3rd Battalion Colours 1896

A Guardsman named as Private John Leary poses next to the piled arms and Colours of the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards. The angle of the poles gives us a good view of the flags so that we can see that the Regimental Colour on the left has the 21st Company badge of the sun rising from behind a cloud with a small scroll beneath inscribed XXI. The battalion number is in Roman numerals in the upper canton. The Queen's Colour is crimson with Victoria's crown in the middle over a complex reverse VR cypher. The silk that makes up the honour scrolls and the cypher are yellow so appear as black in photos of this vintage. For the same reason it is hard to see the 3rd Battalion's distinction of a pile wavy issuing from the bottom corner of the small Union flag in the canton. The battle honours are the same for all three battalions and most of them can be read clearly. The photo was published in the Navy and Army Illustrated 3 April 1896.

Regimental details | Colours