Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/385

 9'" s. V.MAY 12, 1900.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

377

whether this statement is true 1 It has been asserted that borough-English is not to be found north of the Humber.

EDWARD PEACOCK, F.S.A. Kirton-in-Lindsey.

LEITH HALFPENNY. I have in my posses- sion a copper coin (about one-eighth of an inch larger in diameter than a current halfpenny) having on one side a figure, evidently meant to represent Britannia, seated and looking towards the left ; the right hand stretched out and holding what seems to be a cornstalk, and the left hand grasping a spear. Underneath is the date 1797. In front of the figure, near the bottom, is a six-pointed star, followed round the margin of the coin by the words, " Leith Halpenny [sic]" On the reverse a full-rigged ship is depicted in a breeze of wind, with the bows pointing to the right. The only sails set are two yards on the foremast, two on the mainmast, and one on the mizzen-mast. Underneath the ship two cornstalks crossed are shown, and at the stern of the ship a six-pointed star, followed, as on the otner side, by the words " Leith Halpenny " round the margin. Can any of your readers give information regarding local coins such as this? WM. CAREY.

Kilmarnock, N.B.

J. F. SMITH. I should be glad of any information respecting the late J. F. Smith, author of * Woman and her Master,' &c. What was his position in the world of letters? Is a list of his works accessible? I believe several of his novels were drama- tized, and are still occasionally acted.

R. D.

ARMS OF MERIONETH. Where can I ascertain the arms of the county of Merioneth (if any)? The Clerk of the Peace informs me that he does not know them. LL. LLOYD.

Blandford Lodge, Chiswick.

BLOODY MONDAY. Can any reader explain the reason for the Monday after Ascension Day being so alluded to in a letter of 1682 ?

R.

SIDNEY'S CHAIR. In Hone's ' Table Book ' is a reference to Sir Philip Sidney's chair which used to be at Penshurst, but had been removed. Is there any trace of this ?

G. W. TOOLEY.

ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS DILKS. A portrait of this eighteenth-century officer is at Hamp- ton Court. Can any one give me any informa- tion concerning him ? T. BRUCE DILKS.

Bridgwater.

REGIMENTAL NICKNAMES OF THE

BRITISH ARMY. (9 th S. v. 104, 161, 224, 263.)

MAY I, as an old officer taking some interest in this subject, be allowed to add a few explanations and corrections to the article under the above heading ?

The "Black Horse" are the 7th Dragoon Guards, raised as a regiment of "Horse" (as distinguished from " Dragoons "), and are so called from the colour of their facings, which have remained unaltered since the formation of the regiment in 1688. The name is men- tioned in Cannon's ' Historical Records,' and is still kept up in the regiment, which pub- lishes a paper under the title the Black Horse Gazette. Two other old nicknames for the regiment have been " Strawboots" and the "Virgin Mary's Guard" (temp. George II.).

The 7th Hussars and the Inniskilling Dragoons were both raised as regiments of "Dragoons," and not "Horse," and during many years' service in the cavalry and in- fantry (commencing in the 7th Dragoon Guards) I never heard of their having the name of the " Black Horse." Capt. Trimen, in his book 'The Regiments of the British Army' (1878), says that the Inniskillings were known about 1715 as the "Black Dragoons," probably from being mounted on black horses.

The 63rd Regiment, I believe, owed its nickname to the fact that formerly the officers had the fleur-de-lis embroidered on the tails of their coatees.

The present 1st Battalion Dublin (and not Royal Irish) Fusiliers are the " Blue Caps." They gained the name when they were serving as the 1st Madras Fusiliers, H.E.I.C.S., under Brigadier-General Neill in the Mutiny. They were subsequently numbered as the 102nd in the Queen's Army, and became the 1st Battalion Dublin Fusiliers in 1881.

" County Downs " was the official sub-title of the 86th, and therefore hardly to be reckoned as a nickname.

Capt. Trimen states that the 8th Hussars gained the privilege of wearing the sword- belt over the right shoulder for their gallantry at the battle of Saragossa (1710), where they took the belts of the Spanish avalry. This was confirmed by the King's Regulations of 1768, thus causing the regi- ment to be commonly known as the " Cross- Belts."

The 5th Lancers were called the "Daily Advertisers," I believe, because they were at