Editing Green Howards (section)

===The Two Howards===
The regiment was known as the Green Howards from 1744. At that time, regiments were known by the name of their colonel. The 19th regiment's colonel was Hon. [[Charles Howard (British Army officer)|Sir Charles Howard]]. However, at the same time, the 3rd Regiment of Foot had been commanded by its colonel [[Thomas Howard (British Army officer, born 1684)|Thomas Howard]], since 1737. To tell them apart (since they both would have been known as 'Howard's Regiment of Foot'), the colours of their uniform facings were used to distinguish them. In this way, one became 'Howard's Buffs' (eventually simply [[Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)|The Buffs]]), while the other became the Green Howards. Although the Green Howards were referred to unofficially as such from then on, it was not until 1921 that the regiment was officially retitled as the Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment).<ref>Army Order 509/1920, in effect 1 January 1921</ref> Under the [[Childers Reforms]], all non-royal English infantry regiments were to wear white facings from 1881. In 1899, the regiment was able to reverse this decision with the restoration of the grass green facings formerly worn by the 19th Foot.<ref>Eric Hamilton, Bulletin of the Military History Society, Special Issue No.1, 1968</ref>