Origin of "The Buffs"
The 3rd Regiment received its nickname of "The Buffs" because it had been issued buff coats—made of soft leather—first when it served abroad in Holland and later when it was a Maritime Regiment of Foot. It was later given buff-coloured facings and waistcoats to distinguish itself from those of other regiments and had their leather equipment in buff rather than dyed the traditional white.
It received the title of "The Old Buffs" during the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, when the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot marched past King George II and onto the battlefield with great spirit. Mistaking them for the 3rd due to their buff facings, the sovereign called out, "Bravo, Buffs! Bravo!". When one of his aides, an officer of the 3rd regiment, corrected His Majesty, he then cheered, non-plussed, "Bravo, Young Buffs! Bravo!", thus granting the 31st the honour of being nicknamed the "Young Buffs". The 3rd Regiment then took to calling themselves the "Old Buffs" to keep themselves distinct from the 31st.
Read more about this topic: Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
Famous quotes containing the words origin of and/or origin:
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)