British Regiments at the Front, The Story of Their Battle HonoursHodder, Reginald
History
British Regiments at the Front, The Story of Their Battle Honours
Hodder, Reginald
Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain. Army
But, with the Gordons, the hardy spirit in which they weathered all
this was only a modification of that which carried them into their most
glorious triumphs on the field of battle. Speaking of hardships and
remembering the strong spirit of camaraderie which has always existed
between our soldiers of all regiments, we cannot help reminding the
Gordons that their 2nd Battalion owes the Coldstreamers one ration. It
happened in this way. When the Gordons arrived at Fuentes d'Onoro both
officers and men were literally starving, owing to a faulty
commissariat; and no sooner did the Guards get wind of this than they
volunteered a ration of biscuits, from their haversacks. Now, as the
Coldstreamers will not be able to get those biscuits from the enemy,
who appears to have "embarked without them," they may require them
again from the Gordons and they should insist on having them well
buttered.
* * * * *
THEIR BADGES AND BATTLE HONOURS, ETC.
BADGES.--The Sphinx, superscribed Egypt. The Royal Tiger,
superscribed India.
BATTLE HONOURS.--Mysore, Seringapatam, Egmont-op-Zee, Mandora,
Corunna, Fuentes d'Onoro, Almaraz, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nive,
Orthes, Peninsula, Waterloo, S. Africa 1835, Delhi, Lucknow,
Charasiah, Kabul 1879, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878-80, Egypt
1882-84, Tel-el-Kebir, Nile 1884-85, Chitral, Tirah, S. Africa
1889-1902, Paardeberg, Defence of Ladysmith.
UNIFORM.--Regular and Reserve Battns., scarlet with yellow facings.
[To the first regiment (the 89th), raised in 1759, there belong the
romances of two notable men. One was the Duke's brother, Lord
William, who afterwards ran away with Lady Sarah Bunbury, and the
other was Lord George, the future rioter. A further romance belongs
to the Gordons proper. When, in 1794, the 4th D. of G. was
commissioned to raise a regiment for the King, with the Duke's son,
Lord Huntly, as its colonel, his wife Jane, "the Bonnie Duchess,"
acted as her son's recruiting sergeant. Day after day she rode in
among them at their gatherings, and with the King's shilling
between her teeth, kissed them into the army. "Now, lads; whose for
a soldier's life--and a kiss o' the Duchess Jean?" Her ambition for
her son in the way of masculine counterpoise to the brilliant
alliances of her daughters does not matter so much as that the
Gordons sprang into being at the touch of her lips--which is a
legend greatly treasured among Highlanders.]
[Illustration: THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS AT BADAJOZ.
_From a Painting by R. Caton Woodville._]
THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS
("THE GARVIES")
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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