Childers Reforms - Standardisation of Uniforms and Colours

Standardisation of Uniforms and Colours

An attempt was made to have the facings of uniforms standardised: English and Welsh regiments would have white facings, Irish regiments would wear green facings, Scottish regiments would have yellow facings, and royal regiments would have dark blue facings. Officers' uniforms had lace in distinctive national patterns: rose pattern for England and Wales, thistle for Scotland and shamrock for Ireland. In the case of regular battalions the lace was gold, while that of the militia battalions was silver. There were also attempts to assimilate regimental insignia and remove "tribal" uniform distinctions. This was less successful, as regimental tribalism and tradition forced a national outcry. Two regiments that displayed fierce reaction were the 75th and the 92nd that were grudgingly joined together to become the Gordon Highlanders. The 75th went so far as commissioning a marble monument to themselves in Malta where they were based at the time. They had spent so long away from Scotland that they were effectively an English unit that had to relearn how to wear kilts. The 92nd, though they lost much less identity in the amalgamation, staged a mock funeral procession to themselves, complete with a full-size coffin with the number '92' on it.

In 1890, The Buffs succeeded in being allowed to resume the wearing of buff facings. Within a few years, a number of other regiments had replaced white facings with traditional colours. After 1935, the ruling on blue facings for royal regiments effectively lapsed. In that year, in celebration of his silver jubilee, King George V designated three regiments as royal. In each case, they were "permitted to retain their present facings". In 1939 The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who had worn blue facings since 1881, were issued buff regimental colours "by request and gracious permission". Again in 1946 three infantry regiments were designated as "royal" for services in the Second World War. Of these, only the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment replaced its (white) facings with blue.