“This set was retired at Dublin in 1854, and taken possession of by the commanding officer. His widow afterwards presented both Colours to the Royal United Service Institute, in which museum in Whitehall, they hang to this day.”[[15]]
The exhibit bears the following inscription: Colours of the 33rd Regiment, 1832-54, then known as the 1st Yorkshire (West Riding), which were presented to the battalion in 1832, at Weedon, by General Sir Charles Whale, K.C.B., colonel of the regiment. The first is the ordinary Royal colour of the great Union; and the second, or regimental colour, the Red Cross of St. George on a white field, and only two honours are attached, those of “Peninsula” and “Seringapatam.” They have never been on active service, but they are associated with two interesting military events. From 1838 to 1840 the 33rd were at Gibraltar, and there under these colours H.R.H. the late Commander-in-Chief, then Prince George of Cambridge, was attached for duty to the battalion on his first introduction to the British Army. The 33rd, as is well known, monopolised most of the regimental service of the great Duke of Wellington, and at his funeral on the 18th November, 1852—to attend which the regiment was brought to London from Glasgow—these colours proved a conspicuous mark. The colours were retired from service at Dublin in 1851, prior to the 33rd proceeding to the Crimea.
The Border Regiment.—Facings, white.
R.C.—A laurel wreath. The Dragon, superscribed “China.”
This regiment is a combination of the old 34th Cumberland and the 55th Westmoreland; it now possesses the former’s laurel wreath, gained for admirable services rendered on the fatal held of Fontenoy, and the latter’s dragon, awarded in recognition of its work in China, 1842.
The honorary distinctions are: Havannah; St. Lucia, 1778; Albuhera; Arroyo dos Molinos; Vittoria; Pyrenees; Nivelle; Nive; Orthes; Peninsula; Alma; Inkerman; Sevastopol; Lucknow; South Africa, 1899-1902; Relief of Ladysmith.
This regiment is the only one with “Arroyo dos Molinos” as a battle honour. In the Peninsula, by a surprise move, the old 34th took prisoners almost all of the 34th regiment of French Infantry. As a reward, they were allowed to wear a red and white ball in the front of their shakos. When, later, this appointment became general among infantry regiments, the Borders showed their displeasure at losing this distinctive sign. By way of compensation, the battle honour of “Arroyo dos Molinos” was granted to them.
“The colours which were carried in this fight became so tattered and dilapidated in after years that the officers at length decided to have them preserved under glass in order to lengthen their existence, and they were sent, accordingly, to a tradesman in the Opera Colonnade, London. While in his keeping, however, the building was, unfortunately, burnt to the ground, and the charred remains of the colours were all that was ever recovered from the ruins. Even these were thought worthy of preservation, and now rest confined in a silver urn.
“The colours which replaced the Bergen set in 1815 passed through strange vicissitudes before Lord Archibald Campbell at last rescued them in 1888. His attention was drawn to them by a pawnbroker’s advertisement which offered them for sale as though they had been a pair of mere window curtains. Needless to say, they were at once purchased, and are now safe with the other old colours of this historic regiment at Kendal.”[[16]]
The Royal Sussex Regiment.—Facings, blue.