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

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Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. 13 September 1890. p.7. The regimental colours will in future be buff instead of white; and the Commander-in-Chief has directed that the facings of the regiment be described in the Queen's Regulations and the Army List as buff. The 6th (Service) Battalion, 7th (Service) Battalion, 8th (Service) Battalion and 9th (Reserve) Battalion were all formed for active service in France. [48] Corporal William Richard Cotter was awarded the VC whilst serving with the 6th (Service) Battalion. [50] 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. Canterbury City Council Online". Unique national museum link for Canterbury. CCC. 4 September 2000. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011 . Retrieved 20 February 2010.

Bernard George Ellis". The Comprehensive Guide to the Victoria & George Cross . Retrieved 10 September 2017. The battle of Blenheim village was still in progress and the Buffs were involved at this stage. The garrison of 24 battalions was cut off from the rest of the French army and were putting up a stout resistance. The Buffs were covering any breakout attempt in the direction of the Danube. At around 7.30pm the French were offered a chance to surrender and would not do so until one of their officers was taken to a vantage point where he could see that the battle was lost. They capitulated at 8pm. The losses were heavy on both sides. The figure for the Franco-Bavarians was put at 40,000, but other sources say around 18,000 is more likely, in the battle and subsequent pursuit. Marlborough's wing lost 2,818 killed and 5,442 wounded, while Eugene's had 1,724 killed and 2,500 wounded. The British contingent of 14 battalions and 18 squadrons of cavalry sustained a loss of 60 officers and 610 rank and file killed. The wounded figures were 144 officers and 1,564 other ranks. The Buffs lost 3 officers killed and 7 wounded. No figures are given for the rank and file. By some accounts, an adjutant shouted the expression to a battalion of the Buffs while it was on parade in Malta in 1858. 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 Sir Francis, although suffering from a head wound, was given the task of defending Ostend and supplied with 12 companies of English and 7 Dutch companies. They sailed to Ostend, landing on 11th July and began strengthening the defences. On 23rd July reinforcements arrived; 1,500 fresh troops from England. Vere, however was still unwell and had to be taken to Zealand to recover. During his absence the Spanish began the siege with a non-stop bombardment. The garrison replied with their own artillery but had to gather themselves into two plots of ground within the town where they worked incessantly to dig themselves in and build defensive mounds around the perimeters. The Spanish fired arrows to which were attached letters offering money to the soldiers to change sides and fight for Archduke Albert, but this offer was treated with contempt. On 20th August there was a further reinforcement of 2,000 English troops which managed to get into Ostend. Prince Maurice, meanwhile, had been occupied with the siege of Rhineberg but this was captured and he was able to send 20 companies of Scots, French, Walloons and Frieslanders. These arrived on 23rd Aug and the defenders felt confident enough to make sorties against the besiegers.

The 1st Buffs were mobilised to join Wolseley's Egyptian expedition but it was all over by the time they reached Malta and they went to Ireland instead. In 1885 they were sent to Singapore while the 2nd Buffs were returning from Hong Kong. The 2nd were sent to Egypt for the Nile Expedition. They went up river to Aswan but the Dervishes had been defeated at Ginnis so after two debilitating months in the desert they returned to England, in April 1886. The Buffs had to return to Flanders for the battle of Lauffeld near Maastricht which was almost a repeat of Fontenoy, fought between the French under Marshal Saxe, and the Pragmatic Army under the Prince of Orange with the British and Hanoverians commanded once more by the Duke of Cumberland. It was predominantly a cavalry battle and again the Dutch let them down, especially when their cavalry retreated by riding through the allied infantry. The British, Hanoverians and Hessians fought bravely but were driven out of the village of Lauffeld and would have been annihilated but for the intervention of General John Ligonier who led the cavalry and rescued Cumberland from being captured, and was himself captured in the process. The Buffs lost many officers and men, perhaps more than 165, although there were no exact figures. The Irish were encouraged by the Catholic Spanish king in their rebellion against England, and the Earl of Tyrone and other chiefs became enough of a threat to alarm Elizabeth. She sent the Earl of Essex, with hardy veterans from the war in the Netherlands, to 'reduce the insurgents to obedience'. Their place in the Low Countries was taken by new recruits from London and the Home Counties. 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.

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: The advance eastwards resulted in the battle of Orthes on 27th Feb where the Buffs suffered more losses when they performed an outflanking move. Then on to Toulouse which was fought on 10th April with little loss for the regiment. The Buffs did, however, gain the battle honours both for ORTHES and TOULOUSE for these actions. This was the end of the war for Napoleon until he returned from captivity in Elba the following year.Army Museum; Ogilby Trust". Buffs, Royal East Kent Regiment Museum Collection. 2010. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009 . Retrieved 7 February 2010.

An angler named Samuel Harwood used it in his “Thames Reminiscences,” which appeared in an April 1886 issue of Fishing, a journal published in London: The abortive raid on the town of Rochefort, situated in the middle of the French west coast in the Bay of Biscay was the brainchild of William Pitt to divert French forces from threatening Germany. The raid was led by Sir John Morduant who was blamed for its failure and court-marshaled. The Ile d'Aix was captured but the raid had to be cancelled for many reasons. James Wolfe had been appointed Quartermaster General and his good advice was largely disregarded. The Buffs remained on board ship and inactive throughout September. The raid had cost the country one million pounds and was derided by opposition leader Henry Fox who famously remarked that the enterprise was "breaking windows with guineas".G.O. 41/1881 1 May 1881 amended by G.O.70/1881 1 July 1881. "X. The facings, and the Officers lace will be the same for all regiments belonging to the same Country (Royal and Rifle Regiments excepted), and will as follows: English Regiments: Facings – White, Pattern of Lace – Rose" The narrative up to this point has been a distillation of the 'Historical Records of the Buffs East Kent Regiment , Formerly Designated The Holland Regiment and Prince George of Denmark's Regiment. Vol I 1572-1704 by Captain H R Knight psc, Late the Buffs. (Gale & Polden Ltd 1905). From this point on the history will be taken from Gregory Blaxland's The Buffs (Leo Cooper 1972) While the 2nd Buffs were in South Africa, the 1st Battalion remained in India but were sent to Aden in October 1903 where they made some fatiguing marches deep into the Protectorate to pursue rebellious tribesmen. They maintained a detachment of 2 companies at Dhala, a place with which the Buffs became acquainted again in 1958. They returned to England in Nov 1904 and met up with the second battalion at Dover. In 1906 they were granted the honour of having the HM King Frederik VIII of Denmark as their Colonel-in-Chief. From 1910 to 1914 they were in Ireland, first Dublin and then Fermoy where there was some trouble with Irish Republicans.