Dress

The general lines are indicated by the illustrations, and followed the lines of civilian dress of the period. Even the standing force, the small Sovereign’s Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard (who served both on foot with bow and halberd, and mounted with javelin) seem to have confined uniformity to jackets and caps. When raised by Henry VII, the jacket was white and green, with a rose on the chest; under Henry VIII and thereafter they wore red jackets, guarded in black, with rose and crown in gold, and red or black cap with white plumes, but breeches and hose could be of various colours. As gentlemen, the Pensioners probably scorned uniformity, but the illustrations may give some idea of their dress. When they became Gentlemen at Arms under James I, they wore red and yellow plumes.

Militia contingents, which could be of company size or even larger, were supplied with uniform clothing, and some examples of this are listed; 1540 — London Trained Bands: white jackets, city arms front and back, some with buff jerkins; 1553 — Canterbury: yellow; 1556 — Reading ; (billmen) blue coats with red crosses; 1550s — Surrey: (demilances) red cassock with double white guard (border); 1558 — London: white coats, slashed green, with red crosses; 1560s — Lancashire: (archers) blue cassock, double white guard, red cap, buckskin jerkin; 1560s — Derby: light blue; Stafford: red; 1576 — Lancashire: white cassocks with one red and one green lace; 1577 — Lancashire: pale blue cbat, double yellow or red guard, white doublet, pale blue breeches with red or yellow stripe down seam, white stockings; 1585 — London: red; 1585 — Essex: (pikemen) blue mandelion (tabard-like garment worn over armour); 1587 — Hertfordshire: (trained bands) red coats; 1588 — Huntingdon; (the foot) ‘popinjay’ (parrot) green, trimmed with the colours of the captain of the company;

A English officer of the 1580s carrying a partisan and wearing a sash, usually red in colour, b and c Two views of an English mounted bugler-of the same period. Note ruff-type collar, lace on front of jacket, and dagger carried on belt, d A man of the London Trained Bands of Henry VIITs period in white jacket with red St George's cross on front and rear, e Elizabethan Yeoman of the Guard. Jacket red with black stripes and gold patterning on breast. Rose is red-white-green. Cap black with grey feather and brow band. Ruff white. Breeches yellowish, slashed pink. Hose tan, shoes black. Halberd head and sword hilt silver. Halberd shaft dark brown. Scabbard black.

‘Henry Vlll's Army'—a 16th Century drawing showing the army drawn up in three ‘Battles', and including billmen, bowmen, arquebusiers, artillery and lancers (British Museum).

Miniature Figurines, Warrior and Hinton Hunt figures depicting the centre and left flank of an English regiment of the mid-16th Century, with billmen, pikemen, bowmen and arquebusiers, showing the formation adopted in action. Flag is as ‘D’ in drawings.

(Sir Henry Cromwell’s Company of Horse) straw colour, trimmed with his colours; 1590 — Canterbury: red; 1596 — London: red; 1599 — Essex: russet coat and hose.

Contingents raised by noblemen might be clad in family or other colours (for example the Earl of Surrey brought 500 men in white and green to Flodden) and it seems that larger groups were sometimes uniformed — at the siege of Boulogne, Henry Vlll’s Main Battle and Rear Guard were dressed in red with yellow trim, the other forces in blue with red trim — and in 1558, 8,000 English sent to aid Spain in the Netherlands all wore blue.

In the early 16th Century, white was a favourite colour for English troops (the Tudor colours were green and white); in the later part of the century red became most widely used. Blue, however, was also widely worn, and, for Irish service, cassocks (loose long or short coats, sometimes hooded or sleeveless, and worn over equipment) were usually to be of russet, green, or ‘sad’ colours. Cavalry in Elizabeth’s reign seem to have favoured red, tawny or orange colours; Border horse usually wore white, and could wear 'blue bonnets’ like the Scots. English archers, too, often wore ‘Scots caps’ in red or blue, over their helmets, and cavalry helmets were likewise sometimes covered with red or parti-coloured caps.

The sign of the English soldier, worn on breast and back in the first half of the 16th Century, and found on shields and pennons later, was the red cross of St George. Toward the end of the century sashes, worn about the waist or over the right shoulder by officers, and some pikemen and cavalry, became the usual national distinction. Red, or red and white, seems to have been worn by the English.

Officers were distinguished from their men, just as in other armies of this period, by armament (sword and buckler, half-pike, or partisan being favourite officers’ weapons), and by rich clothing with silk and lace, gold or silver trim, decorated armour, and jewellery.