Four Regiments of Foote for Essex

Well for Lee actually but I am building up Essex's army so it's all good. This will double his infantry force so I will be moving onto his cavalry, artillery and command when I do the next lot. All figures are Baccus.

Coat red, standard conjecture. 

Lord Robartes Regiment of Foote.

Lord John Robartes was a Cornish Member of Parliament and was one of the few gentry to take up arms against the King as most of Cornwall was to be held for the King. They fought at Edgehill numbering around 500 men and survived as a Regiment until absorbed into the New Model Army in 1644. Today it exists as a Regiment of the Sealed Knot. Frustratingly the re-enactors web page which bangs on about wanting to educate us also informs that 

Edgehill marks the start of a journey that would see them fight in many major engagements across the country until being absorbed into Parliament’s New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell on its formation in 1644.

If your going to make such an elementary mistake your bound to do more harm than good. For God's sake it's Sir Thomas Fairfax you idiots! Sorry it really gets my blood up when the basics are not got right, and yes Sealed Knot that is why the English Civil War Society continues to look down it's nose at you.

Coat Tawny (orange) standard conjecture.

Charles Essex Regiment of Foote.

The regiment was actually raised in June 1642 for service in Ireland but was absorbed into Parliaments army commanded by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. Again the regiment took part in the battle of Edgehill it's Colonel being the commander of the left hand brigade so was probably commanded by Lt-Colonel Adam Cunningham on the day. The only other action I could find of it was as part of the force facing the King at Turnham Green the battle that never was and could have ended the Civil War in it's first year.

Of the four regiments I painted just this one with back and breast.

It is possible that the regiment took high losses at Edgehill or more likely suffered from desertion pre and post Edgehill as it is possible that many of the rank and file was OK with service in Ireland but not fighting the King. I think it's probable that it would have been melded with one of the other Tawny coated regiments very probably the Earl of Essex as his regiment would not be allowed to shrink to nothing. As to when, or indeed if I am not able to guess.

Coat blue, standard conjecture.

Sir William Constables Regiment of Foote.

Issued with blue coats on forming they annoyingly replaced them the following year with new ones, probably red or grey. Much of Essex's army did this so I decided just to stick with the Edgehill coats. As per the other three regiments the colour of the standards were not known. Overall I am picking standards that I think will look nice with the unit. Only the odd colour will be the same as the coat colour.

The regiment was at Edgehill and Turnham Green and had quite an active war taking part in the Siege of Reading, campaigning in the North then back south for the relief of Gloucester which lead to the First Battle of Newbury all in 1643.

1644, between 1st of March and 18th April they are supposed to have served as Dragoons, if this is so then it's probable that by this point the regiment was much reduced in size. During it's Dragoon role it was involved in the battle of Cheriton and was reduced less than a month later. 

It's a safe bet that whilst in the North it would have had a steady loss of troops through battle, disease and desertion. Being away from it's home area it would have been even more difficult to replace the loss. 

Blue coats, standard conjecture.

Sir Henry Cholmly Regiment of Foote.

I can find less detail regarding this regiment. It was possibly originally part of the London Trained Bands under the command of Cholmly's brother Hugh with Henry as the Lt-Colonel but through the disruption caused by the ship money tax Hugh fell foul of Strafford and was removed from command though he was offered it back later but refused, requesting instead it would be commanded by his brother.

It's also possible that it was either a separate regiment or was partially recruited from within the Trained Bands. Either way it's safe to assume that Henry has had some level of military command and had been involved in the Bishop Wars so was aware of the difficulty of campaigning.

The only battle I have been able to track down was Edgehill and again part of Charles Essex Brigade.

So Lee now has eight foot regiments putting him a little ahead of me, though I have cavalry, artillery and dragoons painted up. I did find it difficult going painting up these units as I also had a load of other bits on the go as well, though I did sneak in a couple of mine, more on those later.