The flag of the 4th battalion is shown in Fig. 37 and, as will be seen from it, the badge is a Castle. (Idem for the 5th battalion).
Prince Albert’s (Somerset Light Infantry).—Facings, blue.
R.C.—A mural crown, superscribed “Jellalabad,” in the central crimson badge, and, below, the Sphinx, superscribed “Egypt.”
The mural crown, a device which is associated with the name of Jellalabad, was given to this regiment in token of its fine work in the first Afghan War, when not only a human but a natural foe cast about, in vain, to bring it defeat. We are alluding to the crafty Afghans and the appalling earthquakes which rent the walls and buildings of Jellalabad whilst Robert Sale was in command.
The battle honours are: Gibraltar, 1704-5; Dettingen; Martinique, 1809; Ava; Affghanistan, 1839; Ghuznee, 1839; Cabool, 1842; Sevastopol; South Africa, 1878-9; Burmah, 1885-87; South Africa, 1899-1902; Relief of Ladysmith.
The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).—Facings, buff for all battalions, except the 7th and 8th, which are black.
R.C.—The Prince of Wales’s plume. The White Horse. The Royal Tiger, superscribed “India” and the motto, “Nec aspera terrent.” This flag is shown in Fig. 31.
The battle honours are: Namur, 1695; Tournay; Corunna; Java; Waterloo; Bhurtpore; Sevastopol; New Zealand; Afghanistan, 1879-80; South Africa, 1899-1902; Relief of Ladysmith.
“Although the West Yorkshires were raised so long ago as 1685, their Colours had no honours for great early battles until (a few years back) ‘Namur, 1695’ was granted. ‘Corunna’ was the first name to be inscribed thereon, and, although ‘Tournay’ was tardily authorised in 1836, it was first placed on the stand issued to the regiment in 1853. Thus the set issued in 1819 to replace the tattered rags presented eighteen years before, and which had time and again led the regiment on to victory in Mauritius, in Java, and in Bengal—hard services which wore the Colours out so rapidly that they were described as being ‘fairly worn off the staves’ some years previously—bore only three honours, of which the third, ‘Java,’ was won by the first battalion; the second, ‘Waterloo,’ by the third battalion; and the first, ‘Corunna,’ by the second battalion.
“The next honour to be gained by the 14th was ‘Bhurtpore,’ in 1820. Hardly had the great mine beneath the hostile walls been sprung, when the besiegers were seen rushing forward to the assault, the Colours of the regiment beckoning in the very forefront, and being, it is said, the first to be planted on the walls of the ‘impregnable’ Jat fortress. The 1835 set, therefore, which replaced the ‘Bhurtpore’ Colours, had four names emblazoned on them, and their successors five, ‘Tournay’ having by this time been added. These, the Crimean Colours, under whose folds the additional honours of ‘Sevastopol’ and ‘New Zealand’ were earned, were not formally ‘presented’ but simply given out on parade without ceremony, according to instructions from the War Office, which had been suddenly smitten with a desire to save a pound or two here and there. They were retired in 1876, and placed in Sandringham, by order of His Majesty, then Prince of Wales, who had presented the new set to the regiment at Lucknow.