"JOLLIES" OF HIS MAJESTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22714, 29 October 1935, Page 3

"JOLLIES" OF HIS MAJESTY

A detachment of Royal Marines, with their band, has taken over guard-mount-ing duties at the Koyal palaces while the lingade of Guards is absent on field training, writes Major G. H. Keade in the Daily Mail. Gxeat public interest haa been aroused, for it is the first occasion on which the Koyal Marines will have performed these particular duties. The marines have been well dubbed as " soldiers at sea." The first regiment of marines was raised early in the reign of Charles II and known as "The Admiral's Regiment," but from the first they depended largely for their strength and recruitment on the army. Thev fought with conspicuous gallantry in the Dutch War of 1672-74, many of their ranks being composed of men of the Ist Guards (now the Grenadier Guards) and the Coldstream Guards. There are records of at least 38 of our present line regiments serving at one time or another as marines, and also the two senior regiments of the present Brigade of Guards. Some of these records are illustrious, notably those of the 2nd Foot (now the Queen's Royal West Surrey), the 29th Foot (now the Ist Battalion Worcesters). and the 69th Foot (now the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment). Both the Queen's and the Worcesters have a naval crown superscribed " Ist June, 1794." on their colours to commemorate the part they played in that famous naval victory of "The Glorious Ist of June. 1794." In 1797, when the Welch Regiment were serving as marines on board the Captain, the Britannia, the Agamemnon and the Courageux, under Nelson at the Battle of St. Vincent, they gained the high praise of Nelson himself for their gallantry when came an urgent call for " boarders." " The soldiers of the 69th," said Nelson, " with an alacrity which will ever do them credit, were among the foremost." What ie little known ia that the Cavalry, Artillery, and the Engineers have nko fought as marines. It was the necessity of employing artillery gunners of the army to direct the mortar guns thai; compelled Nelson to form in 1804 artillery companies from the ranks of the Koyal Marine regiments. The famous Rocket Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, was at the bombardment of Algiers on board a man-o'-war, while Roviil Engineers served with the Navy in the Russian War of 1854-56. The Life Guards, of all regiments, were shipped aboard -'s marines in the Dutch War of 1672-74, and the 17th Lancers served iu the Hermione in 1795. The Jafcr, recorded case of soldiers serving aboard-—not as marines but as bona fide seamen —wa« in August. 1914, in China waters, at the beginning of the Great War. The 2nd Battalion Duke jf Cornwall's Light Tn fan try lent two officers and 100 men to H.M.S. Triumph to serve as seamen. The Ist Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment (the " Dirty Half-hundred") and the 3rd Grenadiers plav " Rule, Britannia!" before "The King" fit tattoo in honour of their having fought in the Battle of Ushant, 1778. "Thank God for the marines." This has been echoed in many a battle on land and sea, and their motto, Per mare, per terrain, is absolutely true. A finer body of men, whether regarded a« sailors or soldiers, cannot be found in the length and breadth of the Empire.