Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/98

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. JULY 29, me.

said at the time.' Later negotiations with those who appeared to be rightful claimants were entered into by Mr. L. Harcourt, through whose efforts the collection found a place in the London Museum ; the sum, however, handed over remains a secret."

According to the press of a recent date, some portion of the find has been recovered by the City authorities. Considering how widely spread was the knowledge that the City Corporation had the right to treasure- trove in its area, it would have satisfied public curiosity if an official statement could have been given of the circumstances which led to the acceptance of the treasure-trove by the London Museum. However this may be, and although the law of treasure- trove in this instance failed to be wholly operative, yet it is a matter of congratulation that valuable treasure has reached a public body, and is exhibited at a place to which, in normal times, the public has free access.

If any should be interested further in treasure-trove and the administration of the law, I feel sure that the Hon. Secretary of the Treasure-Trove Committee of the South- Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, 334 Commercial Road, E., would be pleased to forward the pamphlet and detached sheet of illustrations which, in connexion with the Committee's Annual Reports, the Union has published. WILLIAM MARTIN.

2 Garden Court, Temple, B.C.

THE KING'S OWN SCOTTISH

BORDERERS. (12 S. i. 248, 314, 356, 434, 496.)

REPLYING to an inquiry, an ex-officer, who served many \ears in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, writes :

" It was not the custom in the regiment to observe Minden day, and the officers most certainly do not wear red tufts in their head-dress ; occasionally sports are held on Minden day, but even that is subject to other considerations."

Following a suggestion made by this gentleman, I wrote to the lieutenant-colonel commanding the depot of the regiment at Berwick-on-Tweed. He replied :

" It is the case, however, that the custom is not kept in the regiment of celebrating the anniversary of Minden."

He adds that

"roses are not worn by the K.O.S.B. on Mindeu day, and that tufts, either red or any other colour, are not worn by officers and men."

Before writing the letters which produced the replies which I have quoted, I wrott to a relative of mine, who is serving as a lieu- tenant in the regiment (not at the depot).

He put my questions to the sergeant- major of his battalion, who replied that the regiment do not wear roses on Aug. 1, neither do they wear red tufts in their caps. He adds that " sports were usually held on Minden day." I had not put a question about sports.

When writing of old regimental traditions it is, I think, better to use the old numbers of the regiments. The six Minden regiments were the 12th, 20th, 23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), 25th (Edinburgh), 37th, 51st r Regiments of Foot. These were their designations in 1759.

In John S. Farmer's ' Regimental Records of the British Army,' 1903, the 20th Regiment alone is credited with wearing Minden Roses on Aug. 1. In ' Nicknames & Traditions in the Army ' (anon.), published by Gale & Polden, 3rd edit., 1891, to the 20th are givert some ten lines about Minden and the roses. As to the 12th there is a statement that " the men wear roses in their caps on Aug. 1, in commemoration of the Battle of Minden, 1759." As to the other regiments nothing is said about roses. In the fourth edition of this little book, now named ' Regimental Nicknames and Traditions of the British Army,' 1915, p. xx, it is stated that the six regiments (their territorial titles, not numbers, given)

" passed to the battlefield through gardens of rose? in full bloom, and the soldiers picked the blossoms and fixed them in their hats, and in commemora- tion of their victory they enjoy the right of wearing roses in their head-dress on the anniversary of the battle."

In view of what I have quoted I cannot but doubt this statement as far as it concerns- the 25th.

After most of the above was written I had occasion to write to an officer who had been transferred from the South Lancashire Regiment to the command of a battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers (the old 20th). In, my letter I spoke, quite apart from the inquiry in hand, of the Minden custom, and told him not to omit to wear a rose in his- cap on Aug. 1. In his reply he writes :

" I was very soon enlightened about Minden. One of the first things I was asked to do was to obtain the Brigadier's sanction to the holding of regimental sports on Minden day, Aug. 1, which I had no difficulty in getting. Everybody wears a rose, so I shall not be allowed to forget it even if I did so unconsciously. "

This letter concerning the 20th may well be compared with the letters of denial con- cerning the 25th (The King's Own Scottish Borderers) which I have quoted.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.