Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

Royal East Kent Regiment ("The Buffs"); 3rd Regiment of Foot

Badge of The Buffs
Active 1572 to 1961.
Country  Kingdom of England (1572–1707)
 Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)
 United Kingdom (1801–1961)
Branch  British Army
Type Line infantry
Garrison/HQ Howe Barracks, Canterbury
Nickname Howard's Buffs
The Old Buffs.
Motto Veteri Frondescit Honore
Latin: "Its Ancient Honour Flourishes"; "Its Ancient Honour is Ever-Green"
Colors Buff Facings
March Quick: The Buffs
Slow: The Men of Kent
Anniversaries Albuhera Day (16 May).
Engagements Corunna (17 January 1809)
Albuhera (16 May 1811)
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Colonel Charles Churchill (1689–1707)
John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1707–1713)
Archibald Douglas, 2nd Earl of Forfar (1713–1715)
Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard (1737–1749)
Colonel Sir George Howard (1749–1763).

The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army until 1961. It had a history dating back to 1572 and was one of the oldest regiments in the British Army being third in order of precedence (ranked as the 3rd Regiment of the line). It provided distinguished service over a period of almost four hundred years accumulating one hundred and sixteen battle honours. In 1961 it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment to form the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment which was later amalgamated with the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Middlesex Regiment to form the Queen's Regiment which was again amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment, in September 1992, to create the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

History

The origins of the regiment lay in Thomas Morgan's Company of Foot, The London Trained Bands which was in existence from 1572 to 1648. In 1665 it was known as the 4th (The Holland Maritime) Regiment and by 1668 as the 4th (The Holland) Regiment. In 1688–1689 it was "4th The Lord High Admiral's Regiment" until 1751 it was named as other regiments after the Colonel Commanding being the 3rd (Howard's) Regiment of Foot from 1737 to 1743 at which point it became the 3rd Regiment of Foot, "Howard's Buffs".

Origin of "The Buffs"

The 3rd Regiment's nickname of "The Buffs" is said to have originated in its use of protective buff coats—made of soft leather— during service in the Netherlands in the 17th century. Later they adopted buff-coloured facings and waistcoats as uniform distinctions and wore equipment of natural buff leather rather than pipe-clayed the customary white.

The name of "The Old Buffs" originated during the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, when the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot marched past King George II and onto the battlefield with great spirit. Mistaking them for the 3rd due to their similar buff facings, the sovereign called out, "Bravo, Buffs! Bravo!". When one of his aides, an officer of the 3rd regiment, corrected His Majesty, the non-plussed monarch then cheered "Bravo, Young Buffs! Bravo!" When the 31st subsequently adopted the nickname of "Young Buffs", the 3rd Regiment took to calling themselves the "Old Buffs" to distinguish themselves from the 31st.

The two Howards

The Buffs obtained the name of "The Buffs" officially in 1744 while on campaign in the Low Countries. The 3rd Regiment was then under the command of Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard. At the same time, the 19th Regiment of Foot were commanded by their colonel, the Honourable Sir Charles Howard. In order to avoid confusion (because regiments were then named after their colonels, which would have made them both Howard's Regiment of Foot), the regiments took the colours of their facings as part of their names – the 19th Foot became the Green Howards, while the 3rd Foot became Howard's Buffs, eventually being shortened to simply The Buffs.

Australian service

In between the campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars and India, "The Buffs" had a tour of service from 1821 until 1827 in the British colony of New South Wales. For the duration of their service, The Buffs were divided into four detachments. The first was based in Sydney from 1821. The second arrived in Hobart in 1822. The third, entitled "The Buffs' Headquarters", arrived in Sydney in 1823. The fourth arrived in Sydney in 1824, but variously saw service throughout the colonies, being stationed at Port Dalrymple, Parramatta, Liverpool, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Bathurst. The regiment reunited and was transferred to Calcutta in 1827. During their service in New South Wales, The Buffs were commanded by Lieut. Colonel W. Stewart and Lieut Colonel C. Cameron.[1]

"Steady, The Buffs!"

This famous cry has been rumoured by many to have been uttered on the field of battle, but it was actually born on a garrison parade ground. In 1858, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in Malta and quartered with the 21st Royal (North British) Fusiliers. Lieutenant John Cotter, Adjutant of the 2nd Buffs,[2] had formerly served as a Sergeant Major. Lieutenant Cotter would not brook any disarray on the parade ground from his raw recruits, shouting "Steady, The Buffs! The Fusiliers are watching you!" This greatly amused the Fusiliers who took to calling out "Steady, The Buffs!" on the slightest provocation, first in Malta and later whenever the two regiments met from then on. The phrase caught on and was soon shouted whenever The Buffs marched by. It then passed into common usage, even appearing in Rudyard Kipling's novel Soldiers Three (1888) and his play Pity Poor Mama.

Among several characters in literature and television who have uttered the phrase are: Lord Peter Wimsey, Arthur Daley in Minder, Rab C. Nesbitt, and Bertie Wooster. Dennis and Margaret Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady are portrayed using the phrase.

Reorganisations and amalgamations

Second China War (1855–1860)

The following unit participated in the Taku Forts action during the Second China War:

Perak War (1875–1876)

The following unit participated in the Perak War:

Anglo-Zulu War (1879)

The following units participated in the Anglo-Zulu War:

Anglo-Egyptian War (1882)

The following units participated in the Anglo-Egyptian War:

Second Boer War (1899–1902)

Spion Kop Memorial to Captain Naunton Henry Vertue of the 2nd Battalion

The following units participated in the Second Boer War:[6]

Captain Naunton Henry Vertue of the 2nd Battalion also served as Brigade Major to the 11th Infantry Brigade under Major General Edward Woodgate at the Battle of Spion Kop where he was mortally wounded.[7]

First World War (1914–1918)

For service in World War I, ten additional battalions were raised:

Corporal William Richard Cotter was awarded the VC whilst serving with the 6th Battalion.

Third Afghan War (1919)

The 4th Battalion fought during the brief Third Afghan War of 1919.

Second World War (1939–1945)

For service in World War II, eight battalions were raised in addition to the two regular and one Territorial units:

The 1st Battalion served in many different brigades and divisions, mainly with British Indian Army units, and fought in many different battles and campaigns such as the North African Campaign, the Italian Campaign and the Battle of Anzio when they were a part of 18th Infantry Brigade, assigned to the 1st Infantry Division where they were involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The 18th Brigade returned to the 1st Armoured Division in August 1944 but on 1 January 1945 the division was disbanded and 18th Brigade was broken up and used as replacements for other units. The 1st Buffs spent the rest of the war with the 24th Guards Brigade attached to the 56th (London) Infantry Division. With the 56th Division the battalion fought in Operation Grapeshot, the final offensive in Italy which effectively ended the campaign in Italy.

The 2nd Battalion was sent to France in 1940 with the 132nd Infantry Brigade attached to 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division to join the British Expeditionary Force and fought in the short but fierce Battle of Dunkirk and were evacuated at Dunkirk back to Britain. The 44th Division were sent to fight in the North African Campaign where it was broken up due to an apparently poor performance in the Battle of Alam el Halfa despite the division having only the 132nd Brigade under command as other brigades were attached to other divisions. The 132nd Brigade disbanded and 2nd Buffs then was transferred to the Far East with the 26th Indian Infantry Brigade and remained there for the war. In 1944 the brigade was redesignated the 26th British Infantry Brigade which itself became part of the 36th British Infantry Division and served with the British Fourteenth Army in the Burma Campaign 1944–45.

The 4th Battalion Buffs was a 1st Line Territorial Army unit serving with the BEF in France 1940. The battalion was transferred to the island of Malta in 1941 and served throughout the siege. The battalion then joined the 234th Infantry Brigade which included the 2nd Battalion Royal West Kents. The brigade took part in the disastrous Battle of Leros in an attempt to capture the Dodecanese Islands in late 1943. The brigade and other Allied forces, mainly Italian, attempted to hold the island from the Germans but without success. This was due mainly to German air superiority as the Allies had very few planes to cover them. The 234th Brigade Commander, Robert Tilney, ordered surrender after many days of resistance and hard fighting. The Battle of Leros has often been referred to as the Last Great British Defeat of World War II.

The 5th Battalion was reformed in 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 4th Battalion raised when the Territorial Army was doubled in size. The battalion also saw service in France 1940 with the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, which itself was a 2nd Line duplicate of the 44th (Home Counties) Division. The 5th Buffs were serving 6th and 7th Royal West Kents in the 36th Infantry Brigade. Like the 2nd and 4th Battalions they served with the BEF in France in 1940 and fought in the Battle of France and were evacuated at Dunkirk. The 12th Division suffered heavy casualties due mainly to most of the men having little training and the division having no artillery or support units. After returning to England the division was disbanded in July 1940, due to the casualties it sustained. In 1942 the 36th Brigade was assigned to the newly raised 78th Battleaxe Division and took part in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa, followed by the campaign in Tunisia where the 78th Division, as part of the British First Army, gained an excellent reputation. The division then fought in the Sicilian Campaign, where it gained a reputation as the best mountain division in the British Eighth Army. The 5th Buffs and the rest of 78th Division then took part in the fighting in Italy and served there for the rest of the war until the 1945 Offensive.

The Buffs also raised many more battalions during the war, mainly for home defence or as training units. None, save the 7th Battalion, saw active service overseas. The 7th Battalion was raised in 1940 and was converted to the 141st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps in 1941 due to the shortage of armoured troops in the British Army.

Post-War amalgamations

In 1956 the 410th (Kent) Coast Regiment (Royal Artillery) was disbanded and converted into infantry. It was then combined with elements of the 4th (Territorial Army) Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent) Regiment to form the 5th (Territorial Army) Battalion of The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment and was the last separate unit to bear the distinct honours of The Buffs. In 1966 it became the 5th Battalion, The Queen's Regiment. In 1967 it merged with the 4th Battalion to become the 4th/5th (East Kent TAVR) Battalion, The Queen's Regiment.

In 1961 the "Buffs", Royal East Kent Regiment was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment to form: the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment.

In 1966, the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment was amalgamated with the other three regiments of the Home Counties Brigade to form the Queen's Regiment.

In 1992 the Queen's Regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment to form the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

Colonels-in-Chief

Colonels

Notable soldiers

Buffs at the Battle of Albuhera by William Barnes Wollen

Freedom of the City of London

The Buffs was one of five regiments enjoying the Freedom of the City of London. This gave them the right to march through the City with drums beating, bayonets fixed, and colours flying. This is due to a Royal Warrant written in 1672 allowing them to raise volunteers "by beat of drum" in the City of London. Since recruiting parties paraded in full array accompanied by company or regimental musicians and marched with a colour, this right was given to the regiment as a whole.

Battle honours

The honours in capital lettering were worn on the Colours. The regiment was awarded 116 battle honours.

War of the Spanish Succession, (Queen Anne's War)

War of the Austrian Succession, (King George's War)

Seven Years' War, (French and Indian War)

Napoleonic Wars

"Pax Britannia"

World War I (1914–1919)

World War II (1939–1945)

Victoria Cross

The following members of the Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross:

Uniform and insignia

Soldier of the 3rd Foot in 1742

In 1667 the Holland Regiment is recorded as wearing "red jackets lined with yellow". Subsequently, Nathan Brook's Army List of 1684 referred to "Coated red, lined with a flesh colour". This marked the beginning of the historic association of the Regiment with buff facings (a dull-yellow colour). A notice in the London Gazette of 21 January 1685 describing the clothing of three deserters from what was still the Holland Regiment, referred for the first time to the colour buff:"a new Red Coat lin'd with a Buff colour'd lining, surtout Sleeves, cross Pockets with three scallops, large plain pewter Buttons, Breeches of ths same colour as the Coat lining".[11]

An illustration of the Colonel's colour in 1707 shows a dragon on a buff background, following the award of this distinctive symbol to the regiment as "a reward for its gallant conduct on all occasions"; according to the Army historian Richard Cannon in a book published in 1839. The dragon was believed to have been adopted as it was one of the supporters of the royal arms of Elizabeth I, who issued the warrant for the raising of the regiment in 1572.[12] Through the remainder of the 18th century both the dragon and the buff facings (worn on cuffs, lapels and coat linings) remained as particular distinctions of the regiment. A Royal Warrant of 1751 standardising all colours (flags), badges and uniforms listed the "3rd Regiment, or The Buffs".[12] The Buffs were at this time the only infantry regiment to owe their official title to their facing colours. The green dragon was recorded in the same document as the "ancient badge" of the Buffs – displayed as a woven or painted device on the mitre cap of the Regiment's grenadiers, the colours and the drums.[12]

In 1881 the reorganisation of most infantry regiments on a territorial basis under the Childers Reforms led to the newly renamed "The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)" losing its buff facings in favour of the white collars and cuffs intended to distinguish all non-Royal English and Welsh regiments.[13] The dragon survived as part of the (now metal) headdress badge, although replaced on collars by the white horse of Kent.[14] The horse had formed the insignia of the East Kent Militia with formed the 3rd battalion of the new regiment. Both changes were unpopular within the Regiment and in 1887 the Buffs were authorised to convert the white facings on their scarlet tunics to buff – at the Regiment's expense and using a pipeclay mixture developed by an officer of the 2nd Battalion.[15] In 1890 buff was officially restored as the regimental colour on flags, tunics and mess jackets.[16] On 23 May 1894 approval was given for the dragon to be resumed as the collar badge.[17] For the remainder of its history both dragon and buff facings remained as primary distinctions of this "distinguished old Regiment". This was the case even on the simplified dark blue "No. 1 Dress" worn by most of the British Army as full dress after World War II, although the buff colour was here reduced to piping edging the shoulder straps.

Alliances

Regimental museum

The Buffs Regimental Museum is located at Canterbury, Kent, though ownership of the museum's objects was transferred to the National Army Museum in London in 2000. It closed for maintenance from November 2008 until 2012, with its collections being housed at NAM's London base during that period.[18][19]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sargent, Clem (1995). "The Buffs in Australia—1822 to 1827". Sabretache (Military Historical Society of Australia) 36 (1): 3–15. ISSN 0048-8933.
  2. ↑ Hart, Lieut.-Col. H.T. (1858) The New Army List and Militia List, No. LXXIX, 1st July 1858. London: John Murray. p. 76
  3. ↑ The 2nd Battalion raised in 1756 was converted into the 61st Regiment of Foot in 1758. Its lineage is now continued by The Rifles.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Medals of the Buffs". Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  5. ↑ "The Battle of Gingindlovu". Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  6. ↑ "Canterbury Boer War Memorial Transcription" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  7. ↑ "Anglo Boer War – Officer casualties, surname U – V". Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  8. ↑ George Forty (1998), "British Army Handbook 1939–1945", Stoud: Sutton Publishing, pp. 50–1.
  9. ↑ Sir Francis Doyle: Moyse, the Private of the Buffs
  10. ↑ Spagnoly, Tony and Smith, Ted (1999), Cameos of the Western Front: Salient Points Three: Ypres & Picardy 1914-18, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, ISBN 978-0850527902 (pp. 27-31)
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 2106. p. 2. 21 January 1685.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Edwards, T J (1953). Standards, Guidons and Colours of the Commonwealth Forces. Aldershot: Gale & Polden. pp. 192, 195, 204.
  13. ↑ G.O. 41/1881 1 May 1881 amended by G.O.70/1881 1 July 1881. "X. The facings, and the Officers lace will be the same for all regiments belonging to the same Country (Royal and Rifle Regiments excepted), and will as follows: English Regiments: Facings – White, Pattern of Lace – Rose"
  14. ↑ Kipling, Arthur L; King, Hugh L (2006). Head-Dress Badges of the British Army: Volume One – Up to The end of the Great War. Uckfield: Naval & Military Press. p. 140. ISBN 1-84342-512-2.
  15. ↑ Blaxland, Gregory (1972). The Buffs. Oxford: Osprey. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-85045-064-4.
  16. ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. 13 September 1890. p. 7. The regimental colours will in future be buff instead of white; and the Commander-in-Chief has directed that the facings of the regiment be described in the Queen's Regulations and the Army List as buff.
  17. ↑ Churchill, Colin (2002). History of the British Army Infantry Collar Badge. Uckfield: Naval & Military Press. pp. 26–28. ISBN 978-1-897632-69-7.
  18. ↑ Collinson, Peter (2010). "Canterbury City Council Online". Canterbury Royal Museum & Art Gallery with Buffs Regimental Museum. CCC. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  19. ↑ "Army Museum; Ogilby Trust". Buffs, Royal East Kent Regiment Museum Collection. 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2010.

External links

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