As a Penance.
Every night, atf soon, as " last post "—lO o'clock— is sounded, the band of the 12th Royal Lancers plays the three. following tunes : "Vesper Hymn," "Spanwh Chant," and the"Russian National Anthem." No. mention of this curious custom is made in the regimental records, but this is tbe story of it. During either the Peninsular' or the Crimean War (this regimrnt was engaged in both) the 12th Lancers plundered a convent. Rather than punish the men regimentally, the authorities imposed as a penance the playing of these three tunes nightly, after, lasb post, for one hundred years.
What was. then imposed as a punishment is now looked upon as an honour ; so much so, that it is never omitted. On one occasion when the regiment came down by train to Dooladi, the depot in India, the trumpeter blew the last post from the carriage window, and immediately the band, who had a carriage to themselves, " did the penance."
Two other regiments of the British army, one of which is the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), have also this penalty to carry out.
The 12th Lancers, being the Prince of Wales's regiment, finish with "God bless the Prince of Wale 3," and, of courae, " God Save the Queen."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18960507.2.217.8
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 52
Word Count
209As a Penance. Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 52
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