Original British Late Victorian Silk Framed Banner from the Worcestershire Regiment 2nd Battalion Original Items

Original item: One of a Kind. This is very patriotic and possibly made by one of the Regimental Officer’s wives. Nicely glazed in a quality wood frame, this banner measures 26″ X 29″, displaying TWO Regimental flags, each with Queen’s Crown and marked to the Second Battalion. One flag smothered in Battle Honors dating from the Napoleonic Wars right up through Queen Victoria’s reign ending with the Boer War.

This is well over 100 years old and the silk has split in a couple of places but still presents wonderfully. Painstaking work resulting in a stunning banner, ready to display!

The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The 1st Battalion was initially deployed to India, while the 2nd Battalion was initially deployed to Ireland, the Channel Islands, Malta, Bermuda and then Canada.

The 1st Battalion was based at Ladybrand during the Second Boer War, while the 2nd Battalion saw heavy fighting near the Modder River. As the war dragged on, a number of regiments containing large centers of population formed additional regular battalions. The Worcestershire regiment formed 3rd and 4th regular Battalions in February 1900, when the existing militia battalions were relabeled as the 5th and 6th battalions.

The 3rd and 4th (Militia) battalions, from 1900 renamed as 5th and 6th battalions, were reserve battalions formed from the Worcester Militia in 1881. The 6th battalion was embodied in May 1900, disembodied in October that year, and later re-embodied for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. About 615 officers and men returned to Southampton on the SS Greek in early October 1902, following the end of the war, when the battalion was disembodied at Worcester.

In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganized nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had two Reserve and two Territorial battalions. Troops from the regiment shot dead two men during the Llanelli railway strike in August 1911.