NICKNAMES OF BRITISH REGIMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5642, 30 April 1879, Page 3

NICKNAMES OF BRITISH REGIMENTS.

The regular name of the “ Slashers ” has. been given to the Twenty-eighth. Some say that the regiment earned it by dashing and slashing heroism at the battle of White Plains during the American war, and that the men hold themselves ready to go anywhere, and do anything, in virtue of their connection with this corps. But another story is'more specific and sensational, to the effect that during life war just named a Canada merchant, in severe winter, refused to give connfortable billets or quarters to the women of the regiment, wives of some of the.men, whereby many of the poor creatures perished with cold. The officers, exasperated at this brutality .and its result? tool! a" revenge which the merchant never forget .for the .remainder of his life.; They dressed themselves like‘savages, 1 ‘ burst into his sitting-room one, evening, and slashed off his, ears—lynch-law'in good'sooth J ;;The Thirtieth are'the f‘ Treble X’s (XXX). The Thirty-first, the looting Buffs,” once earned the-geod, opinion of a,-general under whom they were' serving ; he cried, “ Well done, old Buffs !” “We are not the , Buffs, sir,” ;was the reply., “Then well done, young. Buffs,” was the' final, response,, and the “ToUng Buffs” they’be-' came., .. The Thirty-third Foot wished to become known aa the. “ Duke of Wellington’s Regiment,” and he consented, but stipulated for a postponement of the naming until after Ills decease ; the assumption of the title, theredid not, take place until 1853. The history ‘bTthe regiment tells, however, of jan older and more familiar appellation* the “ Haver-r cake-Bade,”" due.to the fact that, when first .raised, their Recruiting Sergeant wasjwont to march yvith an , oat-cake ' impaled 1 on his sword.’ " The Thirty-fifth, are;.the “OrangeLiliies,” from the color, of their facings. The Thirty-eighth are proud of the incidept which |

.has earned for them the privilege of wearing the regimental number-badge on the back as well as the front ,of their caps and shako?. It was a; bit, of prompt- tactics daring the campaign in Egypt. Being drawn up in an extended line only two deep, they were suddenly attacked by the enemy’s cavalry both in the front and iu the rear. The commanding officer gave the word, “Rear rank, right about face ; fire !” They did so, and repelled both attacks at once. The light company of the Forty-sixth, it appears, are privileged to wear a red ball in their caps. When engaged in the battle of Brandywine, during the- great American war, the company greatly annoyed the enemy, who threatened to give them no quarter, if the opportunity arose. Nothing daunted, the men of the Forty-sixth resolved that there should be no mistake; they dyed the ball red, instead of the green worn by the rest of the ; rei?iment, and many years afterwards the War Office sanctioned this peonliar.distinction. The Fiftieth are the “Devil’s : Royals,” and more politely, the “Gallant Fiftieth,” in recognition of their prowess at the Vimiera. They are, or were, al-o the “ Blind Half Hundreths,” from their having been nearly blinded by ophthalmia during the campaign in Egypt; and when, on one occasion, they wiped their perspiring faces with their dark cuffs, they became for the nonce the “ Dirty Half Hnndreth.”