The contents page for the Winter issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots, BIFHSGO’s quarterly chronicle, is:
A Valiant Man (Lynne Willoughby) ** He Wore Two Blue Coats: William Henry Northwood (John Reid) ** We Shall Remember Them: Acting Lance Corporal John Samuel Thomson (Nigel Lloyd/) ** TECH TALK Standalone Genealogy Applications (Paul Cripwell).
BIFHSGO publishes in greyscale, so the Two Blue Coats impact is rather lost. While the online version could be in colour, the editorial decision was it would set too much of a precedent. Major editorial decisions are not to be taken lightly.
Here’s the first of those coats, with the blue in all its glory.
It’s from the London Visitors website, showing the Christ’s Hospital uniform, a rich, deep royal blue or Prussian blue hue. The image dates from around the time William Henry attended in 1850. Another image on the same website, from a later date, shows a navy-blue, almost-black coat.
There was a shift from organic to synthetic dyes around 1870, shortly after the invention of a blue coal-tar dye.
If you’re interested in the other blue coat, you’ll have to read the article in the Winter issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots, which should be available on the BIFHSGO website for members, if not now, very, very soon. Paper copies are in the mail for those who pay an additional fee.