ARMY NICKNAMES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 December 1934, Page 4

ARMY NICKNAMES

SOME NOTABLE SURVIVALS. In his new book, “Something About a Soldier,” Corporal-Major R. J. T. Hills explains many army, nicknames. Regiments are often prouder of them than of their titles and standing in the army list. The Horse Marines, it appears, are not legendary after all. The phrase is one of the nicknames of the 17th Lancers—more generally known as the “Death or Glory Boys. ’ It recalls their service, in 1796, on board the Hermione frigate, bound for the West Indies. > The quaint nickname, “The Dirty Half Hundred,” was won on the battlefield of Vimeiro, when the grim “Commander of the Forces” described the Fiftieth (Ist battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment) as “Not good-looking, but 1 devilish steady.” “Good-looking they certainly were not when the light was done,’ writes Corporal-Major Hills. “Black were the .facings of the old 50th, and cheap-dyed, apparently, was Government cloth. Often during the hot day black cuffs had been dragged across sweating faces, and, amid the laughter of comrades, the new nickname was given and stuck.” It was popularly claimed, in the early part of last century, that the 10th Royal Hussars “was so precious that it required to be taken care of like valuable china, as it moved from station to station. ‘China Tenth’ it was called then, though the nickname has lost point into the ‘Shiny Tenth’ of to-day.” The Wiltshires are also the “Moonrakers.’’ Caught one dark night dragging a pond with hay-rakes, a party ot the regiment confessed that they were fishing for smuggled brandy kegs. Nimbler wits, however, declared that they were looking for the moon, and “The Moonrakers” they became and remained. One of the most famous of all nicknames is “Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard.” for the Royal Scots. It is said that it originated when the Scots were in the French service, where they took precedence even over the old Regiment Picardie. When officers ; from the two regiments argued their ■ respective claims one night,-a Picar- ■ die officer maintained that it was his : corps which had kept guard over the ’ Holy Sepulchre after the crucifixion. . But the Scots were ready. “Obviously, messieurs,” answered one of their number, “we had not the guard that , night. Wo should not have slept at • our posts.” Writing of the days of powdered ■ hair and “pigtails,'’ Corporal-Major ; Hills quotes an old soldier’s descrip- - tion of the painful process of powder- • ing: “The hair required to be soaped, L floured, and frizzed, in order to be - tortured into an uncouth shape, which l gave the man acute pain, and robbed i him of the power of turning his head , easily, unless he brought his body > round with it.” In some regiments [ the coiffure was worked up with th a ' aid of rancid suet, whitening and ' meal.

One regiment remembers the pigtail in its uniform to-day. The 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers—the last to crop their heads —retain, oven in Service dress, the “flash” of black ribbon which was used to prevent the tunic being soiled by the grease of the pigtail. In his chapter on “Royal Whitehall,” Corporal-Major Hills explains that a full Guard marches as if expecting to be attacked at am- moment —a custom dating from the days When the King's enemies lurked at every corner. Advanced and rear guards are thrown out, each with connecting flics.