1st of Foot’s Waterloo Colours
May 17, 2015 - The Chairman in News & Blog Posts, Chairman's Blog, Conversations with the General
Serjeant Gibson and I were in Edinburgh over the weekend and whilst in the castle we saw this stand of Waterloo Colours. They are of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st of Foot and both King’s and Regimental Colours survive despite the years. They are 6 foot by 6 foot. Illustrated is the King’s Colour and although hard to see, it includes the Royal Cypher of King George III and the emblems of Scotland, Ireland and England (none of this independence business then). The battle honours just discernible are Niagara, Peninsula, Egypt and Waterloo which was added later. Of the 624 of this battalion fighting over those days of Waterloo, 363 were killed or wounded, over 50%. During the battle four officers and the sergeant major gave their lives trying to prevent the colours being from being captured. It was indeed a bloody day.
