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Called the 'Great Union' if I remember correctly, and commissioned by the
military (from the College of Arms) specifically for use on colours. David
Prothero will, however, be able to confirm this. The saltires of St Andrew and
St Patrick are of the same width with a fimbriation added as in the original of
the 1801 pattern Union Flag.
This Union forms the basis of the Queen's Colour, and the canton of the
Regimental Colour (except for Guards Regiments where the system is reversed),
and the regulation size was, and as far as I know still is, 3'.0" x 3'9"
Christopher Southworth, 24 February 2003
Martin's illustration shown at the top of this page is not of a flag as such,
but of a 'base', to which badges and battle honours can be added to construct
the Queen's colour of line regiment battalions, and the regimental colour of
Foot Guards.
Answering a question, asked in Parliament by Mr Dundas White on 20 May 1909,
Secretary of State at the War Office, R.B. Haldane said:
"The amended design for the Queen's (now King's) colour was approved by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria in 1900. All Queen's and King's colours issued since have been in conformity with the amended design. The previous design was in use since 1801. It was approved by Queen Victoria only as a standard, to govern dimensions of flag as represented in Queen's colour of line battalions and regimental colours of Foot Guards. The War Office has not adopted the design for any other purpose than that for which it was expressly sanctioned. The change was made on heraldic grounds in order to bring the Regimental Union into closer accord with the description of the Union Flag given in the Royal Proclamation of 1 Jan 1801, and at the same time to create a standard pattern for the colour."Dimensions.
As I understand it, every battalion in a regiment has its own Queen's colour
? But does each battalion also have a regimental colour, or is there only one
regimental colour per regiment?
David Prothero, 26 February 2003
Each battalion has a pair of colo(u)rs. In the line regiments--i.e., not
regiments of guards--which battalion the "regimental" colour belonged to was
formerly indicated by a union jack canton added to the same field (2nd
battalion), and a small pile wavy issuing from the lower fly corner of the
canton (in different colors for 3rd and succeeding battalions). The 1st
battalion of any regiment carried the basic regimental colour without a union
jack in the upper hoist. I believe that, in principle, the system now is for the
battalion number to be inscribed in Roman numerals in the upper hoist, but in
practice there are almost no color-bearing regiments in the British Army that
have more than one battalion.
The US Army system is similar--the regiment itself has a plain field with the
regimental coat of arms on the breast of an American eagle, while each
battalion's "regimental" color has the battalion number as an Arabic numeral,
surrounded by an ornate embroidered frame, in the upper hoist.
Joe McMillan, 26 February 2003
I think that should be two colours per battalion should it not Colin,
although most (if not all) British regiments nowadays are single battalion
regiments? However, some did carry three colours during the 18th Century, and
one (the 5th Regiment of Foot or Northumberland Fusiliers) continued to do so
until 1833. Interestingly enough, those regiments who were present at the Battle
of Assaye - Wellington's Indian campaign - (the 74th and 78th Highlands
certainly but also others) were granted the right to carry a third special
colour in 1802, and the privilege of carrying these in general use on parade was
only withdrawn in 1830, when they were to be reserved for special occasions.
The date upon which the number of colours were reduced to two per battalion
appears to be unknown. It is however, certain that a stand of 10 colours was not
unusual during the 1640's (the King's Royal Regiment of Foot Guards lost eleven
out of thirteen at the Battle of Edgehill during the English Civil War), and on
the evidence of the Blenheim tapestries we may reasonably infer that this number
had been considerably reduced (if not actually to only two) by the early 18th
Century (the War of the Spanish Succession)?
By the way if anybody is interested, a lot of the above is from a fascinating
little book (which has been mentioned before) "The
Flags of The World, Their History, Blazons and Associations", F. Edward
Hulme, London c1900.
Christopher Southworth, 26 October 2004
Two colours per battalion it is, and yes, most ordinary infantry regiments
are single battalion these days. As for the Guards, the Grenadier Guards have an
extra 'Royal Standard' [sic], the Coldstream Guards have two 'State Colours',
and the Scots Guards one 'State Colour'. The Irish and Welsh regiments do not
have any extra. Company colours are simply small marker flags.
As for the extra colours - the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,
the descendants of the 5th Foot, still carry an extra flag, the 'Drummer's
Colour'. The Princess of Wales's Own Regiment also have a third colour inherited
from the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). The Assaye regiments (74th,
78th), and the 76th Foot, were given all the extra colours at the request of the
Hon. East India Company - the granting of colours or additional colours was a
common reward for gallant regiments with the HEIC at the time. The two that
Chris mentions do not carry the extra colours any more, but the Duke of
Wellington's Regiment (the old 76th) still does.
The restriction normally placed upon these extra colours is
they cannot be carried at the head of the regiment with the regulation pair
(although I've seen photos of the Duke's colours on parade in the 1960s). The
other Assaye regiment was the 19th Light Dragoons, which received a honorary
guidon. But the modern regiment (the Light Dragoons) does not carry one. On the
subject of names, the King's / Queen's Colour was called the Royal Colour
between 1844 and 1892.
When were the number of colours reduced to two per battalion? It was
definitely two from 1747. One colour per company (and therefore ten or twelve
per regiment) certainly was the 17th century practice. By the early 18th
century, this might have been reduced to carrying two or three in the field and
leaving the rest at home, but there were no regulations in this period, so it
was down to custom, rather than rules. The different practice in the Guards,
where the Queen's Colour is crimson, is a continuation of the 17th century
practice, where the colonel's colour was a plain colour, and the other companies
had more and more devices on them to indicate their junior status.
Ian Sumner, 27 October 2004
A 2-inch fringe was added in 1868, at the same time the size was reduced to
its current form. This applies to all King's/Queen's and Regimental Colour in
the Commonwealth.
Todd Mills, 22 July 2003
The Queen's Colours of the Far East Air Force was in the standard design
featuring the Union Flag in the canton and the cypher 'E II R' and crown in the
centre. The lower fly was embroidered with the Chinese junk surmounting a pair
of keris in saltire (Malay daggers), which was from their unit emblem.
(Headquarters Far East Air Force unit emblem can be seen at:
http://www.raf-changi-assn.org/ ).
David Prothero had informed me earlier that the Colour is now laid up at St.
Clements Danes Church in London.
Herman FMY, 28 January 2004
In the Guards Division, the Queen's Colours have a crimson background,
whereas in most of the rest of the British Army, they are based on a Union Flag
design (sometimes the Union Flag is known as the Great Union). Additionally, the
Coldstream Guards have two State Colours, as well as Queen's Colours, Regimental
Colours (and Company Colours).
Colin Dobson, 26 October 2004
In the early 18th century infantry colours still somewhat followed a pattern prevalent in the English Civil War and earlier. A regiment would typically deploy in three wings under the command of its three senior officers, the colonel, lieutenant colonel and major. The captains of the ten companies (four with the colonel and three each with the other field officers) also had their own flags. The colonel's colour was usually a plain flag in the facing colour of the regiment's uniform. After the 1660 restoration of the monarchy, colonels grew in power and influence to the point that they owned their regiments, and tended to put personal symbols on their flags. All the other officers added a small St George's cross in the canton. By 1707 this cross had been transformed into the whole flag, leaving only the colonel's flag in the facing colour. The various officers were distinguished as follows:
In 1707, the St George's Cross was joined by the St Andrew's Cross, and at the same time the captains' colours were eliminated, leaving only three ensigns for the three field officers (one plain flag, and two Union flags). In 1747 this system was completely reversed and replaced by what pretty much prevails to this day: two colours per battalion, the first being the king's colour (Union flag), and the second being the regimental colour in the facing colour with a Union in the canton. Regiments with red or white facings carried a St George's Cross with the Union in the canton, and black facings were represented by a St George's Cross on a black field. Also in 1747, colonels were prohibited from putting personal devices on their colours.
To this day the guards regiments have pretty much failed to comply with the 1707 and 1747 reforms, and continue some semblance of the protocol of the 17th century. Every company continued to carry its own colour until they were finally abolished in 1838, but from about 1747 guards battalions carried only two of the colours in battle. These two colours are called the opposite of what the rest of the army calls them: the Union flag is the regimental colour, and a crimson flag is the king's/queen's colour. Until recently most of the guards regiments had three battalions. The 1st battalion had a plain crimson flag, 2nd batallion was distinguished with a Union in the canton (17th-century lieutenant-colonel style), and 3rd batallion was distinguished with a Union and a pile wavy (17th-century major style).
With the abolition of company colours in 1838 a system of company badge rotation on the remaining two colours was established. Battalion colours are renewed approximately every ten years, and all the battalions of the regiment receive a new stand at the same time. A hypothetical scenario: if in 1900 the 1st to 3rd battalions carried on their colours the 11th to 13th company badges respectively, then in 1910 these would be replaced by the 14th company for 1st battalion, 15th company for 2nd battalion, and 16th company for 3rd battalion. The five guards regiments now consist of one battalion each, which presumably will drag out the company badge rotation for a much longer time.
T.F. Mills, 2 February 1999
Since there are no known surviving colours of English line regiments, either as actual flags or as drawings, from the reign of Queen Anne, it is impossible to state that with any degree of certainty what they were like. Some colours are known from William III's reign, largely from French captures. Where there are sufficient numbers from a single regiment, it would seem that the captains' colours were identical - St George with a regimental device. But only two regiments are involved, the 3rd and the 12th Foot, so it is difficult to generalise. The system of one device for the 1st captain, two for the 2nd captain etc., only just predates the Civil War. It was probably in use during the Bishops' War (1639-40) but not during the 16th century. That system had fallen out of use in the guards regiments by 1700 (with the use of company badges), and in line regiments by the reign of William III.
Ian Sumner, 3 February 1999
I am sending a drawing of the 9th Foot regimental colour which was presented c. 1757. This is based on an almost identical illustration in John Mollo's Uniforms of the American Revolution and the central device is identical to a black and white one in Dino Lemonifides's British Infantry Colours shown as an example of the rococo style (i.e lopsided and asymmetrical wreath) prevalent in the 1760s. This colour is erroneously portrayed as current during the 1770s, but in fact it was replaced before the American revolution (1772) by another with a different style wreath, for which I also send a drawing. This is illustrated in Terence Wise's Military Flags of the World in Colour. This style would appear to be an intermediate phase between the asymetrical rococo and the 1780s symmetrical-style wreath enclosing the regimental number on a shield. For good measure I am also sending the regimental colour of the 9th Foot c. 1807 since it also appears in the Lemonofides book. This includes the regiment's new badge of the figure of Britannia, and yet another style of wreath.
T.F. Mills 6 February 1999
The 5th Regiment of Foot had a Regimental Colours in gosling green. The Union Flag was in the canton with a Roman numeral "V" in the centre. The three other corners had a crowned rose. The central device on the Colour was St George in white armour on a brown horse lancing a green dragon. This device may have been surrounded by a baroque style Union Wreath.
T.F. Mills, 2 April 2001
The British Regimental flag from the of the 9th infantry regiment during the American Revolution is supposedly still in existence at Sandhurst yet I have found 3 very different illustrations of it:
I know from the warrants of this period that all Roman numerals are supposed to
be either painted or embroidered in gold. However, since the field is yellow, I
can see why they used black to make the numbers show up better. Also, concerning
the first color in example 3, the warrant states that all colors are to have the
wreath and Roman numerals but this is the only example I have seen where the
Grand Union has the wreath. All other examples simply have the Roman numerals.
So, for a flag that supposedly is still extant, there is a bewildering variety
of representations! What does the example at Sandhurst actually look like?
Fred Sura, 4 April 2003
For the flags of the 9th Foot:
You are right about gold being used for the regimental number. I think the black
numerals are either a mistake by the artist, or they are intended to represent
tarnished gold wire, with a black appearance. There are several photos of the
centres of the colours in S.M. Milne's 'Standards and Colour of the Army'
(Leeds, the Author, 1891), plate XIII. In the text, he states that there are
several stands of the regiment's colours in the chapel at Sandhurst.
Ian Sumner, 4 April 2003
At
http://hiwaay.net/~hfears/com_1/com_1.htm is a painting, The Death of
Major Pierson by John Singleton Copley, showing a pre-1808 union jack and a
yellow flag (image at
http://hiwaay.net/~hfears//photos//battljer.jpg).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 6 January 2006
I think the colours are that of the 95th - that was Pierson's regiment,
certainly. It was disbanded at the end of the war, and so it is not listed in
any of the major sets of regulations, so I can't say what its facings were for
sure. The 72nd may also have had yellow facings, but they were highlanders, and
wore the kilt, which none of the colour party appear to be doing (there is an
officer of the 72nd, however, lying wounded in the lower left hand corner). The
other possibility is that the colours belong to one of the regiments of Jersey
Militia. There is an article on the painting in volume 2 of the Journal of the
Society for Army Historical Research.
Ian Sumner, 7 January 2006
A good overview over the various British regiments and their uniforms can be
found at http://www.regiments.org, e.g.
http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/073-786.htm in the case of the
case of the 73rd regiment. The colours of the facings were used as the base
colour of the
regiments colour.
Dirk Schönberger, 8 January 2005