Austere Dutchmen, 1611, not uniform as such... but... The plumes! (Via a chap on Twitter... but I've now forgotten who.)
The collars are right sporty, especially the bottom one. Of course, the doily the one at the top is wearing has its advantages, also.
Bottom chap the oldest - still rocking a late C16th Ruff. First chap middle aged - More standing band - can't quite let go of the elaborate ways. Second the youngest - The clean lines of a man about town.
Bidwell and Graham refer to him in Tug of War as a "thrusting commander." His aping of British style, mannerisms, and even accent was not popular with Canadian troops; one Canadian called him a "pompous bully," and his costly tactics at Ortona supposedly earned him the nickname "Butcher."
Needs to be swigging from a flask of maple syrup with a hockey sticky over his shoulder, but it's pretty much there already!
I've read that, and the bullying/hectoring tag seems to follow him around but often with the sweetener that he was big-hearted and would often realise when he'd acted badly and make amends. Other works suggest that his theatrics were deliberate and he both displayed and instilled loyalty in his subordinate officers. There is one rather glaring black mark, however: Friesoythe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You may or may not have seen two essays I posted about here: "The 'Fightin'est' Canadian General": Christopher Vokes
Ironically, in the excellent article posted by Charlie, it is confirmed that Vokes gave Bert Hoffmeister, commander of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, the option to withdraw from Ortona. Hoffmeister strenuously declined that option in favour of "seeing it through". Yet, one comes away as a Butcher and the other seen a Soldiers General. The article also provides some useful context, "In fact, losses in the rest of the 8th Army in December were comparable to those sustained by the Canadians, but only Vokes’ troops had achieved anything resembling success."
Who needs a uniform when you can strike just the right pose. AN ITALIAN PARTISAN IN FLORENCE, 14 AUGUST 1944 Label : An Italian partisan in Florence, 14 August 1944. Creator: Tanner, A. R. (Captain), War Office official photographer Catalogue number: TR 2282
Via the very good Trev Clark Aviation History feed on twatter: Eyetie Air Force recruit, 1936. Maybe a tad bold, but I quite like it.
There is no way on earth those pantaloons ever spent anytime in a wind tunnel! Kind regards, always, Jim.
I'll see your pantaloons, and raise you an outstanding pair of pre pre pre-war plus fours (or maybe they're plus eights! Or plus pieces of eight!!) Kind regards, always, Jim.