WW1 uniform?

[FROGSMILE]

6 hours ago, Scarlet Fever said:

Many thanks for your prompt response. I will make contact with him. I have quite a bit of archival material which could likely throw light on the subject.

 

You can contact him on the site, he and I are collaborating on some projects.

[Muerrisch]

Re-reading this interesting thread I am of the opinion that any source-book regarding undress/ working dress/ barrack dress of the late-Victorian to 1914 period would have to be hedged about by so many caveats, exceptions and variations as to resemble a fishing net, more holes than string.

 

Not that it would be other than fascinating, but the lack of regulation, the fact that so few coats [I use the word generically] were preserved, the fact that illustrators much preferred full dress, and that photographs were unable to make good colour distinctions would make for a lovely scrap book but a disappointing reference book.

 

Even to say that, for example, "in 1904 the Loamshires rank and file regular battalion at Home wore frocks thus .........." would be a generalisation that could scarcely be sustained.

 

I would, of course, be among the first to help with such a resource, and the first to buy it, but it sounds like very hard work for an intrinsically incomplete record.

 

As a postscript, the slow decline of regimental museums, and their manifest preference for putting full dress on display, makes access difficult and not necessarily rewarding. As an example of undress hidden away, I was staggered by the amount "out the back" of the collection of the regiment that I have studied these many years. Whoever compiled a source book would need a deep pocket, vast patience and a long life!

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Muerrisch said:

Re-reading this interesting thread I am of the opinion that any source-book regarding undress/ working dress/ barrack dress of the late-Victorian to 1914 period would have to be hedged about by so many caveats, exceptions and variations as to resemble a fishing net, more holes than string.

 

Not that it would be other than fascinating, but the lack of regulation, the fact that so few coats [I use the word generically] were preserved, the fact that illustrators much preferred full dress, and that photographs were unable to make good colour distinctions would make for a lovely scrap book but a disappointing reference book.

 

Even to say that, for example, "in 1904 the Loamshires rank and file regular battalion at Home wore frocks thus .........." would be a generalisation that could scarcely be sustained.

 

I would, of course, be among the first to help with such a resource, and the first to buy it, but it sounds like very hard work for an intrinsically incomplete record.

 

As a postscript, the slow decline of regimental museums, and their manifest preference for putting full dress on display, makes access difficult and not necessarily rewarding. As an example of undress hidden away, I was staggered by the amount "out the back" of the collection of the regiment that I have studied these many years. Whoever compiled a source book would need a deep pocket, vast patience and a long life!

 

It won’t be a complete work Muerrisch, as you suggest, and I am playing no part in it.  As I understand it, the publication concerned will be based upon a lifetime painting uniforms based upon photos and historical studies.

 

The collaborations between the author and I have been on finite and achievable projects with a clear aim.

Edited 27 November , 2018 by FROGSMILE

[Muerrisch]

Frogsmile I intended no negative comment on such a project or its authorship.

As I think you know, I once explored the foothills of attempting it myself. Faced with notebooks crammed with my own sketches and notes from dozens [literally] of regimental museums visited from [almost literally] Land's End to John o'Groats, and information from some primary sources, too many secondary sources and even letters to Military Modelling, I gave up. And indeed I sincerely wish any even a partially successful attempt well.

[FROGSMILE]

On 27/11/2018 at 03:44, Scarlet Fever said:

Many thanks for your prompt response. I will make contact with him. I have quite a bit of archival material which could likely throw light on the subject.

 

That sounds very interesting and from that I take it that you are familiar with the Fosten brothers work, initially with the “cut of the cloth series” in Military Modelling Magazine of the 1980s and their later book, “The Thin Red Line” (although neither are exhaustive)?