Standard Bearer of England

The Standard Bearer of England was once an important office within the English army, especially during the times when Kings were still present on the battlefield. As standard-bearer Henry de Essex was greatly chastised when he threw down the English Standard and claimed his King was dead in 1153.

During the Wars of the Roses, each side had their own standard bearer, such as William Brandon, standard bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond at the Battle of Bosworth Field. During the English Civil War, Charles II's standard bearer was not called Standard Bearer of England as he was only proclaimed King in 1661 long after the civil war had ended.

It increasingly became an honorific rank, and in modern times it has been linked with the Queen's Champion.

Office holders

 * Henry de Essex, Baron of Raleigh (until 1157. Forfeited 1163)
 * Robert Trussebut
 * Peter de Preaux (d.1212)
 * Richard Fitzhugh
 * Sir William Harrington (d. 1440). Bore the Royal Standard at Agincourt (1415).
 * Sir Lewis Robessart (d. 1430)
 * Sir William Burton, standard bearer to Henry VI in France (1421–29). Died at Battle of Towton in 1461.
 * War of the Roses (1455–1485)
 * Sir David Mathew (1400–1484), Battle of Towton (from 1461 under Edward IV). After the battle, Edward IV granted the use of the word 'Towton' on the Mathew family crest for Sir David Mathew saving his life at the Battle of Towton. Sir David Mathew died in 1484, slain by the Tubervilles in an altercation at Neath.
 * Sir Anthony Browne (d. 1506)
 * Sir Ralph Egerton (d. 1527) "for life with a salary of £100 per annum"
 * Sir Anthony Browne (d. 1548) in 1547
 * Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu in 1553
 * Sir Edmund Verney standard bearer to Charles I
 * Lieutenant-Colonel John Lindley Marmion Dymoke