{{Unreferenced, date=January 2017 Minden Day in Saint Helier Jersey 2011 11

Minden Day is a regimental anniversary celebrated on 1 August by certain units of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It commemorates the participation of the forerunners of the regiments in the

Battle of Minden The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...

during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

on that date in 1759. The celebration of the day involves the wearing of "Minden Roses" on the regimental head dress, and in the case of the infantry regiments, the decoration of the

regimental colours In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours (or colors), standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some ...

with garlands of roses. This recalls that the regiments wore wild roses at the battle that they had plucked from the hedgerows as they advanced to engage the enemy. Minden Day is celebrated by: * Suffolk Regiment. *12 (Minden) Battery, 12 Regiment (Royal Artillery) *32 (Minden) Battery, 16 Regiment

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

*The Royal Scots Borderers, The

Royal Regiment of Scotland The Royal Regiment of Scotland is the British Army Order of Precedence, senior and only Scottish regiment, Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of three regular (formerly five) and two Army Reserve (United ...

, as successors to the

25th Regiment of Foot Fifth is the Ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 5, five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth ...

(King's Own Scottish Borderers) *1st Battalion, The

Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...

, successor to the

12th Regiment of Foot 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

*HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

) *The

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part of ...

, successor the 20th Regiment of Foot *The

Royal Welsh The Royal Welsh (R WELSH) ( cy, Y Cymry Brenhinol) is an armoured infantry regiment of the British Army. It was established in 2006 from the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot). History The ...

, successors to the

23rd Regiment of Foot Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

*The

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Qu ...

, successors to the 37th Regiment of Foot *3rd and 5th Battalions

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerly ...

Regiment as successors of

The Light Infantry The Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Light Division. The regiment was one of four 'large' regiments formed after the 1966 Defence White Paper through the amalgamation of units of the Light Infantry Brigad ...

, successors to the 51st Regiment of Foot * The

North Saskatchewan Regiment , garrison = Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan , battles = North-West RebellionFirst World WarSecond World WarWar in Afghanistan , battle_honours = See #Battle hon ...

eserve Canadian Armysuccessors to the Saskatoon Light Infantry in honour of a regimental twinning with a British Army Regiment. The N.Sask.R. wears the white rose. The colours of roses varies: red and yellow roses are worn by most of the units (including the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the Royal Anglians - both of whom continue to mark Minden as one of their most important regimental days), the PWRR wear a single red rose, whilst a white rose is favoured by the Light Infantry. In some cases this reflects parts of the regimental recruiting areas: the PWRR have strong links with Hampshire (whose badge is a red rose) and the Light Infantry is associated with part of Yorkshire (represented by a white rose). In 1975, August 1 was adopted as

Yorkshire Day Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration on 1 August to promote the historic county of Yorkshire, England. It was celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1975, initially in Beverley, as "a protest movement against the local government re- ...

, partly to reflect the presence of Yorkshire soldiers at the battle. Minden Day is commemorated in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

folk song "

Lowlands of Holland The Lowlands of Holland (Roud 484) is a Scottish folk song in which a young woman sings about her husband, who was conscripted or "pressed" by the English into an Anglo-Dutch conflict in Europe or the West Indies. In 1741 James Oswald published ...

", which dates to the time of the Seven Years' War. Like most English folk songs, the song has numerous variants. One version, which is prevalent in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, home of 12th Regiment of Foot (1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment), contains the verse: "My love across the ocean Wears a scarlet coat so fair, With a musket at his shoulder And roses in his hair". Officers who have not previously attended The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Officers' Mess Minden Day dinner are presented with a rose to be eaten. The names of those who have done so are then recorded in the Mess Records.

External links

32 (Minden) Battery (Ministry of Defence)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060924182609/http://www.army.mod.uk/lightinfantry/history_traditions/major_battles/minden_1759.htm Traditions of The Light Infantry (Ministry of Defence)br>Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment -history
British Army traditions August observances English traditions

See also

External links