Khaki & Red: Soldiers of the Queen in India and Africa

by Donald F. Featherstone

During the long reign of Queen Victoria, the men of Britain - attired in red coats or dusty khaki - fought more than sixty military campaigns around the world. Hardly a year passed without the British Army being engaged in some far-flung corner of the globe, building and defending the Empire.
In this book Donald Featherstone provides a vivid and accurate taste of Victorian soldiering in Africa and India, from the mountains of the North-West Frontier to the sands of Egypt. Rather than detail each facet of battle strategy, he seeks to impart to the reader the true flavour of the nineteenth century battlefield, the type of men who fought, how they were trained and armed, and the foes they encountered.
The author of many books and articles on a wide variety of military history topics, Donald Featherstone brings to the subject a special vitality and empathy with the fighting man, evoking those colourful days of nineteenth-century imperial adventure, derring-do, comradeship and fighting spirit.

Genres: History

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Featherstone (who sometimes used his middle initial and sometimes didn't) served in the Royal Armoured Corps in World War II before becoming a physiotherapist. He worked for Southampton Football Club and Hampshire County Cricket Club, writing books on sporting, dancing, and industrial injuries.

Later, he turned his attention to his childhood hobby of toy soldiers, writing dozens of books on the subject and becoming instrumental in the development of wargaming as a pasttime. He also wrote books on military history.

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khaki &Red Soldiers of the Queen in India and Africa is not quite what it appears. If you are looking for Accounts of the Sepoy Rebellion/First Indian War of Independence, or tales of the Ashanti Expedition, The Zulu War, or the Abyssinian Expedition, among others, you will be sadly put out -for there is nary a whisper about them. This is really about the NorthWest Frontier of India(What is now the Tribal Region of Pakistan) and Afghanistan in the Victorian Age, and then the Egyptian and Sudanese Campaigns of the 1881-1899. Donald Featherstone, the Author-Guide- can write this stuff in his sleep- and gives us a nice short history, explanation of the British Colonial Armies(though could be better on the Indian Army section), description of the Pashtun Tribal forces, description of the Pre and post British administration Egyptian armies, and good content on the Mahdi/Osman Dinga/Khalifa Sudanese Regimes and their Soldiery/Warriors.

Published in 1995, this book shows its age a bit - no colour pics at all. But there are lot of good B/W pics and Line Drawings, with a lot of uniform description in the narrative, so one can make do. Good maps and battle diagrams, and Featherstone, an OG of the Military Enthusiast/Military Miniatures/Wargaming world is there to lead you around. He's really good at it. It's still got a tinge of that 20th Century Empire jingoism to it, but enough self awareness to question some Colonial/Imperial actions. Just right for it's intended audience, but perhaps a bit Eurocentric for African, Asian or some 21st Century audiences. I found the content worth the read- but then a I grew up on Biggles and The Victor Comics-don't always see the British Empire as a bad thing.

Basic narratives and paucity of raw casualty accounts make this a fine read, with some guidance for any Junior reader over about eleven. For the Gamer/Modeller/Military Enthusiast, it's intended audience, this is really fun- with lots of Scenario and diorama ideas. The stickler might wonder where those other Campaigns are, but I assure you Featherstone wrote about them ALL- you have simply to look at his oeuvre. In the meantime, explore the book in front of you- packed with accounts of lots of worthy Game/Study subjects. The "reference sources" page is a delight by itself- for further reading. A nice little book.