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The establishment list omits the chirurgeon and
his two mates, but this must be an error as
these officers are found on all establishments
throughout this period. The make-up of the
regiment is shown in the table below.
Staff Officers
The role of most of the staff officers was
essentially the same for the infantry
as for the cavalry. There were five differences
in the officers’ positions:
• an infantry regiment always had a lieutenant
colonel
• an infantry regiment had only one
quartermaster for the whole regiment,
and he was part of the headquarters staff while in the cavalry there was
one
quartermaster for each troop
• an infantry regiment had a wagon-master on the
regimental staff
• the staff of an infantry regiment included an
armourer
• an infantry regiment included a drum major in
addition to the drummers in
each company; this officer can be found listed with the staff or,
sometimes,
on the roll of the colonel’s own company.
Colonel’s company
Lieutenant (Captain
lieutenant)
Ensign
4 x Sergeants
4 x Corporals
2 x Drummers
Gentlemen of the arms
Armes
200 x Soldiers
Lieutenant Colonel's
Company
Lieutenant Colonel (as
Captain)
Lieutenant
Ensign
3 x Sergeants
3 x Corporals
2 x Drummers
Gentlemen of the arms
160 x Soldiers
Sergeants Major's
Company
Sergeant Major (as
Captain)
Lieutenant
Ensign
3 x Sergeants
3 x Corporals
2 x Drummers
Gentlemen of the arms
140 x Soldiers
Each of the 7 Captain's
Companies
Captain
Lieutenant
Ensign
3 x Sergeants
3 x Corporals
2 x Drummers
Gentlemen of the arms
100 x Soldiers
The duties of two of the three field officers, the
colonel and the lieutenant colonel, were similar
to those described above for the cavalry. But
those of the infantry sergeant major were more
specific to the infantry role.
Sergeant Major: This officer had the technical
responsibility to draw up the regiment in the
formation for the march or battle, and he had to
be an experienced officer if he was to do this
successfully. Richard Elton described the
responsibilities of this officer:
His duty is every morning, and evening, or upon any
other occasion, to attend upon the General,
Martial] of the Field, or Sergeant Major General
of the Army, to receive his Orders how, or in
what manner, the Regiment shall march, whether
in a single Battalion, or else in two, [or] to
be joined with others. After which he gives
order accordingly unto the Captains how to draw
up their Companies & orders them accordingly. At
which time of embattling or marching, he ought
to be as near as the midst of the Regiment as he
can, for the better regulating of them.
In order to carry out his duties in deploying the
regiment the sergeant major had to be ‘well
verst in the severall drawing up of Regiments,
with their various forms of Battail, that
according to the condition of the place, ground,
number of men and Orders received from the Major
General, or Majors of the Brigades, he may not
shew himself a Novice, or one that is to seek’.
On the battlefield ‘he is to be on horse-back, in
regard he is the eyes, hands and feet thereof
[of the regiment]: in time of battail he is to
see every Officer to perform his charge, and
Souldier his duty, forcing and compelling them
forward, if in case they turn their backs’."° In
the absence of the colonel or lieutenant
colonel, the sergeant major was responsible for
training and exercising the regiment, and in
practice he would usually be the officer who did
so. In summary, he ‘ought to be well grounded in
all Military Affaires, and to be both wise and
valiant’.
One of the sergeant majors in a brigade of infantry
also fulfilled the role of ‘major of the
brigade’. This officer ‘receives the Word
[password] and other orders from the
Major—General, and gives them to the Majors of
the other Regiments of the Brigade, and they to
their Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels’. Sir
James Turner recorded that ‘This Major of the
Brigade is ordinarily he who is Major of the
oldest Regiment of that Brigade’," presumably on
the basis that he would be the most experienced
and best fitted for the job.
The Wagon Master
The regimental wagon master was responsible
for the regiment's baggage and the sutlers,
soldiers and other followers who accompanied it.
Turner considered that:
Captain, Lieutenant, Ensigne and Corporals; and
likewise as soon as he is come unto his Guard he
must direct the Corporals where to set out the
Perdues and Sentinels, and how to order his
Watch’.
Corporal
There were usually three corporals in an
infantry company, although the colonel’s company
may have had
four. The corporal was armed as the other
infantrymen, typically one of the three as a
pikeman and the other two as musketeers. While
the sergeant may have supervised and observed
the soldiers at arms training, it was the
specific responsibility of the corporal to teach
and instruct them in the use of the Pike, and
Musket, and to have a Roll and List of his men
in his division or squadron. And when a soldiers
name is crossed out, he is to give notice unto
his Sergeant; and when a new one shall supply
his place, his care must be to instruct and
enable him in the Postures of such armes as he
shall bear. Being with his squadron upon his
Guard, he is to provide them with wood, coal,
candle and light.
The Corporal was also to ‘take care of the
baggage and money of such as are hurt or sick,
and to be in his own carriage sober, wise and
discreet, for the avoiding ill example unto
others’.
Drummers
There were usually two drummers in an infantry company
who were to ‘know how to beat all the several
points of War’. The drummer’s other duty in
respect of carrying messages was the same as
that described above for the trumpeter.
Gentleman of the Armes
This officer was not always found on the company
strength. He was responsible for the weapons of
the company, and it was his duty ‘to see that
the soldiers keep their armes neat and clean,
and that they be well fixed; and if any thing be
amiss or broken, he is to have them carried to
the Armourers to be repaired’. He would also
take responsibility for keeping the arms of any
sick or dead soldiers in order to prevent them
being lost or stolen, and he ‘was likewise to
mark and figure the armes of the Company, and to
preserve and keep a List of what number of
figure each Soldier shall bear upon his Arms. He
is likewise to keep the powder, bullet and
match, and to deliver it forth upon occasions to
the Corporals.
Lanspassadoe
Although this non—commissioned officer was found in
European armies, there is little record of his
use during the English Civil War. This rank
appears on the roll of two of the infantry
regiments of the Eastern Association, Sergeant
Major General Lawrence Crawford’s regiment and
Colonel Sir john Palgrave’s regiment. The
lanspassadoe was, essentially, an assistant to
the corporal. He is not found in the New Model
Army.
The Clerk
Although he was not on the formal establishment of all
companies, most would have a company clerk
or scrivener who ‘keeps the Rolls of the Company
receives the Pay and gives it out according to
the directions of the Captain, to whose command
he is only lyable, and to whom only he is
accountable, and in his absence to the
Lieutenant. He ought to have so much literature
as to read and write fair, and to have some
skill at Arithmetick’. He was on ‘every pay-day
to deliver up a true bill, giving an account
unto his Captain of all such
moneys he hath either received or paid forth’.8‘
A seventeenth—century army generated a
surprising amount of paper work, and although
the responsibilities of several officers
required them to undertake it, much of it must
actually have been done by the regimental clerk.
Richard Elton commented that the clerk ‘0ught to
be very just and honest’, a comment which might
indicate that a captain would be fortunate to
find one that was.
Dragoons
As they marched with the cavalry, dragoons
‘are subordinate to the General, Lieutenant
General or Major—General of the Horse’. However,
their main fighting role was as infantry since
dragoons were ‘Musketeers mounted on Horses,
appointed to march with Cavalry, in regard there
are not only many
occasions, wherein Foot can assist the Horse,
but that seldom there is any occasion of service
against an Enemy but wherein it is both fit and
necessary to joyn some Foot with the Horse’.
].B. writing circa 1660/ 1661, considered they
‘were invented for special Services, to assist
the Cavalry as Infantry’.“
They were very useful soldiers, versatile on
campaign and effective for internal security.
They had a bad, though probably well—deserved,
reputation as plunderers.
Since they were, essentially, mounted infantry,
dragoons were organized on the same lines as an
infantry regiment. When it was first raised, the
New Model Army included one complete dragoon
regiment comprising ten companies of 100
dragoons each plus officers, but this was
exceptional and was probably the only regiment
raised at this strength during the Civil War. It
was more usual for regiments to consist of five
or six companies and quite common to find
independent, unregimented companies. The Earl of
Orrery recommended that each regiment of cavalry
should consist of six troops of cavalry troopers
and one company of dragoons, as he believed that
‘Dragoons thus annexed to the Horse, are much
better than they are, when Regimented entire,
and by themselves’. He gave some substantial
practical reasons for this on the basis that the
cavalry commanders would be ‘more careful of
them, and will not needlessly harass them by
extraordinary and unequal duty’, and the
Horse Officers knowing all their Dragoons by
name, and they knowing all
the Horse Officers, they are the more likely to
fight cheerfully for them, or not to escape
unpunished if they be remiss; for every one
being known, none can escape by ignorance; the
contrary to which is often experimented
[experienced] in commanded Parties, when the
Officers are unknown to the Soldiers, and the
Soldiers to the Officers.
Orrery left another practical reason until last, as he
wrote that ‘to omit many other particulars, some
have observed that as the Dragoons are commonly
the briskest, and daringst of the private
Soldiers, so they are also the least sober; and
’tis likelier to wean them from that fault, when
they are but a seventh part of the Regiments,
then when they are an entire Regiment, and all
Birds of one Feather.
The most complete list of the officers and men
of a dragoon regiment is set out in _J.B.’s Some
Brief Instructions for the Exercising of the
Horse-Troops. This showed the following staff
officers:
Colonel
Sergeant Major
Quartermaster
Preacher
Provost Marshal
Chirurgeon and two
mates
The second in command of the regiment of dragons
in the New Model Army was the sergeant major, as
shown in the list above, However, there is an
example of a lieutenant colonel of dragoons, as
john Lilburne was lieutenant colonel and de
facto commander of the dragoons in the Earl of
Manchester’s regiment in the Army of the Eastern
Association.
The officers and men of the company were given
as: captain (the colonel or sergeant major as
‘captain’ of his own troops or a captain for the
remaining troops in the regiment)
lieutenant (captain lieutenant in the colonel’s
troop)
cornet
two sergeants
three corporals
two drummers
a farrier
The non-commissioned officers of a dragoon regiment
show its mixed status. It had the sergeants and
drummers of an infantry company but included a
farrier. The corporal in a dragoon company held
the rank and position of an infantry corporal,
not that of a corporal in the cavalry. The
junior commissioned officer carrying the company
flag was called a cornet - the cavalry rank -
not an ensign.
The Artillery Train
The artillery train included a wide range of
specialists, together with one or more companies
of ‘firelocks’ to provide guards. The most
complete list is provided by _J.B. and contains
the following ‘Officers, Artificers, and
Attendants of the Trayne of Artillery consisting
of 26 Peeces.
General of the Ordnance
Lieutenant General
Assistant
2 clerks
Surveyor or Controller
2 clerks
The Chief Engineer
A clerk
Six Engineers for ordering Trenches,
Fortifications, and Approaches
6 clerks
Fifteen Guides or Conductors
A Pay—Master
2 clerks
Two Commissioners of Ordnance, Mattrosses and
Amunition
2 clerks
20 Gentlemen of the Ordnance
A Commissary to distribute Victual
2 clerks attending him
A Purveyor General for Munition, and all
necessaries for the Ordnance
2 Horses [horsemen] to assist him
A Waggon—master for the Artillery
2 Assistants
20 Conductors attending him
A Principal Conductor for the Artillery for
draught Horses and Ammunition
A Commissary for the Trayne of Artillery for the
draught horses
Quartermaster for the Trayne of Artillery
Master of the Miners
25 other Miners
3 Captains to 600 Pioneers
3 Lieutenants
3 Overseers of the Pioneers work
2 Petardiers or Fire—workers
To each of them [the Petardiers] 4 Attendants
One Master Gunner
3 Master Gunner’s Mates
20 Gunners
30 Gunners [the 30 Gunners being on a lower rate
of pay than the 20 above]
200 Labourers
A Provost Marshal of the Artillery
136 Cromwellk War /1/Iaehine.·
The New Made/Army, ]645—]66O
3 Under jaylors
A Battery Master
A Bridge Master with 100 Matrosses to work about
Rivers
An Assistant to him
100 Mattrosses
A Chaplain
An Ensign
A Drum
A Trumpeter
A Chirurgeon
2 Under Barber Chirurgeons
A Master Carpenter
2 Mates
A Master B1ack—Smith
2 Mates
6 Servants
A Master Wheelwright
2 Mates
8 Servants
600 Pioneers
3 Tent Keepers
9 Servants
An Armourer
4 Servants under him
A Basket—maker for Gabions, hurdles and Baskets
4 Servants
A C011or—maker
4 Servants
A Gun-Smith
2 Servants
A Lad1e—maker
4 Servants
A Cooper
4 Servants
A Ropemaker
4 Servants
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