the appointments which the Duke of York wore as Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, and which were presented by King George IV to the 1st Battalion at the time of the Duke’s death in 1827. We have seen a print of the uniform of the Regiment in 1829, in which the Cross is shown in its present form. It would seem, therefore, that the wreath was discontinued between these two dates. The Cross is covered with the battles of the Regiment, and the crown which surmounts it rests on a bar bearing the word “Peninsula.” In the centre, within a circle inscribed “The King’s Royal Rifle Corps,” is a bugle with the number of the Regiment. The lion’s face, which carries the whistle-chain on the pouch-belt, was formerly surrounded by the words “60th Rcgiment,” for which the motto “Celer et Audax” was afterwards substituted. A scroll with the words “1st Duke of York’s Own Rifle Corps,” was formerly worn by the officers of the 1st Battalion, who also at a later date - 1853 - were granted a somewhat similar device with the words “Punjaub, Mooltan, Googerat,” which were subsequently transferred to the Cross. In 1830, when the plume in the chaco was replaced by a tuft, which had hitherto been worn only in undress, and the shape of the chaco itself was somewhat altered, a bronze plate was introduced, consisting of an eight-pointed star surmounted by a crown, and having in the centre a Maltese Cross, of a nearly similar pattern to that on the pouch-belt, with a scroll at the top inscribed “Peninsula,” and another at the bottom with “Celer et Audax.” This Cross had Lions between the limbs, and the points terminated in round knobs. When the chaco was reduced in size, the star was omitted, but the same Cross - smaller since 1860 - was worn, with a crown detached on a cockade above, both on the chaco and on the busby till the abolition of the latter in 1878. On the introduction of the helmet, some tinker or tailor invented a new pattern Cross, which may be described as a hybrid between the two old Crosses of the Regiment, without the beauty of either of them; and we can only hope that on future occasions the officers may be consulted instead of the London tradesmen.

In 1885 the Cross on the helmet and that on the pouch-belt were assimilated, the motto “Celer et Audax” being placed on the “bar” instead of the word “Peninsula,” which was relegated to its proper position on the Cross at the head of the Peninsular battles. The 60 in the centre was omitted when numbers were abolished in 1881.

A.T.

Back