Many years ago I read somewhere that the British Army, either during or shortly after the Napoleonic Wars, had field-tested the relative visibility of various uniform colours under different conditions. Does anyone know anything about this, and is there a published report or summary of the results of these tests?
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Thanks for these references.
"Though it might appear to be slow at times, the British Army did not stand still regarding the experimentation or introduction of acceptable new ideas during the Napoleonic Wars. This included questioning the suitability of red as the uniform colour for the army particularly for its light troops. One such experiment occurred in 1800 being a controlled test on the effect aimed rifle fire had on coloured targets, these targets being either of a red, green or grey colour. The resulting tests showed that grey was the most suitable colour for a uniform and a recommendation was made for its adoption by Riflemen and Light Infantry.
The tests were carried out by the rifle company of the 6th/60th (1) under the supervision of Charles Hamilton-Smith (2). Years later he described the experiment in an article for the Royal Engineers (3). The main part of Hamilton-Smiths article precluding the preamble is herewith transcribed below... https://www.militaryheritage.com/hamilton.htm