"60th Foot Colours" Topic

The SYW Project describes and illustrates the flags of most Regiments which took part in this war. In respect of the British 60th Foot, it says:

Since this regiment exceptionally counted 4 battalions, the colours of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th battalion were respectively distinguished by 1, 2 and 3 flaming rays superimposed to the upper left branch of the saltire of the King's colour. The same distinctions existed for the regimental colours with the rays issuing from the Union in the upper left corner.

There is no illustration of these "flaming rays", also known as "flames" or "piles wavy" on the 60th Foot page. I have however seen several illustrations of 17th Century British colours with this distinction on the Major's Colour, as used by the Foot Guards into the 19th Century (which is illustrated on the SYW website) but these only have one ray/flame/pile.

I presume that on the Regimental (Battalion) Colours they started from the lower corner of the Union Jack quadrant, although I have seen some starting from the centre of the St George's Cross within the Union Jack. I am not sure whether two or three rays/flames/piles would be parallel or radiating out from their starting point. My guess is parallel, but I could be wrong.

Does anyone know the exact layout of these multiple rays/flames/piles when there were two or three of them?

Rod

This sounds like the system used during the English Civil War for colors of sub-units of a regiment. You might look at ECW standards and apply them to the 60th Foot's battalion colors for 2nd-4th battalions.

CoolHistoryGamer,

Good tip. I found this which seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

link

I would need to make the flames smaller to allow for the central badge on the 60th Foot Colours.

Rod

There is a fragment of a period 60th colour that I saw back in the mid-80s in the National Army museum. IIRC, the L and the X were interwoven into each other, with the lower part of the L forming an arm of the X. Can't comment on the difference between battalion colours. It should be noted there were a couple different Colonel commandants of the 60th during the war – and they owned the colours and there might have been several sets made during the F&I War.

You might want to check fifedrum.org/crfd/BD_1.htm

Second vote for Bill N's link – usually the place to go if nowhere else has pictorial evidence.

SM – Have you seen the 60th flag fragment I am talking about? Not home, so I can't consult the notes I made on it – including sketch.

Unfortunately, the pre-modern gallery at the NAM was shut down quite a while ago, and I have to say I can't recall seeing that flag fragment in any of my visits there. I'm sure I would have remembered it, as I used to give tours to groups from the US community schools and universities in the London area, but that was in the mid-90s to early 2000s period, so it might well have been put back into storage for preservation reasons.

Bill N,

The link to fifedrum was excellent, and had illustrations of the colours of all four battalions of the 60th Foot. I had not come across that site before.

Rod

I saw the fragment on my trip there in 1985. I have notes at home on it. Will share when I return.

I also have some decent photos of period uniforms then on display too.

History gamer The Rifles Museum (ex Royal Green Jackets) in Winchester has a colour dating from the C18th. Cannot recall any details of it though, it used to be just inside the gallery after you left the entrance desk. Could that be what you saw?

Only been to the Army Museum, but it could have been on loan – either way. Now that I think about it they also had a mannequin of a 60th grenadier on display at the time as well. I dropped my camera on its lens when the the guard was checking it. I was able to get some pictures of the coats on display upstairs that were from the SYW and F&I period. Later went over to the Wellington barracks and got a picture of a coat there as well. It was a Rev War period coat (actually two, enlisted from the 1790s and a general's coat from earlier). In the background was a Guards colour supposedly carried at Waterloo.