When was the English soldier first dressed in red? It has been said the
yeomen of the guard (_vulgo_ Beef-eaters) were the company which originally
wore that coloured uniform; but, seventy years before they were
established, viz. temp. Henry V., it appears the military uniform of his
army was red:
"Rex vestit suos _rubro_, et parat transire in Normaniam."--_Archæolog.
Soc. Antiquar._, Lond., vol. xxi. p. 292.
William III. not only preferred that colour, but he thought it degrading to
the dignity of his soldiers that the colour should be adopted for the dress
of any inferior class of persons; and there is an order now extant, signed
by Henry, sixths Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, dated Dec. 20, 1698,
"Forbidding any persons to use for their liveries scarlet or red cloth,
or stuff; except his Majesty's servants and _guards_, and those
belonging to the royal family or foreign Misters."
William IV., who had as much of true old English feeling as any monarch who
ever swayed the English sceptre, ordered scarlet to be the universal colour
of our Light Dragoons; but two or three years afterwards he was prevailed
upon, from some fancy of those about him, to return to the blue again.
Still, it is well known that dressing our Light Dragoons in the colour
prevailing {56} with other nations has led to serious mistakes in time of
action.