Description
Physical description
White metal badge in the shape of a Maltese cross with ball tips superimposed on the star of the Order of the Garter. At the centre of the cross is the Garter (inscribed with the motto 'HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE') enclosing a voided centre with a Hart crossing a ford. At the base of the badge, set below the bottom point of the star, is a scroll inscribed 'BEDFORDSHIRE & HERTFORDSHIRE'. Slider to reverse.
History note
Cap badge of the pattern worn 1919 to 1958.
The predecessor Regiment was raised in the southern counties in October 1688 as Colonel Archibald Douglas's Regiment of Foot. It was raised at the behest of James II in order to support his resistance to William of Orange. In the event, the Regiment refused to fight and after the accession of William to the English throne as William III, Colonel Douglas was removed from command but the Regiment was permitted to remain as part of William's Army.
In 1747 the Regiment was ranked 16th of Foot and formally known by that number from 1751. In 1782 it was re-designated 16th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot, and again in 1809 as the 16th Foot (Bedfordshire).
The raising of a permanent second Battalion in 1859 prevented the Regiment being amalgamated with another unit as part of the Cardwell/Childers reforms of 1881, but the name was changed to the Bedfordshire Regiment. The reforms also brought Hertfordshire into the Regimental district and the Hertfordshire Militia became a battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment.
This resulted in the combination of the Bedfordshire Regiment's badge of the Cross of the Order of the Bath (a Maltese Cross) and that of the Hertfordshire Militia, a hart crossing a ford. The latter was superimposed over the centre of the former, which was itself superimposed over a Garter Star, for which symbol there is no explanation, unless it originated with one of the Hertfordshire elements.
It is suggested that the Star of the Order of the Bath from the Bedfordshire Regiment's badge may have been adopted during the Colonelcy (1823-1854) of Viscount Beresford, GCB. An alternative account has the origin deriving from the Colonelcy (1724-1730) of Henry, Earl of Deloraine, who was admitted to the Order in 1724.
In 1897 the 1st and 2nd Hertfordshire Rifle Volunteer Corps were also brought into the Bedfordshire Regiment as the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Regiments. With the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908 these two battalions became the Hertfordshire Regiment, one of only four Territorial regiments.
In 1898 the design was altered to include a Garter and motto around the central hart device, a scroll bearing the Regimental title added below all.
During the First World War many men from Hertfordshire enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment, notwithstanding the existence of the Hertfordshire Regiment, in recognition of which the name was changed in 1919 to The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. There was a minor change to the badge at this time, the points of the Maltese / Bath cross gaining ball ends.
In 1958 the Regiment amalgamated with the Essex Regiment and joined the East Anglian Brigade as 3rd Battalion East Anglian Regiment (16th / 44th Foot), and adopted the Brigade badge. In 1964 the East Anglian Brigade became the Royal Anglian Regiment, the Battalion numbers and sub-titles carrying over until 1968 when the sub-titles were dropped. The 3rd Battalion was disbanded in 1992.
Inscription
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire
Honi soit qui mal y pense - Evil to him who evil thinks (motto of the Order of the Garter)