“1st or King’s Guards.—The standard of the King’s Own Company was of crimson silk, embroidered in the centre with the royal cypher, J.R., ensigned with (i.e., having above it) an imperial crown in gold. The colonel’s, also of crimson silk, was not charged with any distinction or device. The lieutenant-colonel’s colour was of white silk with the cross of St. George throughout (i.e., covering the flag) of crimson silk, in the middle of which was painted an imperial crown in gold. The major’s colour was distinguished by a pile-wavy of crimson silk issuing out of the dexter chief of the first quarter (i.e., the corner of the flag nearest to the top of the staff), and an imperial crown of gold in the centre of the cross. The eldest captain’s colour was distinguished by one of the King’s cyphers, viz., J.R., interlaced, and an imperial crown painted in the middle of the cross, of gold; the second captain was differenced by two royal cyphers and crowns in the cross; the third, by three; the fourth, by four; and so on every captain to the twentieth who had his cross charged with twenty cyphers and crowns. And thus they appeared at James’s coronation.
“Coldstream Guards.—His Majesty did then also direct that the alterations following should be made in the ensigns of this his second regiment of Foot Guards, that they might be more agreeable to the colours of the first regiment; for, excepting the colonel’s ensign, which was purely of white taffeta, the other eleven were charged with crosses of crimson taffeta throughout. The lieutenant-colonel’s, without distinction. The major’s had a pile-wavy. The cross of the eldest captain was charged on the centre with the figure I. in white, ensigned with an imperial crown of gold painted thereon; the second with II., the third with III., the fourth, IV., and so forward to the ninth captain who was distinguished by IX., each of them under an imperial crown of gold. And thus did these ensigns fly at the coronation.”
With the help of Sandford’s description, and a series of coloured plates, which may be seen in the library at Windsor, we are able to get a very correct impression of the Army colours of this period. Generally speaking, they were remarkable for their brilliant colouring, their fanciful fabric, their lack of similarity one with another, and their show of private as opposed to royal badges. In this latter connection, the colours of James showed a clear harking back to the pre-Reformation days. Our first figure, on Plate I., reveals an attractive colour of the period; it represents the standard of the Second Troop of Horse Guards, date about 1687. The angels which support the large central crown were taken from a popular French device, whilst the three small crowns placed near the lower edge, refer to the King’s claim to the crowns of England, Ireland and France. The central cypher, it may be well to point out, is not F.R. but J.R. The second illustration reveals the Earl of Shrewsbury’s rampant lion on a yellow field. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the background should not be lightish buff, but the Windsor plates certainly favour the colour as given in Fig. 2. The flag is the colonel’s standard of Shrewsbury’s Regiment of Horse (now the 5th Dragoon Guards).
We have hinted that this was an era of much decoration, but to this rule there is one outstanding exception—we refer to the Scots Guards. In this case, the colonel’s colour was plain white, a favourite flag of earlier times. The lieutenant-colonel’s was the national flag of Scotland, a white St. Andrew’s Cross on a blue field. The major’s was the same, but with a pile-wavy issuing from the upper corner of the cross, and the captain’s as the lieutenant-colonel’s, but with a silver numeral placed on the uppermost blue triangle. All were provided with silver and blue tassels, and a silver spear surmounted the pole, emblems which served to distinguish the flags of the Scots Guards from the national flags which were current at that time.
From the end of the reign of James II. to 1707, when England and Scotland formed a legislative union, we can trace but little in the progress of military colours. The Union, however, came and left a very clear impress on the banners of the time. Wherever the red cross of St. George had been used, it was modified with the white cross of St. Andrew, together with its distinctive blue triangular fields. As a rule, the authorities favoured the use of small crosses, placed in the upper canton, rather than large ones covering the whole fabric, for this enabled a fairly big portion of the flag to be used for displaying the arms of each particular military unit. A typical example of this period is shown in Fig. 5. Here we have the colonel’s colour of General Grove’s Regiment, afterwards the 10th Foot (now the Lincolnshire Regiment). The talbot, the motto, and the ermine representations were all features in the crest borne by General Grove. The date of this flag is 1726. Fig. 6, which shows the colours of the 27th or Inniskilling Regiment, is also typical. Its date may be put down at about 1747.
The union did not appear on the infantry colours alone, during this period; it also figured, but to a lesser extent, in the cavalry standards, as may be noted from the following interesting quotation from Milne.[[2]]
“Very little is known about cavalry standards from the time of James II. until the middle of the next century; no drawings or evidence of any kind seem forthcoming. One solitary specimen has been preserved, however, and that of great interest, namely, the Dettingen standard of the old 8th, subsequently 4th Horse (afterwards 7th Dragoon Guards).
“A record of this regiment gives a very full and detailed account of its bravery at Dettingen, under the command of its well-known colonel, Major-General John Ligonier, who was created a knight-banneret on the field of battle by the King (George II.) in person, and further proceeds to relate that Cornet Richardson, carrying a standard, was surrounded by the enemy and, refusing to surrender, received upwards of thirty sabre cuts in his body and through his clothes. His standard and standard lance were also damaged but he brought his precious charge out of action.