Matthew Taylor, author of "Black Redcoats"
@blackredcoats.bsky.social
📤 285
📥 162
📝 384
Historian & presenter bringing a fabulous tale of adventure & liberation to light.
pinned post!
An exciting future for "Black Redcoats" beckons! A Prof who read my book will supervise turning it into a PhD & I have been offered support from people impressed by my work ... but I need your help! If you can, please support this effort to carry Black History even further forward!
#History
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Help raise £5000 to promote a unique part of Black History to a wider audience.
Iʼm raising money to promote a unique part of Black History to a wider audience.. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/black-redcoats
9 months ago
0
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Just like the simulations.
#gaming
#starwars
#classic
1 day ago
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An excellent write-up of the discovery and significance of John London, currently regarded as Britain's First Black Voter
historyofparliament.com/2024/10/21/j...
#History
#BlackHistory
#Freedom
#Democracy
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John London: Britain's First Black Voter? - The History of Parliament
this election could serve as the earliest known record of a Black person voting in a British parliamentary election - John London
https://historyofparliament.com/2024/10/21/john-london-first-black-voter/
3 days ago
0
3
1
Always a pleasure to see the
#Cenotaph
in its truest form, a shrine to those who gave away their own destinies so that we can control our own.
#History
#RemembranceDay
3 days ago
0
3
0
There are good reviews, & then there is is - thank you
#RoyalNavy
Strategic Studies Centre for having me, on
#Trafalgar
day no less... and this amazing review of my "Black Redcoats". Like commando raids? Like amphib ops? Like righteous liberations? Get my book!
#history
#blackhistory
8 days ago
0
4
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#reenactment
shout-out to the St Kitts & Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) who during this year's independence day celebrations put forward a historical display team representing the 4th West India Regiment (who garrisoned Brimstone Hill fortress)
#History
#Napoleonics
#Blackhistory
10 days ago
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2
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As we approach
#RemembranceDay
I've used part of the sobering "Body Density Map" compiled in 1916 showing the # of dead in 75m x 75m areas at the Somme & put it over a familiar area. Imagine 7500 dead people from Big Ben to St James Park, and 749 in Parliament Square.
#History
12 days ago
1
10
3
Napoleonic Historian Friends! If you were presenting about the battle of
#Waterloo
- what would you like to talk about? What ifs? Underappreciated factors? Myths? Give me your tantalising titles!
#History
#Historian
#napoleonicwars
12 days ago
0
1
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One of my favourite contemporary
#WW2
misreports is this from
#Australia
paper The Argus, a week after Pearl Harbour, suggesting German battleship Tirpitz (and a Nazi carrier!) were in the Pacific!
#History
@almurray.bsky.social
@hicksy.bsky.social
@historybowsh.bsky.social
@rgpoulussen.bsky.social
15 days ago
1
2
0
@hicksy.bsky.social
& other
#wargaming
#wargamers
- even during the real WW2 they were arguing about correct paint schemes.
#models
#painting
#History
15 days ago
0
2
1
Took a break from
#History
to go fight for the Emperor as a
#Warhammer40k
Catachan Jungle Fighter along with my wife. Space Marines know no fear ... because Catachans are near.
#Comicon
#London
#Warhammer
#Cosplay
#wargaming
18 days ago
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8
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A massive
#blackhistorymonth
win! Only 2 weeks ago at Apsley House me,
@graemecallister.bsky.social
& M Rayner talked about the 9 black British soldiers of Waterloo & using this image, noting it was unidentified, and now know!
@theguardian.com
Thomas James, 13th Light Dragoons!
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London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting
‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/oct/21/london-museum-identifies-black-waterloo-veteran-in-rare-1821-painting
24 days ago
1
18
6
Very happy to be in that line up!
#History
add a skeleton here at some point
24 days ago
0
2
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Happy
#Trafalgar
day! Part of nearly all art of the death of Lord
#Nelson
is a great reminder the Royal Navy has always been a diverse force - a black sailor who sometimes has the honour of being the man firing at the sharpshooter who killed our hero.
#History
#BlackHistoryMonth
24 days ago
1
1
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The 1920
#NYPD
annual report, in response to the
#WallStreet
bombing of 16 Sept 1920, goes absolutely ham on the 'need' for secret police & a special military-trained "Riot Regiment" to combat "radicals, locally-bred bolsheviki, [and] chronic malcontents".
#History
28 days ago
1
0
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Living the
#military
#history
nerd dream with fellow historians
@graemecallister.bsky.social
& Michael Rayner with a huge sand table of the Battle of
#Waterloo
& a great tale of black history, discussing the lives of the black soldiers who fought there. Three talks, each one with a full room!
about 1 month ago
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5
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What a great day of history! :D
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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A 1/9 bust of a Colonial Marine by sculptor Nello Rieviccio (he's on Insta: nello_rivieccio_artist) - I don't know who painted it. It's great!
#History
#BlackHistory
#BlackHistoryMonth
#models
#painting
#sculpture
about 1 month ago
0
5
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A week to go! On 11 October 2025 come to the amazing Apsley House in
#London
to see me
@graemecallister.bsky.social
& other historians talking throughout the day on "The Black Soldiers of
#Waterloo
" -
#British
#military
&
#Georgian
#history
from a new perspective!
#London
about 1 month ago
0
4
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What is the legacy of the emancipation of the "Black Redcoats" by the Royal Marines into the modern era? Well, here is an absolute corker. I suspect Mr Crawford's ancestors were liberated from
#Virginia
before resettlement in
#TrinidadandTobago
#History
about 1 month ago
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Very happy with this pic of 3 Chinooks of the Royal Air Force passing over Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
#History
#Parliament
#Airpower
#photography
#helicopters
2 months ago
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Pretty happy to have used, and perhaps coined, the alliterative "vexillological vandalism".
#flags
#raisethecolours
3 months ago
0
2
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My garage flagpole was the only flag in my street for several years, it has now been joined by a lamppost Union Jack (not pictured! This is mine) and it is upside down. Thankfully I identified the lads who put it up & told them, hope they fix it if nothing else.
3 months ago
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All this vexing
#vexillology
has activated me. I hereby declare that all roundabouts in England should have a flagpole added & this flown (in Wales & Scotland, the canton shall their flags, in NI it will say "Speeds in MPH") - then you both know where you are & when a roundabout is near. Sorted.
3 months ago
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Just looking back to that time I accidentally created a
#40k
meme character on
#reddit
& White Dwarf sent me a signed picture of him.
#Warhammer40k
#wargaming
@snipethesorrow.bsky.social
@wib.bsky.social
3 months ago
0
3
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Amongst a great amount of interesting & fun events in my life recently, I've discovered "Black Redcoats" is in the Nashville public library. My first confirmed public library presence! An oddly emotional moment.
#History
#authorlife
#writing
#justwriteit
3 months ago
1
3
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Finally, a pic of I at Paula Ogun Hector's amazing
#VJ80
#WW2
event. In front of her tapestry of Afro-Caribbean, African, & Asian heroes of WW2 (& Americans too!) - how many can you name?
#History
#Blackhistory
3 months ago
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Final little bit of last night's painting, a series of Epic 40k sized
#Warhammer
tanks, in the colour scheme of my WH40k 3rd Ornsworld army.
#Wargaming
3 months ago
0
3
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Final elements of the
#Waterloo
display for 11 Oct at Apsley House. With great thanks to
@graemecallister.bsky.social
for French info, and Michael Rayner for Prussians. After this Black History Month event, I'll be proud owner of a great display I'll happily lend to anyone who may need it!
#History
3 months ago
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As well as creating Waterloo's forces this evening, I took a few minutes to create these
#Warhammer40k
Alaitoc Eldar - which I very much enjoyed!
#wargaming
3 months ago
0
5
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Nearly done with
#Waterloo
for 11 Oct at Apsley House. Now i know how big the table needs to be.
#history
#wargaming
#blackhistory
@zwhitehistory.bsky.social
@graemecallister.bsky.social
3 months ago
1
13
1
Preparing for my (&
@zwhitehistory.bsky.social
,
@graemecallister.bsky.social
, & friends!) event on 11 Oct 2025 at Apsley House in London where we'll have a
#Waterloo
display & talk for Black History Month about those African and Afro-Caribbean born soldiers who fought in that great battle
#history
3 months ago
0
6
3
From "Black Canadian Veterans Stories" on Facebook - well worth a follow, it's excellent. Image from 8 August 1914 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, showing engineers including Miles Dymond answering the call to
#WW1
- they'd form part of 1st Field Co, Canadian Engineers
#History
#blackhistory
3 months ago
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A true classic in the field of German signage.
4 months ago
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#Marvel
"Secret Invasion" series was never going to please me because they didn't include this Royal Marine going all Sarge from Dog Soldiers (as seen in Cpt Britain & MI13) about defending Parliament with 2 Para, 3 Commando RM and the Royal Anglians from the Skrull.
#properjob
4 months ago
0
1
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reposted by
Matthew Taylor, author of "Black Redcoats"
The History Syndicate Podcast
4 months ago
👋 This week… The War of 1812 and ‘Black Redcoats: the Corps of Colonial Marines 1814-16’ with the fab
@blackredcoats.bsky.social
🙌 💬A great chat about the raising of the Corps and its role in the campaign 🚨 Like, follow and subscribe on the 🔗 pinned to the profile page🙏
#History
0
6
1
I'm shocked, shocked, that I've known
@badsocialism.bsky.social
for more than several minutes & I had to find out about anti-Nazi calypso music from his appearance on the Strictly Facts podcast!
#history
#music
#Trinidad
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSwP...
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Adolf Hitler (Destroyer)
YouTube video by Release - Topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSwPw5hEmsg
4 months ago
0
3
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Love doing a tour for an engaged audience - a bevy of WW2 historians no less!
#history
#ww2
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
0
3
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Met a proper celeb of politics today.
#politics
#downingstreet
4 months ago
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2
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Had a lovely Saturday just gone touring around @michaelohajuru.bsky.social, Keith Piper, Paula Ogun Hector & guests around
@ukparliament.parliament.uk
with a particular focus on
#BlackHistory
- something very present, but poorly commemorated (for now!) in this great gothic Palace
#history
4 months ago
0
3
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On Sunday just gone I had the pleasure of bringing the "Black Redcoats" story to the people of
#Willen
Village - from the pulpit of the Church of St Mary Magdalene, a 1680 delight by Robert Hooke FRS.
#history
4 months ago
0
1
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Happy memories of visiting
@tankmuseum.bsky.social
a few years ago and finding some of the vehicles adorned with these delights.
#tanksalot
#history
5 months ago
0
1
0
I'm genuinely disappointed at how few American commentators have drawn comparisons between the Trooping of the Colour for HM The King's Birthday, and the Trump event. It's literally lying right there.
5 months ago
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0
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Being the token military historian at a social history focused conference was quite a thing. Highly recommend the experience to all my musketry loving friends.
#history
#historians
5 months ago
0
3
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Before heading off to Aberystwyth managed to finish model 3/4 of Gorechosen. I originally didn't like the look of this model, but paint has really brought it to life & I'm glad I stuck with it.
#wargaming
#painting
#warhammer
5 months ago
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6
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Lovely time at Aber Uni at The Communication & Exchange conference. A great pile of
#history
@joeycrozier.bsky.social
@ctcallisen.bsky.social
@mrfw17thc.bsky.social
@jpsa.bsky.social
@hammurab1.bsky.social
@rharman.bsky.social
@noluckst2.bsky.social
and more, ta for a great series of papers!
5 months ago
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7
4
@zwhitehistory.bsky.social
@graemecallister.bsky.social
& other fine historical minds will be joining me here, in the Waterloo Gallery at Apsley House, London, on 11 October 2025 for a Black History Month event "The Black Soldiers of Waterloo". Put us in your calendar!
#history
#blackhistory
#London
5 months ago
0
6
2
"Sharpe's
#Waterloo
" has many ups and downs, but due to my area of history, I've long loved it for whichever members of the writing staff and crew managed to get this batman into the production.
#history
#blackhistory
5 months ago
0
5
0
An interesting depiction of a Colonial Marine "Black Redcoat" in the
#Apalachicola
Centre for History, Culture and Art
#Florida
. That's an officer's coat so I wonder if this artwork depicts Garcon, the CO of Prospect Bluff in 1816.
#history
#blackhistory
5 months ago
0
3
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Managed to get in some
#Saga
#wargaming
taking my Byzantine Romans against my wife's
#vikings
- the forces of Rome-but-in-Greek failed to stop the barbarians after the Magister Militarum (me!) threw away his cavalry early.
#history
#gaming
#models
6 months ago
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I very much enjoyed doing this interview! Great observations & incisive questions make presenting this incredible tale so much easier.
#history
#podcasts
#foryourears
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
0
3
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