Steady the Buffs!: A Regiment, a Region, and the Great War

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In 1622 the town of Bergen-op-Zoom was under siege from Spinola's army. The garrison was made up of 49 companies of infantry and some cavalry. 14 companies of English and Scots were under the command of Colonel Henderson and they were allotted the south walls of the town to defend. On 22nd July a sortie was made against a hill outside the town which was defended by Spanish troops. Spinola himself arrived on 28th July and the siege commenced 'with vigour'. This siege was distinguished from others in this war by the appearance, on 2nd August, of English soldiers in the ranks of the Spanish besiegers. This strange occurrence came about because James I of England had negotiated a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain. Part of the deal was that 2,000 English troops be placed at the service of Spain. However, many of these men deserted the Spanish and entered Bergen-op-Zoom claiming that they had been deceived and told that they would be fighting for the Netherlands. Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Catch Phrases calls it an expression “of self admonition or self-adjuration or self-encouragement” that originated in the military. Its origin? Partridge says only that it comes “from an incident in the history of the East Kent Regiment.” Marlborough started his Flanders campaign from the Hague on 2nd July 1702 while the raid on Cadiz was keeping the Buffs occupied. He was accompanied by two Dutch officials who for some reason not properly explained, had the power to veto Marlborough's military decisions. This hindrance first became downright dangerous when they prevented the Commander-in-Chief from engaging the French army under Boufflers, first at Lonovur on 2nd Aug when there was a good chance of destroying the enemy, and next on 22nd August. Another opportunity was prevented at Liege in October. Notwithstanding, the 1702 campaign was regarded as a success. We’ll examine the less obscure one first. “Steady, the Buffs!” means “Keep calm!” or “Steady on, boys!” and can be traced to the late 19th century.

a b "Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005 . Retrieved 30 December 2015. The 5th Battalion was reformed in 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 4th Battalion when the Territorial Army was doubled in size. Initially, the 5th Buffs was assigned to the 37th Infantry Brigade, part of the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, which was a 2nd Line duplicate of the 44th (Home Counties) Division. However, on 26 October 1939, it was transferred to the Division's 36th Infantry Brigade in exchange for the 2/6th East Surreys. [54] [55] The 5th Buffs, along with the 6th and 7th Royal West Kents, remained in the 36th Brigade for the rest of the war. Like the 2nd and 4th Battalions, it served with the BEF in France in 1940 and fought in the Battle of France and was evacuated at Dunkirk. The 12th Division suffered heavy casualties due mainly to most of the men having little training and the division having no artillery or support units. After returning to England, the division was disbanded in July 1940, due to the casualties it had sustained. In 1942, the 36th Brigade was assigned to the newly raised 78th Division and took part in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa, followed by the campaign in Tunisia, where the 78th Division, as part of the British First Army, distinguished itself during the crucial capture of Longstop Hill. [56] The division then fought in the Sicilian Campaign, as part of the British Eighth Army. The 5th Buffs and the rest of 78th Division then took part in the fighting in Italy and served there until the 1945 Offensive. [57] Bernard George Ellis was awarded the Albert Medal in 1918. This was transferred to a George Cross in 1971. [82] The Freemasons are regarded as the world’s largest fraternal organization with more than 6 million members, followed by the Elks Club with a million members. From various documents the regimental history was able to compile a list of English officers who served in the Dutch service in 1665 and they are listed under four regiments named after their Colonels:Welcome to Steady The Buffs Militaria, for British, Colonial & Commonwealth Cap Badges, Collar Badges, Shoulder Titles and Cloth Insignia. So in the mouth of a British soldier, “Stiffen the Prussian Guard (or Guards)!” would have been a rousing call to arms.

What does the phrase mean? Our best guess is that Wheal’s father was using an expression from an earlier era, World War I, and that it originally meant something like “Kill the Germans!” Sir Francis Doyle: Moyse, the Private of the Buffs". The Heretical Press . Retrieved 30 December 2015. The 3rd East Kent Regiment of Foot (The Buffs) returned to the UK from Jamaica in April 1790 in surprisingly good health after 8 years in a notoriously unhealthy posting. Their first duty was as marines on ships from Portsmouth and Chatham, and then guard duty at Windsor and the Tower of London. The latter duty gave them the opportunity to exercise their privilege of marching through the City of London, armed and with drums and Colours. Oxford’s earliest example is from Rudyard Kipling’s The Story of the Gadsbys (1888), but we’ve found a civilian usage that’s at least two years older.Peace talks were in process during 1607 and 1608 but during that time Sir Francis Vere died on 28th Aug 1608 and was succeeded in his command by his brother Sir Horace who later became Lord Vere of Tilbury. The articles for a 12 year truce were ratified on 25th July 1609.

Glozier, Mathew (2001). Scotland and the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648; Steve Murdoch et al. Brill. p.126. ISBN 978-9004120860. The regiment had a tour of service from 1821 until 1827 in the British colony of New South Wales. For the duration of their service, The Buffs was divided into four detachments. The first was based in Sydney from 1821. The second arrived in Hobart in 1822. The third, entitled "The Buffs' Headquarters", arrived in Sydney in 1823. The fourth, arrived in Sydney in 1824, but variously saw service throughout the colonies, being stationed at Port Dalrymple, Parramatta, Liverpool, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Bathurst. The regiment reunited and was transferred to Calcutta in 1827. During their service in New South Wales, The Buffs was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W. Stewart and Lieutenant Colonel C. Cameron. [35] The regiment also saw action at the siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the Crimean War. [4] By some accounts, an adjutant shouted the expression to a battalion of the Buffs while it was on parade in Malta in 1858.The Buffs also raised many more battalions during the war, mainly for home defence or as training units. None, save the 7th and 11th Battalions, saw active service overseas. The 7th and 11th Battalions were raised in 1940 and were converted to the 141st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps and the 89th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1941 due to the shortage of armoured troops and artillery in the British Army. [58] [59] Post-War [ edit ] Badge of the Buffs as shown on the grave of Private P.M. Godden, who died in 1947, at Stanley Military Cemetery, Hong Kong In 1881, under the Childers Reforms, it was known as the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and later, on 3 June 1935, was renamed the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)….Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) Royal East Kent Regiment (“The Buffs”); 3rd Regiment of Foot For the remainder of its existence as a separate entity, both dragon badge and buff facings remained as primary distinctions of the regiment. This was the case even on the simplified dark blue "No. 1 Dress" worn by most of the British Army as full dress after World War II, although the buff colour was here reduced to piping edging the shoulder straps. [91] Alliances [ edit ] The Dutch fight for independence from Spain in the 1568–1648 Eighty Years' War was supported by Protestants across Europe; the origins of the regiment were Thomas Morgan's Company of Foot, a group of 300 volunteers from the London Trained Bands formed in 1572. [2] In 1586, these English and Scottish volunteer units were brought together in the Anglo-Scots Brigade, which in various formats served in the Dutch military until 1782. [3] Bernard George Ellis". The Comprehensive Guide to the Victoria & George Cross . Retrieved 10 September 2017.