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These colours are painted on silk and bear the following honours:
St. Lucia, Brandywine - Egmont. Lord Archibald Campbell recovered the colours from a pawn shop in 1888 and returned them to the Regiment. The King’s Colour was used during the latter part of the century, probably from 1786 to 1801.
The companion Regimental colour is precisely the same, but painted on green silk - now dark with age.
These colours, which were carried throughout the First China War of 1842, appear to have been presented at Harwich on 16th July 1814; they are embroidered and not painted.
At the second taking of Chusan, which led to the establishment of Hong Kong, the Regiment seized an Imperial Chinese Standard. (click for view of flag)
The emblem of the Chinese Dragon on this standard was awarded as a Battle Honour of the 55th Regiment and worn on the Regimental Colour. The ‘Dragon’ has been incorporated in the Colour of the Border Regiment (formed by the amalgamation of the Cumberland and Westmorland Regiments) and is now emblazoned on the colours of the Kings Own Royal Border Regiment, and worn on the regimental buttons to this day.
The Bergen op Zoom colours are painted on silk and they were presented to commemorate the Union with Ireland by Colonel Donald McDonald in Guernsey on 4th June 1801. The Regimental colour is Kendal green; the rose, thistle and shamrock in the centre surrounded by the scroll "For our God, our King and Country".
"The storming of the strong fortress of Bergen op Zoom, on the night of 8th March, 1814, by the Force under Sir Thomas Graham, was marked by disastrous after results to the attacking party. To dwell upon the many and various conflicting reports would entail a thrice told story: suffice it to say that the colours of the half dozen British Regiments which took possession of the outworks and ramparts, shared fully the vicissitudes experienced by the troops themselves." (Standards and Colours of the British Army).
"There were not at this time many remaining in the right wing of the 55th, but those few, though beaten, were not disgraced. and the idea of handing over to the French the colours they had so often carried to victory was far from their thoughts; they therefore stripped them from the staves and wrapt them round the bodies of the two officers (Ensigns Goodall and Ring) who carried them, who successfully concealed their precious burdens, and, on being released, brought them out to the Regiment". (Regimental Records).
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