The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12
ROYAL WOMEN MADE OFFICERS OF ARMY Queen, Princess Royal and
 Duchess Are COlOnels A PRECEDENT IS SET First Time in England That Women Have Received Military Appoint
 ment-Action Is Regarded as
 Significant of Change
A PRECEDENT IS SET

London July Especial. )--Army cir general public, are looking forward with curiosity to the first appearance in public l of the four new colonels-in-chief-in-p pet ticoats of British regiments. The gazet- ting of the Queen, the Queen-mother, the princess royal and Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, to their new appoint
 ments was the first instance in British history of women of any rank whatsoever | being honored with military rank all though the custom of making such is, of course, in vogue in several European countries. The departure is being taken as recognition of the greater concern ice of the country.
 Up to now, the association of women, of however lofty rank, with the British army has been limited to cases in which their names are associated with certain regiments, such, for instance, as the
 Yorkshires. who long have had the priv
 ilege of calling themselves Aexandra Princess of Wales's Own. Queen Victoria, as sovereign, was of course, at the head
 of the army, but curiously enough the only military title which she possessed was a German one, and the same, up to
 now, has been true of Queen Mary.
 Queen Victoria was colonel-in-chief of the
 First Queen of England's) Dragons of the guards of the German army. It is
 famous regiment which has for it's
 motto, With God for King and Father land" During visit of the German Elm peror to this country in 1888 he conferred the distinction upon Queen Victoria who was very much pleased with it, and showed afterward a keen interest in the regiment to which she presented a mag nificent pair of kettledrums. A detach- ment of the regiment came to England and was assigned an important place in thise august and moving ceremonies of the great Queens funeral.
 As for Queen Mary, she Is colonel-in- chief of the Fifth Pomeranian Hussars. This is an historic corps, for it was raised as the Ninth regiment of Prussian Hussars in 175S, and out of this much later was reorganized as Prince Butcher Won Wahlstadts Own. It joined Butchers main army in 1915 and was one of those to receive the thanks of the British na- ton after Waterloo.
 The British regiment of which the Queen now has become colonel-in-chief Is the Eighteenth Hussars. who carry the Peninsula Waterloo, South Africa, and Defence of Ladysmith among their bat tie honors. Their uniform is blue as is their bushy-bag, whose plume. however is scarlet and white. The Queen-mother's name already is associated with both the Nineteenth Hussars and the Yorkshire regiment. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll who becomes eoonel-in-chief of the Argyll and Sutherland Hlghlanders has an especially appropriate recognition for her work In providing for the Scottish convalescents after the South African war was of great value.
 In the German army the Kaiserin, the Crown Princess and the Duchess of Brunswick are all honorary colonels, as is also the Queen of Greece. The Elm press of Russia is conolel-in-chief of the Lancers of the Guards, and looks remark ably handsome in it's long cloak and the much-plumed helmet. Quite recently, too, the Czar has made the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna colonel-in-chief of the Third Elisavatgradski Hussars. and the young princess wears the epauets, the broad belt and the plumed helmet with giriish grace. Her youngest sister, the