British Army puttees - Darkest Africa

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

I am painting a pack of Foundry Stouthearted Brits (DA091), which includes several upstanding officer chaps wearing uniform and puttees.  If I've done it right, the following link to the Foundry site should show what I'm talking about. 

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/files/cache/39b0a9bf3b992f973aa69aced8742476_f7343.jpg

Can someone tell me what colour the puttees should be painted with that rig please?

[Mad Guru]

The colors used in the painted Foundry samples are accurate, either:

1)  some shade of KHAKI, or --

2) BLUE, generally of a darker shade.

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

Thanks Guru - I am grateful for the quick reply.

[italwars]

i suppose that blue puttees were sported, generally, by artillery

[LCpl McDoom]

Hi Italwars - not necessarily so. Puttees were a British Indian Army item, that then cross over into British Imperial Army use from the 1900's onwards, so that by the time the Great War starts, they and many other armies use them for convenience (a lot easier to make cloth winding strips for hundreds of thousands of soldiers than the usual leather buckled gaiters). Blue material may well have been privately made or privately purchased, or an expedience by using whatever material was to hand. In the info I've seen on the British Victorian Military I've not seen anything specific about the artillery, but I'm happy to research a bit more when I get the chance too

[Mad Guru]

Generally speaking, yes, blue puttees were more often worn first by Indian mountain artillery and Indian cavalry units (dating back to at least the post-Mutiny era), then by their British counterparts (such as the Royal Horse Artillery and 10th Hussars during the Second Afghan War) and later by all British artillery units stationed in India.  In addition, the independent Companies of Bombay, Bengal, & Madras Sappers & Miners generally wore blue puttees, as did the British Camel Corps during the 1885 Sudan Campaign.  However, there are also occasional examples of Indian and British infantry wearing blue puttees as well; with British infantry sometimes just the officers, other times the entire regiment.  There are also a few examples of Indian Troops wearing black puttees, such as the 10th Bengal Lancers during the 1897 Malakand Campaign, and of course green for some Gurkha regiments and a handful of other Indian units such as the 25th Bombay Rifles, later the 125th Napier's Rifles.

Nothing touching on the uniform history of the Imperial Indian army is ever simple, puttees included!

...reaching back around to the Original Post: Sir Rodney, if you want one of your "stout-hearted" Brits to be formerly of (or currently on leave from) a Gurkha or British Rifle regiment, you could give him some green puttees!

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

Mr Guru - thank you very much; I see how you got your name (not the mad part obviously!)

Could I trouble you with a further question about the same Foundry pack, DA091?

The chap holding a pistol with one arm behind his back is in uniform, but I'm puzzled about the colour of his trousers, which look to be a bluish grey shade.  Do you think he is simply sporting non-regulation kit (it is Darkest Africa after all), or is this another example of a regimental or arm of service variation?

If you can answer that one, I will try to leave you in piece for a while!

[Mad Guru]

Sir Rodney,

No trouble at all, my friend!

Actually... I think if you look closer at the figure in question, you may see his trousers are more green than blue, especially when compared to the blue pants worn by his colleague holding the saucer and teacup.  I think your fellow is wearing green trousers with khaki/olive puttees, jacket, and Wolsley helmet with a blue puggaree wrapped around it.

All figures in that pack visible on the Foundry site are very nicely painted in a realistic mix of "uniform" and "mufti" (aka: civilian) dress. As you mention, the figure you refer to, along with the other figure to its left with the revolver in his right hand and his left hand held back at his side, are the only two wearing, "full uniform," with no civilian clothes at all.  I've always seen your figure as fitting easily into a slightly later time period, due to his Wolsley pattern helmet and "jodhpurs," both of which were introduced at the turn of the 20th Century, while the fellow on his left wears a more classically Victorian, "Foreign Service Helmet," and plain trousers.

If I were you I wouldn't feel any obligation to paint your version of those figures exactly like the ones on the Foundry website, unless you want to.  The drab green of that one figure's paints could be taken as a sign he had served with a Gurkha or Rifle regiment, but that may be going too far, since they might also just be a pair of green jodhpurs he bought to go on safari.  When I prepared that same figure, I did a head-swap to give him an older style helmet, since my colonial games are mostly set during the Second Afghan War of 1878-1880. Actually, come to think of it... I believe I also painted his pants green and used him as an officer for my Gurkhas -- which shows the power of suggestion, since I must also have done that based on seeing how Foundry's painter chose to paint that figure's pants green some 20 years ago, probably for no particular reason!

IMHO every figure in that pack of yours and its "Solid Chaps" sister pack (DA 093) is simply awesome, and I'm sure no matter how you paint them they will look good and no hopefully acquit themselves well for Queen and Country on the tabletop!

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

Mr Guru

Thank again, both for the wealth of your knowledge and the speed of your reply which are appreciated!  I have been painting pack after pack of Darkest Africa figures since May and have found it helps to print pages from the Foundry website and follow as best I can the colour schemes, unless they jar horribly.  Needless to say, I cannot match the brushwork of the mighty Mr Dallimore, but I find it helps keep things moving if I am not thinking about which colours work well together, and can just look and modify if i feel the need. I suppose a side effect of this approach is that 'getting it right' can become an obsession! 

I put my take on the blue/grey trousers (actually green) down to increasingly dodgy eyesight, but thank you for correcting me. Green they will be.

As for the figures themselves, I think the whole range is superb and that this particular pack is one of the best.  I do have a nagging doubt over their future though, based on the well-documented wargames phenomenon that favourite figures always under perform (or die horribly) on the tabletop!

Thanks again for your willingness to help.

[Leigh Metford]

The Wolseley pattern helmet was in use from 1896 by staff and general officers in the Sudan, so perhaps it was available on the NWF in that role at the same time.

[italwars]

i remenber to have seen a pict from this period of an officer in NWF.....
in the sake of variety i bought spare Wolseley helmet heads from Woodbine WW1 heads...they fit well to convert NWF minis such as Foundry, OG ecc...

[Mad Guru]

Indeed, no problem at all to field Wolseley pattern helmet-wearing Brits on the NWF during the late 1890s!  For me, since as I mentioned, my own gaming is generally set in 1878-1880, I felt compelled to swap out that particular head for one wearing an older style helmet.