Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

1689–1708 KG (husband of Queen Anne)

Prince George of Denmark

1906–1914 HM King , KG, GCB, GCVO

Frederik VIII of Denmark

1914–1947 HM King , KG, GCB, GCVO

Christian X of Denmark

1947–1961 HM King , KG, GCB, GCVO

Frederik IX of Denmark

1665–1668 Col. Robert Sidney

1668–1673 Maj-Gen. Sir Walter Vane

1673–1682 Lt-Gen. the

Duke of Buckingham

1682–1684 Col.

Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield

1684–1685 Lt-Gen. the Duke of Buckingham

1685–1688 Brig-Gen. Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe

During the . On 16 May 1811, Ensign Thomas, carried the Regimental Colour: he was shot dead and the colour captured but later retrieved. The King's Colour was carried by Lieutenant Matthew Latham. He was attacked by several French hussars, one of whom seizing the flag-staff, and rising in his stirrup, aimed a stroke at the head of the gallant Latham, which failed in cutting him down, but which sadly mutilated him, severing one side of the face and nose; he still however, struggled with the dragoon, and exclaimed, "I will surrender it only with my life." A second sabre struck severing his left arm and hand, in which he held the staff, from his body. Latham, however, then seized the staff with his right hand, throwing away his sword, and continued to struggle with his opponents, now increased in number; when ultimately thrown down, trampled upon and pierced by the spears of the Polish lancers, his last effort was to tear the flag from the staff as he thus lay prostrate, and to thrust it partly into the breast of his jacket where it was later found:^[69] the action is commemorated in silver by "The Latham Centrepiece" first produced in 1872 by S Smith & Co King St Covent Garden, now in the Regimental museum.^[70][71]

Battle of Albuhera

During the , Private John Moyse was captured: he was later executed by Chinese soldiers for refusing to kow-tow to a local mandarin. His act of defiance was later immortalised in The Private of the Buffs, a poem by Sir Francis Hastings Doyle.^[72]

Battle of Taku Forts

Among the small garrison of 1879 (Zulu Land) was Sgt Frederick Milne (2260) 2nd Battalion, The Buffs. Said to have found and retrieved the watercart during the night. He survived the battle and soon left the service.^[73]

Rorke's Drift

. Moody was a distinguished officer, and later a historian, of the Regiment. Moody was second in command of the Regiment when it was sent to relieve the Siege of Malakand in 1897,^[74] for which he was mentioned in dispatches,^[74] and during which he fought alongside Winston Churchill, who mentions him in Chapter XII (At Inayat Kila) of his history of the conflict, The Story of the Malakand Field Force.^[75] Moody served with the Regiment in the Chitral Expedition, in which he was part of General William Forbes Gatacre's flying column.^[74] He subsequently became a Military Knight of Windsor, and, during his occupation of this office, and at the request of the Regiment,^[76] he wrote The Historical Records of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 3rd Regiment of Foot, 1914–1919, which was published in 1923.^[77][78] He gave the first copy of the book to the Royal Library, Windsor, in 1922.^[79]

Colonel Richard S. Hawks Moody CB

The Ernest Stafford Carlos was commissioned into the 8th Battalion in 1916, arriving in the Artois sector of the Western Front early in 1917. His sketches, cartoons and paintings record life in and behind the lines at that time. He was killed in action during the Battle of Messines on 14 or 15 June 1917 while his unit was assaulting a German held spoil heap near Zillebeke in Flanders, a feature that became known as "Buff's Bank". He is buried close to the battlefield at Chester Farm Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery.^[80]

war artist

Among the soldiers in the 10th Battalion, one soldier showed bravery in the on 18 September 1918. This was Private Percy James Fellows, a Lewis gunner who was mortally wounded while facing the enemy. He was serving with the 230th Brigade of the 74th (Yeomanry) Division. He died of wounds suffered during the Final Advance in Artois on 13 October 1918.^[81]

Battle of Épehy

was awarded the Albert Medal in 1918. This was transferred to a George Cross in 1971.^[82]

Bernard George Ellis

Captain , who served in the 7th battalion in the Second World War, refused to obey orders, because he feared that thousands of French civilians would be killed, and was duly imprisoned for this: after the war he became a successful playwright.^[83]

William Douglas-Home

Earlier Wars

First World War

Second World War

Major (Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, later General) , Crimean War

Frederick Francis Maude

Private (later Corporal) , Crimean War

John Connors

Corporal (later Colour-Sergeant) , First Mohmand Campaign

James Smith

Lance Corporal (acting Corporal) , World War I

William Richard Cotter

  – The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1914–1935), (1935–1961)

Canada

Military history of the United Kingdom

Beckett, Ian (2003). Discovering English County Regiments. Shire.  978-0747-805069.

ISBN

(1839). Historical Records of the Third Regiment of Foot or the Buffs formerly designated the Holland Regiment containing an account of its original in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and of its subsequent services to 1838. CIHM/ICMH Collection de Microfiches; no. 48340. Longman, Orme & Company and William Clowes & Sons. ISBN 9780665483400.

Cannon, Richard

J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984,  1-85117-007-3.

ISBN

Joslen, Lt-Col H.F. (2003). Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield: Naval & Military.  1843424746.

ISBN

Knight, Captain H. R. (1935). . Vol. 1. Gale & Pollen.

Historical records of The Buffs, East Kent Regiment, 3rd Foot, formerly designated the Holland Regiment and Prince George of Denmark's Regiment 1572-1704

(1923). The Historical Records of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 3rd Foot, 1914–1919.

Moody, Richard

Perrett, Bryan (1998). At All Costs: Stories of Impossible Victories. Cassell Military Classics.  978-0304350544.

ISBN

The 3rd East Kent Regiment or Buffs Reenactment Society

The 3rd Foot or Buffs Napoleonic/War of 1812 American Reenactment group

(archived 3 March 2016)

Dragons Fury WWII living History Group (The Buffs)

(archived 4 May 2009)

19th Century timeline for The Buffs

(archived 28 December 2005)

Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth, Regiments.org

(archived 29 August 2015)

British Army units from 1945 on