Talk:Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse

"Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse" singular or plural?

@Dumelow: Thanks for this interesting article (which I first noticed on the DYK nomination page). The opening sentence refers to the Guard in the singular: "The Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse was ...", but throughout the article it is also referred to in the plural, for example in the next sentence "They were established ..." rather than "It was established ...". For consistency I suggest using the singular throughout when when referring to the unit as an entity. I am happy to make the edits if others agree.  ~ RLO1729^💬 02:23, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Decided to be bold and make the edits suggested above while I was here.  ~ RLO1729^💬 05:54, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi RLO1729, thanks for your recent improvements to the article. As a collective noun it can be used in either, or both, forms in British English and I think I unconsciously choose one or the other depending on what "feels right". See our article on American and British English grammatical differences which uses "Oliver's Army is here to stay / Oliver's Army are on their way" from Costello's Oliver's Army as an example of where both are used in close proximity. I think the use varies depending on if the emphasis is on the unit as a singular entity or as a group, for example I would say "Manchester United is a football club founded in 1878" but "Manchester United are playing Chelsea tonight". Possibly this practice varies depending on where one grew up in the UK. In any case I am not sure if Australian English uses the same conventions, I am happy with the changes you have made to standardise usage - Dumelow (talk) 06:17, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

I've enjoyed working through this article, it's well-written and well-sourced - nice job.

I noticed that the Mounted Orderlies are not mentioned in the New South Wales Mounted Police article. Perhaps you could also add a line or two on them there (as you would know the relevant sources better than me) and link that article back to this one.  ~ RLO1729^💬 06:56, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Done, good idea - Dumelow (talk) 07:31, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 20:23, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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A contemporary depiction of the capture of Bligh

Lachlan Macquarie

A depiction of a member of the body guard

• ... that the New South Wales Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse appears to have been absent when Governor William Bligh was arrested during the Rum Rebellion? "It is a matter for conjecture where the members of the Body Guard were when the mutineers of the NSW Corps stormed into Government House, Sydney, on 26 January 1808, to place Governor Bligh under arrest. No doubt, as members of the NSW Corps' the Bodyguard's loyalties lay with the mutineers rather than the governor, perhaps they were discretely absent." from Sargent, Clem (1998), "The Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse", Sabretache : The Journal of the Military Collectors Society of Australia, vol. 39, no. 2 (page 7)
  • ALT1:... that Governor of New South Wales Lachlan Macquarie "felt very much hurt" for being "singled out as Undeserving this Honor" when ordered to disband his personal bodyguard? "The Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Liverpool, directed not an increase but its disbandment ... [Macquarie] "felt very much hurt" that as the first military governor of the colony he should have been "singled out as Undeserving this Honor". from Sargent, Clem (1998), "The Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse", Sabretache : The Journal of the Military Collectors Society of Australia, vol. 39, no. 2 (page 8)
  • ALT2: ... that the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse has been described as the the first full-time military unit raised in Australia?"it can be described as the the first full-time military unit raised in Australia". from Sargent, Clem (1998), "The Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse", Sabretache : The Journal of the Military Collectors Society of Australia, vol. 39, no. 2 (page 12)

• Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/William Hood Simpson

Moved to mainspace by Dumelow (talk). Self-nominated at 06:56, 1 April 2020 (UTC).

• If it is OK to present a conjecture rather than a fact, then I prefer the original to the ALTs as it seems the "hookiest". The review below is for the first hook and first image only.

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: In the hook, I have changed "appear" to "appears" as the Guard is a single entity, and "captured" to "arrested" to match the wording of the article. If the nominator agrees then this DYK is good to go.   ~ RLO1729^💬 03:52, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi RLO1729, thanks for your review. Your changes to the hook are fine by me (I've commented on the article talk page about this being an example of the varied treatment of collective nouns in British English but am happy for the usage to be standardised) - Dumelow (talk) 06:22, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Great, this DYK is good to go!  ~ RLO1729^💬 06:39, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

GA?

@Dumelow: Hi again, wondering if should I nominate this article for GA. What do you think? Cheers. :)  ~ RLO1729^💬 08:29, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi RLO1729. It's a bit heavy on the use of Sargent but his seems to be the definitive work on this unit and I couldn't find much elsewhere. Happy to pitch in to help if you nominate - Dumelow (talk) 09:51, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

Uniform details

For reference the article formerly contained the following passages, removed during the GA review above:

The Guard wore the British light dragoon uniform throughout its service. In the early period this was a blue tunic with red facings, breeches, and a Tarleton helmet with red and yellow turban and a white plume with red tip. This uniform is depicted in the 1804 painting of Trooper Anlezark. The unit was armed with the pattern 1796 light cavalry sabre. It is not known if the unit adopted the revised light dragoon uniform of 1812, which replaced the Tarleton with a bell top shako and introduced a new jacket.

By 1830, the Guard wore the revised light dragoon uniform of blue broadcloth jacket with scarlet facings and yellow ball buttons, brass shoulder scales, blue cloth girdles with scarlet stripe, blue broadcloth dress trousers with scarlet stripes, blue broadcloth cloaks with scarlet facings, caps with black plumes, leather gloves, and wellington boots. Rank was indicated by chevrons in yellow lace with gold trim. The sergeant had plated shoulder scales, lace girdles, and silver trim to the cap. When off duty, the Guard wore white duck cloth trousers with buttons down the legs and there was an optional round jacket of the same material with facings as the formal jacket.

The British light dragoon uniform changed again in 1831, in accordance with William IV's wish to see them in red coats, and in October 1832 the Sydney Herald reported that the uniform of the Guard had been altered to resemble that of the 3rd Light Dragoons. This regiment wore, from 1831, a double-breasted red coat with blue facings and two rows of eight buttons, a yellow and red girdle, and a shako with a band of yellow lace and a white and red plume The Sydney newspaper, Currency Lad, reported that the new uniform was worn by the Guard from New Year's Day 1833. The red coat seems to have been retained after the Guard was converted into the Mounted Orderlies.

References

• Sumner, Percy (1947), "Private, 3rd Light Dragoons, circa 1833", Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 25 (102): 71–72, ISSN 0037-9700, JSTOR 44221073
• Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (1941), Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, vol. 49