BADGES OF PRIDE.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4627, 7 May 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

BADGES OF PRIDE.

ROMANTIC ORIGINS OF REGIMENTAL BADGES. In the various marks of distinction worn by British regiments there is a mine of romance and history often little better known to the man who carries a rifle than to the “man in the street.” The scarlet band on a forage cap, the sphinx or tiger of a badge, plumes red and white, a “splash” on a button, the red and white pom-pom on a busby—these and scores of other lit-tle-observed features of our soldiers’ dress are all so many mementoes of famous achievements in regimental history. The crimson sash worn by officers and sergeants of our infantry had its origin a hundred years and more ago in the sash which was found so useful in carrying its wearers off the field when wounded; its colour designed to conceal as far as possible the stain of blood. To the sergeants of Prince Albert’s Somersetshire Light Infantry it serves- also as a badge of distinction; for they alone in our army are privileged to wear it over the left shoulder, as the commissioned officers wear it; while in all other regiments the sergeants must carry it over the right shoulder.

“DISTINGUISHED OP. EXTINGUISHED.” There are sarreral regiments which wear the sphinx on their accoutrements in recognition of their doughty deeds in Egypt when, a century and more ago, they formed an impregnable barrier to Napoleon’s ambition to carry his flag overland to India; hut ' the Gloucesters, famous as the “Slashers” and the “Fore and Afts,” have the additional pride of wearing it on the back as well as on the front of their helmets, in memory of that March day in 1801 when the regiment was surrounded by the enemy before Alexandria. When the colonel saw the plight of his men, he is said to have exclaimed, “28th, what confoundedly lucky devils you are! This day you must be either distinguished or extinguished.-’ The 28th, however, in no mood to he extinguished, ranged themselves back to back, and fighing like tigers gallantly repulsed the attacks both in front and in the rear. ' . .. On the anniversary of the battle oi Alinden the Lancashire Fusiliers deck themselves with roses m memory ot that August day in 1759 when the men of their regiment were posted near some gardens, from which they gathered roses to adorn their hats before covering themselves with undying {il°ry by their prowess. And in honour of the same day the Suffolk Regiment ( The Minden Boys”) parade with a rose in each man’s head-dress. _ At the Battle /of Tfettqgen, when George 11. was fiercely attacked by the French cavalry, the men of the Cheshire Regiment rallied roiind him and with great gallantry repelled the attack. In grateful recognition of this service His Majesty, it is said, plucked i leaf from a neighbouring oak-tree and handed it to their colonel, with a request that it should he adopted as the regimental badge; and it is in obedienee to this Royal wish that the Cheshire men still wear the oak-lcat at all inspections and reviews.

“THE BENGAL TIGERS.” The Leicestershire Regiment owes the nickname of which it is so deservedly proud —“The Bengal T.gers -to its gallantry in the Nepal A\ai of 1814* and to its‘“exemplary conduct during its service in India from 1804 to In honour of this good service it wears for badge the Royal Tiger, with Hindustan” superscribed, and its drummers wear tiger-skin aprons on state occasions instead of the ordinary leather "' P The S laurel wreath which encircles the badge of the Border Regiment commemorates its courage and steadiness at a very critical moment m the battle of Fontenoy, when it covered the retreat of the British right-wing, and the sdver wreath which adorns the staff ot the Warwickshire Regiment’s colours preserves the memory of those two gallant officers, Lieutenants Melville and Coghill, who made such an heroic tight to save the flag on the 22nd of Janiiary, 1879, +1 The Northumberland Fusiliers, the famous “Fighting Fifth” whose warrecord is one of the proudest m our armv, are rich in badges of pride, un St. George’s day they wear roses in their caps, in honour probably ot their regimental badges, the “Rose and Crown” and St. George and the Di agon.” The red and white pom-pom which adorns their busbies commemorates their defeat of a large force of French infantry at Willhelmsthal id 1/62when, it is said, the Northumberland men plucked feathers from the hate of the fallen enemy to decorate their own. They also wear the white feathers ot the French Grenadiers on the anniversary of the battle of La \igie, when the men of the “Fighting Fifth” took the white plumes from the caps of their defeated opponents . Still more romantic is the story recalled by the red feathers worn by the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on their helmet-plates. When in September, 1777, the Americans were defeated by our “Light Battalion,” they were so infuriated that they sent a message that in any future engagement no quarter would be given to their vanquishers. To this message the Light Battalion answered that they were “quite ready” to wage war to the death; and in token of their contempt and defiance, dyed their feathers red. This act of defiance is perpetuated by the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, the successor of one of the battalions engaged. The Royal Webb Fusiliers, known as the “Nanny Goats” or “Royal Goats,” from the goat which, with shields and garlands on its horns, mnrcTies at the head of the drum, boast a curious badge, the origin of which seems to he doubtful —a bow of broad black silk ribbon with long ends, affixed to the back of the tunic-collar. Tte original use was probably to keep the powdered pigtail of a past century from soiling the tunic. The Fifteenth Hussars owe their nickname, “The Fighting Fifteenth,” to a feat of arms which won for them the privilege of wearing the following inscription on their helmets —“Five battalions of French defeated and taken by this Regiment with their colours and nine pieces of artillery at Emsdorf, 16th .Inly, 1760”; and thirty-nine years later their valour was rewarded by Royal permission to deck their helmets w.‘t«i scarlet feathers.

THE “DEATH OR GLORY BOYS.” The scarlet bands -worn by the officers of the 104th are in honour of the regiment’s gallant feats in_lndia; and the famouv badge of the 17th Lancers, the “Death or Glory Boys,” was granted to the regiment hy George HI. in 1763 in memory of General Wolfe, who died so gloriously at Quebec in the very hour of victory. The “Castle and Key” badge worn by the Suffolk, Essex and Northamptonshire Regiments recalls the last and .most famous of the sieges’ of Gibraltar, when for three years the small garrison successfully resisted all attempts to capture u the Rock” and eventually ..compelled the enemy to raise tho siege. ’ The white plume in the head-dress

•of tlis Royal* thdi story of thffirkvalpur Boer ■ wriEj'! and the “ black worm in the lace gold,” of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment’s officers is a token or perpetual sorrow for the death of their general, in whose honour they were dubbed “Wolfe’s Own” more than a century and a half ago. The “ Glorious- lied Hackle,” of which the men of the Black Watch are so proud, was the regiment’s reward for its splendid work at Guildermalsen in 1795, where u acted as rearguard to our army in the terrible winter march on Bremen; and when the King’s Royal Rifles, marching at ease, carry their rifles reversed at the slope, we are reminded of their bravery at Delhi when, their ammunition having failed, they stormed the gates with the butts of their muskets.