NICKNAMES OF BRITISH REGIMENTS.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3158, 2 April 1879, Page 1

NICKNAMES OF BRITISH REGIMENTS.

The regular name of the " Slashers'' has been given to the Twenty-eighth. T Some say that the regiment earned it by their dashing and slashing heroism at the battle ofc White Plains during the American War, and that the men hold them,", selves 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 the war just named a Canada merchant, in a severe winter * refused to give comfortable billets or quarters to the women of the regiment, wires of some of the men, whereby many of the poor creature perished with cold. The officers, exasperated at this brutality and its result, took a revenge which the merchant, never forgot for the remainder of his life.. They dressed themselves like savages, burst into his sitting-room one evening, and slashed off his ears; lynch-law in good sooth. The Thirtieth are the! "Treble XV (XXX). The Thirtyfirst, the "Young Buffs," once earned the good opinion of a general under whom they were serving. He cried out, " Well done, old Buffs!" "We are ndt the Buffs, sir," was the reply. " Then well done, young Buffs," was the final response and the " Young Buffs " they became. The Thirty-third foot wished to become known as the "Duke of Wellington's Regiment," and he consented, but stipulated for a postponement of the naming until after his decease; the assumption of the title, therefore, did not take place till 1853. The history of the regiment tells, however, of an older and more familiar appellation, the " Havercake Lads," due to the fact that when first raised their recruiting sergeant was wont to march with an oat-cake impaled on his sword. The Thirty-fifth are the " Orange Lilies," from the colour of their facings. The Thirty-eight are proud of the incident which has earned for them the privilege of wearing the regimental number-badge on the back as well as the front of their cajft and shakos. It was a bit of prompt tactics during 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 front and in rear. The commanding officer gave the word. " Sear 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 w«ar a red ball in their caps. When engaged at the battle of Brandy wine, 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 regiment; and many years afterwards the War Office sanctioned thia {peculiar distinction. The Fiftieth are the •"Devil'a Koyals," and, more politely, the "Gallant Fiftieth," in recognition of their prowess at the battle of v Vitniera. They ate, flr were, also the " Blind Half Hundredth/ from having been nearly blindedi by ophthalmia during the campaign iv Egypt ; ; and wheP.on ?f£ occasion, they -wiped their perspiring faces with their dark ,cu4Fs, they became for the nonce the "Dirty SJaAf Hundredth/ —London Society.