Page 266 - Canadian Dominion Directory 1871 - Partie 1-fusionné

possess an entitlement to bear arms consultation with ' our trusty and
and it became the custom for these well-beloved servant Sir Edward
non-armigerous officers to adopt Walker, Knight, Garter Principal
Bags of distinctive colours which, King-of-Arms.' As a result, we find
owing to their varied hues, carne to ' The Colonel's colour in the first
be known as 'The Colours'.
place, is of pure clean colour, with-
out any mixture. The Lieutenant-
From then onwards, there was a Colonel's only with St. George's
gradua1 process of evolution and, Arrnes in the upper corner next the
to quote Edwards' 'Standards.
staff; the major's the same, with a
Guidons and Colours': page 14. pile wavy flottant, and every cap-
' By the end of the sixteenth cen- tain with St. George's Armes alone,
tury continental amies were throw- but with so many spots or several
ing off their loose character as devices as uertain to the demity of
regards formations and adopting a their severd places.' (Capt. Thomas
systemised arrangement. One of the Venn, 1672.)
pioneers of this movement was
This reference to ' Garter ' is
Gustavus
Adolphus,
King
of interesting because it was not until
Sweden, who regimented his troops 1806, that the Office of Inspector of
for the Thirty Years' War in Ger- Regimental Colours was inaugu-
many (1618-1648). His regiments of
rated, since when it has always been
Horse and Foot were divided into a heId by an officer of the College of
regular number of units, each com- Ams who has invariably become
posed of a definite number of men. Garter during his tenure of it. (See
Each unit had
its Standard below.)
(Cavalry) or Colour (Infantry). and
At the same time, we find that
al1 the units were of the same in the greater part of the army in
general pattern.'
existence, other than as part of the
To confirm the trend of opinion Standing Army, ' the infantry, and
at the time we find in Ward's some of the cavalry, bore on theit
' Anirnadversions of Warre ' pub- Colours the armorial devices of the
lished in 1639, where he sets out the Colonels in some shape or other.'
duties of a Colonel of a Regiment. ('Standards and Colours of the
'He ought to have al1 the Colours Army '. Samuel Milne Milne.)
of his Regiment to be dike both in
The Colonels practically owned
colour and in fashion to avoide con- their regiments and the badges and
fusion so that the soldiers may dis- crests frequently changed when the
cerne their owne Regiment £rom the Colonels changed.
other Troopes; likewise, every par- In the early eighteenth century
ticular Captaine of his Regiment (1707), when the infantry am was
may have some small distinctions re-organised for tactical reasons the
in their Colours: as their Arrnes, or nurnber of colours, except in regi-
some Emblem, or so that one Com- ments of the guards, where Company
pany can be discerned from die colours are still in existence, was
other.' reduced from twelve to three; pre-
In 1660, when Charles II came to sumably the ColoneIs, the Lieuten-
the îhrone, one of his first tasks was ant-Colonel's and the Major's
to raise a standing army. At the remaining.
same time, he issued a Royal War- In 1747, we see the introduction
rant giving instructions for the of the present system of Regimental
appropriate colours ro be made in Colours with Regulations to govern