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AND HOUSEHOLD TROOPS GUARDS

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 659 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AND See also:

HOUSEHOLD TROOPS See also:GUARDS  . The word guard is an See also:adaptation of the Fr. guarde, mod. garde, O . Ger. See also:ward; see See also:GUARDIAN . The practice of maintaining bodyguards is of See also:great antiquity, and may indeed be considered the beginning of organized armies . Thus there is often no clear distinction between the inner See also:ring of See also:personal defenders and the select See also:corps of trained combatants who are at the See also:chief's entire disposal . Famous examples of corps that See also:fell under one or both these headings are the " Immortals " of See also:Xerxes, the Mamelukes, See also:Janissaries, the Eluscarles of the Anglo-Saxon See also:kings, and the See also:Russian See also:Strelitz (Stryeltsi) . In See also:modern times the distinction of See also:function is better marked, and the fighting men who are more intimately connected with the See also:sovereign than the bulk of the See also:army can be classified as to duties into " See also:Household Troops," See also:GUARDS who are in a sense personal retainers, and " Guards," who are a corps d'elite of combatants . But the dividing See also:line is not so clear as to any given See also:body of troops . Thus the See also:British Household See also:Cavalry is See also:part of the combatant army as well as the sovereign's escort . The See also:oldest of the household or bodyguard corps in the See also:United See also:Kingdom is the See also:King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (q.v.), formed at his See also:accession by See also:Henry VII . The " nearest guard," the personal escort of the sovereign, is the " King's Bodyguard of the See also:Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms," created by Henry VIII. at his accession in 1509 . Formed possibly on the See also:pattern of the " Pensionnaires " of the See also:French kings—retainers of See also:noble See also:birth who were the predecessors of the Maison du Roi (see below)—the new corps was originally called " the Pensioners." The importance of such guards regiments in the See also:general development of organized armies is illustrated by a See also:declaration of the See also:House of See also:Commons, made in 1674, that the See also:militia, the pensioners and the Yeomen of the Guard were the only lawful armed forces in the See also:realm .

But with the rise of the professional soldier and the corresponding disuse of arms by the nobles and gentry, the Gentlemen-at-Arms (a See also:

title which came into use in See also:James II.'s See also:time, though it did not become that of the corps until See also:William IV.'s) retaining their noble See also:character, became less and less military . See also:Burke attempted without success in 1782 to restrict membership to See also:officers of the army and See also:navy, but the See also:necessity of giving the corps an effective military character became obvious when, on the occasion of a threatened Chartist See also:riot, it was called upon to do See also:duty as an armed body at St James's See also:Palace . The corps was reconstituted on a purely military basis in 1862, and from that date only military officers of the See also:regular services who have received a See also:war decoration are eligible for See also:appointment . The See also:office of See also:captain, however, is See also:political, the holder (who is always a peer) vacating it on the resignation of the See also:government of which he is a member . The corps consists at See also:present of captain, See also:lieutenant, See also:standard See also:bearer, clerk of the See also:cheque (See also:adjutant), sub-officer and 39 gentlemen-at-arms . The See also:uniform consists of a See also:scarlet See also:swallow-tailed coat and See also:blue overalls, with See also:gold epaulettes, See also:brass See also:dragoon See also:helmet with drooping See also:white plume and brass See also:box-spurs, these last contrasting rather forcibly with the partizan, an essentially See also:infantry weapon, that they carry . The Royal See also:Company of Archers.—The king's bodyguard for See also:Scot-See also:land was constituted in its present See also:form in the See also:year 1670, by an See also:act of the privy See also:council of See also:Scotland . An earlier origin has been claimed for the company, some connecting it with a supposed See also:archer guard of the kings of Scotland . In the above-mentioned year, 1676, the minutes of the Royal Company begin by stating, that owing to " the noble and usefull recreation of See also:archery being for many years much neglected, several noblemen and gentlemen did See also:associate themselves in a company for encouragement thereof . . . and did apply to the privy council for their approbation . . which was granted." For about twenty years at the end of the 17th See also:century, perhaps owing to the See also:adhesion of the See also:majority to the See also:Stuart cause, its existence seems to have been suspended . But in 1703 a new captain-general, See also:Sir See also:George See also:Mackenzie, See also:Viscount Tarbat, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Cromarty (163o–1714), was elected, and he procured for the company a new See also:charter from See also:Queen See also:Anne .

The rights and privileges renewed or conferred by this charter were to be held of the See also:

crown for the reddendo of a pair of barbed arrows . This reddendo was paid to George IV. at Holyrood in 1822, to Queen See also:Victoria in 1842 and to King See also:Edward VII. in 1903 . The See also:history of the Royal Company since 1703 has been one of great prosperity . Large parades were frequently held, and many distinguished men marched in the ranks . Several of the leading insurgents in 1745 were members, but the company was not at that time suspended in any way . In 1822 when King George IV. visited Scotland, it was thought appropriate that the Royal Company should act as his See also:majesty's bodyguard during his stay, especially as there was a tradition of a former archer bodyguard . They therefore performed the duties usually assigned to the gentlemen-at-arms . When Queen Victoria visited the Scottish See also:capital in 1842, the Royal Company again did duty; the last time they were called out in her reign in their capacity of royal bodyguard was in 1860 on the occasion of the great volunteer See also:review in the Queen's See also:Park, See also:Edinburgh . They acted in the same capacity when King Edward VII. reviewed the Scottish See also:Volunteers there on the 18th of See also:September 1905 . King George IV. authorized the company to take, in addition to their former name, that of " The King's Body Guard for Scot-land," and presented to the captain-general a gold stick, thus constituting the company part of the royal household . In virtue of this stick the captain-general of the Royal Company takes his See also:place at a See also:coronation or similar See also:pageant immediately behind the gold stick of See also:England . The lieutenants-general of the company have See also:silver sticks; and the council, which is the executive body of the company, possess seven See also:ebony ones .

George IV. further appointed a full See also:

dress uniform to be worn by members of the company at See also:court, when not on duty as guards, in which latter See also:case the See also:ordinary See also:field dress is used . The court dress is See also:green with green See also:velvet facings, gold epaulettes and See also:lace, See also:crimson See also:silk See also:sash, and cocked See also:hat with green plume . The officers See also:wear a gold sash in place of a crimson one, and an See also:aiguillette on the See also:left See also:shoulder . All ranks wear swords . The field dress at present consists of a dark-green See also:tunic, shoulder-wings and gauntleted cuffs and See also:trousers trimmed with See also:black and crimson; a See also:bow-case worn as a sash, of the same See also:colour as the coat, black waistbelt with See also:sword, and Balmoral See also:bonnet with See also:thistle See also:ornament and See also:eagle's See also:feather . The officers of the company are the captain-general, 4 captains, 4 lieutenants, 4 ensigns, 12 brigadiers and adjutant . Corps of the gentlemen-at-arms or See also:yeoman type do not of course See also:count as combatant troops—if for no other See also:reason at least because they are armed with the weapons of bygone times . See also:Colonel See also:Clifford See also:Walton states in his History of the British See also:Standing Army that neither the Yeomen of the Guard nor the Pensioners were ever subject to See also:martial See also:law . The British guards and household troops that are armed, trained and organized as part of the army are the Household Cavalry and the See also:Foot Guards . The Household Cavalry consists at the present See also:day of three regiments, and has its origin, as have certain of the Footguard regiments, in the ashes of the " New See also:Model " army disbanded at the restoration of See also:Charles II. in r66o . In that year the " 1st or His Majesty's Own See also:Troop of Guards " formed during the king's See also:exile of his See also:cavalier followers, was taken on the strength of the army . The 2nd troop was formerly in the See also:Spanish service as the " See also:Duke of See also:York's Guards," and was also a cavalier unit .

In 1670, on See also:

Monk's See also:death, the See also:original 3rd troop (Monk's See also:Life Guards, renamed in 166o the " See also:Lord General's Troop of Guards ") became the 2nd (the queen's) troop, and the duke of York's troop the 3rd . In 1685 the 1st and 2nd troops were styled Life Guards of See also:Horse, and two years later the blue-uniformed " Royal See also:Regiment of Horse," a New Model regiment that had been disbanded and at once re-raised in r66o, was made a household cavalry corps . Later under the colonelcy of the earl of See also:Oxford it was popularly called " The Oxford Blues." There were also from time to time other troops (e.g . Scots troops 1700-1746) that have now disappeared . In 1746 the 2nd troop was disbanded, but it was revived in 1788, when the two See also:senior corps were given their present title of 1st and 2nd Life Guards . From 1750 to 1819 the Blues See also:bore the name of " Royal Horse Guards Blue," which in 1819 was changed to " Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)." The general distinction between the See also:uniforms of the red Life Guard and the blue Horse Guard still exists . The 1st and the and regiments of Life Guards wear scarlet tunics with blue collars and cuffs, and the Royal Horse Guards blue tunics with scarlet collars and cuffs . All three wear See also:steel cuirasses on See also:state occasions and on guard duty . The See also:head-dress is a steel helmet with drooping horse-See also:hair plume (white for Life Guards, red for Horse Guards) . In full dress white buckskin pantaloons and See also:long See also:knee boots are worn . Amongst the peculiarities of these corps d'elite is the survival of the old See also:custom of calling non - commissioned officers " See also:corporal of horse " instead of sergeant, and corporal-See also:major instead of sergeant-major, the wearing by trumpeters and bandsmen in full dress of a black velvet cap, a richly laced coat with a full skirt extending to the wearer's knees and long white gaiters . There is little distinction between the two Life Guards regiments' uniforms, the most obvious point being that the See also:cord See also:running through the white See also:leather pouch See also:belt is red for the 1st and blue for the and .

Phoenix-squares

The Foot Guards comprise the See also:

Grenadier Guards, the See also:Cold-stream Guards, the Scots Guards and the Irish Guards, each (except the last) of three battalions . The Grenadiers, originally the First Foot Guards, represent a royalist infantry regiment which served with the exiled princes in the Spanish army and returned at the Restoration in 1660 . The See also:Coldstream Guards are a New Model regiment, and were originally called the Lord General's (Monk's) regiment of Foot Guards . Their popular title, which became their See also:official designation in 167o, is derived from the fact that the army with which Monk restored the See also:monarchy crossed the See also:Tweed into England at the See also:village of Coldstream, and that his troops (which were afterwards, except the two See also:units of horse and foot of which Monk himself was colonel, disbanded) were called the Coldstreamers . The two battalions of Scots Foot Guards, which regiment was separately raised and maintained in Scotland after the Restoration, marched to See also:London in 1686 and 1688 and were brought on to the See also:English See also:Establishment in 1707 . In George III.'s reign they were known as the Third Guards, and from 1831 to 1877 (when the present title was adopted) as the Scots See also:Fusilier Guards . The Irish Guards (one See also:battalion) were formed in 1902, after the See also:South See also:African War, as a See also:mark of Queen Victoria's appreciation of the services rendered by the various Irish regiments of the line.' The dress of the Foot Guards is generally similar in all four regiments, scarlet tunic with blue collars, cuffs and shoulder-straps, blue trousers and high, rounded bearskin cap . The regimental distinctions most easily noticed are these . The Grenadiers wear a small white plume in the bearskin, the Cold-streams a similar red one, the Scots none, the Irish a blue-green one . The buttons on the tunic are spaced evenly for the Grenadiers, by twos for the Coldstreams, by threes for the Scots and by fours for the Irish . The See also:band of the modern cap is red for the Grenadiers, white for the Coldstreams, "diced" red and white (chequers) for the Scots and green for the Irish . Former privileges of foot guard regiments, such as higher See also:brevet See also:rank in the army for their regimental officers, are now abolished, but Guards are still subject exclusively to the command of their own officers, and the officers of the Foot Guards, like those of the Household Cavalry, have See also:special duties at court .

Neither the cavalry nor the infantry guards serve abroad in See also:

peace time as a See also:rule, but in 190,7 a battalion of the Guards, which it was at that time proposed to disband, was sent to See also:Egypt . " Guards' Brigades " served in the See also:Napoleonic See also:Wars, in the See also:Crimea, in Egypt at various times from 1887 to 1898 and in South See also:Africa 1899—19os . The last employment of the Household Cavalry as a See also:brigade in war was at See also:Waterloo, but composite regiments made up from officers and men of the Life Guards and Blues were employed in Egypt and in S . Africa . The sovereigns of See also:France had guards in their service in Merovingian times, and their household forces appear from time to time in the history of See also:medieval wars . See also:Louis XI. was, however, the first to regularize their somewhat loose organization, and he did so to such See also:good purpose that See also:Francis I. had no less than 8000 guardsmen organized, subdivided and permanently under arms . The senior unit of the Gardes du Corps was the famous company of Scottish archers (Compagnie ecossaise de la Garde du Corps du Roi), which was originally formed (1418) from the Scottish contingents that assisted the French in the See also:Hundred Years' War . See also:Scott's Quentin Durward gives a picture of life in the corps as it was under Louis XI . In the following century, however, its regimental history becomes somewhat confused . Two French companies were added by Louis XI. and Francis I. and the Gardes du Corps came to consist exclusively of cavalry . About 1634 nearly all the Scots then serving went into the " regiment d'See also:Hebron " and thence later into the British regular army (see See also:HEPBURN, SIR See also:JOHN) . Thereafter, though the titles, distinctions and privileges of the original Archer Guard were continued, it was recruited from native Frenchmen, preference being (at any See also:rate at first) given to those of Scottish descent .

At its disbandment in 1791 along with the See also:

rest of the Gardes du Corps, it contained few, if any, native Scots . There was also, for a See also:short time (1643—1660), an infantry regiment of Gardes ecossaises . In 1671 the title of 'liaison Militaire du Roi was applied to that portion of the household that was distinctively military . It came to consist of 4 companies of the Gardes du Corps, 2 companies of Mousquetaires (cavalry) (formed 1622 and 1660), I company of Chevaux lagers (1570), I of Gendarmes de la Maison See also:Rouge, and 1 of Grenadiers a Cheval (1676), with i company of Gardes de la See also:Porte and" one called the Cent-Suisses, the last two being semi-military . This large establishment, which did not include all the guard regiments, was considerably reduced by the Count of St Germain's reforms in ' The " Irish Guards " of the Stuarts took the See also:side of James II., fought against William III. in See also:Ireland and lost their regimental identity in the French service to which the officers and soldiers transferred themselves on the See also:abandonment of the struggle.1775, all except the Gardes du Corps and the Cent-Suisses being disbanded . The whole of the Maison du Roi, with the exception of the semi-military bodies referred to, was cavalry . The Gardes francaises, formed in 1563, did not form part of the Maison . They were an infantry regiment, as were the famous Gardes suisses, originally a Swiss See also:mercenary regiment in the Wars of See also:Religion, which was, for good conduct at the combat of Arques, incorporated in the permanent establishment by Henry IV. in 1589 and in the guards in 1615 . At the Revolution, contrary to expectation, the French Guards sided openly with the Constitutional See also:movement and were disbanded . The Swiss Guards, however, being foreigners, and therefore unaffected by See also:civil troubles, retained their exact discipline and devotion to the court to the day on which they were sacrificed by their See also:master to the bullets of the Marseillais and the pikes of the See also:mob (See also:August 10, 1792) . Their tragic See also:fate is commemorated by the well-known See also:monument called the " See also:Lion of See also:Lucerne," the See also:work of Thorvaldsen, erected near Lucerne in 1821 . The " Constitutional," " Revolutionary " and other guards that were created after the abolition of the Maison and the slaughter of the Swiss are unimportant, but through the " See also:Directory Guards " they form a nominal See also:link between the household troops of the monarchy and the corps which is perhaps the most famous " Guard " in history .

The Imperial Guard of See also:

Napoleon had its beginnings in an escort See also:squadron called the Corps of Guides, which accompanied him in the See also:Italian See also:campaign of 1796—1797 and in Egypt . On becoming First See also:Consul in 1799 he built up out of this and of the guard of the Directory a small corps of horse and foot, called the Consular Guard, and this, which was more of a fighting unit than a personal bodyguard, took part in the See also:battle of See also:Marengo . The Imperial Guard, into which it was converted on the establishment of the See also:Empire, was at first of about the strength of a See also:division . As such it took part in the See also:Austerlitz and See also:Jena See also:campaigns; but after the See also:conquest of See also:Prussia Napoleon augmented it, and divided it into the " Old Guard " and the " See also:Young Guard." Subsequently the " See also:Middle Guard " was created, and by successive augmentations the corps of the guard had grown to be 57,000 strong in 1811—1812 and 81,000 in 1813 . It preserved its general character as a corps d'elite of veterans to the last, but from about 1813 the" Young Guard " was recruited directly from the best of the See also:annual conscript contingent . The officers held a higher rank in the army than their regimental rank in the Guards . At the first Restoration an See also:attempt was made to revive the Maison du Roi, but in the constitutional regime of the second Restoration this semi-medieval form of body-guard was given tip and replaced by the Garde Royale, a selected fighting corps . This took part in the short war with See also:Spain and a portion of it fought in See also:Algeria, but it was disbanded at the See also:July Revolution . Louis Philippe had no real guard troops, but the memories of the Imperial Guard were revived by Napoleon III., who formed a large guard corps in 1853—1854 . This, however, was open to an even greater degree than Napoleon I.'s guard to the objection that it took away the best soldiers from the line . Since the fall of the Empire in 187o there have been no guard troops in France . The duty of watching over the safety of the See also:president is taken in the ordinary roster of duty by the troops stationed in the capital .

The " Republican Guard " is the See also:

Paris See also:gendarmerie, recruited from old soldiers and armed and trained as a military body . In See also:Austria-See also:Hungary there are only small bodies of household troops (Archer Body Guard, Trabant Guard, Hungarian Crown Guards, &c.) analogous to the British Gentlemen at Arms or Yeomen of the Guard . Similar forces, the " Noble Guard " and the " Swiss Guard," are maintained in the Vatican . The court troops of Spain are called " halberdiers " and armed with the See also:halbert . In See also:Russia the Guard is organized as an army corps . It possesses special privileges, particularly as regards officers' See also:advancement . In See also:Germany the distinction between armed retainers and " Guards " is well marked . The army is for See also:practical purposes a unit under imperial See also:control, while household troops C' See also:castle-guards " as they are usually called) belong individually to the various sovereigns within the empire . The "Guards," as a combatant force in the army are those of the king of Prussia and constitute a strong army corps . This has grown gradually from a bodyguard of archers, and, as in Great See also:Britain, the functions of the heavy cavalry regiments of the Guard preserve to some extent the name and character of a body guard (Gardes du Corps) . The senior foot guard regiment is also personally connected with the royal See also:family . The See also:conversion of a palace-guard to a combatant force is due chiefly to See also:Frederick William I., to whom See also:drill was a ruling See also:passion, and who substituted effective regiments for the ornamental " Trabant Guards " of his See also:father .

A further move was made by Frederick the Great in substituting for Frederick William's expensive " See also:

giant " regiment of guards a larger number of ordinary soldiers, whom he subjected to the same rigorous training and made a corps d'elite . Frederick the Great also formed the Body Guard alluded to above . Nevertheless in 1806 the Guard still consisted only of two cavalry regiments and four infantry regiments, and it was the example of Napoleon's imperial guard which converted this force into a corps of all arms . In 1813 its strength was that of a weak division, but in 1860 by slight but frequent augmentations it had come to consist of an army corps, See also:complete with all See also:auxiliary services . A few guard regiments belonging to the See also:minor sovereigns are counted in the line of the See also:German army . In war the Guard is employed as a unit, like other army corps . It is recruited by the See also:assignment of selected young men of each annual contingent, and is thus See also:free from the reproach of the French Imperial Guard, which took the best-trained soldiers from the regiments of the line . GUARD-See also:SHIP, a warship stationed at some See also:port or See also: