King James II gave instructions for the Colours carried by his regiments at the coronation on 23 April 1685. The event was witnessed by Francis Sandford and coloured drawings of some of the Colours are to be found in the MS Colour Book at Windsor. This page of the Colours of Colonel Francis Cornwall’s Regiment was reproduced in Loraine Petre’s The History of the Norfolk Regiment Vol 2.
At that time, each company in the infantry regiments had its own Colour. Three of the companies were nominally commanded by the field officers so that the most senior company was commanded by Francis Cornwall, Colonel of the Regiment. His company’s Colour was plain orange (lower left). Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Morgan’s company carried an orange Colour that had the Cross of St George in the centre (lower right). Major James Purcell’s company had a similar Colour but with a white pile wavy in the top corner (upper left). The First Captain, who at that time was James Lacy, had a company Colour similar to the lieutenant-colonel’s Colour except that it had a white roundel above the cross of St George (upper right).
The descriptions stop there, so the devices on the subsequent company Colours are not given, but there may have been Roman numerals in the corners to indicate the company, or the amount of white roundels may have been used. The Princess of Denmark’s Regiment (later 8th Foot), commanded by Lord Ferrers had the captain’s Colours identified by the number of crowns and cyphers placed on the red cross.
