The two battalions of the Coldstream Guards rank second in army seniority in the brigade, though they claim to have an earlier origin, having been raised in 1650 by Cromwell from five companies of Fenwick's regiment and five from Haselrig's "Ironsides".  Under Monk's command they had their headquarters at Coldstream during the Scotch war, and hence their present name arose.  Marching to London in 1650 to assist in the restoration of the King, they were not disbanded, as were the other regiments of the army of the Lord Protector; but, taking allegiance to the Sovereign, they grounded theor arms and took them up again in the new service of Charles II.

At this period they were dressed in red with green facings, but the pikemen wore green with red "livery".  Green, too, was the colour of their standards, on which were a red cross and six white balls.  On Monk's death the facings were altered to blue, when this colour formed the groundwork for their new standards.  James II changed it again to white.

Their history runs much on the same lines as that of the Grenadiers.  Detachments served in Tangiers, on the West Coast of Africa, and America, as well as seeing service afloat as marines; and they shared in the fighting at Cadiz and Vigo, Gibraltar and Almanza.

The first names on the battle-roll are those in Marlborough's campaigns after 1708; but, again, only companies were present, and not a complete battalion, at Oudenarde and Malplaquet.  The 1st Battalion fought as such at Dettingen and Fontenoy, adding the former name to its colours; and again in the second Stuart rebellion in 1745; while the 2nd Battalion saw service at Bergen op Zoom, and detachments, again, served in America at "White Plains" and the other battles that culminated in the surrender at York Town.

When the wars of the French Revolution broke out, the 1st Battalion served under Lake's command in 1793, and behaved with distinguished gallantry at St. Amand, near Famars, attempting to dislodge the French with a force of about 600 men, when an Austrian column nearly ten times as strong had failed.  The desperate bravery of Sergeant Darling, who continued in action though his arm had been broken by a bullet, until his leg was also shattered and he was made prisoner, is much commented on by contemporary historians of this severe battle.  In the same year the regiment added to their honours Lincelles, where they successfully fought, at one time almost single-handed, against overwhelming odds, taking two colours and two guns.

After brief periods of service, chiefly again by detachments, at Ostend, the Helder, and Bergen, the 1st battalion, after serving for a time at Ferrol and Vigo, joined the expedition to Egypt in 1801, being present at the battle of Alexandria and the subsequent siege, for which it bears the badge of the "Sphinx" and the word "Egypt".  It was at Copenhagen in 1807, and served in the Peninsula from 1809 to 1814, sharing in the passage of the Duoro, the battles of Talavera and Barossa, the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos, and St. Sebastian, and the battles of Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Ptrenees, Bidassoa, Nive, Nivelle, and Bayonne, for which the battalion richly earned the right to bear "Peninsula" on its colours; and the specific engagements of Barossa and Talavera, where in the latter fight alone 600 of its men fell.  The next foreign service of this battalion was in Portugal in 1827 and in Canada in 1838; and it represented the regiment in the Crimea, earning for its list of honours the names of Alma, Sebastopol, and Inkerman, where a few hundreds held the redoubt against thousands.  This campaign won the Victoria Cross for Privates Stanlock and Strong, and for Brevet-Majors Gerald Littlehales Goodlake and John Augustus Conolly, the latter being promoted from the 49th into the regiment for his "exemplary behaviour on the 26th October, 1854".  Finally it took part in the campaign in Egypt in 1882, forming part of the Duke of Connaught's brigade at Tel-El-Kebir, and a detachment formed part of the Guards' Camel Corps in the Bayuda desert later on.

Meanwhile the 2nd battalion had been not less distinguished.  Companies had been engaged in the Walcheren expedition and at Barossa, at Bergen op Zoom, and Quatre Bras; and finally to some of its companies was entrusted the defence if the Chateau of Hougoumont on the right of the English line at Waterloo.  The last name in the list of regimental honours is that of Suakim, 1885, in which this battalion was also engaged.

The regimental badge of the Coldstream Guards, though not strictly authorised, is the star of the Garter, worn on collar and cap, and the bearskins are distinguished by a red feather, there being also a white rose on the shoulder strap.  The companies share with the other regiments of the household troops the peculiarity of company badges.  These, authorised in 1751 and later, in order are a white lion passant, Prince of Wales's plume, a spotted panther, two crossed swords, George and the dragon, red rose in the Garter, an "escarbuncle", a white boar with golden bristles, a dun cow, a re and white rose impaled with a pomegranate, white horse of Hanover, electoral bonnet of Hanover, and the white horse of Hanover again.

Beyond the "Coldstream" there has been no special name attached to the regiment except the "Nulli Secundus Club", possibly given in sarcastic allusion to the fact that they rank second in the list, they claim an earlier origin than the Grenadiers, and admit of no inferiority therefor.

The regiment was raised in June 1650 George Monck was appointed by Oliver Cromwell to command the new Model Army. five companies of the regiment was drafted from Hazleriggs and Fenwicks  regiments. Monck's regiment first saw action on the 3rd september 1659 at the battle of Dunbar. Which gained them the Dunbar medal./ The regiment was stationed at Coldstream due to the lawless ness of the area. On the 1st January 1660 the regiment marched to London. and played a major role in the restoring of Law and Order in London and surrounding area. The regiment supported the elections which saw the return of the Monarchy in the form of King Charles II.

When Venner led an insurrection in London. Much of the New Model army had been disbanded, and Moncks regiment was the only disciplined regiment to restore law and order. and for doing so the regiment were given the privilege of laying down their arms and a parliamentary regiment and picking them up again as the Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards.

Musketry Drill in Barracks with the Coldstream Guards. (1896)

A Squad of the Coldstream Guards at Physical Drill (1896)

General Inspection Group of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards at Dublin. (1896)

Pioneer Sergeant H. Tesh, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. (1896).

Private - Coldstream Guards

Pioneer - Coldstream Guards

Sergeant Major - Coldstream Guards

Sergeant, Signalling - Coldstream Guards

The Colonel and Adjutant in Camp in Wet Weather.

How Private Duncan White And Other Men Of The 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards Won The D.C.M. At Cuinchy

    On February 1^st 1915, a fine piece of work was carried out by the 4^th (Guards) Brigade in the neighbourhood of Cuinchy, where fierce had been in progress for some days.  Very early in the morning the Germans made a determined attack in considerable force on some trenches near the La Bassee Canal, occupied by a party of the 2^nd Coldstreams, who were compelled to abandon them.  A counter attack by a company of the Irish Guards and half a company of the Coldstreams, delivered some three quarters of an hour later, failed to dislodge the enemy, owing to the withering enfilading fire which it encountered.  But about ten in the forenoon our artillery opened a heavy bombardment of the lost trenches, which is described by General Haking, by whose orders it was undertaken, as “splendid, the high explosive shells dropping in the exact spot with absolute precision.”  This successful artillery preparation, which lasted for about ten minutes, was immediately followed by brilliant bayonet charge made by about fifty men of the 2^nd Coldstreams and thirty of the Irish Guards.  The Irish Guards attacked on the left, where barricades strengthened the enemy’s position; and it was here that Lance-Corporal Michael O’Leary performed that heroic feat of arms, which gained him the Victoria Cross and made his name a household word.  But the Coldstreams also had their heroes that day, and amongst them a young Yorkshire man. Private Duncan white, whose action, if necessarily overshadowed by that of O’Leary, was nevertheless, a most gallant one.

            Private White was one of a little party of bomb throwers who led the assault, and on Captain Leigh Bennett, who commanded the Coldstreams, giving the signal for the charge by dropping his handkerchief, he dashed to the front and, passing unscathed through the fierce rifle and machine gunfire which greeted the advancing Guardsmen, got within throwing distance and began to rain bombs on the Germans with astonishing rapidity and precision.  High above the parapet flew the rocket like missiles, twisting and travelling uncertainly through the air, until finally the force equilibrium supplied by the streamers of ribbon attached to their long sticks asserted itself, and they plunged straight as a plumb line down into the trench, exploding with a noise like a gigantic Chinese cracker and scattering its occupants in dismay.  So fast did he throw, and so deadly was his aim that the enemy, already badly shaken by our artillery preparation, were thrown into hopeless disorder; and the Guardsmen had no difficulty in rushing the trench, all the Germans in it being killed or made prisoners.  A party of the Royal Engineers with sandbags and wire, to make the captured trench defensible, had followed the attacking infantry.  Scarcely had they completed their task, when the German guns began to shell its new occupants very heavily; but our men held their ground, and subsequently succeeded in taking another German trench on the embankment of the canal and two machine guns.  Private Duncan White, whose home is at Sheffield, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry and skill, as also were Privates F. Richardson, S.B. Leslie and J. Saville, of the same regiment. Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'

How Private Charles Ball, Of The 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Won The D.C.M. Near Zonnebeke

    A particularly daring and successful piece of work-a duty, which demands great courage, coolness and resourcefulness from those who undertake, it-was performed by Charles Ball, a young private of the 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, at the end of October 1914, near Zonnebeke.  About nine o’clock on the morning of October 26^th, Private Ball and one of his comrades left the British trenches, with the object of penetrating the German lines and picking up what information they could in regard to the disposition and movements of the enemy’s forces.  After proceeding for some little distance, most of the way on all fours, they entered a field, in which lay about a score of dead and wounded Germans.  Some of the latter appealed to them piteously for water, and the two Guardsmen therefore decided that Ball should remain where he was, and that the other should go back to our lines to obtain water and to inquire what they were to do with the wounded.  He returned in about half an hour, with orders that they were to leave them to some other men and endeavour to reach a farm on the other side of the field, which was occupied by the enemy.  They accordingly set off again, but as they were wriggling their way along the further hedge, they caught sight of a German sniper also crawling along it and coming in their direction, though apparently unaware of their presence.  As they had orders not to shoot unless forced to do so, they concealed themselves in the ditch, which ran parallel with the hedge, behind a bush that had been torn from its roots by a shell and had fallen across it.  There they lay expecting the sniper to pass them by, when they intended to surprise and make a prisoner of him, which would spare them the necessity of giving the alarm by shooting him.  But when he was within ten paces of them, he suddenly turned to go back, and Private Hall, recognizing that it would be impossible for them to proceed further until the fellow was disposed of, decided to take the risk.  He therefore fired and dropped the German stone dead.  As the farm for which the Guardsman had been making was only some thirty yards distant, and they feared that the rifle shot might bring its occupants down upon them, they continued to lie low for another half hour.  They then crawled out of the ditch and made their way, still on all fours, through some unoccupied German trenches to a spot a little distance beyond whence they had a clear view of a distant hill, on the summit of which was a windmill.  From the number of troops which they saw pass this windmill; they concluded that German reinforcements must be stationed behind the hill.  Ball sent his comrade back to the British lines with a message to that effect.  But the latter had not been gone long, when he came back, with the alarming information that there retreat was cut off, as the Germans had come out of the farm and manned the unoccupied trenches which they had just passed. 

            They both crawled back as near to the trenches as they could without being seen, determined to sell their lives dearly rather than be made prisoners.  To their surprise, however, they saw that the enemy were moving along the trenches, so they lay still for an hour and a half, in momentary fear of being discovered and shot before they could show fight.  After the Germans had passed along the trenches, the Guardsman crawled through them and hid them in the friendly ditch again, and, believing that they were now comparatively safe, they began to crawl as fast as they could along it.  Suddenly, from the other side of the hedge, a rifle shot rang out, and, peering cautiously through, they saw six Germans engaged in watching the distant British trenches.  They accordingly lay low, Ball keeping an eye on the six Germans in front, while his comrade watched the farmhouse, to guard against any surprise from that quarter.  About half an hour passed thus, when Ball saw the German sharpshooters turn and begin to crawl towards the hedge, with the evident intention of coming through it into the ditch in which the Guardsman lay.  The latter waited until the Huns were within twenty paces of them, and then, each picking his man, fired and shot him dead.  Again the Coldstreams rifles cracked, and again two of the astonished enemy fell, while the survivors sprang to their feet and made off as fast as they could.  A well-aimed bullet brought one of them down, but the other succeeded in getting away.

             Ball and his comrade recognized that they had not a moment to lose if they wished to effect their own escape, as the surviving Hun would, of course, give the alarm, even if the shots they had fired had not already done so.  They had to crawl along the ditch for a hundred yards and then to cross two ploughed fields and the wire entanglements-a sufficiently formidable undertaking with the enemy on the alert.  But the brave lads courage did not fail them, and, on reaching the end of the ditch, they jumped up and made a dash across the fields and over the entanglements.  Before they had covered many yards of open ground they were seen by Germans, who did not forget to let them know it.  However, through bullets hummed incessantly past their heads, neither of them was hit, and they reached the British lines in safety, and reported what the enemy were doing and where their reinforcements were being drawn from.  It was clear, from the information they brought back, that an attack was intended, and sure enough, at three o’clock that afternoon-the two Guardsmen had returned about an hour earlier the German guns began to rain high explosive shells upon our trenches in such profusion that that day will always be known to the men for whose benefit these unpleasant looking projectiles were intended as “coal box Friday.”  After the artillery preparation, the Huns attacked in great force; but the French coming to our support, they were driven back with terrible loss.  That night Private Ball’s battalion was transferred to Ypres, and in the woods in the vicinity of that town the enterprising young guardsman experienced several further adventures when on patrol work.  During the battle of Ypres he was wounded in no less than ten places, but, happily none of his wounds was very serious, and after being invalided home for a time, he was able to return to duty.  “For his conspicuous good work on patrol duty on October 26^th,” Private Ball was awarded the D.C.M., and, subsequently, the Russian Order of St. George (Third Class) was conferred upon him by the Czar.  The recipient of those decorations, who is only one and twenty, is a Lancashire man, his home being at Moses Gate, near Bolton.  Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'         

How Company Sergeant Major Fred Seaman, Of The 2^nd Battalion Coldstream Guards Won The D.C.M. At Cuinchy

    Worthy, indeed, of their glorious traditions has been the conduct of the Coldstream Guards in the Great War, and terrible have been the losses suffered and many the distinctions gained by the officers and men of that famous corps.  But among of splendid deeds of gallantry and devotion, which we might mention here, that which won Company-Sergeant Major Fred Seaman, of the 2^nd Battalion, the D.C.M. will bear comparison with any.  Shortly after two o’clock on the morning of February 1^st 1915, during the action at Cuinchy, the enemy rushed one of our trenches, and Sergeant major Seaman’s company received orders to retake it.  So heavy had been the losses of this company, that only of its officers was fit for duty; and the command of the party, which consisted of twenty men, was therefore, entrusted to the sergeant major, who was instructed to rush the trench from the towpath of the canal, acting in conjunction with a second party, which was to attack from the other side of the railway embankment.

            Under cover of the railway embankment, which runs parallel with the canal, Seaman led his party at the double along the towpath, until they arrived at a culvert beneath the railway, which they found that the enemy had barricaded in such a way that there was only sufficient room for one men to squeeze through at a time.  Around this opening, at a distance of about thirty yards, he drew up his men in a half circle, and had just done so, when he received a message from his commanding officer, inquiring if it were possible to get through the culvert.  The sergeant major sent back answer that it was only possible to get one man in at a time, and that he proposed to go him.  He then entered the place, and, dauntless as Horatius upon the bridge at Rome, remained there for an hour and a half, holding the enemy at bay and repulsing every attempt they made to get through and cut his party and the attacking party off.  For though the Germans tried again and again, they could come at him one at a time, and whenever the Guardsman’s deadly rifle spoke, the forest Hun Fell.  The gallant sergeant major did not escape unhurt, however, as he was wounded in the arm by a bomb thrown by one of the enemy, though, happily, the injury was not serious enough to prevent him from continuing to use his rifle.  Eventually, the trench was retaken by the other party of our men, amongst whom, it is interesting to note, was the famous Michael O’Leary, V.C., who distinguished himself not a little on this occasion.  Company Sergeant Major Seaman, who received his decoration “for conspicuous gallantry and ability,” is twenty-eight years of age, and his home is at Windsor.  Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire' 

WILLIAM STANLACK  (Private)  1^st Battalion Coldstream Guards

GEORGE STRONG  (Private)  1^st Battalion Coldstream Guards            When on duty in the trenches, in September 1855, Private Strong picked up, and threw aside, a live shell, which had fallen among the men.

Spitfires - Masters of the Air by Philip West.