British uniforms: Red, Tan, Green? Please explain.

[ErikB]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that, during the colonial period, the Brits wore red uniforms in general but then changed to khaki in certain climates (white uniforms dyed with tea, as I recall).  Is this right?

Then who wore the green uniforms like in Sharpe's Rifles?

[ErikB]

And who wore blue, like here: http://books.google.com/books?id=mTEzDzht6LAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false

[bc99]

Red was replaced after about 1884ish, if I Recall the last time Brits wore the scarlet tunic was during the Nile or Gordon Relief Expedition. After about 1884 (someone will put the right date in for sure) the Brits went to Khaki for their field service uniforms.

As for blue, I know that different units including line infantry, artillery, and cavalry all wore blue from time to time, especially in the Zulu War.

Again, there are some knowledgeable people on this forum who will be able to expand. I'd say anything post 1880s would be good to have Khaki, and anything before then you'd be good with scarlet.

[warrenpeace]

The early 1880's was a transitional period.  There were units in the 1st Sudan War that wore red, others grey, others khaki, and sometimes units were carrying two different uniforms and wore different ones on different occassions (an incident when a commander thought the red tunics would be more intimidating).  Note that in WW1 the British in the tropics wore a grey shirt with a bluish tint.

[Doc Twilight]

Red was the color of the British Army "officially" from about the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) On, though many of James II's troops were uniformed in red before 1690.

The Indian Army was the first to convert fully to Khaki, although the West African Campaign featured serge grey wool uniforms, and I'm told that some of the earliest Khaki uniforms worn in India were actually a grey rather than tannish color, as we would imagine them. The first troops to be equipped with the Khaki uniform and be deployed outside Egypt were the Indian Army units deployed against Arabi Pasha in 1882.

The last campaign in which red was worn was the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1885, so far as I know.

Blue units included the Post Office Rifles, certain cavalry units, the Camel Corps, and the Royal Marines, as well as Royal Naval Landing Parties. If memory serves, Blue was also the color of the artillery, and of the commissary corps. (Could be wrong on that last one.)

Sharpes are a Napoleonic unit, and aren't really appropriate for most colonial gaming, but the general rule is the same for most rifle units, as they wore green (the Post Office rifle being a notable exception). The Sherwood Foresters at Tel El Kebir wore green, for example, and I believe they were a "rifle" or "skirmishing" unit at least formally.

The white dyed with tea is actually something that was used to dye sun helmets and webbing, and this was done long before Khaki uniforms came into use. I suspect Khaki uniforms were made differently, as they were issued that way.

-Doc

[Plynkes]

The grey shirt seen so often on World War One figures isn't a special tropical uniform, it is merely the standard British Army shirt, worn in all campaigns and theatres under the uniform from the latter part of the 19th Century until the 1930s (Private Hook can be seen wearing one in the movie "Zulu"). The tropical uniform consisted of a khaki jacket and shorts, it is just that in hot conditions troops often fought in shirtsleeves order without their jackets.

Rifle Green was unsurprisingly worn by the 95th (Rifle Brigade) and 60th Rifles (King's Royal Rifle Corps), from the time of Sharpe up until the army went over to khaki in the 1880s. During the Zulu War however there was a problem with the dye and it came out black, but it was supposed to be green. Other colonial rifle-style units also wore Rifle Green, such as the Gurkha Rifles and the Cape Mounted Rifles.

Blue: In addition to those types already stated (and yes, blue is correct for artillery, Doc) infantry officers had the option to wear either the scarlet dress tunic (not often seen worn on campaign), the scarlet undress frock, or an item of clothing called a blue patrol jacket (which was, as might be assumed, blue). So ordinary infantry officers could often be seen dressed in blue, too.

[aircav]

Home service uniforms were still Red coat & blue black trousers with rifles wearing green though.

[Gluteus Maximus]

And who wore blue, like here: http://books.google.com/books?id=mTEzDzht6LAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Further to the other replies, RedOrc is right, the Royal Army Service Corps - a sort of "catch-all" dealing with supply and transport - would have worn blue uniforms. Also in blue were certain cavalry units like the Blues And Royals, the various Hussars or the famous 17th Lancers. In the picture you link to is one wearing the blue frogged "Patrol Jacket" as mentioned by Plynkes. The one sitting could be from the RASC or maybe from one of the volunteer cavalry units. I believe from the lack of spurs he might be RASC, but will be happy to stand corrected. The chap in the red jacket with brown cord trousers is a mounted infantryman. These were ad-hoc units usually formed for a specific campaign from local infantry regiments.

Of the other units, possibly the most important in the army (though very rarely mentioned) were the Royal Engineers wore red with blue facings.

I believe the last full-scale war where all troops wore red/blue etc was the First Boer War of 1880 -81. Although some wore red in the Sudan at Ginniss ( apparently they thought it would impress the Mahdists, who unfortunately had only ever met the British wearing khaki in battle and knew nothing of the mythical superiority of the red coat ), the last time it was worn "in action" was apparently in 1888, in Zululand against King Dinizulu kaMpande.

In the Sudan, one officer decided to wear his scarlet coat during the Gordon relief expedition, whilst everyone else was in various shades of khaki. He was killed in action 

[Red Orc]

Further to the other replies, RedOrc is right, ...

You must be thinking of someone else mate, as I haven't commented on this thread. But in general terms, yes, I am. 

[HerbyF]

Regular army uniforms were red. The home guard uniforms were blue. The General Post Office Rifles was a home guard unit that was sent to the Sudan. Imagine serving there in the home guard dark blue wool tunics & woolen grey trousers. Other blue uniforms could be royal marines, or some colonial raised 'home guard' units

[Plynkes]

Home Guard is an anachronistic term in this context. The Post Office Rifles were part of the Volunteer Rifle Corps, which was the forerunner of the Territorial Army. The T.A. was and is quite different to the Home Guard, which was a specific last-gasp Home Defence organisation that only existed during World War Two. T.A. units were and are regularly sent abroad to fight.

[Trooper]

Well done Plynkes you beat me to that one. And not all territorial units wore blue anyway, in home service, some wore grey versions of British Army home service dress. Also in the Sudan some regular infantry units wore a blue/grey uniform.
Surprisingly British troops at Majuba Hill (1st Boer War) 1881, advanced against the Boer positions in red tunics. The armchair strategists at home ascribed the heavy losses these troops sustained to that fact. I think the first real example of British and Dominion troops fighting completely clothed in khaki was the 2nd Boer War 1899-1901. Red was still retained for home service dress for all British regular regiments until the outbreak of the Great War. 

[joroas]

Red was still retained for home service dress for all British regular regiments until the outbreak of the Great War. 

  as seen in the gredits for Black Adder Goes Forth.  As an aside most units in the UK have a current full dress that looks similar to that worn in the Victorian period.

[timg]

Many Territorial units thought it bad taste to wear redcoats due to the opinion many held of the soldier at this time so wore grey and various green and blues though grey was predominant. Approaching the first world war red became more common and also many TA units adopted the regular officers gold lace instead the silver previously more common in TA units. Of course the various Yeomanry units etc in the 2nd Boer war wore standard khaki service dress like the regulars.

[Red Orc]

Red was the color of the British Army "officially" from about the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) On, though many of James II's troops were uniformed in red before 1690.
...

Allegedly (as in, I've heard this but have no reliable source) the New Model Army wore red because red dye was cheap and Parliament had better things to spend the money on, and this is where the habit started.

I suspect that as many regiments were raised privately (Colonel Baggins's regiment of Foote and all that) uniforms were a bit hit and miss in the 1600s generally.