“In 1807 the Colours were retired, and reverted, as usual, to the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who placed them in his residence of Gordon Castle. In order the better to preserve them, they have since been enclosed in a glass case, and both are in remarkably good condition.
“Their successors had a much more stirring career. In 1807 they led the Gordons on at Copenhagen. Next they accompanied them on their retreat to Corunna, and at the battle itself, Colonel Alexander Napier fell beneath their folds. When the regiment effected its landing at Walcheren later on in the same year we read that the Colours were carried uncased and upright in the centre boat of the flotilla.
“Not long afterwards they were sent back to the Peninsula, and the Colours were carried throughout the war from Fuentes d’Onor onwards. At Maya, one of the battles of the Pyrenees, the Colours fell to the ground time after time, every officer but two being either killed or wounded, and carried from the field. At St. Pierre the Gordons again advanced with Colours flying and pipes skirling, and drove the enemy from his positions.
“The last battle in which they were carried was Waterloo.”
=The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.=—Facings, blue.
R.C.—The Thistle ensigned with the imperial crown. The Sphinx, superscribed “Egypt.”
The honorary distinctions are: Egmont-op-Zee; Corunna; Busaco; Fuentes d’Onor; Salamanca; Pyrenees; Nivelle; Nive; Toulouse; Peninsula; Waterloo; Alma; Sevastopol; Lucknow; Egypt, 1882; Tel-el-Kebir; Nile, 1884–85; Atbara; Khartoum; South Africa, 1900–02.
=The Royal Irish Rifles.=—Rifle regiments do not possess colours.
=Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers).=—Facings, blue.
The Princess Victoria, who gave her name to this regiment, was afterwards Queen Victoria.
R.C.—The Plume of the Prince of Wales. In the first and fourth corners, Princess Victoria’s coronet; in the second, an Eagle, with a wreath of laurel (to commemorate the one captured from the French at Barrosa); in the third, the Harp and Crown; the Sphinx, superscribed “Egypt.” The motto, “Faugh-a-Ballagh.” (Clear the way.)
The battle honours are: Monte Video; Talavera; Barrosa; Tarifa; Java; Vittoria; Nivelle; Niagara; Orthes; Toulouse; Peninsula; Ava; Sevastopol; Egypt, 1882–1884; Tel-el-Kebir; South Africa, 1899–1902; Relief of Ladysmith.