ARMY NICKNAMES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20484, 10 December 1934, Page 8

ARMY NICKNAMES.

Regiments Are Proud of Them. Tn his new book, “Something About a Soldier,” Corporal-Major It. J. T. Hills explains many army nicknames. Regiments are often prouder of them than of their titles and itanding in the array list. The Horse Madflfces, it appears, are not legendary after all. The phrase m one of the nicknames of the 17th Lancers — more generally known as the “ Death or Glory Boys.” It recalls their service, in 1796. on hoard 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 devilish steady.” “Good-looking they certainly were not when the fight was done,” writes Cor-poral-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 facet?, and. amid the laughter of comrades, the new nickname was given and stuck.” It was popularly claimed, in the early part of last century, tliat 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 j>oint into the ‘Shiny Tenth’ of to-day.”

The Wiltshires are al«$o the “ Moonrakers.” Caught one (lark night dragging a pond with hav-rakes, a party of 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 re

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 Picardie officer maintained that it was liis 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. We should not have slept at our poets.” Writing of the days of powdered hair and “pigtails.” Corporal-Major Hills quotes an old soldier’s description of the painful process of powdering: “The hair required to be soaped, floured, and frizzed, in order to be tortured into an uncouth shape, which gave the man acute pain, and robbed 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 the 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, even 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 any moment—a custom dating from the' days when the King’* enemies lurked at every corner. Advanced and rear guards are thrown out, each with connecting files.