The Glorious Revolution - James II's Army at Salisbury - Part 2: Foot

 

Grand Review on Hounslow Heath, 1687

Following up on my last post about the Horse of James II's army, I here post all the information I have gathered about the Foot, again drawn from Stephen Ede-Borrett's book, cited below. Excluding the newly-raised regiments, it seems that King James had 20,920 infantry, and adding 6,200 cavalry to that, we have the 27,000 men gathered at Salisbury mentioned by John Ellis in a letter on November 24th. To this might have been added as many as 7,000 more of newly-raised regiments. This would have nearly doubled William of Orange's 14,000 troops. However, with the defection of his most able officers, King James lost heart, and soon lost his crown.

Foot

Regiments in existence before 1685
1st Foot Guards	10401	Red/blue
2nd Foot Guards	1040	Red/blue
Coldstream Guards	1040	Red/blue
Scots Guards	1040	Red/white
Irish Guards *	1040	Red/red
Royal Scots2	780	Red/white
Queen Dowager's Regiment3	780	Red/green
Holland Regiment4	780	Red/buff
Maritime Regiment5 *	780	Red/yellow
Queen Consort's Regiment6	780	Red/yellow
Scots Fuzileers7	780	Red/red
Regiments raised during James II’s reign
Royal Fuzileers8	780	Red/yellow
Princess Anne of Denmark	780	Red/yellow
Henry Cornwall	780	Red/orange
Earl of Bath	780	Blue/red
Duke of Beaufort	780	Red/buff
Duke of Norfolk	780	Red/white
Earl of Huntingdon	780	Red/yellow
Sir Edward Hales	780	Red/red
Sir William Clifton	780	Red/red
John Hales *	780	Red/red
John Wachop (Scottish)	9009	Red
Earl of Granard (Irish)	780	Red
Sir William King (Irish)	780	Red
Roger McElligott * (Irish)	780	Red
Newly Raised Regiments in 168810
Henry Gage *	780	?
Solomon Richards	780	Red/red
Duke of Newcastle *	780	?
Archibald Douglas	780	Red/grey
Bevil Skelton *	780	?
John Carne *	780	Blue/white
Earl of Stafford *	780	?

(*) represents units which were disbanded in 1689.

Units in bold represent regiments mustered from former Anglo-Scots Brigade soldiers.

Notes

1. Guards regiments were composed of 13 80-man companies, including 1 company of grenadiers. Foot regiments were organized with 13 companies of 60 men, with one company of grenadiers.
2. Alias the Royal Regiment of Foot, or Lord Douglas' Regiment.
3. Alias the Tangier Regiment, or Kirke's Lambs, after its colonel, Percy Kirke.
4. Commanded by Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe in 1688.
5. Alias Prince George of Denmark's Regiment.
6. Alias the Second Tangier Regiment, commanded by Charles Trelawney.
7. Alias the Earl of Mar's Regiment, commanded by Thomas Buchan.
8. Alias the Ordinance Regiment.
9. This regiment seems to have been comprised of 15 companies of 60 men, or perhaps 13 companies of 70 men.
10. These regiments were ordered in the Autumn of 1688, and may not have been ready for action in November. Most were disbanded in January 1689.

Works Cited

Ede-Borrett, Stephen. The Army of James II, 1685-1688. Warwick, England: Helion & Company, 2017. 

Soli Deo Gloria!