These illustrations of the guidons of the 9th Dragoons show the King’s or 1st Guidon as crimson silk and the 3rd Guidon as buff silk, the colour of the facings on the coats of the officers and men. The regiment in this period had three guidons; the King’s, the 2nd, and the 3rd. The last two were buff coloured and similar in design except for the numeral at the base of the guidon. The regiment would have consisted of nine Troops, so each guidon would have been carried by a squadron cornet.
The 1747 Clothing Regulations describe the King’s or First Guidon to be crimson with the Rose and Thistle conjoined and crown over them in the centre, the motto DIEU ET MON DROIT underneath. The White Horse in a compartment in the first and fourth corners, and the rank of the regiment in silver characters on a ground of the same colour as the facings (buff) in the second and third compartments which were surrounded by a wreath of roses and thistles.
The second and third guidons were to be of the colour of the facings with the rank of the regiment in silver on a crimson ground surrounded by a wreath of roses and thistles. The motto of the regiment was instructed to be beneath this but the 9th did not have one. The first and fourth compartments were to have the White Horse on a red ground. Those regiments that had a badge were to display it in the centre and have their regimental number in the second and third compartments, but as the 9th Dragoons did not have a badge the number IX D was in the centre, and the second and third compartments displayed a conjoined Rose and Thistle on a red ground surrounded by a wreath of Roses and Thistles.
The fringes are shown here as silver which was correct for the 9th Dragoons, but the Regulations stipulated that the cords and tassels should be gold and crimson mixed for all guidons. The 1768 Regulations altered the fringes, which for the 9th Dragoons, were silver and blue. The size of the guidons was given as 3’5” to the end of the slit of the swallow tail, and 2’3” on the lance. The lance to be 9’ long.
