Note 127 — HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE FIRST, OR ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT. (continued 4)
Reading edition
"Whitehall, 13th December, 1815.
"His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, taking into His Royal Highness's consideration the highly distinguished services of Colonel James Stevenson Barns, Lieut.-Colonel of the 1st, or Royal Scots Regiment of Foot, Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, and Knight of the Royal Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword, manifested by him on divers important occasions in the campaigns of Toulon, Corsica, Holland, Egypt, and during the recent arduous operations and splendid achievements of His Majesty's arms in Portugal, Spain, and France, and being desirous of conferring upon that officer such a mark of favour as may in an especial manner evince the sense his Royal Highness entertains of the intrepidity and valour displayed by him at the battle of Busaco, wherein, as Lieut.-Colonel of the Staff, he commanded a brigade; at the capture of Badajoz, on the 6th of April, 1812; at the victory of Salamanca, where, in leading his battalion to the charge, he was severely wounded; and his distinguished gallantry at the assault and capture of St. Sebastian, and the battles of the Nive, hath been pleased, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, to grant unto the said Colonel Barns, His Majesty's Royal license and authority that he and his descendants may bear the following honourable augmentation to the arms of his family:—
"A chief, thereon the representation of the curtain of a fortification; and above the words 'St. Sebastian,' as also a canton charged, with the representations of the gold cross presented by His Majesty's command to the said James Stevenson Barns, and of the badge of the Royal Portuguese Military Order of the Tower and Sword pendant from the ribands from which the said distinctions are respectively attached.
"And the following crest of honourable augmentation:—
"Issuant from a broken battlement, a dexter arm in armour, the hand grasping a banner inscribed 'St. Sebastian;' in allusion to the conspicuous conduct of the said Colonel Barns, on the 31st of August, 1813, when he gallantly led the 3rd battalion of the Royals, and assaulted and carried the curtain of the fortress, thereby eminently contributing to the ultimate capture of that important place; provided the said armorial distinctions be first duly exemplified, according to our law of arms, and recorded in the Herald's Office; otherwise His Majesty's royal license and permission to be void, and of none effect."