Irish Lords Bellew, Louth and Slane - their Jacobite Regiments

 

I thought I’d share a bit of research today.  I recently came across a very informative article Louth Regiments in the Irish Jacobite Army by D Murtagh published by the Louth County Archaeological Society in 1953.  It details the strength and armament of three Jacobite regiments in 1689.   The regiments are Bellew’s, Louth’s and Slane’s and it makes very interesting reading.

Christopher Fleming Lord Slane, had his entire regiment (528 men) equipped with muskets.  Almost all of them also possessed a sword.  I suspect that most or maybe all of the muskets were matchlocks.  Never the less this level of provision was gold standard for the Irish Jacobite Army.

I have no details of their uniform nor of their flags.  For the former I’ve mainly gone with French supplied coats of grey/white.  For colours I made a red chevron on yellow flag with a red cross patee. While it is not evidenced historically it is based on a Fleming family badge.  The second flag, a St. Patrick’s saltire is red on a yellow field. Those being colours favoured by the Fleming family.  Sometimes, we must reconstruct as best we can.

Slane’s then, will be a Drilled All Musket formation.  They supported Sarsfield’s cavalry in the fighting in Sligo.  After that they seem to disappear from our sources.  Not so Lord Slane, who survived the war and remained a committed Jacobite.

Lord Bellew’s lads (828 soldiers) were also musket heavy and carried only 26 pikes in all.  They supplemented that with 127 scythe men.  We do have details of flags and uniforms for Bellew’s fellows.  I’ll simply count the scythes as pikes but the visual effect is noticeable.  Once again almost all of the men carried a sword.

I’ll count Lord Bellew’s as either a Drilled or Raw, Regulation unit depending on the encounter.

Lord Louth’s regiment (total 437) had only 49 scythe men the remaining 382 carried muskets.  They had no pikemen.  Swords were available for nearly all men.  Happily, we have flag and uniform information for the regiment.

On balance I’m inclined to consider Louth’s as a Drilled, All Musket battalion.

It's often said that the St. George's Cross appears on Irish Jacobite regimental flags because James was also King of England.  Their proprietors were Old English or Gaels who held their land from the King.  They proclaimed both their allegiance  and title to property in their iconography.

The three regiments were raised in counties Louth and Meath and, presumably all of them, fought throughout the Williamite War.  I’m pleased to have them in my collection.