The following battle honours were awarded to units of the British Army and the armies of British India and the Dominions of the British Empire.The full list of battle honours was obtained from Baker (1986) and Rodger (2003). Individual honours are linked to the most relevant Wikipedia article. An on-line list of honours may be found at T.F. Mills's Chronological Index of British and Imperial Battle Honours to 1945 (archive of Regiments.org page) From their institution until the end of the Second World War, awards were made by, or in consultation with, the British government,Until 1858, awards for battles that took place in the Indian subcontinent (including Burma) were awarded by the East India Company. but, since 1945, the individual countries of the former British Empire have awarded battle honours to their forces independently.
Origins
The first battle honour was the motto Virtutis Namurcensis Præmium (Reward for valour at Namur),Wood (2001), p. 124 ordered by King William III to be emblazoned on the colour of the 18th Regiment of Foot, later the Royal Irish Regiment, for their part in the Siege of Namur in 1695.Cannon (1848), p. 17 Many years later, in 1910, the honour Namur 1695 was awarded to 14 regiments, including the Royal Irish. In 1768, the 15th Light Dragoons, later 15th The King's Hussars, were uniquely awarded the honour EmsdorfIn full: Five battalions of French defeated and taken by this Regiment with their Colours and nine pieces of cannon at Emsdorff 16th July 1760. to be worn on their helmets in commemoration of their success at the Battle of Emsdorf in 1760.BritishBattles.com: The Battle of Emsdorf
The first battle honour displayed on the colours in the modern mannerInfantry regiments generally emblazon their battle honours on their regimental colours. Rifle regiments, which do not carry colours, display them on their badges, buckles, buttons or elsewhere on their uniforms. The Household Cavalry and the successors to the Regiments of Horse (i.e. the Dragoon Guards) carry them on their standards and the Dragoons and their successors (the Light Dragoons, Lancers and Hussars) on their guidons. (The Blues and Royals carry both standards and a guidon since they are the result of the amalgamation of a Household Cavalry and a Dragoon regiment. Until 1837, Dragoon Guards regiments also carried both standards and guidons.) was awarded in 1784 when four infantry regiments1st Battalions of the 12th, 39th, 56th and 58th Regiments of Foot. Later also the Highland Light Infantry for 2 Bn, 73rd Foot. that took part in the defence of Gibraltar of 1779–83 were ordered to display the word Gibraltar on a scroll on their Second (now Regimental) Colour.Rodger (2003), p. 10 Later, a badge of the Castle and Key was added, with a scroll carrying the motto Montis Insignia CalpeBadge of the Rock of Gibraltar below it, and the word Gibraltar was changed to Gibraltar 1779–83.The Highland Light Infantry was awarded Gibraltar 1780–83. Although this award was made promptly after the event, this is not always the case: the oldest battle honours, Tangier 1662–1680 and Tangier 1680, were awarded in 1909, over 220 years after the temporary but tumultuous occupation of that port.Singh (1993), p. 74
Development and formalization
The procedure for awarding battle honours was originally extremely arbitrary.Sumner and Hook (2001a), pp. 23–27 For example, the victories of the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars were copiously honoured, but those of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of Spanish Succession were entirely ignored. By the mid-19th Century, honours were being awarded for contemporary actions that were little more than skirmishes compared with the great European battles of the 18th Century. Much, too, depended on the persistence (or lack thereof) of successive individual colonels in badgering Horse Guards for honours for their regiments: to give but one example, the honour for Corunna was first awarded (to three battalions) in 1811; between then and 1842, it was awarded to a further 27 regiments and battalions.Corunna was awarded to a final three regiments in 1908. See Rodger (2003), pp. 29-30.A record for lack of success in this endeavour appears to be held by the 16th Regiment of Foot, raised in 1688 and awarded its first honours, for Marlborough's four great victories, as the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1882. The regiment was, in consequence, ironically known as The Peacekeepers. See Sumner and Hook (2001b) p. 31. A committee was therefore set up under Major-General Sir Archibald Alison in 1881 to determine the honours that should be awarded to the various regiments for past battles.Farwell (2001), p. 22Norman (1911), p. 433 Although the Alison Committee remedied the worst of the injustices when it reported in 1882 (by, inter alia, awarding the honours Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet), another committee had to be set up in 1909 under the chairmanship of Lieutenant General Sir Spencer Ewart to continue the work.Norman (1911), p. 434–435
Until 1832, battle honours were awarded to a specific unit and, if it was disbanded, the honour was lost. After this date, honours were awarded to the parent regiment of the battalion whose actions led to the award. During the Second Boer War, however, some honours were awarded to the Militia battalions of infantry regiments in their own right.Baker (1986), p. 97 Also, the honours Mediterranean 1901–02 and St Helena were awarded to the Militia battalions of several regiments for garrison and prisoner-of-war camp duty. When the Militia was disbanded, these honours (and the earlier Mediterranean, earned for similar service during the Crimean War) were allowed to lapse. In 1917, in recognition of their sacrifice in the Great War, the battalions of the Territorial Force were permitted to carry the honours of their parent regular battalions on their badges,Army Order 298/1917: "In consideration of the services of the Territorial Force during the war, His Majesty the King has been pleased to approve of units of the Territorial Force being permitted to wear on their badges the mottoes and honours worn on the badges of the corps, regiment, or department of which they form part." a practice that had previously been forbidden.Army Council (1912), para. 486Some territorial battalions had been able to replace the regular battalions' honours with their own. For example, the 4th Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry, replaced Jellalabad of the regulars' cap badge with South Africa 1900-01 whilst, somewhat incongruously, keeping the mural crown. (Doyle and Foster (2010) p. 95)
Also in 1832, the motto Ubique (Everywhere) was awarded by King William IV to the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers in recognition of their universal service.Australian Army: RAA Customs and Traditions Flags of the World: United Kingdom: Royal Artillery AssociationTheir other motto, Quo Fas et Gloria Ducunt, was awarded at the same time. It was stipulated that this was considered to be a battle honour, substituting for all other prior and future distinctions.The number of which was already becoming unmanageable.This did not, however, apply to the artillery units of the Indian Army, which continued to be awarded battle honours like other Corps (Rodger (2003), p.20). As such, it did not initially appear on the badges or appointments of the Territorial, Militia or Volunteer regiments of these Corps.British Army Website: Corps of Royal Engineers Badges and Emblems Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Cap Badge of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Despite it being the sole battle honour of the Royal Artillery, a number of Artillery officers who served in the First China War were awarded the personal honour China. This honour was displayed on their appointments and was not extended to other ranks or to the regiment as a whole. It was a unique award which was allowed to lapse in time, and the procedure was never repeated.
King William IV was also responsible for a most peculiar guidon-shaped standardAlthough swallow-tailed, like a guidon, it was, since it was carried by the Royal Horse Guards, referred to as a standard in the Queen's Regulations. Among its other oddities, it featured a four-arched crown of distinctly Germanic appearance and entirely unlike any other British crown. presented to the Royal Horse Guards on 13 August 1832, which, in addition to carrying the battle honours Peninsula and Waterloo, bore the words Dettingen, Minden, Warbourg and Cateau.Adjutant General's Office, Queen's Regulations (1844), p. 12Sumner and Hook (2001a), p. 34Unlike normal Household Cavalry practice, these were embroidered on scrolls, not directly onto the sheet. None of these last four were battle honours to which the Royal Horse Guards were entitled at the time the standard was presented. The regiment was awarded Dettingen (with 1st and 2nd Life Guards) in 1882 and Warburg (so spelled) in 1909. Cateau was never awarded as such, but Beaumont was awarded for the same battle,In full, Beaumont-en-Cambresis, also sometimes known as Coteau, and, to the French, Troisvilles. again in 1909. No cavalry regiment was ever honoured for Minden because of the cavalry's conspicuous lack of activity in that battle.When this standard eventually began to wear out, in 1880, the Regiment sought a warrant from Horse Guards to replace it. This was refused on the grounds that it had been a personal gift of the Sovereign and was thus not official issue. It was last carried (on foot) in 1911 at the unveiling of the Victoria Memorial. It is not connected to the guidon now carried by the Blues and Royals, which comes from the Royal Dragoons. See Sumner and Hook (2001a), p. 54; World Flag Database: United Kingdom, Military Colours.
In 1834, the guidons of the light cavalry (Light Dragoons, Lancers and Hussars) were withdrawn in order to improve the mobility of these regiments.The order, General Order 12 of 24 May, specified Light Dragoons, but extended to the other light cavalry regiments. It would appear that this may have been simply codifying existing practice, since changing tactics had rendered guidons obsolete and many of the light cavalry regiments (particularly the hussars) had not taken them on campaign for several years. See Sumner and Hook (2001a) p. 14 Until they were restored (in a purely ceremonial role) by King George VI in 1952, these regiments displayed their honours on their officers' saddle cloths, their drums, drum banners and other appointments.The Queen's Own Hussars Museum: Guidon
In 1844, the display of honours and badges on the infantry's colours was standardized.Rodger (2003), p. 13 Embellishments that had previously been borne on either, or both, of a battalion's colours were, after this, only permitted to appear on the Second Colour, which was renamed the Regimental Colour. The First Colour was renamed the Royal Colour and was to be free of decoration other than for the Royal Crown and the regimental number.The Royal Colour was renamed Queen's Colour in 1892. The Foot Guards, however, continued to display their awards on all their colours (as they do, with some variation between the regiments, to this day).In addition to their Queen's and Regimental Colours, the Grenadier Guards carry a Royal Standard (albeit of a different design to the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom), the Coldstream Guards carry two State Colours and the Scots Guards one State Colour. In addition, the 1857 Dress Regulations ordered that the blades of the Foot Guards officers' swords be embossedThe process is actually etching. with the regiment's device and battle honours.Adjutant-General's Office, Dress Regulations (1857) p. 112Robson (2010) p. 161
The Boer War