RP No 81 King James' Foot Guards 1689

My first post in a week!! So I though i was about time I bored you all to tears with another of my recently painted units, but in the case it's 2 units! The 1st and 2nd battalions of King James' Footguards.

In 1688 King James transferred 3 regts of foot to England from Ireland. The Duke of Tyconnell raised three new regt’s to replace them, one being, the Guards. The original commander of the unit was the 2nd Duke of Ormond , but in 1688 he declared his allegiance to William III so the command went over to Englishman William Dorrington. They fought at Derry, The Boyne and at Aughrim, where Dorrington was taken prisoner.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, in 1691, which ended the war in Ireland, a force of 20,000 Jacobite’s arrived to France, in an event known as the "Flight of the Wild Geese". These men were kept separate from other Irish regts, and were formed into King James’ own army in exile, albeit in the pay of France. Lord Dorrington’s foot, Later Roth’s or Rooth’s, were formed from what remanded of the 1st and 2nd battalions of King James’ Roayl Irish Footguards.