The Colours

[Bernard_Lewis]

When a battalion lays up its colours exactly what colours are they? Regimental? Kings? What's the difference (if any)? What emblem/symbol on a colour tells you which battalion it is? (short of asking the Vicar!)

And I guess the battalion takes the honours awarded to the parent regiment even though that particular battalion did not see action in certain theatres that might appear on the colours?

Any background info on how this works would be helpful.

Bernard

[Terry_Reeves]

Bernard

You have touched on an extremely complex subject. "Emblazoning" honours, dates from 1784 and continued until 1914. Battle honours that were recognised by the government were emblazoned on the 2nd or "Regimental Colour" which contained the regimental insignia. The First, or "King's Colour", was the Union flag.

The proliferation of awards after WW1 caused a practical problem however, there was often no space on the regimental colour to place the new honours.

To accomodate this, Army Order 470 of 1922 authorised 10 selected awards to be emblazoned on the King's colour. The qualification for these awards stems from rules promulgated at the end of the Boer war which stated that the Headquarters and at least fifty percent of a unit had to be engaged to qualify for a battle honour. This of course applied only to the cavalry and infantry (and Royal Tank Corps after WW1) and was left to the Regimental Colonels and their committees to sort out. The RA and RE, who did not carry conventional colours, were awarded the honour "Ubique" - "Everwhere" in the 1830's.

With regard to the laying up of colours, the practice varied throughout the 19th century and the disposal of colours was very much in the hands of the Regimental Colonels. The 1898 Clothing Regulations however, appear to have standardised the procedure which required them to be layed up in churches or public buildings.

This, I must emphasise, is a very much shortened version of the history. Hope it helps.

Terry Reeves

[Bernard_Lewis]

Thanks Terry, your 'simple' explanation is just fine for my purposes!

Bernard