The Colours

The heart and soul of a British regiment, the Colours were silk flags either embroidered or painted with highly symbolic elements.  Originally they were used as a way of indicating battlefield positions, being tremendous Colours easily visible through the smoke of battle.  They later became the embodiment of the spirit of the regiment itself and thus highly venerated.  They were carried by junior officers into battle until 1881, last being the British defeat at Majuba Hill against the Boers.  

After 1881 they served strictly ceremonial purposes and there were two Colours per line regiment.  The first was called the Queen's Colours, and consisted of the Union throughout with regimental distinctions.  The second was called the Regimental Colours, usually the facing color of the regiment (blue for the 35th) with the Union in the upper canton.  Often times there was a circle with the name of the regiment, surrounded by a wreath of roses (Tudor England), thistles (Scotland), and shamrocks (Ireland), surmounted by the Crown.  Select battle honours would also appear on the Colours.  The Victorian Colours were carried from 1859 to 1926, replaced in 1927.  These were maintained until the regiment was amalgamated into the Queens Regiment in 1966.  The original Colours from which our reproductions are modeled can be found at the Royal Sussex chapel in Chichster, UK.

The Colours carried by the recreated Royal Sussex Regment are those which represent their appearance during the early to mid 1880's.  They carry the batte honours of Louisburg [1758], Maida [1804], and Quebec 1759.  These battle honours were awarded in 1882, more for the Nile Expedition were added in 1909, but as we do not portray 1909, we had our colours omit them.

The full list of battle honours won by the 35th Royal Sussex is quite extensive, but only some were shown on the Colours.  The following is from the Redoubt Fortress Museum, R. Sussex Battle Honours guide.

18th and 19th Centuries: Gibraltar 1704-05, Louisburg, Quebec 1759, Martinique 1762, Havannah, St. Lucia 1778, Egypt 1882, Abu Klea, Nile 1884-85, South Africa 1900-02

World War One: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18 Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Soissonais-Ourcq, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917-18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915-17, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917-18, N.W. Frontier India 1915 1916-17, Murman 1918-19

Afghanistan 1919

World War Two: Defence of Escaut, Amiens 1914, St. Omer-La Bassée, Forêt de Nieppe, North-West Europe 1940, Karora-Marsa Taclai, Cub Cub, Mescelit Pass, Keren, Mt. Engiahat, Massawa, Abyssinia 1941, Omars, Benghazi, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Akarit, Djebel el Meida, Tunis, North Africa 1940-43, Cassino II, Monastery Hill, Gothic Line, Pian di Castello, Monte Reggiano, Italy 1944-45, North Arakan, Pinwe, Shweli, Burma 1943-45