A History of the Coldstream Guards, from 1815 to 1895Ross, J. (John)
History
A History of the Coldstream Guards, from 1815 to 1895
Ross, J. (John)
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901; Great Britain. Army. Coldstream Guards
The expedition to Canada put an end to the Dublin quarter, which was not
again renewed for nearly twenty years; and the 1st Battalion Scots
Fusiliers, who had proceeded there in the summer of 1837, returned to
London in the following March. Moreover, during the absence of two
Battalions of the Brigade in North America, the Tower was not occupied
by Guards in 1838, and duty was done in Windsor, 1839-1842, by a
regiment of the Line.
On May 6, 1838, the Royal Military Chapel in Wellington Barracks was
opened for the first time; and a year later (July, 1839), the three
Regiments took it in turn to send their Bands there to attend Divine
Service.
The Queen’s Coronation, June 28, 1838, was conducted on the abridged
model of that of William IV.; but in some respects it was more
magnificent and stately than the latter, and it included a public
procession to and from Westminster Abbey, which had been absent in
former ceremonies of the kind, since the reign of Charles II. As the
personality of Her Majesty, moreover, roused enthusiasm among all
classes to a far greater degree than had been the case with many of her
predecessors, the people, drawn in dense crowds to the splendour of the
spectacle, were not slow to display the feelings of genuine loyalty and
affection, with which they were filled towards their youthful Sovereign;
and the effect produced on the public mind, was even greater than if,
under ordinary circumstances, the older forms of mediæval pageantry had
been adopted. The streets were lined by troops from Buckingham Palace to
the Abbey, the infantry in single rank on either side of the road; the
Brigade occupied the distance from Westminster to Marlborough House, and
the five Battalions were present. The 1st Coldstream, having been
brought up from Windsor, were in Pall Mall, the Scots Fusiliers thence
to the Horse Guards, and the Grenadiers took up the remaining ground. On
the other side of the Coldstream, in St. James’s Street, Piccadilly, and
Constitution Hill, there were Marines, Rifles, and the 20th Regiment
(then at the Tower). In the Abbey a line was kept by a detachment of the
Queen’s company, Grenadier Guards, the Ensign of which carried the Royal
Standard, and men of the Grenadier companies of the 1st Coldstream and
of the 1st and 2nd Scots Fusiliers, under Subaltern Officers of their
own corps.[163]
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Footnote 163:
One interesting feature of the Coronation was the presence at it, as
French Ambassador Extraordinary, of Marshal Soult, the opponent of the
Duke of Wellington, in many fields of battle in the Spanish Peninsula,
and at Waterloo. It need scarcely be said that the reception of this
gallant old soldier, by the English people and by the Duke of
Wellington, was most cordial, and that all were glad to welcome warmly
a former hostile Commander, who had displayed skill and valour when he
fought against us.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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