GUNS AND BUNTING

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 14

GUNS AND BUNTING

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Michael Underhill

DEAN OF CHRISTCHURCH

Regimental colours hanging in a church may make a pacifist think of emblems of bloodshed and destruction in the House of the Prince of Peace, but others can see the relevance of placing them near that instrument of execution, the Cross; for they represent the virtues of courage, honour, duty and sacrifice. Their use in war has a long history. A standard bearer is mentioned in Isaiah 10.18. They were a rallying place for troops, to be defended to the last gasp. To keep the flag flying was the main duty of a soldier. When Sir Edward Hamley saw the old colours of the 32nd Foot in Monmouth Church, he wrote: A moth-eaten rag on a moth-eaten pole; It does not look likely to stir a man’s soul; ! tis deeds that were done ’neath the moth-eaten rag When the pole was a staff and the rag was a flag. “Intrinsically valueless, extrinsically priceless,” said Andrew Ross in “Old Scottish Colours.” On the south side of the Chapel of St Michael and St George the Cathedral has hanging some nine flags associated with Canterbury arms. The first colours of the Canterbury Rifle Volunteers were made by the

ladies of the regiment and presented at Kohler’s cricket ground, off Lincoln Road, by Mrs Moorhouse, wife of the Superintendent of Canterbury, in 1863. They were dedicated by Bishop Harper and “laid up” in the Cathedral on November 15, 1959. The regimental emblem seen on the next flag is a white crane, taken from the coat of arms of the commanding officer, Major T. WollastonWhite. The centrepiece is surrounded by the New Zealand fern leaf. Now come the King’s colours of the Ist, 2nd, and 3rd battalions of the Canterbury Regiment — Union Jacks with the battalion number in the centre — which were presented in England in 1917. They were laid up on November 7, 1920. Then stands of colours presented to the regiment in Cranmer Square in 1923 and laid up on March 23, 1974. Die oldest and most decrepit and tattered of the colours hangs in the corner. It is thought to be the standard of the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry, a regiment whose founder member was a Cathedral stalwart — a lay canon and later chancellor of the diocese — Lieutenant Colonel Henrz Slater. Rut it might be a King's colour presented to the Ist North Canterbury Battalion in 1907. T h e swallow-tailed guidon alongside is the regimental guidon of the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry with a centre piece of a ram’s head. It carries the prancing horse of the cavalry in the cor-

ners and was presented by Lord Galway in 1937 and laid up in 1941. The early history of military units in Canterbury is in short supply, and I am indebted for much of my information to Captain J. K. Collins. The 2nd South Canterbury Regiment had a kiwi as its emblem, and its colours were laid up in St Mary’s Church, Timaru. The kiwi is now the symbol of the Royal New Zealand Infantry' Regiment. The stag is the symbol of the 12th Nelson Regiment and its colours rest in Nelson Cathedral. In England the orders of knighthood have each their traditional home for thetr banners — the Garter at St George’s, Windsor; the Bath in the Chapel of King Henry VII in Westminster Abbey; and St Michael and St George in St Paul’s Cathedral. Nowadays there is a tight official procedure. Colours are not carried in to battle. They have to be designed and approved by the College of Arms and the Inspector of Regimental Colours, and then made bv a professional firm. After dedication, they are ‘trooped’ from time to time. Originally the purpose of trooping was so that the soldiers could see and recognise their own colours. When worn out they are replaced by new colours and laid up. Or they may simply be “retired” and laid up. The problem of church or cathedral is how best to preserve these relics.