General Chat

The Buffs were the Royal East Kent Regiment and I googled to find out where "steady the buffs" came from

Found this
"This famous cry has been rumoured by many to have been uttered on the field of battle, but it was actually born on the parade grounds of a garrison.

It comes from when the 2nd Battalion was stationed at Malta in 1858 and were quartered with the 21st Royal (North British) Fusiliers. Adjutant Cotter of The Buffs, a Scot who had formerly served in the Royal Fusiliers as a Sergeant Major, would not brook any disarray on the parade ground from his raw recruits, shouting "Steady, The Buffs! The Fusiliers are watching you!"

This greatly amused the Fusiliers and they called out “Steady The Buffs!” on the slightest provocation, first in Malta and later whenever the two battalions met from then on. The phrase caught on and was soon shouted whenever The Buffs marched by. It then passed into common usage, even appearing in Rudyard Kipling's novel Soldiers Three (1888) and his play Pity Poor Mama."

Val................what a terrible thing to happen!

xx

Hi Karen.
It's the 'Royal and Ancient Order of Buffaloes' - bit like a working man's Masons. Many of my ancestors belonged to either that and/or the Oddfellows, and Ancient Order of Forestors, as it was the only way they could get insurance, sick pay etc. They used to pay a weekly subscription.

Oh, BTW, according to the newspaper report, ancestor had 'been imbibing of ale' before tumbling down the stairs lol

maggie

I feel the same as I have just found my gr aunts aunt was we think threw out a window in a flat her husband was arrested for it she had 2 boys 3 and 1yrs old and she was 22yrs old, a lady is going to find the paper to see what he did get charged with as he did 4yrs in Peterhead in Aberdeen in 1891

Just wondering if his death had any link to the saying "Steady the Buffs"?

I get all emotional too.................we have it really easy today compared to a lot of our ancestors, don't we?

Yet we still moan.....................but they probably did as well! :))

xx

Maggie, hope you don't mind me asking but what is a Buffs meeting.

Karen x

I'm afraid I had to laugh at the death of one of my ancestors. He was in his 70's and fell down the stairs of a pub, having been to a 'Buffs' meeting!
I went to the pub in question, and the lovely landlord explained the layout of the pub at the time - 'smoking' area had a hatch to the bar, which was kept closed unless ordering drink (why couldn't this government have insisted on that instead of banning smoking?) and he took me upstairs and showed me the room (complete with spyhole in the door) where the meeting was held!!

maggie

Im the same , ive spent the last 8 yrs wondering about my grandmother who died when my dad was 2yrs old , just in the past fortnight i have searched frantically to see where she is laid to rest and thanks to a gentlman on Rootschat went to the graveyard and looked for her grave and sent me photos which left me in tears , im going to visit her at the end of the month :)

More tears then lol

Chelle

Harry I feel the same, I have shed a tear or two when discovering children dying young and often wondered what a difficult life our ancesters had. I always feel a little emotional whenever I receive a birth, marriage or death certificate through the post.
You are not irrational just human.

Karen x

Yes I feel the same ,when I found that my great grandmother died in Childbirth and the baby died 6 months later.

then my uncle died in WW1 over in Belguim,I Cried buckets.
Did so much research on where my uncle died and found his grave,I am determined to visit his grave this year.

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that I don,t mind turning up my own family, but if they are the same name, but unrelated, I feel I,m intruding where I shouldn,t. bit irratioinal I suppose.

Happy days

Harry I also get sad at what I find. Babies that don't live long. Children loosing parents while young. Or siblings passing in their teens. Young men going to war....it goes on xx

Just wonder if anyone else is as sentimental as I am when searching.
I too often take time to think about the people I am turning up, - wonderful wedding days; terrible "died young",hopes and dreams. I usually think to myself "god bless you".
To unrake some incident which occurred perhaps 200 years ago, and has never seen the light of day since, seems weird to me - or should I see a trick cyclist?

Happy days