A castle and key figure on many regimental devices. All those which display them fought at Gibraltar and received permission to incorporate these objects in their crest in memory of the services which they performed there.
A striped rose forms part of a great many badges. It is a sign of the union after the War of the Roses.
Animals are favourite emblems. The lion, the symbol of our island race, naturally figures most frequently, but elephants, horses, tigers, and stags are great favourites.
It is not always possible to tell why such and such a regiment has chosen a particular animal for incorporation in its device, but, more often than not, the design may be traced back to the family escutcheon of a nobleman who had some hand in raising the unit. A case in point is the cat encircled by the motto Sans Peur, which the men of the 5th battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders wear on their caps. This creature has long ornamented the crest of the House of Sutherland, and the Sutherlands claim guardianship over this particular unit.
In other cases, an animal has been selected because it is specially appropriate. For instance, the Sherwood Foresters, soldiers who recall Robin Hood and the good old-fashioned chase, display an ambling stag, whilst regiments associated with long service in India have adopted an elephant or tiger.
But the most appropriate badge of all is that worn by the Royal Army Medical Corps. In this instance, we have a snake coiled around a rod. The snake, as every reader knows, was the particular mascot carried by Æsculapius, the god of healing, whilst the same reptile was used by Moses in the Wilderness to free the Children of Israel from the ailments which proved so troublesome to them.
The fleeting horse, borne by the King's Own Hussars, the Fifth Dragoon Guards, and the Royal Fusiliers, is the white horse of Hanover, and was incorporated in the crests to remind us of services rendered against the Jacobites.
The Paschal lamb on the "Queen's" was the badge of Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II.
The sphinx, as every one knows, indicates special services in Egypt.