A Cultural History of Scottish Officers and Highland Regiments

A Cultural History of Scottish Officers and Highland Regiments

Martial Ardour during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

von Viccy Coltman

This book provides an innovative martial history of British culture during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It privileges the representation of Scots from the officer class and the contributions of the Highland Regiments, particularly the 42nd, 79th and 92nd. These Regiments were first and foremost ‘Highland’ in name rather than number, and in spirit rather than substance. It explores the consolidation of the enduring trope of Scots as what would later be termed a ‘martial race’, positing military service as one of the dominant occupations during this prolonged and intense period of conflict. The book argues that the visualisation and materialisation of aspects of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a formative phase in the military characterisation of Scotland. It therefore seeks to recover a hitherto underwritten chapter of Britain’s cultural history which fell between the better-documented Georgian and Victorian periods.

This book provides an innovative martial history of British culture during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It privileges the representation of Scots from the officer class and the contributions of the Highland Regiments, particularly the 42nd, 79th and 92nd. These Regiments were first and foremost ‘Highland’ in name rather than number, and in spirit rather than substance. It explores the consolidation of the enduring trope of Scots as what would later be termed a ‘martial race’, positing military service as one of the dominant occupations during this prolonged and intense period of conflict. The book argues that the visualisation and materialisation of aspects of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a formative phase in the military characterisation of Scotland. It therefore seeks to recover a hitherto underwritten chapter of Britain’s cultural history which fell between the better-documented Georgian and Victorian periods.

Viccy Coltman is Professor of Eighteenth-Century History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, UK. A leading historian of material culture in Britain in its imperial and colonial contexts, Coltman is the author of three previous books and two edited volumes. Her work has been supported by many fellowships, grants and a Philip Leverhulme Prize.

Highlights

• Provides the first art historical study of this understudied period of intense and prolonged conflict Seeks to balance the exploration of combatants’ experience of war with the reception of war by civilians Draws on unpublished primary material in the form of oil on canvas, miniature portraits and epistolary correspondence

Über den Autor

Viccy Coltman is Professor of Eighteenth-Century History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, UK. A leading historian of material culture in Britain in its imperial and colonial contexts, Coltman is the author of three previous books and two edited volumes. Her work has been supported by many fellowships, grants and and a Philip Leverhulme Prize.