British Military Uniforms

[Curate]

Whenever I read the novel, I tend to visualise the British soldiers as wearing red uniforms with white hats ( like the ones as seen in the film 'Zulu' ). The animation at the start of the PC game only served to cement this image. However, I've noticed that in the picture of the artilleryman in the Pendragon photo gallery ( the one where he's lying under the bodies of his fallen comrades ), he seems to be wearing a dark green or maybe brown jacket. So can anyone tell me exactly what the British army was wearing circa 1898?

[Gnorn]

I've been wondering about this also. But however, the story was written in 1898, but is was set in the early 20th century (and I'm sure some buffs have calculated what year exactly it would be) so I think the question should be what the uniform looked like in the first years of the 20th century.

-Gnorn

[Killraven]

In the novel, soldiers of different regiments and disciplines wore different colours...ie the grenadiers were dressed in white, sappers in navy (??) and regular army could well have been in plain khaki (camouflage did not come about until much later last century..). Maybe Pendragon know this and will also show this attention to detail?

[Stewymartian]

The British army changed from using red uniforms to khaki uniform during the late 1890's. This came about primarily from experiences during the Boer war. Military technology progressed at an incredible rate during the last half of the 19th century. Rifles in particular reached a new level of sophistication. Smaller bore weapons (eg, the british .303 cartridge) using smokeless propellents gave the average infantry soldier the range and accuracy to hit targets at incredible ranges (The sights on a Lee-Enfield for example go up to about 1400 yards).

Red uniforms suddenly became a liability as they turned people into targets. This became brutally apparent during the Boer war when red-clad British soldiers found themselves being picked off at ease by well practised Boer marksmen. The change to khaki uniforms allieviated the problem as it made soldiers harder to spot at long range.

So by the time of TWOTW (Though Wells mentions no specific date we can assume it to be about 1901), the army would have been entirely equipped in khaki uniforms, with red only being used ceremonially, as it is now.

[Gnorn]

Wells describes the sappers he is talking to the morning of the fight, as wearing red tuniques and blue shirts. But he doesn't descripe any of the other military outfits. Even about the artilleryman he says nothing in regards to clothing.

-Gnorn

[Charles]

By the 1890s the British had indeed changed undress uniform colors across the board, most to khaki, though Hussars - depending on their unit, wore a darker tunic with a mohair-like trim, and pillbox cap, and for the reasons Stewymartian pointed out. Interestingly enough it took the Germans until 1910 to standardize their 'feldgrau' uniform.

Camouflage began to develop during the First World War when the French army created its camouflage unit, and many famous artists on all sides - including Picasso, Marc and Kandinsky - were employed by their militaries to paint patterns on planes, artillery, tarpaulins, and even helmets - as is seen with the famous Belgian "Tortoise shell" pattern. During the Second World War, the SS were first to issue real camouflage field uniforms in the form of a smock and helmet cover. Their reversible white snow camo uniform was effective as well... In time, everyone else got the message.

[Geis]

I found this website that may give you wnat you're looking for:

www.military-prints.com/uniforms.htm

[Killraven]

Gnorn said:

Wells describes the sappers he is talking to the morning of the fight, as wearing red tuniques and blue shirts. But he doesn't descripe any of the other military outfits. Even about the artilleryman he says nothing in regards to clothing.

-Gnorn

He did distinctly mention that the grenadiers wore white.

I'll check the reference and report back

[Colonel]

The british wore red uniforms with dark-blue trousers and khaki-coloured (sometimes white) helmets during the Boer war. The Boer war raged for four years, 1899-1903.
So during the martian invasion (I see "early in the 20th century" as somewhere between 1900-1904) the regular british infantry should have worn red.
British artillerymen often wore blue uniforms, but sometimes the same uniforms as the infantry, so the dark-green uniform in the Pendragon trailer (which I think is from the early ww1 period) is correct, depending on what you see as "early in the 20th century".

[Mr Death Ray]

I think the British wore redcoats but I don't know about white pith helmets. When I searched '1890s british uniform' on google it came up with this forum!

[Gnorn]

lol!

[malfunkshun]

the royal field artillery on that page are wearing khaki uniforms, i assume these are artillerymen

[Stewymartian]

The british army was wearing khaki by the time of TWOTW, any red-coated soldiers you may see associated with the book are completely anachronistic.

images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1855326132.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

This address here will show you the cover of the osprey book that deals with the second boer war (1898-1902). As you can see there's not a red coat in sight.

[Mr Death Ray]

The soldiers in the link fighting in south Africa. WOTW is set in England and HGW describes some officers as wearing white, blue, and red.

[Stewymartian]

Wells was not an expert on military matters, and as far as i know white was never a colour worn by the british army. However, Wells wrote the book in 1896-7, before the second boer war and he may have been thinking about military uniforms he had seen a few years previously, before khaki had become universal issue.

The only difference between the army in England and South africa may have been in the headware, there would not have been completely different uniform for each force, although the africa troops may have got the newer equipment first.

[kingofthemorlocks]

GeorgeHayes said:

I think the British wore redcoats but I don't know about white pith helmets. When I searched '1890s british uniform' on google it came up with this forum!

Same thing happened to me.

[dudalb]

The British Army changed from Red to Khaki for field in the mid 1880's, as a result of the First, not the second, Boer war(1881). Red was retained by some units for ceremonial occasions. The red uniforms you see used by the guards at Buckingham Palace and The Tower of London are Basically the pre mid 1880's red uniform coat.
The Pith helmets would have been the same as in the "Zulu War "era,but with a Khaki covering except on ceremonail occasions.
Wells, descriptions of British Military uniforms is not exactly the most accurate in the world.
The original 1939 film "The Four Feathers" gives you a very accurate idea of what the British Army would have been wearing in 1898. The 1898 Sudan Campaign is the war covered in the film, and they used many actual uniforms of the period since they were still around in 1939.

[SteveV4V]

^{The British Army changed from Red to Khaki for field}

Yes, for the field is the key word there. Much of what folks are referring to concerning the British Army wearing khaki is whilest they were on campaign in Africa and elsewhere, however if these units were garrisoned in England late 1890s then they may very well have been wearing a more traditional, dressy-type uniform. Keep in mind that even in the USA around this time (during the Spanish-American war), the American soldiers that stormed San Juan Hill were also dressed in Khaki while their counterparts elsewhere were wearing the then traditional blue uniform... the khaki was not at that time a complete service-wide replacement for the standard blue uniform and I strongly suspect the same was true for the British.

The problem when trying to figure out military uniforms of a particular time period is that although we know the British had a Khaki uniform in the late 1890s, that does not mean that every soldier in that period wore the same uniform. Also, It is doubtful that these units on duty in England at the time were wearing pith-style helmets. Those helmets were made of cork for campaign use in hotter climates.. but then again, who knows for sure?

[ArtilleryMan]

I remember that only other regiment in the novel, apart from the Royal Artillery, Hussars and sappers, were the Cardigans.
I did a search on Google and after having several thousand pages on Scandinavian pop groups I then decided to refine the search to "Royal Cardigans".
Welsh regiment from Cardiganshire... in Wales.

[Phil]

SteveV4V said:

^{Also, It is doubtful that these units on duty in England at the time were wearing pith-style helmets. Those helmets were made of cork for campaign use in hotter climates.. but then again, who knows for sure?}

I'm probably wrong about this but I was under the impression that the black service helmet was issued to troops stationed at home during this period, whereas the white and khaki pith helmets were purely for foreign service. I'm not sure though.

For a definitive uniform statement, it may be worth e-mailing the Diehards reenactment group based in the UK. I've seen them many times and they pride themselves on their accuracy and professionalism.

www.thediehards.co.uk/About/intro.htm