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Re: John Churchill

Minuteman
Graham Price
Here’s an interesting fact. According to Charles Spencer, Marlborough wanted to fight the French at Waterloo in the early 1700s but was prevented by Dutch deputies
Thanks to all for your kind words. The senior officer figures that come with many of the Strelets WoSS sets, particularly the cavalry sets, lend themselves well to conversion and the 'Marlborough ensemble' here are relatively easy conversions of figures from the excellent British Cavalry set (mounted it has to be said on 'other' horses), plus a British Infantry serjeant.

Re Waterloo: Yes, an interesting fact indeed, as is also the case that Ramillies, site of one of Marlborough's most famous victories, is only about 40 minutes drive from Mont St Jean.

Re: Dutch deputies: I'm reading the late Richard Holmes' very good book on the Duke of Marlborough, and it is clear from this that there were several occasions when Marlborough's instinct to 'go for it' during the campaigns in Flanders was held back by the Dutch deputies' veto. Let us remember nevertheless that the Dutch deputies were representing different parts of what we now think of as 'the Netherlands' and so had to consider things from their own Regional perspective. Let us also remember that Dutch soldiers constituted a large part of the armies that Marlborough commanded, and fought with tremendous valour and tenacity on several crucial occasions.
Hi Minuteman,

Thank you!

Absolutely! No criticism of the Dutch Deputies or their nation was intended. In fact they had suffered greatly from the attentions of Louis XIV over decades and often on their own. In 1666 they were a major military power to easily rival England - who can forget they burned the Royal Navy at Chatham! - but by 1700 we’re forced to be more cautious. We Brits usually tend to forget that right from those days up to the major wars of the last century Great Britain’s (England’s before the Act of Union) military campaigns have relied strongly upon European allies to be effective - vide the Waterloo Campaign that many seem to think was exclusively British but was backed by allies of various quality from Prussia & Hanover to the slightly more ambivalent Belgians who were brigaded into a Nation they didn’t want to be in and whose sympathies were divided. We have been lucky in our allies and sometimes in our enemies!

And also, forgot to say, this is excellent modelling!

Re: John Churchill

Good morning,
What a fantastic realisation!
It is going very well along the box art Strelets is now putting with the WSS range.
It is just encouraging me to put my savings into it.
Cheers
CPN

Re: John Churchill

Well done and the waterloo story is new to me, all round great stuff.

Re: John Churchill

Nice to have imparted something to you as I have been a fan of your figure painting for many years, since saw first examples on the HaT website!

Re: John Churchill

Thank you Graham, I am itching to paint again, but other stuff is getting in the way, I say as three Mars sets have dropped through the letterbox today :innocent: , I usually fish lots this time of year, but I am also converting a van to a camper van, and have moved hobby rooms from a large bedroom to the smallest, so lots going on and my painting has had to give, but the chaos will not last forever,once again thanks for that snippet, I have day dreamed/wondered since reading it ... what if ? would history be significantly different etc etc, a gem that set me thinking and brightened up my day.

Re: John Churchill

The recent Strelets sets certainly do have some great senior officers and you've done a splendid job on these. An excellent display of lace and frills. Your Mr. Churchill is a very fine looking fellow indeed. Perhaps he might accept a small gift as a token of our appreciation?



Interesting that The Battle of Waterloo might have been fought 100 years earlier. I'm sure I heard of another battle thereabouts, was it 100 years later?

Re: John Churchill (and Waterloo, Scots Greys and all)

Thank you Graeme, the house will do nicely (well, plenty of space for an ever-expanding model soldier collection)!

Regarding the Waterloo 'connections'. It is interesting perhaps to note that towards the end of the battle of Ramillies in May 1706, Hays Regiment of Scottish Dragoons encountered and scattered part of the French Regiment du Roi, capturing colours in the process. Hay's Dragoons were part of Lumley's English/Scots/Irish cavalry Brigade, and known as 'The Grey Dragoons' already by that time; they became the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons, and their success on the field of Ramillies gave them the status they then enjoyed as an 'elite' British cavalry unit...and the right (reputedly) to wear grenadier caps, later bearskins.

Scots Dragoons as part of an English/Scots/Irish cavalry Brigade defeating French infantry and capturing colours....and all in the middle of what is now Belgium*. Sounds familiar, surely?

[* As noted earlier in this thread, Waterloo and Ramillies are really quite close, geographically: Less than an hour's drive in today's terms, a couple of days march in early C18th Army terms]

Re: John Churchill

A pleasure to see these. Praise indeed to Minuteman and thanks to him for sharing.

With regard to officers, even regimental officers, we are still in the somewhat alien territory of being pre-uniform. Uniform = livery, livery = servant in contemporary minds, so it seems it was the best Marlborough could do sometimes to get his regimental officers to wear red along with their men. Matching the men's regimental facings was probably an ambition too far in many cases!

Thus, rank is largely apparent from the degree of decoration and subject to the individual's taste. Any impressively be-laced and be-wigged figure can be painted up as a senior, field or general officer in this period, and Minuteman furnishes us with a wonderful example of this.

Bravo!

Re: John Churchill

Edwardian
A pleasure to see these. Praise indeed to Minuteman and thanks to him for sharing.

With regard to officers, even regimental officers, we are still in the somewhat alien territory of being pre-uniform. Uniform = livery, livery = servant in contemporary minds, so it seems it was the best Marlborough could do sometimes to get his regimental officers to wear red along with their men. Matching the men's regimental facings was probably an ambition too far in many cases!

Thus, rank is largely apparent from the degree of decoration and subject to the individual's taste. Any impressively be-laced and be-wigged figure can be painted up as a senior, field or general officer in this period, and Minuteman furnishes us with a wonderful example of this.

Bravo!
Very informative!
Thank you