Battle honours of the British and Imperial Armies

The following battle honours were awarded to units of the British Army and the armies of British India and the Dominions of the British Empire.[1][2] From their institution until the end of the Second World War, awards were made by, or in consultation with, the British government, but, since 1945, the individual countries of the former British Empire have awarded battle honours to their forces independently.

Contents

Origins and history

The first battle honour was the motto Virtutis Namurcensis Præmium (Reward for valour at Namur),[3] ordered by King William III to be emblazoned on the colour of the 18th Regiment of Foot, later the Royal Irish Regiment, for their part in the Siege of Namur in 1695.[4] This was later codified in the Regulations for the Uniform Clothing of the Marching Regiments of Foot, their Colours, Drums, Bells of Arms, and Camp Colours of 1747.[5] Many years later, in 1910, the honour Namur 1695 was awarded to 14 regiments, including the Royal Irish. In 1768, the 15th Light Dragoons, later 15th The King's Hussars, were uniquely awarded the honour Emsdorf[6] to be worn on their helmets in commemoration of their success at the Battle of Emsdorf in 1760.[7]

The first battle honour displayed in the modern manner[8] was awarded in 1784 when four infantry regiments[9] that took part in the defence of Gibraltar of 1779-83 were ordered to display the word Gibraltar on a scroll on their Second (now Regimental) Colour.[10] Later, a badge of the Castle and Key was added, with a scroll carrying the motto Montis Insignia Calpe[11] below it, and the word Gibraltar was changed to Gibraltar 1779–83. Although this award was made promptly after the event, this is not always the case: the oldest battle honours, Tangier 1662–1680 and Tangier 1680, were awarded in 1909, over 220 years after the temporary but tumultuous occupation of that port.[12]

The procedure for awarding battle honours was originally extremely arbitrary.[13] For example, the victories of the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars were copiously honoured, but those of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of Spanish Succession were entirely ignored. By the mid-19th Century, honours were being awarded for contemporary actions that were little more than skirmishes compared with the great European battles of the 18th Century. Consequently, a committee was set up under Major-General Sir Archibald Alison in 1881 to determine the honours that should be awarded to the various regiments for past battles.[14] Although the Alison Committee remedied the worst of the injustices when it reported in 1882 (by, inter alia, awarding the honours Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet), another committee had to be set up in 1909 to continue the work.

Until 1832, battle honours were awarded to a specific unit and, if it was disbanded, the honour was lost. After this date, honours were awarded to the parent regiment of the battalion whose actions led to the award. During the Second Boer War, however, some honours were awarded to the Militia battalions of infantry regiments in their own right.[15] Also, the honours Mediterranean 1901–02 and St Helena were awarded to the Militia battalions of several regiments for garrison and prisoner-of-war camp duty. When the Militia was disbanded, these honours (and the earlier Mediterranean, earned for similar service during the Crimean War) were allowed to lapse. After the Great War, however, the battalions of the Territorial Army were permitted to carry the honours of their parent regular battalions, a practice that had previously been forbidden.

The sheer scale of the Great War led to a previously unheard of number of honours being awarded and it was simply impractical to emblazon every one of them on the Regimental Colour.[16] It was at first ordered that regiments should select up to 10 honours to be emblazoned on their Regimental Colours along with previous awards, up to a total of 24. This led to a storm of protest, since many regiments would have had to remove previous honours. The order was, therefore, amended to allow each infantry regiment to select up to 10 honours to be emblazoned on its King's Colour, honours from other conflicts continuing to be displayed on the Regimental Colour. After the Second World War, a further 10 honours from that conflict were added to the King's Colour. Owing to amalgamations, more than the total of 20 First and Second World War awards may be found on the Queen's Colour of modern regiments.[17] Cavalry regiments emblazoned these honours on the reverse side of their standards and guidons.

Battle honours of the World Wars were almost invariably only awarded for engagements specifically named by the Battles Nomenclature Committees.[18] A particularly poignant exception to this rule is that of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment which applied for the honour Beaumont Hamel in memory of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, when the regiment was virtually wiped out.[19] The award was declined by the Battle Honours Committee because there was no official battle of that name.[20] After considerable correspondence between the Colonial Office and the government of Newfoundland, a compromise was reached whereby the regiment would be awarded the honour Albert (Beaumont Hamel) 1916, but only with the personal approval of the King. Needless to say, the King approved the award without hesitation.

1662-1906

The Great War

Between the Wars

The Second World War

Britain post-1945

See also

Notes and References

  1. ^ T.F. Mills Chronological Index of British and Imperial Battle Honours to 1945 (archive of Regiments.org page)
  2. ^ Norman, Charles Boswell (1911). Battle honours of the British army : from Tangier, 1662, to the commencement of the reign of King Edward VII. London: Murray. 
  3. ^ Wood, S.C. (2001) Battle honours in The Oxford Companion To Military History ed. Richard Holmes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 124.
  4. ^ Cannon, Richard (1848) Historical Record Of The Eighteenth, Or The Royal Irish Regiment Of Foot. London: Parker, Furnivall and Parker. p. 17.
  5. ^ Flags of the World Battle honours on flags
  6. ^ In full: Five battalions of French defeated and taken by this Regiment with their Colours and nine pieces of cannon at Emsdorff 16th July 1760.
  7. ^ BritishBattles.com The Battle of Emsdorf
  8. ^ Infantry regiments generally emblazon their battle honours on their regimental colours. Rifle and Light Infantry regiments, which do not carry colours, display them on their badges, buckles, buttons or elsewhere on their uniforms. The heavy cavalry (Household Cavalry and Dragoon Guards) carry them on their standards and the light cavalry (Dragoons, Lancers and Hussars) on their guidons. (The Blues and Royals carry both standards and a guidon since they are the result of the amalgamation of a Household Cavalry regiment and a Dragoon regiment.) During the period from 1833 to 1952, when Lancer and Hussar regiments did not not carry guidons, they displayed their honours on their officers' saddle cloths, their drums, drum banners and other appointments.
  9. ^ 1st Battalions of the 12th, 39th, 56th and 58th Regiments of Foot. Later also the Highland Light Infantry for 2 Bn, 73rd of Foot.
  10. ^ Rodger, Alexander. Battle Honours of the British Empire and Commonwealth Land Forces. Marlborough: The Crowood Press. p. 10
  11. ^ Badge of the Rock of Gibraltar
  12. ^ Singh, Sarbans. Battle Honours of the Indian Army 1757 - 1971. New Delhi: Vision Books. p. 74. ISBN 8170941156. 
  13. ^ Sumner, I. and Hook, R. (2001) British Colours & Standards 1747-1881 (1): Cavalry. Oxford:Osprey. pp. 23-27.
  14. ^ Farwell, Byron (2001). Encyclopedia of 19th Century Land Warfare: An Illustrated World View. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 22. ISBN 0393047709. 
  15. ^ Baker, A.H.R (1986). Battle Honours of the British and Commonwealth Armies. Shepperton: Ian Allen. p. 97
  16. ^ The Gloucestershire Regiment, for example, was awarded over 80 honours.
  17. ^ The total number of honours permitted to be displayed on the Queen's colour was increased to 40 in 1958 and later to 43. Up to 46 may be carried on the Regimental Colour. (The Yorkshire Regiment, Battle Honours)
  18. ^ The relevant reports being The Official names of the Battles and Other Engagements Fought by the Military Forces of the British Empire During the Great War, 1914-1919, and the Third Afghan War, 1919 : Report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee As Approved by the Army Council (1921), The Official names of the BATTLES, ACTIONS and ENGAGEMENTS fought by the Land Forces of the Commonwealth during the SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945: Final report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as approved by the Army Council (1956), and, later, The Official names of the BATTLES, ACTIONS and ENGAGEMENTS fought by the Land Forces of the Commonwealth during the Australian Campaign in the South-west Pacific 1942-1945 and the New Zealand Campaign in the South Pacific 1942-1944 and the Korean Campaign 1950-1953: Final report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as approved by the Army Council (1958).
  19. ^ Rodger, Alexander. Battle Honours of the British Empire and Commonwealth Land Forces. Marlborough: The Crowood Press. p. 85
  20. ^ This despite the fact that exceptions had already been made for the Devonshire Regiment (Bois des Buttes) and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (Bligny).