“One Colour of the original set presented to the gallant 92nd on its formation in 1794 has disappeared, but its companion, the regimental Colour, is not only still in existence, but is even in a good state of preservation.
“This set went through the Holland campaign in 1799, and there is good reason to suppose that the King’s Colour got very badly knocked about in the fighting on that occasion. At any rate, when the union of Great Britain and Ireland took place in 1801, it was replaced by a new Colour, notwithstanding the small number of years it had been in use. The regimental Colour, on the other hand, was merely altered so as to bring it into line with the new pattern as sealed by the authorities. The original number of the regiment—100—had already, in 1798, been changed to 92, and the fresh alterations consisted chiefly of shamrock leaves, which were added to the existing wreath of roses and thistles.
“The only active service which this very much adapted set of Colours ever saw was in Egypt in the following year. By their valour at Alexandria, Mandora, and other fights, the Gordons won the right to bear the Sphinx on their Colours, and the badge was placed on all four corners of the regimental one—a very rare thing.
“In 1807 the Colours were retired, and reverted, as usual, to the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who placed them in his residence of Gordon Castle. In order the better to preserve them, they have since been enclosed in a glass case, and both are in remarkably good condition.
“Their successors had a much more stirring career. In 1807 they led the Gordons on at Copenhagen. Next they accompanied them on their retreat to Corunna, and at the battle itself, Colonel Alexander Napier fell beneath their folds. When the regiment effected its landing at Walcheren later on in the same year we read that the Colours were carried uncased and upright in the centre boat of the flotilla.
“Not long afterwards they were sent back to the Peninsula, and the Colours were carried throughout the war from Fuentes d’Onor onwards. At Maya, one of the battles of the Pyrenees, the Colours fell to the ground time after time, every officer but two being either killed or wounded, and carried from the field. At St. Pierre the Gordons again advanced with Colours flying and pipes skirling, and drove the enemy from his positions.
“The last battle in which they were carried was Waterloo.”
The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.—Facings, blue.
R.C.—The Thistle ensigned with the imperial crown. The Sphinx, superscribed “Egypt.”
The honorary distinctions are: Egmont-op-Zee; Corunna; Busaco; Fuentes d’Onor; Salamanca; Pyrenees; Nivelle; Nive; Toulouse; Peninsula; Waterloo; Alma; Sevastopol; Lucknow; Egypt, 1882; Tel-el-Kebir; Nile, 1884–85; Atbara; Khartoum; South Africa, 1900–02.