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Military Historical Research

On this page you will find information about some of the
pieces of historical research connected with
Holy Sepulchre's long association with the Armed Forces.

Holy Sepulchre was the Regimental and Garrison Church of the
Northamptonshire Regiment (48th/58th of Foot)

It is now known as:

The Forces Church


March - May 2009 : Regimental Colours


Originally formed in 1755 as the 60th Regiment of Foot
the Regiment was renumbered in 1757 as the
58th Regiment of Foot
On 22 April 1784, after various campaigns and the Seige of Gibraltar (1779-83)
the 58th were granted the Battle Honour Gibraltar on its Colours.
This was the first time any infantry regiment in the British Army
had been granted such a distinction.

In 1782 the 58th was given the title

The Rutlandshire Regiment


The Research Project

Locating the 1841-1860 Colours
 
58th 18411860




The 1841-1860 Queen's and Regimental Colours of the
58th Regiment of Foot

(taken from the illustration in the Northamptonshire Regimental History)






This pair of Colours were presented to the 58th on 9 July 1841 in Edinburgh.  Two years later the Regiment started to move to Australia but by March 1845 they were moved on to New Zealand where, over the next two years, a number of campaigns and battles were fought against the native Maori people.

Eventually the first New Zealand War ended and the Regiment enjoyed 10 years of peace.  Headquarters were in Auckland and the officers and men carried out many civil roles in and around the city - developing roads for example.  In 1851 and again in 1858 they saved the city from major fires.  All-in-all the 58th were held in very high esteem and when the time came for the Regiment to return to England at the end of 1858 only 16 officers and 194 other ranks came home.  Over 1000 had already settled and a further 300 officers, non-commissioned officers and private soldiers elected to stay on in the Colony and they were duly discharged.  After 14 year's service in New Zealand, this was hardly surprising!  Indeed it was estimated that at least an eighth of the population of Auckland was composed of men who had served in the Regiment and many of their descendants are still there today.

In the meantime by the time new Colours were presented to the
Regiment in Aldershot on 10 May 1860 the old 1841-1860 Colours were in very poor condition
(The new Colours remained in service until 1962)

However, the whereabouts of these 1841-1860 Colours were not known for certain by the church so in March 2009, a member of our congregation (a former officer in the Northamptonshire Regiment), set out to see if he could locate them.  The old Regimental history books indicated that the Colours might well be in Auckland, New Zealand and so, after further local enquiries, he decided to make contact with the Curator of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.   Confirmation was soon received that the Colours, though battered and torn, had been expertly preserved and placed on public display.

We are most grateful therefore to the Auckland War Memorial Museum's Curator for supplying him with photographs of the Colours and granting permission to display these pictures here.

As a result of this research visitors to this website can now see
what the remains of these unique Colours - for the first time since they left these shores nearly 150 years ago.

 58th 18411860 Queens Colour medium






    On the left: the remains of the Queen's Colour












Below: the remains of the Regimental Colour

58th 18411860 Regimental Colour



















However, the research has subsequently located another piece of the Queen's Colour - still here in Northampton.  It is part of the Battle Honour scroll for Gibraltar and can be seen in a presentation case in the Regimental Museum in Abington Park. as part of the display of awards gained by Major General J H Laye CB -
the Medal of the Order of the Bath and his New Zealand Medal
together with his shoulder belt plate :

J H Laye ii

This fragment of the Queen's Colour in Northampton is different from the Gibraltar scroll on the Regimental Colour in Auckland, as can be seen in the huge
enlargement below, of the very top of the Auckland flag.

Gibraltar scroll ii


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The 58th's 1860-1962 Colours

Colours of 2nd Bn Northamptonshire Regiment 

A painting of the
1860-1962
Queen's and Regimental
Colours of the 58th Regiment of Foot
(2nd Battalion,
the Northamptonshire Regiment)
 




Once new Colours had been presented to the Regiment,
the 1860-1962 pair were placed on loan by the Regiment at the
National Army Museum (then at Sandhurst) on 17th July 1962.

After they had been repaired at the Royal School of Needlework and carefully conserved they went on public display.  A few years ago they were returned to Northampton and can now be seen at the Regimental Museum in Abington Park, Northampton.

These magnificent Colours were the last of any British Regiment
to be carried unfurled into batttle.

58th black silk Queens
58th
Queen's Colour

(Photographed on
24 February 2009)

Note that the red X of St Patrick (Ireland) appears bluish.  This is because the flag is now encased in a mesh to keep it from falling to pieces)








58th black silk




58th
Regimental Colour

(Photographed on
24 February 2009)










 

 

Contact

Office: Church Lane 

Northampton, NN1 3NL 

Tel: 01604 627988 

Vicar: 01604 230316 

Restoration Trust: 

Tel: 01604 754782