes of 1811-12. Some of these were drawn from life, others were based upon pattern uniforms at the Board of Clothing, and from orderlies at the Horse Guards. These plates were completed in 1814. Sixty of his plates are reproduced in this book, covering General Officers and Staff, Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery/Engineers/ Transport and other Services, Foreign Regiments and Militia, Royal Marines/Cadets, and Troops of the East India Company. To accompany these superb plates, Philip Haythornthwaite has written an authoritative text describing the uniforms of the British Army and the changes they underwent. He has included a detailed commentary to accompany each plate, which is very useful as the text draws the reader's attention to specific parts of the uniform that are then discussed in detail. The regulations have been used to explain these points, discussing what is and what is not shown in the Plates. The colour plates tell a fascinating story of the dress and accoutrements of the British Army, including many unusual depictions such as a Major-General of Light Dragoons, Light Dragoons serving in the West Indies, and the Greek Light Infantry Regiment to name but a few. The more esoteric units of the British Army are also included. We see for example, the dress of the Cadets of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, the Chelsea Pensioners, and the Chil-dren of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. These are unusual subjects, but all are accompanied by a detailed text. Hamilton-Smith also produced charts of the facing colours and lace worn by each regiment of infantry, cavalry and artillery, including the Foreign Corps and a useful chart for the regiments of Militia. Appendix 1 lists the regiments of the British Army 1814-15, with their Colonels for the same period. Appendix 2 lists the Militia Regiments 1803-33 in order of precedence, including the Irish units. Wellington's Army is not just a book of superb illustrations that are a pleasure to look at, but also consists of an authoritative text that compliments the illustrations, making this a valuable study of the British Army of the later Napoleonic period. This is THE book of 2002 and should be on the shelf of every serious historian of the British Army. Very highly recommended. More Reviews
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