East Kents

[Roger H]

A simple question from a simple soul. Why are the East Kents nicknamed The Buffs?

Roger

[IPT]

Because they fought in the nude.

Or there is another wilder theory on Wiki;

The 3rd Regiment received its nickname of "The Buffs" because it had been issued buff coats - armour made of soft leather - first when it served abroad in Holland and later when it was a Maritime Regiment of Foot. It was later given buff-coloured facings and waistcoats to distinguish itself from those of other regiments and had their leather equipment in buff rather than dyed the traditional white.

It received the title of "The Old Buffs" during the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, when the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot marched past King George II and onto the battlefield with great spirit. Mistaking them for the 3rd due to their buff facings, the sovereign called out, "Bravo, Buffs! Bravo!". When one of his aides, an officer of the 3rd regiment, corrected His Majesty, he then cheered, non-plussed, "Bravo, Young Buffs! Bravo!", thus granting the 31st the honour of being nicknamed the "Young Buffs". The 3rd Regiment then took to calling themselves the "Old Buffs" to keep themselves distinct from the 31st.

[Steven Broomfield]

For once, Wiki isn't too far wrong: the 3rd Foot had Buff facings (effectively the turned-back bits of the coat and cuffs). The 3rd Foot date back to 1572, when a company was raised from the Trained bands in London, to serve in the Netherlands against Soain. They returned to England in 1665 and were re-embodied as The Holland Regiment.

One story has it that troops returning from the Netherlands wore buff-coloured uniforms; certainly the 3rd Foot adopted buff-coloured facings. Thanks to this, they became the Buffs. As mentioned, the 31st (later the East Surreys), raised as Marines in 1702, were mistaken at Dettingen by George II, for the 3rd, and became the Young Buffs.

Interesinggly, at one time the 3rd had a Colonel by the name of Howard; this at a time when regiments were commonly named after the Colonel. As the 19th also had a Colonel by the name of Howard, it became habitual to distinguish the 3rd and the 19th as the Buff Howards and the Green Howards, respectively.

The latter name also stuck.

[Roger H]

JPT and Steven

Thanks very much.

Roger

[KevinBattle]

It was the "facings" (lapels, cuffs and turnbacks of the tailcoats) that were used to distinguish the different regiments, all otherwise wearing scarlet coats.

So as well as green, buff (beige) there obviously was blue, yellow etc etc.....

Then you get the Rifle Regiments in Green Jackets.....

An interesting subject in itself, how uniforms developed and how a "main" colour became adopted for the various countries. France blue coats and red trousers, British Red Coats and white trousers, Spain, yellow and Prussia dark blue/back.

[centurion]

.

An interesting subject in itself, how uniforms developed and how a "main" colour became adopted for the various countries. France blue coats and red trousers, British Red Coats and white trousers, Spain, yellow and Prussia dark blue/back.

Not always the same colours France was originally all white, then blue and white breeches and much later blue and red. Russia started out under Peter the Great with many in red and then migrated through red and green to predominantly green. White was for a long time very popular (Austria,France, Naples, Saxony, Spain etc). Light infantry and Jaeger in Prussia were usually in green. The Swiss tended to red which could cause confusion (and partly caused a French defeat in Portugal when British soldiers were mistaken for Swiss). Indeed Britain is one of the few countries that stuck fairly consistently to one colour scheme -red with different coloured facings and lace (including black - the 50th foot - the 'dirty half hundred')

One should also add that all the above applies only to infantry - everything goes out the window when we look at cavalry. Blue was a fairly standard colour for artillery.

There were always exceptions and variations - for example the 80th foot wore brown uniforms when fighting in North America (so as not to show up - bang goes another stereotype)

[peter4447]

The nickname came from the days when the Regiments were known by the name of their Colonels and, at one stage, both the 3rd and 19th served together. Both were commanded by a Colonel Howard and to identify them they were called the Buff Howards and the Green Howards.

Peter4447

Sorry - I see it has already been answered my enthusiasm for mentioning my dear old Regiment clearly got the better of me!

[Steven Broomfield]

I supose bringing the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) and Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) into it would be a red herring?

[Roger H]

I supose bringing the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) and Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) into it would be a red herring?

Roger

[centurion]

I supose bringing the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) and Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) into it would be a red herring?

As the saying goes thats a horse of a different colour

[centurion]

The nickname came from the days when the Regiments were known by the name of their Colonels and, at one stage, both the 3rd and 19th served together. Both were commanded by a Colonel Howard and to identify them they were called the Buff Howards and the Green Howards.

At that time the Colonel (no Lt Cols then) would have received monies from which he had to buy cloth and have uniforms made up (usually by local tailors) and he would have chosen the colours of the facings. As the Col could pocket the difference between the monies granted by the crown and the cost of the uniforms the choice of colour might well be made on cost rather than esthetics. Buff was considerably cheaper than green!

[per ardua per mare per terram]

I supose bringing the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) and Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) into it would be a red herring?

That one fell at the first fence. If we're bringing in cavalry regiments, there were the Blues too...

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Then you get the Rifle Regiments in Green Jackets.....

They were a bit cold in only jackets, so they had green trousers too.

[Staffsyeoman]

3rd Foot were also known as the 'Buff Hollands'. As an aside, the 38th Foot (later 1st Bn South Staffordshire Regiment) had a buff backing to their Stafford Knot to commemorate their service in the West Indies in the late 18th Century where, in effect, they were forgotten about for 20+ years - and all they had to repair their uniforms was sacking....

[keithfazzani]

I have in my possession a little book called A Short History of the Buffs, it was published in 1928 and I am reliably informed by ex-members of the Buffs that a similar book was given to them when the joined in the 1960's. It says under the heading THE HOLLAND REGIMENT : For the first two years of its existence in England, the Holland Regiment, together with the Lord High Admiral's Regiment was on the books of the navy as a "maritime" regiment and actually took part in several naval actions but in 1667 it became a land regiment.

The uniform at this time consisted of a red tunic with buff lining, and the breeches and waistcoat were also buff.