Regimental Guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles

The Regimental Guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles and its encasement on public display at the Hastings District Council Chambers.

Heretaunga Hastings District Council have been custodians of the Regimental Guidon of the 9th Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles since 1959 when a rare decision the Officers of the Wellington East Coast Regiment (City of Hastings Own) R.N.Z.A.C. presented their Regimental Guidon to the Mayor for safe-keeping and public display in the Council Chambers.

Since 1959 Council have developed unique traditions associated with the Guidon, the main tradition being ‘handover ceremonies’ that have taken place whenever the Guidon has been retrieved and returned by the Armoured Corps.  The tradition has become a Civic protocol where the Guidon is marched into the Council building and presented to the Mayor, with a handover of keys for its encasement.  The tradition has been maintained by the Office of the Mayor and Commanding Officer of the Regiment.

The Guidon was retrieved by Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles on Armistice Day 11 November 2021 and placed in the Officer’s Mess at Linton Camp.  In July 2024 the Guidon underwent conservation work with the Carmelite Sisters of Christ The King Monastery in Christchurch.  The specialised work included immediate repairs and stabilisation of the delicate fabrics.  The Guidon was then returned to the Council Chamber on 8 August.

The origin of carrying Colours goes back to the days of early warriors, who fixed their family badges to poles and held them aloft in battle for the dual purpose of indicating their position and to act as rallying points should the occasion arise.  Medieval chivalry followed the same principle when armorial bearings were placed on their banners so that these could be seen well above the melee.

Guidons have evolved from the banners of the knights of the Middle Ages.  The Guidon (an ensign or standard ending with a tail, point, or swallow tail) was carried by a banneret.  When the banneret was created a knight, the end of his Guidon was cut off, transforming it into a Standard.

Initially The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments were not adsuthorised to carry a Standard of any kind, with the result that it was necessary to request permission from the Imperial authorities.  In 1927 the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Regiments received permission from King George V to carry Guidons.

The Guidon was presented to the Regiment during a unit camp at Marewa, Napier on 12th May 1935.  The Guidon was designed, paid for, and presented by Major General Sir Andrew Russell, the former Commanding Officer of both the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, the Brigade Commander of the Mounted Rifles Brigade at Gallipoli and the General Officer Commanding the 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force in France 1916-1918.

Retrieval Ceremony, 11 November 2021, Wellington East Coast Squadron Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles.

The Guidon is unique for its distinct New Zealand design and incorporation of the regional black and white of Hawke’s Bay.  The Guidon is made of black and white silk damask embroidered and fringed with gold.  The tassels and cord of crimson and gold mixed.  The sleeve at the pole end is crimson silk.

The Guidon is divided horizontally into five white and four black bands.  In the centre is the badge of the Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in gold, surrounded by a wreath of green New Zealand ferns.  The whole centrepiece is surmounted by the Kings Crown in full colour.  The Regimental Badge is of a horse rampant surmounting the Regimental Motto “FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT” Fortune Favours The Brave.

The battle honours of the unit are emblazoned on both sides of the Guidon with black lettering on gold scrolls, and placed in sequence from left to right down the Guidon.  A gold scroll with Wellington East Coast Mounted Rifles in black is at the base of the Guidon.

The following battle honours and campaigns are emblazoned on the Guidon:

• SOUTH AFRICA 1900-1902
• HILL 60 (ANZAC)
• RUMANI
• EGYPT 1915-1917
• JAFFA
• PALESTINE 1917-1918
• JORDAN (AMMAN)
• GAZA BEERSHEEBA
• MAGHDABA RAFFA
• SARI BAIR
• DEFENCE OF ANZAC

A report from the New Zealand Herald printed on the 15th May 1935 reads:

Military Pageant

Presentation of colours impressive ceremony

Carried out in all the picturesque detail of military pageantry, the consecration and presentation of the guidon of the Wellington and East Coast Mounted Rifles Regiment attracted between 4000 and 5000 spectators.  It was an impressive ceremony, befitting in solemnity, and displaying a high standard of discipline among the 300-odd men and horses taking part.
The ceremony of consecration was performed by the Bishop of Waiapu and presented by Major-General Sir Andrew Russell.

The guidon is dedicated to those men of the regiment who died in the service of the Empire in the Great War and in the South African War. The reception of the presenting officer by the regiment opened the ceremony.

There followed the trooping of the old standard before the line of the regiment to the strains of "John Peel" and "Auld Lang Syne" played by the Regimental Band.  Then, with the formation of the parade forming three sides of a square, the bishop, the chaplain and the presenting officer made their way to a position in the centre of the parade, where the guidon lay on the drums. There the consecration ceremony was conducted.

The presentation was carried out when a sergeant of the regiment advanced, knelt before Major-General Russell and received the guidon.  Marching back to the line of the parade, he remounted his horse, was joined by an escort of two horsemen, and so the guidon was trooped before the regiment.

1959 presentation of Guidon to the Mayor of Hastings City Council

The Town Clerk reported the day the guidon was presented to Council:

The parade took place on 27 August at 2100hrs.

“a number of Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and men of the Wellington East Coast Regiment (City of Hastings Own) R.N.Z.A.C. desired to present to the Council for safe keeping the Regimental Guidon and were in attendance at the door of the Council Chamber. He asked if the Mayor was ready to receive them.

The Mayor signified that he was ready and with the Town Clerk took a position near to the case that had been provided for the reception of the guidon.

Captain R. Matthews, Chaplain attended by Officers and supported by men of the Regiment, then entered the Council Chamber carrying the guidon and halted in front of the Mayor.  He then, on behalf of the Commanding Officer and all ranks of the Regiment, requested that the Council accept and keep in safe custody the Regimental Guidon.

His Worship the Mayor replied –

“With a full sense of responsibility and privilege we accept the custody of the Guidon of your Regiment.  It gives us great pleasure and satisfaction to accede to your request because it gives further emphasis to the identity of sympathy and interest which exists between the Council representing the people of this City and the Regiment, and establishes this Chamber as the repository of one of our most precious possessions of the Regiment, the Guidon on which is embroidered the Battle Honours of the Regiment.  Your Guidon immortalises all who by their sacrifice on so many scattered battle fields of the world have brought honour and renown to this Regiment. Which we of the City of Hastings are now so proud to call our own.
The Guidon will remain in this locked container of which your Commanding Officer or his delegate will retain a key and will be immediately available to any authorised officer for the purposes of the Regiment.  Except for such occasions and purposes it will remain locked in this container.  In rendering this service as in all other matters where we can serve or advance the interest of the Regiment we shall continue to feel a high sense of privilege.”

The Mayor then requested Captain Matthews to hang the Guidon in the case on the Council Chamber wall.  The case was then closed and locked by the Mayor who retained the key and returned to his seat.  END