Obverse of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_colours,_standards_and_guidons" class="extiw" title="w:Military colours, standards and guidons">standard</a> carried at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dettingen" class="extiw" title="w:Battle of Dettingen">Battle of Dettingen</a> (27 June 1743 [<i>O.S.: 16 June</i>]) by the 8th Regiment of Horse, the regiment of which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major-general_(United_Kingdom)" class="extiw" title="w:Major-general (United Kingdom)">Major General</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ligonier,_1st_Earl_Ligonier" class="extiw" title="w:John Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier">John Ligonier</a> (1680–1770) was colonel (later the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Dragoon_Guards" class="extiw" title="w:7th Dragoon Guards">7th Dragoon Guards</a> and now part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dragoon_Guards" class="extiw" title="w:Royal Dragoon Guards">Royal Dragoon Guards</a>).
<p>The standard is made from crimson silk <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/damask" class="extiw" title="w:damask">damask</a> and its two sides are now mounted separately on boards. Both sides are embroidered with coloured thread and precious metal wire and decorated with metallic lace. Both sides of the standard have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Flag" class="extiw" title="w:Union Flag">Union Flag</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Canton (heraldry)">canton</a>. The obverse shows the now-faded <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/heraldic_crest" class="extiw" title="w:heraldic crest">heraldic crest</a> (<i><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/issuant" class="extiw" title="wikt:issuant">issuant</a> from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronet#Commonwealth_usage" class="extiw" title="w:Coronet">coronet</a> of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/marquess" class="extiw" title="w:marquess">marquess</a>, a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demilion" class="extiw" title="wikt:demilion">demi-lion</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rampant" class="extiw" title="w:rampant">rampant</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Or_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Or (heraldry)">or</a></i>) and motto (<i>Quo Fata Vocant</i>) of John Ligonier surrounded by foliage. Fragments of the gold-wire fringe remain at the upper <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Canton (heraldry)">fly</a> corner of the obverse. The reverse shows Ligonier's whole <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/armorial_achievement" class="extiw" title="w:armorial achievement">armorial achievement</a>: the crest and motto around a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escutcheon_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Escutcheon (heraldry)">shield of his arms</a>: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gules" class="extiw" title="w:gules">gules</a>, a lion rampant or, on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Chief (heraldry)">chief</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argent" class="extiw" title="w:Argent">argent</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/crescent_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:crescent (heraldry)">crescent</a> between two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullet_(heraldry)" class="extiw" title="w:Mullet (heraldry)">mullets</a></i>, all superimposed on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophy_of_arms" class="extiw" title="w:Trophy of arms">trophy</a> of weapons, musical instruments, and regimental standards.
</p><p>The standard is 56 cm (22<i>) high; 53.3 cm (21</i>) wide (excluding the fringe). According to the auctioneers, <i>"This is the earliest standard known to exist of a regiment of cavalry of the line in the British regular army: it is thus of the very highest importance and significance in British military vexillology"</i>. Similarly, this is the only British cavalry standard to survive from the period in which a regiment's colonel emblazoned his own arms on the regimental colours; this practice was suppressed from 1743. The Battle of Dettingen, during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Austrian_Succession" class="extiw" title="w:War of the Austrian Succession">War of the Austrian Succession</a>, was the last at which a British monarch (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_II_of_Great_Britain" class="extiw" title="w:George II of Great Britain">George II</a>) took the field in person. The standard was inherited through the family of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/subaltern" class="extiw" title="w:subaltern">subaltern</a> who carried it on the day of the battle (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornet_(rank)" class="extiw" title="w:Cornet (rank)">Cornet</a> Henry Richardson). It was eventually sold in 2012 to the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rdgmuseum.org.uk/museum/gallery/">Royal Dragoon Guards Museum</a>, part of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://yorkarmymuseum.co.uk/collections/">York Army Museum</a>, having been earlier housed at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_United_Services_Institute" class="extiw" title="w:Royal United Services Institute">Royal United Services Institute</a> and at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Army_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:National Army Museum">National Army Museum</a> in London, having been in Ireland before the early 20th century.
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See: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9830800.the-dettingen-standard-finds-a-home-at-the-royal-dragoon-guards-museum-in-york/">The York Press</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.olympiaauctions.com/sales/arms-armour/as270612/view-lot/307/">Olympia Auctions</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2012/dettingen-battle-standard-is-remarkable-survivor/">Antiques Trade Gazette</a>.
Olympia Auctions photograph
1743
<p>Olympia Auctions, Lot 307
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.olympiaauctions.com/sales/arms-armour/as270612/view-lot/307/">https://www.olympiaauctions.com/sales/arms-armour/as270612/view-lot/307/</a>