Worth noting that the uniforms worn by the British in this picture are those they would have worn on parade at Horseguards,certainly not what they would have looked like at the battle itself...

W.Y. Carmen, "British Miltary Uniforms" (1957), pp.112-3, in a section titled "Grenadiers and Fusiliers 1799-1820", notes that the fur head-dress "was found to deteriorate rapidly on overseas serviced, especially in hot climates. Thus it was discouraged abroad and became an article for full dress wear at home." The shako was used on active service.

pray what was a shako ?

"When the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out, the British assembled two large columns under General George Harris.The first consisted of over 26,000 British East India Company troops, 4,000 of whom were European while the rest were local Indian sepoys. The second column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and consisted of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry. Together, the allied force numbered over 50,000 soldiers.". All the europeans who were in the war could have been captured in this painting!

... The 'shako' was a type of peaked military cap, Digvijay, quite tall and circular ~ you will be very familiar with it from countless illustrations from the period ~ viz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shako

Many thanks Julian.

Has anyone read the climax of Kut Vonnegut's "Bluebeard" ?

Here's a critical review of Kurt Vonnegut's 'Bluebeard : http://books.google.co.in/books?id=1T4XwVReXacC&pg=PA135&dq=bluebeard+kurt&hl=en&ei=XHfhToaAH82xrAe58YTPAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=bluebeard%20kurt&f=false

An entry on Robert Kerr Porter in the 'A biographical dictionary: comprising a summary account of the lives of the ... By John Lauris Blake' : http://books.google.co.in/books?id=jWo7AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1018&dq=robert+kerr+porter+seringapatam&hl=en&ei=UXjhTpPUAdDjrAemtqjrAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=robert%20kerr%20porter%20seringapatam&f=false

This is one of the authentic portrayal of the storming of Srirangapatna on the afternoon of 4th May 1799 as Porter executed this painting in 1800, just a few months after the war.

At this breach stands now a monument listing the names of British soldiers died during the assault.

Robert Ker Porter's Panorama: The Storming of Seringapatam. Published Review (1801): As Mr. Porter's celebrated picture of the Storming of Seringapatam will probably be sent to embellish the eastern world, few private mansions being sufficiently capacious to contain it, and the spirit of public patronage too severely palsied by the calamities of the times to present a purchaser, the following particulars may convey to the imagination a feeble outline of its variety and grandeur, while it gratifies the feelings of those whose relatives adorn the canvass. The most striking group meets the eye in the centre of the picture. It consists of General Baird, attended by his aid-de-camps, animating and encouraging the troops, who are storming the battery; while Serjeant Graham, who has already mounted the rampart, and planted the British colours on its summit, is shot dead by an Indian, at the moment when he is giving the signal of victory. At the top of the first acclivity, Major Craigie, with the grenadiers of the 12th regiment, is directing the attack; while another party, of the 74th, under Major Skelly, are preparing to mount the battery on the left, aided by the Madras native pioneers, with scaling ladders. Captain Cormicke, a brave officer is seen falling headlong down the steep, being killed near the upper part of the rampart. Halfway up the breach is a sally of Tippoo's guards, who are repulsed by the 74th regiment. Lieutenant Prendergast appears mortally wounded by a musket shot; and Lieutenant Shaw lies among the slain in the thickest groups of the battle. In the foreground, to the left of the battalion, lies Captain Owen, of the 77th. He rests upon a cannon, is supported by an artillery-man, who points towards the Indian from whom he received his death wound. This group is said to be the first which Mr. Porter completed on the canvas. The Indian is seen crouching at the feet of the dying officer, a bayonet having passed through his left breast is visible first below his shoulder. The fore-ground at the foot of the rampart is occupied by a party of Tippoo's tiger grenadiers. They are seen stealing forwards from a covered way, but are encountered by a group of the 73d regiment, led by Captain Macleod; who, being wounded in the lungs, is conducted off the ground by a soldier of the Meuron regiment. A fierce encounter at the same moment takes place between a serjeant of the Highlanders and the leader of the Tiger-men of Tippoo's army. The right battalion covers the 73d light companies, and the Scotch brigade are led to the breach by Lieutenant Gawler and Captain Molle, while the remainder of the 73d Highlanders are boldly advancing across a branch of the cavery. [sic] On the right of the fore-ground is the gallant Colonel Dunlop, wounded and borne off between two grenadiers; and in front of the mortar battery is Major Allen, with Colonel Dallas and Major Beatson. Several dead and dying are seen at the foot of the breach, and on the margin of the river; while the chief engineer, Major Agnew appears communicating intelligence. The distant view to the right presents the British camp, with general Harris, and other officers, on horseback. On the bastion to the right of the breach Colonel Sherbrooke is seen directing the assault along the ramparts, where the 12th and 33d regiments are bayonetting the enemy, and pushing forward to gain the inner works. To the left on the rampart stands TIPPOO SULTAUN, attended by his chiefs and standard bearers. He is exposed near the top of the gateway, beneath which he afterwards perished. Near the Sultaun stands a French officer, General Chapuy; and near the gateway (which has been accidently [sic] let down by the destruction of the chains) is a terrific phalanx of the Sultan's guards, known by the appellation of Hyder's Grenadiers. Lieutenant Lalor in the agonies of death is falling from the bridge into the river, at the same time grasping the belt of an Indian soldier, who is seen in the act of raising his sabre to sever his arm from his body. In the fore-ground a party of the Madras artillery, under Lieutenant Bell, advance, with heavy guns, to force the sally-port, while he is directing the men, with the artillery Lascars, to drag them to the rear. In the left extremity of the picture, Captain Lardy of the regiment De Meuron is binding his wounded arm, in order that he may rejoin the storming party; and behind the group of artillery are the native troops, with a party of the Nizam's forces, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Mignan, while Lieutenant Pasley, as Major of Brigade, is animating them on the attack. Above the walls of the fortress are seen the magnificent buildings of Seringapatam. The mosque of white marble, with towers that seem to penetrate the sky, is on the right of the breach; and on the left the superb palace of Tippoo Sultaun, with the gardens of the Laul Bagh, contrast the clouds of sulphur, and the mingling horrors of the more prominent scenery. Imagi

For a giant-size image of this painting : http://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/getimage.php?image_id=1302054772613500.jp2

The narration is interesting as it gives out all details of the assault. However, it somewhat contradicts the statements in history works by other British and Indian authors saying that Tipoo was present on the Fort at the time of the assault. According to records, Tipu learnt about the breach made by the British in the Fort, rushed out from his lunch table from the Palace, and met his death near the Water Gate, close to the Palace, while engaged in a sword fight against the British, where his body was found by Baird later after sunset and where now stands a memorial stone.

According to the official historian of Tipu Sultan's own family, he was in the palace at the time of the assault, not at the breach, which in any event was overrun very quickly (although with serious casualties on both sides). He sat down to breakfast, but when he heard that one of his favorite, must trusted commanders had been killed, and that British troops were on the walls, he rushed out, fighting with a musket, at first, and then with his sword against British troops making their way down the north wall of the city. Where, exactly, he was killed is hard to say: the historical marker at Seringapatam is probably in the wrong place. Almost all of the fighting occurred on the bastion where the breach was made and on the north and south walls at the western end of the island.

Michael... beg to differ on the uniforms. This was what the King's Army and the Company's troops were wearing in India in 1799, although I'm sure they were a bit beaten around the edges by the time of the assault, having been in the trenches for a few weeks. Shakos would have been worn by the Madras European Regiment and the English regiments, but probably not by the Regiment de Meuron (which had come over from the Dutch service, and was Swiss), and not by the Scottish regiments that formed a considerable portion of the European garrison of the Madras Presidency. Furthermore, these Scottish units did carry broadswords rather than sabers. However, this was one of the last battles in which they wore that particular headgear in India. While Carmen's work is generally accurate, he tends to follow the official clothing orders. In the Madras Military Department Records of the Tamil Nadu State Archives, there is actually quite a lot written about specific equipment, its deterioration and suitability, and the fact that the troops never seemed to have the uniforms they were supposed to be wearing. Furthermore, military styles were changed so frequently that no one could keep up with them, especially in India, where any new equipment had to be made up by short-handed local contractors.

This painting does depict the heat of the great battle accurately. An American army historian (and a Professor of Immunology) told me that red uniforms were used by the British Army during an assault as "the red color is difficult to aim at".

My point is rather more that standard campaign overalls would have been worn as opposed to the parade ground gaiters.I dont agree with you on the bearskin fusileers hat,for practical reasons I believe that would also have been ditched asap just as it was in the Caribbean as would the powdered hair and stocks...as for red being difficult to shoot at..I have never heard of that one.Red had been the main issue colour since the end of the Civil War 150yrs previously.

These paintings are intended as patriotic, political propaganda statements rather than accurate depictions of the event.They are in the same grouping as Lady Butlers Crimean War paintings..She also depicts the soldiers in full dress uniforms...which we know they were not wearing at the time..

It is worth looking at Sir Alexander Allan's depictions of the Mysore Wars.Allan fought at Seringapatam and accurately depicted the uniforms: there were no kilts. Contrary to the convention of many 19th-century artists, no regiments wore kilts in the Mysore wars. The 1st Battalion of the 73rd Highlanders, embodied at Elgin, were wearing their kilts when they arived at Madras in 1780. Indeed, the kilts attracted much comment among the curious crowd assembled to welcome them . However, the kilt was very soon discarded, 'as it was not them considered a suitable dress for tropical or semi-tropical climates.'

The British Army adopted red uniforms because, unlike blue or green, although the dye was slightly more expensive, the dyeing process was one-step, which made scarlet cost effective. Expensive cochineal dye was used for officers' coats; less expensive red dyes were used for the rank-and-file. In India, scarlet was worn on parade, but even in 1799, the European "undress" uniform was white, with round white caps, which would have made the European regiments look like an army of cricket players. Sepoys really didn't have an undress uniform until much later. In the 1840s, however, the British began to incorporate irregular units like the Guides (and the Punjab Frontier Force) into their army, and these troops wore khaki. During the Indian Mutiny, British soldiers who could not keep their uniforms clean were granted permission, at the siege of Delhi, to dye their uniforms "khaki." Actually, the results ranged from orange to grey. Red continued to be worn by the army in India until the 1880s, when there was a general switch over to khaki. Some special units, like the Gurkhas, wore green, like the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Michael is correct in stating that the Highlanders in India at this time were not wearing kilts. I think the first time a Scottish regiment in India wore kilts into combat was at the Battle of Assaye. European units actually wore white cotton trousers on tropical service. The "shako" in use also was different from that used in the Peninsular War, and was sort of an abbreviated stovepipe hat, just like the ones worn by the Royal Marines in the movie "Master & Commander." I think these were used in India (and in the British Army elsewhere) until about 1803. There was, in general, a major modernization of uniforms for both European troops and sepoys between 1802 and 1806. The fact that rather ornate uniforms had been worn in the Anglo-Mysore Wars, during which they literally fell to pieces, was one of the reasons for the decision to change the uniforms. Yes, the remarkably impractical hats shown in this painting were worn at the storming of Seringapatam, but half of the men should be depicted as bareheaded, since one of the problems noted about these hats was that they fall off when a soldier does just about anything except stand still. The sepoy's turbans of the period were just as impractical, but according to contemporary accounts, the sepoys liked the way they looked in them.

The Northern Highlanders also wore quilts when they were brought in during the Indian uprising (mutiny) of 1857, but that was much later.