A small Dutch Brigade

So at last a small Dutch brigade is ready consisting of  a battalion of the first regiment of Waldeck, two grenadier battalions (Buseck and Larrey) and the hussars of Timmermans. 

The Waldeckers and grenadiers are of the great Emperor Toad range, the hussars from Forgotten Glorious.

The infantry battalions had battalion guns manned by artillery men (so in artillery uniform) and not by commandeered infantry men (as eg in the French army). 

The Dutch figures are by Emperor Toad and are just great. The battalion guns are by Trent and Perry.

Hollandse and Zwitserse Garde in the French Revolutionary period

Hollandse Garde

Starting with the Hollandse Garde (Dutch Guard) which was in the pay of the province of Holland and its proprietor was the Stadtholder William V of Orange-Nassau. 
The regiment was raised in 1599 as a regiment of Nassau, since 1674 a guard regiment and since 1702 called the regiment Hollandse Garde.

Since the reorganisation of 1752, the regiment had 2 battalions each with 6 musketeer companies and one grenadier company although formally there were just 14 companies of which the first two were grenadier and the other twelve musketeers. The grenadiercompanies (as in all Dutch infantry regiments) were also referred as Lijfcompagnieën (Life companies)

Regarding its flag; in 1786 the existing flags were under pressure of the then ruling Patriots changed as these didn't like the Orangist heraldric signs which were on the flags.
As with the help of an invading Prussian army the patriots were chased out of Holland in 1787,the Orangists became the ruling class again which resulted in 1788 in new flags (with orangist heraldic signs of course ) for the Hollandse Garde.

The patriot-period colonels flag looked like this (from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam):

This is the backside which shows (unclear I admit) an arm with sword coming out of a small cloud.
The front side shows the same arrangements only the middle oval is the weapon of Holland (red lion on gold background). I don't have a coloured image of that side but will try to get it.  

This 1786 design was changed in 1788 into the colonelsflag underneath of which there are two in the Rijksmuseum so probably both battalions had the same colonelsflag. This is unusual as mostly only the first battalion as fas as we know, had the colonelsflag. 

As the pré 1786 designs are known (in the Rijksmuseum also) both flags must be of the post 1788 period.

The post 1788 flags in the pictures show:

The left one is 98*106 cm of which the background colour is ecru or an offwhite. The backside is the same.
The right one is 117*97 cm with also as background colour ecru. Again, the backside is the same as the frontside.

The regimental colour isn't known but there is a picture of the 1st battalion of the guard of around 1770 (underneath) which shows this older design of the white colonelscolour and an orange regimental one.

As the design of the post 1788 regimental flag isn't known, I would suggest for now, the same design for both flags, just different background colour. 

Note the white/silve tassels on the flagpoles. The flagpoles should according to the reglement, painted black.

Regarding the uniforms, Macalister Loup shows the uniform  as underneath

Other pictures of the Hollandse garde are:

         

An older picture of an officer show the older grenadier bearskin which was worn probably up to around 1770. After that, the bearskin without frontplate was used and this was the example for the rest of the Dutch army (this is mentioned in the reglement of 1772). 
Notice that the bag of the grenadierbeasrkin is red; the same as the colour of the facings.

The drummers wore the following:

I believe that the first two are musicians with the yellow/gold lacing and the drummers with the white/silver lacing are drummers of the musketier companies.



Zwitserse Garde

The Zwitserse garde (Swiss guard) was raised from various Swiss companies in the service of the Dutch State in 1749 although various Swiss regiments were already in the service of the Dutch Republic for a long time.

In the budget of 1792 the regiment is mentioned as consisting of one battalion of 8 strong companies but probably these would be used as two battalions, each of four companies.
All Swiss regiments had no seperate grenadier companies but grenadiers were integral to each company but probably in the field were used as an separate company.
The first company of the regiment was called the lijf company or Prinzen Compagnie as the Prinz of Orange (The Stadtholder) was its inhaber and owner of the first company.

Each company had its own flag (so in total eight flags were carries but the first company had the white colonelsflag and the 7 other companies had an regimental one.

The colonelsflag on the left one is from the Museum at Zürich; the colonels on the right is from the Dutch Military Museum and is acquired from relatives of the last colonel of the regiment. Probably the white is faded.

Both flags look very similar.

The regimental flag shows the very well known Swiss flames design.(picture also from the Zurich museum)

 

While the Hollandse garde had white/silver tassels on the flag, the swiss flag above shows an orange cravat. In fact all Swiss flags shows the orange cravat.

Some uniforms of the Swiss guard:

 

Notice that the bag of the Swiss grenadier bearsskins were blue although the facing colour was red.  

Probably again musicians (with yellow lacing) of the Swiss guard.

Completed Armee du Nord infantry brigade

 At last a completed (well, one battalion gun is missing) infantry brigade of the Armee du Nord 1793-1795 consisting of two demi brigades each of one line and two volunteer battalions, a small combined grenadier battalion and an artillery battery (8 pdr).

Most of the figures are Eureka, with a sprinkling of some other firms. 

Each battalion will be of 6 bases of which one is a battalion gun (the regulars are missing one base of infantry and the battalion guns should imho be manned by white coated artillerymen from the battalion itself). Also one volunteer battalion misses its battalion gun. All missing parts are being in the painting que. 

The artillery battery consists of two guns, a dismounted artillery officer, a limber and ammunition caisson. It needs some room when depolyed.  

Various infomation about the Dutch infantry

I was reading the Reglement issued 28th of February 1772 in which various specific information is given about weapons, colour and sabreknots etc.
So I thought that would be usefull for those who like to paint Dutch infantry in 28mm or 15mm.

Spontoons (officers) and halberds (sergeants)

The Spontoon of the officers should be black and max 7 Rijnlandse Voet or 219,8 cm

There are various models of spontoons, from the Dutch military museum underneath some pictures. The first one had the coat of arms of the Province of Utrecht, the second one the coat of arms of Williem IV or V and the last one of the Province of Zeeland.

 

An officer of the Swiss guard (but no black flagpole) 

The halberds of the sergeants should also be black and max 7 Rijnlandse Voet or 219,8 cm

Sword-knots:

Of the officers: tassel and knot orange/silver  
of the sergeants: tassel and knot silver and orange
of the other ranks: tassel white but the knot in various company colours with those of the first battalion in one full colour, those of the second battalion in two colours

company	1st bat	2nd bat
1st company (grenadiers)	Orange	Orange and white
2nd company	Red	Red and white
3rd company	White	Yellow and white
4th company	Blue	Green and white
5th company	Black	Blue and white
6th company	Yellow	Black and white
7th company	Green	Red and blue

The measurements of the Flags:

In the reglement is stated, that new flags should be square with each side in „Rijnlandse“ measurements 3 Voet and 2 Duim (a voet = 31,4 cm, a duim 2,61 cm) so the flags should be 99,42 cm square (or approx 1 metre square).

The flagpole needs to be in total (incl metal point and shoe) 9 Rijnlandse Voet or 282,6 cm
The flagpole needs to be black.

When you look at the Dutch flags which are in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam (and which were pictured in an earlier post) you see that these flags are almost 1 meter square. Some a few cm shorter on one side and sometimes a litle bit wider.

Of the Swiss flags is said, that they are bigger then the Dutch flags so probably these are an older model (or they just didn't conform to the dutch standards).  

Standardbearer Hollandse garde

Clothing/hats officers

Except the guard, no other regimental officers may have gold or silver lacing on their coats. Even the buttons need to be of the metal of the regiment and no gold or silver ones.
Only on hats it is allowed to have gold or silver lace of max one "Rijnlandse duim" of 2,61 cm. 

The knots on the hat of the officer will always be in orange and silver.

Neckties will be always black.

Clothing/hats other ranks

Coats of corporals are always the same as other ranks but their hats will be in the style of sergeants. Hatlace of other ranks is white. (probably in 1777 this was chaged in that corporals should have an epaulette on the right shoulder in silver or gold).

Coats of sergeants will have their lace etc (if the regimetn has lace) in gold or silver while the lace with corporals and other ranks will be in white. 

Neckties will be always black.

Lace of drummers

These will have as their lacing on lapels, cuffs and swallownests in the colours of the regimental commander.

Remark: afaik sadly no colours are mentioned or known but maybe for the regiments connected to the house of orange thes would be orange or orange/blue but the Hollandse Garde grenadier drummers underneath shows only gold (first) or white (second). The first one could a drummer of the band.

 
Notice that on the first picture the drumrim is blue white striped, on the second red/white triangels.

Dutch flags of the french revolution (an introduction)

 Although in the last post I already showed some known colonels flag, I think it is good to give some background to organisation and flags of the Dutch infantry.

In 1752 (after the War of the Austrian Succession or WAS) the Dutch infantry was reorganised by uniting 2 1-battlion strong regiments into one regiment or disbanding regiments.
The National, German and Scottish infantry had the same organisation with two battalion each of 6 musketeer and one grenadier company.
The Walloon regiment was the only one which up to around 1790 had 3 battalions but with the same amount of companies per battalion.
The Scottish regiments became in 1783 national regiments but kept its organisation.

The Swiss regiments were different:
- The Swiss guard had 4 companies per battalion
- The Swiss line regiments had 6 companies per battalion.
Both had about 10 grenadiers incorporated into each company and didn't have a seperate genadiercompany. It is possible and likely, that in the field the grenadiers were combined into a seperate unit or company.

As units were combined or disbanded in 1752 I think at that time most new regiments received new flags although the first time they would carry the older flags until replaced

Most of the regiments would have two flags per battalion which probably was one colonels and three regimentals but up to now I haven't find a definitieve proof of that. So maybe each battalion had one colonels and one regimental flag.
The Swiss had 4 (guard) or six (line) flags per battalion which probably resulted in one colonel and seven regimental flags (guard) or one colonel and eleven regimental flags (line). It is not known if the Swiss regiments had all their flags with them when on campaign in the 1793-1795 period.

Regarding the flags themselves:

Colonels flags

- The colonelsflag were probably in white but the existing flags (in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) are now in an offwhite (called ecrú) colour.
The wexisting flags measure about one meter square.

The flags shows:

x- mostly the coat of arms of the province who paid for the regiment. In this case the provincial coat of arms was placed on a field of trophies as flags, canons, weapons etc.
x- sometimes the coat of arms of the Republic itself (this could be on the back of a colonels colour as is known by the flag of the province of Overijssel
x- the Orange related (eg Orange Friesland regiment) or Hollandse garde regiments probably all had heraldic signs of the Orange family on the colonels flag
x-and probably some colonels flag had the coat of arms of the (country of the) proprietor eg in the German regiments

As said, the flag could have two identical sides but also known is the Overijssel flag with one side the coat of arms of Overijssel and on the back the coat of arms of the Republic.

Of some provinces, the flags are known and were portrayed in the previous blogpost but other are not known.

Regimental flags

- The regimental flag(s) were coloured and bore probably the coat of arms of the proprietor. In the case in which the Stadholder was the proprietor, this regimental was orange as is shown on pictures of the flag of the Hollandse Garde.

No flags of National Regiments exists anymore and only some of Orange regiments and of German regiments. So only you can make an educated guess how the flas would have looked. Someday my interpetration will be published here.

 Flags of Swiss regiments

These have a different history to the Dutch and look different; they have their own kind of colonels flag (but all in white) and as regimental flag the well known flag with multicoloured flames. 

I have pictures of most of these colour from various sources so these will appear here sometime if I find the time.

Flags of hired units

This means eg French emigré units (no flags known yet) and German hired troops (some known).

If available, these will appear here sometime.

Colonel flags/colours of the Dutch regiments 1793/1795

Dutch "national" regiments had two flags per battalion. 

Not known is if each battalion had a colonels flag and one regimental flag but probably the first battalion had one colonels and one regimental flag; the second battalion two regimental. This was usual in most other countries.

In practice this doesn't matter for the 1793-1795 period as national regiments had just one battalion in the field (1793 of 8 companies, 1794/1795 of 6 companies) which, again, probably means this battalion had the colonels and the regimental flag. 

What is known of the colonels flag is, that most had the coat of arms of the paying province  or if the regiment was connected to House of Orange the colonels flag had a coat of arms connected to the House of orange (eg the three Nassau-Orange regiments).

As some of the colonels colours are in the public domain (site of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) some known colonels colours are underneath with a remark of the regiments which had those colours.
As mostly only one colonels flag per province is known, it is of course possible that different designed provincial colours were used.

For dating and description I used the information in the book "Vlaggen, vaandels & standaarden van het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam" by M. v.d. Brandhof which book ahs pictures of the flags but sadly only in black/white.

Regarding the measurements of the flags; in the reglement of the the 28th of February 1772 is stated that new flags should be  square with each side in „Rijnlandse“ measurements 3 Voet and 2 Duim (a voet = 31,4 cm, a duim = 2,61 cm) so the flags should be 99,42 cm square (or approx 1 metre square).
I have given underneath the measurements of each flag in the Rijksmuseum and they are almost of this size. 

Starting with the colonelsflag of  Nassau-Orange regiments. There are two flags in the collection of the rijksmuseum.

As there were three regiments (nr I, nr II and nr III which later received the name Erfprins) I think they all had the same colonels flag but maybe different coloured regimental ones. 

Regarding the flags, both sides are the same and the background of both flags is ecru or off-white but probably original white. The first one is 105*98 cm; the second one 108*96 cm.

The next one is the colonels flag of the province of  Groningen (also called Stad en Lande). The flag could be used by:

- infantry regiment nr 2 Van Maneil

- infantry regiment nr 9 Van Randwijck. The book "Het Staatse leger" mentions the province of Groningen as the paying province of nr 9 but the military budget shows Holland as paying province. But as also the "Naamregister der Heeren Officieren ...." of 1792 shows nr 9 on the paylist of Groningen I will go with that.

The flag measured 99*95 cm and both sides are the same. Background is ecru (but probably was white).

Then we have the flag of the province of Holland which was the richest province so she payed the most regiments. I think there were more different flags with minor differences but sadly only one is preserved. 

These could be used by the infantry regiments

nr 3 Van Dopf

nr 4 Van Wilcke

nr 5 Des Vilattes

nr 7 De Bons

nr 8 Bosc de la Calmette

nr 9 van Randwijck (maybe- see above)

nr 12 Bedaulx

nr 14 Hessen Darmstadt

nr 15 De Petit

nr 18 van Wartensleben

nr 21 Van Westerloo (mariniers)

nr 22 van Nijvenheim

nr 23 Stuart

nr 24 Bentinck

Both sides are identical. The flag measures 98*106cm. 

Te last flags preserved are 2 flags of the province of Overijssel.

There is only one regiment payed by Overijssel in the 1793-1795 period which is:

nr 20 van Geusau

So if only the first battalion had one colonels colour why exists two?

This could mean that also the second battalion had a colonels colour or it is of a regiment which doesn't exist anymore in 1793.

Also known is the backside which shows instead of the coat of arms of Overijssel in the midst of the flag, the arms of the Republic which is

There is a very faint picture of the backside in the before mentioned book. I am trying to get a picture from the Rijksmuseum. and will picture it here then.