CENTURY-OLD ARMY OBSERVANCE.

Northern Advocate, 1 September 1913, Page 7

CENTURY-OLD ARMY OBSERVANCE.

One of the oldest traditions in the English army attempts to explain why the Twelfth Royal Lancers has stood at attention, at ten o'clock every night for more than a hundred years, while its band played a number of hymns, the popular impression being that the procedure is the result of an order issued to the famous regiment by the Duke of Wellington. The story has been revived at this time because of a report that the regiment would abolish the custom this year, the Iron Duke's order having been fulfilled to the letter. In the fateful year 1812, so goes the tradition, according to the •'Evening Standard," the Lancers broke into a monastery during the war with Spain an|d terrorised the occupants.. In due time the Duke of Wellington got. a report of the affair, an,d expressed hearty disapproval of the soldiers' conduct. By way of punishment he sentenced the regiment to listen to a selection of hymns every night for one hundred years. At ten o clock every night, ran the order, the band must parade and play five hymns as a punishment—the national anthems of Spain, Russia and England, the Prince of Wales hymn, and the Vesper hymn. Every man was to stand to attention during the rendition of the programme. So much for the legend. Now for what purports to be the real basis for the hymn playing. "The custom is more than a century old and is not penal," says an officer who investigated the story. "These are the facts:—ln 1893 a part of the Twelfth Light Dragoons, as the regiment was then styled, when Toulon was abandoned proceeded to Corsica, and were present at the taking of Battia on May 22, 1794. The remainder of the regiment sailed to Italy and landed at Civita Vecchia. Here the conduct of both officers and men attracted the notice of the Pope, Pius VI.

"He presented a gold medal to each of the officers (twelve in number) and three melodies:—(l) Sicilian Vespers, (2) the hymn now used as the Russian national anthem, and (3) a melody the name of which has not been handed down, for the band to play. '