We have a fine collection of annotated photographs of the Presentation of Colours to the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment by King George V on 31 Jan 1912. The event took place on the Alameda Parade, Gibraltar and would have been redolent of historical connections of the regiment – the Old Colours had been presented on the same ground on 5 Jan 1887.
2nd Lieutenant Wilmot Evans would have been in the regiment for 18 months by this time. He certainly would have been conscious of the family military traditions in that his great great uncle General Thomas Evans CB had been the military commander of Gibraltar in the 1830s.
The regiment was stationed in Gibraltar from Feb 1911 to Jan 1913 when it was posted to South Africa.
King George V, Presentation of Colours, Alameda Parade, Gibraltar, 1912
The original Programme published for the event lists officers present at the ceremony although this is unfortunately not tied yet into the photograph below.
Officers of the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, Gibraltar, Jan 1912. Wilmot Evans is standing first on the left
- Lieutenant Colonel James Walker Sears (Commanding)
- Major Robert Montgomery Ovens
Major Arthur Charles Buckle
Major Francis Hearle Parkin - Captain Rosslewin Westropp Morgan
Captain Singleton Bonner
Captain William John Jervoise Collas
Captain John Franks Vallentin
Captain Herbert John Collett Leland, D.S.O. - Lieutenant Guy De Courcey Glover (Adjutant)
Lieutenant Charles Harwood Manger
Lieutenant William Augustus Portman Foster
Lieutenant Hartley Sanders Blockey
Lieutenant Francis Lennox Holmes
Lieutenant Hamilton Kerby Shore
Lieutenant John Clement Paillet Versturme-Bunbury
Lieutenant Robert Francis Brydges Naylor
Lieutenant George Dawes - 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Francis Crousaz
2nd Lieutenant Vivian Gerald Olive
2nd Lieutenant Leslie Claude Moor-Radford
2nd Lieutenant Charles Geoffrey Hume
2nd Lieutenant Charles Wilmot Evans
2nd Lieutenant Charles Roy Limbery
2nd Lieutenant Dudley Cyril Twiss - Captain & Q.M. Frederick Henry White
Photographs taken by S.Q.M. Sergeant G. Woodfield A.P.C. illustrate the ceremonial order of the Presentation of New Colours.
Sources
- Presentation of Colours by His Majesty King George V, Alameda Parade, Gibraltar, Gale & Polden Ltd., Aldershot, 1912
- James P. Jones: A history of the South Staffordshire regiment (1705-1923), Whitehead Brothers Ltd., Wolverhampton 1923, Pages 93-95
- Hart’s Annual Army List, Special Reserve List, and Territorial Force List for 1911, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London 1911, Pages 425-426
- Hart’s Annual Army List, Special Reserve List, and Territorial Force List: for 1912, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London 1912, Pages 409-411