Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-04-05
ECEND OF THE lANCERS.
Iron Duke Ordered One Hundred
Years of Hymnplaying.

rrhe story comes from Potcheistrohi,
81, ,f,ica where the Twelfth Royal
J.aneers are now quartered, 1aat '''e
"a NOUS cavalry regiment Is lhis GU
~ he delivered of the burden OF nun
drod wears punishment lnilietee on t'ie
o,,,s q century ago by the Iron puNe'
In tbo wear 1872, says the report, .iie
,o,oors broke into monastery aurlps
~. WY with Spain, and there cohauct=
- themselves very badly. When the
puke of wellington heafa oi '. .' "a
,,araced the regiment ana sehleheeo
it Ia a penalty which was too
hundred years. Every nisht 1T
o.olock ran the order, the pailo i''o9s
naraae and play five hymns as pun
isb,nent-the Spanish national ah',SAl'
tho Russian national anthem 'Hes -
ar bvmn the Prince of Wales hyiiii,'
va the English national anthem. Anu
Uncover every man of the resliilehe
,-os Ia stand ut attention Wiiie '''e
HYMNS were being played.
rhis hardly sounds like the IRON
nuke. and, as a matter oil TACT ''ie
rretty legend is only legend. Anu an
eminent military officer who hao ~
,.',sion wears ago to investigate tl'e
AE
tory knows exactly on what .le
h,,n,p-n,aying of the Twelfth Ianeefs
is based ,a,+,rv
The custom is more imam -.
old" he says, land is not penal -
are the facts. In 1898 a part VI ~
Twelfth Light Dragons, as the ie9
ment was then styled, when louio'
was abandoned, proceeded TO eoi1ios''
and were present at the taking OF pas
81. on MAY %. 1894. The REMAINDER VI
tho reciment sailed to italy, ana iaiiu
al a. Civita Veechia Here the cohdue'
of hotb officers and men attracted 'ie
notice of the pope, Pius ", VIM w.
Nav 30, 17ai, addresses a most Goi W.
mentary letter to them through
dinal de Nelada, his secretary Oh s''e
"Hc presented gold medai u go
! nc tbe officers 0Welyc IN huIi,pc
T,brer Of the officers Proceeue'
pa,,,o where they we're preseh'eo ~
| ,,n#,,,no who received them most gro
| .l',,.iv and taking the helmet ol oh.
saioo, fC,apt. Browne), blesed 1t any
,.a,,1oced II on his head. He also pr
ist,a ia them three melodies VI 81
-, 11osners f2) the hymn now hse',
| nc the RUSSIAN ila tiofii -. 10.
| 70, = melody. the name of "ile' -
! ,,at leen handed down for the pauo "
| play. ms in no Way
..rh, peninsular war was III nv
Connected with the matter iido 'ii'.
aonauct taken place in d 'mohas.eis
l.1,,,,ont one concludes), II must nav
hon affected. duly reported eoui' :
,,artial must have followed anu ~
,,.ence would be recorded as the SCH
So 81 all other courts martial are
in print. ,,inp- dir
/ .,Rnt assuming that such a tiii3s ui'
toke Mace, and that a court i1i va
,,as somehow avoided-which
not have been-the Duke OF Welills'o,
nould not legally have passed any suti
eo,,te,nce and had he done so, Woui'
Iaye been Fable himself, such sen
tonce would never have been ooeSeo
and rightly. INV,
i ",r1n storv of the men ',aving to tutl
ONT of he'd long after lights out II
1 oraar to stand at attention while TN
bv,nns ars being played is equally oh
s,nnarted. Tradition dies hard, now
i ever. and the story of the Iron Duke
sentence of one hundred years
| hymn-playing has been adopted ln,'
several other cavalry regiments. =
i London Evening Standard.