An interesting tale is told with regard to the formation of the Guards by Charles II after the Restoration. There were three regiments present, and they were commanded to take up arms as the First, Second, and Third Guards, but while the first and third obeyed the order, General Monk’s regiment stood still. The King, who was surprised at the apparent insubordination, asked Monk for the reason. Whereupon he said that his regiment declined to be considered second to any other. As a result, Charles is said to have answered, “Very well, they shall be my Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, and second to none.” From this comes their motto, “Nulli secundus.” It may be mentioned, also, that this regiment has a distinction which is absolutely unique in the Army, as it bears on the King’s colour a small Union Jack, which commemorates the fact that Monk was an Admiral of the Fleet as well as a General.
It is only about a hundred years since the pretensions of the English sovereigns to the throne of France ceased to be evident, for it was not until the end of George III’s reign that the French fleur-de-lys were removed from the Royal Arms and disappeared from our coins. There is still, however, a survival of the lilies of France on the braid of the drummers in the Guards. White lace with red crowns is what is almost universally worn by drummers in the Army, but the crown is replaced in the case mentioned by the fleur-de-lys. Whilst speaking of the Guards, one may recall that not very long ago a uniform was used by the solicitor with which these soldiers were, and in the case of the Coldstream Guards are still, provided. The solicitor, like the medical officer, wore the cocked hat that is now dying out in the Army, though generals and aides-de-camp still adopt this most curious outcome of the Cavalier’s beaver. Here and there, as in the case of the surgeon and veterinary surgeon of the Life Guards, and the medical officers of some Volunteer regiments, we still see the cocked hat. It flourishes also in Court dress, it adorns the Lords-Lieutenant and their deputies, besides maintaining its position among the officers of the Navy.
Fur, the material of which the first clothes of our ancestors were made, is still seen to a considerable extent in the Army, and is chiefly used for the construction of busbies. So important was the trade in furs for military purposes at one time, that bear-skins were classified as follows: “Officers,” or first grade; “Grenadiers,” or second grade; and “unfit for the Army,” or third grade. Like all features of dress which are exaggerated, the big busbies of the Guards have on more than one occasion afforded material for the caricaturist. Leech depicted the soldiers of the Brigade of Guards warming their hands and feet in their busbies, which they used as muffs; and an amusing series of sketches for the amusement of the young people was published not long ago, in which the soldier disappeared almost entirely into his busby and became a sort of Humpty-Dumpty.
Tall hats of the type of our modern silk hats were not unknown in the Army. Perhaps it may come as a shock to some that Lord Howard of Effingham is shown in a portrait as wearing a top hat, in shape very similar to the modern form, but ornamented with a plume of ostrich feathers. There is, we believe, however, still one top hat which is served out by the War Office at the present day, and this is worn by the Chapel Keeper at Wellington Barracks.
Of buttons we have already spoken times out of number, and it may be interesting to mention here that the various regiments of the Brigade of Guards may be told by the arrangement of buttons on the tunic. They are arranged at even distances apart in the Grenadiers, in twos on the Coldstreams, and in threes on the Scots Guards, and in fours on the Irish Guards, which were created of recent years.
We find plenty of survivals in the Army of buttons which are seen in similar places to those on civilians’ clothes. Mr. P. W. Reynolds has pointed out another, which is found in connection with a cord loop on the collars of the officers of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. This is a survival of a fashion once universal in the British Infantry, though the loop often consisted of half-inch lace instead of cord. The button was originally on a turned-down collar, and previous to that was on the coat, coming through a hole in the collar with a view to holding the latter properly in place.
If officers and sergeants were seen together it would probably be noticed that the former wear their sashes over the left shoulder, whilst the latter wear theirs over the right. To this a single exception can, however, be found. In the Twenty-ninth Foot the sergeants and officers both wear their sashes over the left shoulder, and this custom has been traced back to the battle of Culloden, where so many officers were slain that the sergeants had to take their places.
The drummers of the Leicestershire Regiment on state occasions wear tiger-skin aprons instead of the usual ones of pipeclayed leather. This is connected, as is also their badge, with their services in India.
A point that is perhaps not generally known is that officers going on voyages in hot climates are allowed to substitute the kamarband for the mess waistcoat, various colours being adopted by various regiments.
We have seen the origin of the red coat so far as it affects the modern army. Under these circumstances it is hardly necessary to say that it is not intended to prevent the soldier from seeing his blood when he is wounded, as has sometimes been suggested. It might be taken as acting as a warning colour like that of the wasp or hornet, but we have also noticed the way in which conspicuous dress is replaced by protectively coloured uniforms when the soldiers are upon active service.