The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-31 00:00:00

"TROOPING THE COLOURS."

The Daily News of Monday gives the following descrip-
tion of the imponng ceremony of "Trooping the Colours "on
the Qaeen's BirtLday

Tne warm suushine of the first day of summer added
brilliancy to thepicturesque martial ceremony of troop-
ing the colours of the brigade of Guards on Saturday
last. Observed on the Queen's Birthday wherever the
flag of England waves over camp or garrison, the
trooping of the colours is also performed when new
battle flags are yresented, and the veterans, stained and
faded with time and sun, wind.and rain, riddled and
rent by shot and shell till only a few tattered fragments
cling to the staff, are laid reverently aside in some
sacred edifice. Always interesting, the ceremony
is invested with aeculiar dignity when celebrated by
the brigade of Glards before the eyes of several mem-
bers of the Royal Family, on the famous parade
ground in St. James's-park, on which the Queen in
person distributed the medals for the last great Euro-
pean war in whi:h England was engaged. To captions
critics it may seem that the act of making each
individual . soldier, as it were, personally ac-
quainted with the flags he fights under is like
many other popular doings, misnamed. Only one
colour—the " Queen's colour "—is "trooped," or
carried in triumph through the ranks to the sound
of martial music; and in the case of the brigade of
Guards one "Queen's colour" serves on the Queen's
Birthday for Grenadiers, Coldstreams, and Scots
Guards, or at least for the representatives of those
regiments stationed in L sndon. The honour of sup-
plying the solitary colour "trooped" devolves upon
that regiment which by rotation supplies the Queen's
guard of the day—on Saturday last the Scots Guards.
The contingent of the brigade of Guards taking part
in the ceremony was cAraposed of thirty-two files of
each of the following flank companies :—First and
second battalions Scots Guards, the second battalion
of the Coldstreams, and the second and third hatta-
lions of the Grenadiers ; the brigade being commanded
by Colonel Fremantle, of the Coldstreams. The
grouted was kept by men detailed from each of the
regiments present, and Mr. Superintendent Gernon
and a large staff of police assisted in preserv-
ing order among the vast assemblage with
which even the reserved portion of the parade-
ground was occupied. Beyond the line kept by the
sentries stretched an almost unbroken mass of people,
forming a black ground, from which rose the tender
greenery of the leafage, but newly put forth by the
trees of the park. On the side of the Horse Guards
every window, save those of the Duke's Levee Room
reserved for the Royal Family, was occupied by gaily.
dressed spectators, and no available spot in the
as a holiday to be made the most of.
fpruabnlkiclyoffiaccceespwteasd untenanted—sthe day being obviously
Until the clock struck ten Colonel Fremantle,
Colonel Burnaby, commanding the Grenadier Guards;
Colonel Moncrieffe, commanding the Scots Guards,
and the other field officers had the great rquare almost
to themselves, their men being drawn up within it on
the lower or park side; and the interest of the spec-
tators was mainly centred on the dogs of the various
regiments who had taken up their ground with the
gravity befitting an occasion of ceremony. At last
came a detachment of the let Life Guards, with their
band, a magnificent apparition of gold and steel gleam-
ing and flashing with almost painful lustre in the bright
rays of the sun, and took up their position in the angle
next the Foreign Office. At a few minutes past ten a
few bars of the National Anthem, from the united
bands of the three regiments of Guards, under the
Messrs. Godfrey, proclaimed the arrival of the
Princess of Wales, and every eye was turned towards
the central window of the Horse Guards, at which her
Royal Highness presently appeared, attired in a
costume of the colour of the young foliage of a lime
tree—a soft yellowish green—and a white bonnet. The
Princess was accompanied by the young Princes Albert
Victor and George, in their naval uniform, the Princess
Victoria, and many of the junior members of the Royal
Family. The Duchess of Edinburgh was next to arrive,
and the two Princesses stood up at- tha back of the win-
dow, discoursing with the members of their suite, while
the children completely occroaied the front line.
Presently the busy questioning of the crowd as
to the identity of the young occupant of the great
window was hushed as "God Save the Queen ! " was
again played, and the troops came to the salnte as the
Prince of Wales, surrounded by a brilliant staff, rode
on to the parade-ground. In kindly recognition of
his old regiment, the Prince wore the uniform of the
Grenadier Guards, with the sash over the ribbon of
of the Garter. The Duke of Edinburgh wore his
favourite uniform when in the saddle—that of
the 2nd Surrey Artillery Volunteers. As colonel
of the Grenadier Guards, the Duke of Cambridge,
Field. Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, appeared in
the uniform of his regiment, and the Duke
of Teck wore that of the let Surrey Volunteers.
Near the Prince of Wale 4 rode the Crown Prince of
Denmark and the Crown Prince of Sweden, and with
the Royal party came Major-General Stephenson,
C. 8., commanding the Home District, and the Head-
quarter Staff, including Sir Daniel Lysone, Sir Charles
Ellice, K.C.8., and Sir Lintorn Simmons, K.C.B.
Last, or nearly last, rode Sir Garnet Wolseley, out-
wardly none the worse for his sojourn in Cyprus.
The troops having formed in line, the work of inspec-
tion went on, while the bands discoursed Lindpaiuter's
"Triumphal March" and J. P. Clarke's "Royal
Wedding March." The appearance of the men,
who wore their new uniform, elicited very general
commendation, their !size and well " set-up ' look
recalling to old soldiers the splendid regiments sent
to the Crimea nearly a quarter of a century ago. An
escort company having been formed, and marched
across the square to the tune of "British Grepadiers,"
the youngest officer of the battalion, according to pre-
cedent, took the colour and carried it through the
lines to the air of the "Grenadier's March," finishing
on the right. The moment of reaching the right of
the line is the most picturesque of the entire
ceremony, as the whole brigade comes to the salute
while the band plays "God save the Queen !" On
Saturday the scene was singularly effective. Im-
mediately in front of the Horse Guards was the
Staff, glittering with decorations; to the left the
helmets and cuirasses of the Household Cavalry
blazed "o'er the field intolerable day;' at the
lower side the compact mass of red coats, their
bayonets glittering in the sun; beyond a background
of darkly-clothed spectators and a leafy screen of
verdure; overhead a July sun. Next came the march
past in slow and quick time. First came the Life
Guards, and then separately, in quarter column, the
three regiments of Guards, the smartness of their
wheel in the narrow space at their command being
much commended, As the regiments passed the
Prince of Wales and the Fleli-Marshal Commanding-
in-Chief they saluted, and the bands played the appro-
priate airs to each regiment—inch as the ever-welcome
"British Grenadiers " and Highland Laddie "—the
pipers of the Scots Guards adding no little to the pictu-
esqueness of the scene. ?he march-past over, the
Guards formed in hollow square, and gave a Royal
salute, while "God Save the Queen" was played.
According to the custom asserved, it is said by the
command of her Majesty, the "three cheers for the
Queen" which conclude tle ceremony of "trooping
the colours " at Aldershot ,nd elsewhere, are omitted
at St. James's, and the Ro:al salute consequently con-
cluded the proceedings of latturday, so far as the ma.

jority of the brigade was concerned, All was not over,
however, for the marching of the guard to St.
James's Palace was witnessed by thousands of
spectators lining the route through the park.
The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edin-
burgh, and several members of the staff rode through
a lane thickly hedged with people to Marlborough
House, and then came the guard with music playing
into the caurtyard of St. James's Palace. To the great
delight of the crowd, so tightly wedged that any
attempt at locomotion was futile, the Princess of
Wales, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duchess of
Teck, with the Royal children, appeared on the
terrace of Marlborough House, to hear the combined
bands of the Guards perform an excellent selection
of music. The windows and terraces and even the
roof of St. James's Palace, were covered with spee-
tators, and the scene altogether was of the most
pleasing description. Presently appeared the Prince
of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh in "mufti," to
be greeted with a hearty cheer, repeated when the two
Princes, with their wives and children, retired from
the terrace just before the boom of the first of sixty
guns—proclaiming the age of the Queen—rolled over
the park.

The colour used on the above occasion was the
Queen's colour of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards,
which bears the legend :—" Lincelles' " " Egypt"
(emphasized by a representation of the Sphinx),
"Talavera," " Barossa, ' "Peninsula," "Waterloo,"
"Alma." " Inkerman," "Sevastopol." The names
are in themselves enough to account for the reverence
paid to it in thi6 military ceremonial; but it has long
been the custom to show almost superstitious regard to
the flag which symbolizes the history and glory of the
regiment. A writer of the time of Henry VIII.
(quoted in Grose's Military Antiquitics) gives the
philosophy and history of the practice as follows :

"I t bathe allwayes ben the custome of thys noble
realine of England, that every cappetayne would rather dye
in the flelde tnan to loose any of these foresayde signes, as
standarts, banner, pennon, or guydown token of his armee
of nobylitie, and alwayes and unto this day they have, in
any battell where they have gone and proceeded, had the
victory of and agalnste the generall flages of there enemyes,
which ye not hyer than a man may holde a lyttle over hys
head, and wavers nothinge in the winde, but by force of his
armes, and standarts, pennons and gwydonnes waver in the
wynde, and be sene fare of. and maketh enemyes afferde,
and comforteth the friende to followe them."

The Queen's birthday was marked by even more
than the usual expressions of loyalty. In London, all
her Majesty's ministers gave banquets in honour of the
occasion, and at night the West-end was brilliantly
illuminated. Celebrations were also held in many
provincial towns, as well as in the Colonies, and at the
English embassies on the continent. At Balmoral the
Crathie choir attended in tha morning, and sang a
selection of music. Grand dinners were given at Paris,
Berlin, Philippolis, &c. At Larnaca, and the chief
towns of Cyprus, the event was celebrated with the
greatest solemnity, The Te Deum, was sung in the
Greek churches, large numbers or persons being pre-
sent. In the evening there were general illumina-
tions.

At Montreal the celebration was one of great
brilliancy, the rejoicings being favoured by fine
weather. The city was profusely -decorated, and the
streets were thronged with people. The military
parade was a great success. The Marquis and
Marchioness of Lorne on arriving on the ground were
enthusiastically greeted by a crowd of some 30,000
people assembled to witness the review, which, as
well as the sham fight that followed, passed off with
great eclat. The Marquis of Lorne, in his speech at
the close of the review, addressed the men of the
Brooklyn Regiment who were present as brothers of
one blood in nationality and religion, and as brothers
in arms. The troops were entertained at a banquet
in the evening.