Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/388

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. MAY 12, im

The " Rorys " is a name belonging to the 93rd Highlanders, bestowed upon them many years ago.

The " Sevens " is another name belonging to the 25th King's Own Scottish Borderers.

"Schomberg's Horse " is yet another of the many names given at various times to the 7th Dragoon Guards.

" Scots Greys," yet another name for the 2nd Dragoons, as is also the "Scots White Horse."

"Skull and Cross Bones," a well-known name for the 17th Lancers.

The "Splashers" is a name given to the 62nd Wiltshire Regiment, in accordance with the tradition that says the people of this county, seeing the reflection of the full moon in a pond, got a rake to try to get it out, thinking it was a cheese ; hence the name of Wiltshire people is " Moon rakers " or "Splashers."

The " Star of the Line " is a name for the 29th Worcester Regiment, and a fairly proud one at that.

The "First Tangerines" is another name for the 2nd, the Queen's Regiment.

The "Tangiers Cuirassiers" is another name acquired by the popular 1st Dragoons.

"The Tenth," of course, proclaims itself as a fitting name for the 10th Hussars, and, as they give it, with considerable emphasis on "The."

The " Trades Union " is a name belonging to the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards.

The "Two Sixes" is the name that explains itself as belonging to the 66th Berkshire.

The " Ups and Downs " is one of the names of the 69th Welsh Regiment, and a solution of it may be easily found in the regimental number.

The " Wagga - Wagga Guards," a name bestowed upon the 6th Dragoon Guards at the time of the Tichborne trial.

The "Whisky Blenders," a name of the 34th Border Regiment, the reason of which is not, so far as I know, on record.

The " Whitewashers " is a not very clearly understood name for the 61st Gloucestershire Regiment.

The present South African campaign has, so far as I am aware, only produced one fresh regimental cognomen, for the 2nd Royal Berks has been given a new name by Gene'ral Gatacre. One of the men thus wrote :

" It did look grand in the dark. There was the hill and there were three tiers of fire from the enemy, but being close under the hill our loss was nil. Our Major gave the command ' Fix bayonets,' and they went Tiome with such a click that the Boers couldn't stick it. Our boys got that hill, and it has been named after the Major, who was first

up, 'McCrackan's Hill.' The general, who wit- nessed our work, gave us a good name and called us the * Iron Chests,' which name we will keep for that day in place of ' Green Howards,' which was our former name."

In this list I have tried not to duplicate MR. AXON'S very interesting one, and can only re-echo his wish that a further and complete list may be the outcome of this. W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

14, Artillery Buildings, Victoria Street, S.W.

Charles II., when he landed at Dover in 1660, told the Coldstreams that they should henceforth be his Second Regiment of Guards. They murmured at the word " Second," and General Monk told the king that his regi- ment of Guards thought themselves "second to none," which is said to be the origin of the phrase. It should be "Nulli secundus," surely, not " Nullus secundus." D.

In 1854 and 1855 the Land Transport Corps Regiment was formed for service in the Crimea ; it was principally raised in London at the " King's Arms," Bridge Court, Cannon Row, Westminster ; depot, Horfield Barracks, Bristol. The officer in charge of the recruit- ing staff was Quartermaster Wm. Stevens, who died colonel and Military Knight of Windsor at Salisbury Tower, 13 September, 1890, aged seventy-six. This regiment went by the nickname of " London Thieving Com- pany." On 1 January, 1857, the title was changed to Military Train ; this was nicknamed "Murdering Thieves" and "Muck Tumblers." A few years afterwards it was changed to the Army Service Corps. What nickname does this go by ?

RICHARD HEMMING.

Ardwick.

[More to follow. Our correspondents should carefully read at all the references in order to avoid repetition.]

FRENCH PRISONERS (9 th S. v. 269). An interesting account of the prisoners of war at Greenlaw and Valleyfield, in the parish of Penicuick, a few miles from Edinburgh, is to be found in 'A Military Life,' by James Anton, who, in the years 1808 and 1811, be- longed to the militia regiment which then furnished detachments for duty over the prisoners.

Before quoting from Anton let me refer readers to 8 th S. xi. 453, where extracts are given from* Wesley's Journal,' in which he notes having visited the French prisoners at Knowle, near Bristol, and found them in a wretched condition, with hardly anything to cover them ; how he at once collected money and provided them with clothing ; and how on his