subs. phr. (military).—The Fifth Foot. [So distinguished in the Peninsular.] Other nicknames were THE SHINERS (in 1764 from its clean and smart appearance); THE OLD BOLD FIFTH (also Peninsular); and LORD WELLINGTON’S BODY GUARD (it was at headquarters in 1811). Cf., FIGHTING NINTH.
1871. Chambers’s Journal, 23 Dec., p. 802, col. 2. THE FIGHTING FIFTH was distinguished by its men wearing a white plume in the cap, when the similar ornament of the other regiments was a red and white tuft.
1890. Standard, 25 April, p. 3, col. 4, ‘St. George’s Day.’ With the exception of the annual observances by the Northumberland Fusiliers, better known as the FIGHTING FIFTH, and a concert at the Crystal Palace, there does not seem to have been the smallest notice taken of what was, not a hundred years ago, a recognised popular festival throughout the length and breadth of once merrie England.
