A popular name for the First Lifeguards until the Peninsular War. The term then fell into desuetude; but at Waterloo the commanding officer of the regiment had not forgotten it, and when leading to the charge, he called out, ‘Come on, you damned CHEESEMONGERS!’ an invitation accepted so heartily that the title was restored, with the difference that it was no longer a word of reproach. [Some say that the nickname came from their exclusive home service until the time of the Peninsular War; others that it was bestowed on account of the old gentlemen in the corps declining to serve when it was remodelled in 1788, on the ground that the ranks were no longer composed of gentlemen, but of CHEESEMONGERS.] Also called THE CHEESES.
