Sunday 29 July 2012

RP No 82 NYW - Lord Clare's Dragoons




First day back to work, I'm knackered, stayed up far too late playing Call of Duty last night, then up at 4 o'clock, I'm not getting any younger!!!! Fran's his normal happy-go-lucky self! He says his given up painting silly bloody figures and he wants me to paint more of his crap!! Been playing poker on Facebook and had a Maccy D's breakfast wrap so I feel a little more human now.............anyway.........

Lord Clare's Dragoons
A leading supporter of King James in, County Clare was Daniel O’Brien, 3rd Lord Clare, who lived in Carrigaholt Castle. In January 1689, Lord Clare seized Clare Castle. On his orders the Protestant men of military age were rounded up and imprisoned in the castle, since their loyalty to King James could not be counted on.

However not all Ireland supported King James; the Protestants of Ulster supported William of Orange. It was clear war would have to be fought to decide who would eventually own the land and thus the wealth of Ireland. To help with the war effort a three monthly tax of £1,798 was levied on County Clare. A Cavalry regiment known as Clare Dragoons was established. They were called dragoons because it was thought the smoke rising from their muskets resembled dragons. A supply of good horses was essential for this regiment, so an order was issued for the seizure of all horses in the county for the service of the king.

The hastily recruited dragoons had little experience of fighting and so did poorly in battle. The regiment was sent north to help with the siege of Derry in July 1689. They were drawn into an ambush at a narrow pass in Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh and cut to pieces and routed by a superior force.
 Clare’s Dragoons were disbanded and the troops placed into other units. A year later the unit was reorganized and participated in the Battle of the Boyne as one of two regiments of King James’ cavalry that is said to have performed poorly.
 Upon defeat at the Boyne in 1691, Lord Clare was outlawed and his estates in Clare forfeited to the Crown. He died later that year .
The figures are from Essex and are actually French Dragoons, there is no information about their uniform other than being known as the Yellow Dragoons, whether that meant coat colour, cuff colour or even flag colour, I don't know, so I've gone for a grey coat cuffed yellow, with yellow banners.





1st Squadron

2nd Squadron


Dis-mounted Dragoons

51 comments:

  1. Looking really great with the yellow!

    Fran...He seems to be the Irish friendly giant?

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    1. I have had no trouble with you, that is what I base my comment on! ;-)

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  2. Once again a vey nice regiment! The colours are really great, Ray, good work!
    Best,
    Phil.

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  3. I really like the look of these mate.

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  4. Nice job Ray despite whether the uniform is correct or not they look bloody good. Silly bloody figures don't need painting nice figures do, get rid of your silly bloody figures Fran :-)

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  5. Very nice Ray, love the colour palette that you've used.

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  6. A very bright and cheerful bunch Ray. Well done on these. Keep your spirits up mate, its only the start of a new week!

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  7. Excellent painting Ray. Another stunning unit.

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  8. I love the uniforms and colours used Ray. I lovely unit.

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  10. Hhumph! What I was going to say was that this is a lovely unit, nicely painted. I wonder if 28mm was the way to go or if I should have followed my first thoughts and gone for 15mm.

    I'm now also wondering if Macs like Blogger cos this bloody thing seems to do what it feels like!

    Gaz.

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    1. 15mm, 15mm, 15mm = Cheap, cheap, cheap!

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    2. Gaz get hold of firefox, Safari doest like things not played strictly by the book. Haven't had a problem since changing, I now love my Mac.

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    3. Er . . . this is Firefox Dave :O(

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    4. Err indeed, well that my theory buggered......

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  11. Nice looking unit, will they get much use dismounted or by this time were they doing most of their fighting mounted?

    Ian

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    1. They still dismounted in this period, so I expect to use them quite a lot......fingers crossed!

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  12. A great amount of very interesting information, and a very nice unit. You have a wonderful collection now!

    Best regards.

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  13. The yellow and tan suits them vert nicely. As good as they look, I hope they perform better on the tabletop than in real life!

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    1. Me too, as long as I'm playing the Jacobite's, that is!

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  14. nice stuff, great colours and good to see dismounted figures as well

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  15. Nice unit and history. I really like your yellow. What did you use?

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    1. Its a 50/50 mix of Vallejo 949 Light Yellow and Humbrol 24 Matt Trainer Yellow!

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  16. Another fine looking unit, Ray. I like their unique headgear. Best, Dean

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  17. Another great looking unit Ray. Like the choice of coat colour

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  18. Superb looking unit Ray, I like the uniform of these chaps

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  19. The light grey and yellow work well together, lovely looking unit.

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  20. Excellent background text to support your excellent figures - well done!
    -Curt

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  21. Nice unit, Ray! Always a pleasure to view your work.

    John G

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  22. A superb looking unit, nicely done!

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  23. Great work, Ray...on everyone's figures.

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  24. Very nice work and I really like the grey and yellow combo!

    Christopher

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  25. I like the look of the colors here Ray. Sometimes I wonder though how many of the troops fighting for James would have had uniforms that looked as nice as this. Where would the uniforms have come from and who would be paying for them, This is probably a dumb question, but it's one I've been wanting to ask.

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    1. Some of the regts, including this one, were part of the English standing army before the rebellion. So they were already uniformed. Most of the time it was up to the unit commander to pay for the uniforms and equipment of their regt. Some Irish regts were clothed by the French and some of the newly raised units wore civilian clothes, I've just not painted any of them ones up yet.

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  26. these are the nicest yet.really nice paint job..BTW went to the Boyne site on friday.great visitors centre,nice paintings and life size manniquins.laser map....mmmm....lasers.the only thing that let it down was the lack of on site info boards that should have been dotted around the area.unless i missed them.but an excellent day out,especially if its sunny.good family amenities as well.no pics forgot the camera.
    john

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  27. You've painted very nicely the yellow colour Ray. That's not an easy thing to do, but, you managed very well! :)
    Nice horse riders.... :)

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    1. I agree... yellows are hard to do, but Ray always does a nice job on them!

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  28. Handsome unit. You are a true artist, Ray. Always impressive work!

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  29. I like these little models. More realness in my eyes.

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  30. Excellent work on these again Ray! I like the colours!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.be/

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  31. if you got harmarn murtagh's battle of the boyne book he has a print of clare's dragoons in their yellow coat with red cuffs

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