Guards

Guards are in all armies the élite of the troops, and form the sovereign's bodyguard. In the British service the Guards compose what is called the Household Brigade, and include the 1st and 2d Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards (see CUIRASSIERS), the Grenadier Guards (three battalions), Coldstream Guards (two battalions), and Scots Guards, formerly Scots Fusiliers (two battalions), or about 1300 cavalry and 6000 infantry. Before the abolition of purchase, the officers of the Foot Guards held higher army rank than that they bore regimentally—i.e. ensigns ranked with lieutenants of other regiments, lieutenants with captains, captains with lieutenant-colonels; and by exchanging into the line they were enabled to take rank above officers of much longer service. When purchase was abolished in 1871, it was decided that officers joining the Guards after that date should not hold this exceptional rank. The brilliant services of the French Guard in the Napoleonic wars are well known. See also the articles NATIONAL GUARD, SCOTS GUARDS, SWISS GUARDS.