Embroidered Memorial to the Guards of the British Legation Peking, 1925-1926

I had one of those Antiques Roadshow moments recently while in the UK – or probably a bit more Cash in the Attic! I picked up, for a very reasonable price I might add, an embroidered memorial to the Guards of the British Legation in Peking in 1925-26. It appears to be handmade and features the image of one of the Guards (presumably) in the middle and the crest of some regiment (apologies – I’m no military historian!) and their motto. It appears to be contemporary and sewn by hand and also features flags of various nations (the allied nations form WW1?) represented in the Peking diplomatic quarter (the Legation Quarter) and the Chinese flag at the time (the five bar one I’ve noted here before). It was originally in a frame and, though the memorial is in pretty good condition, the frame was not sadly.

The picture of the serviceman I assume is a member of the regiment from 1925-26. The embroidered motif below of the eagle attacking the dragon is a bit of a mystery – of course I can surmise but not actually sure what it represents. A lot of research to do and I’ll report back if anything interesting turns up (such as it all being worth millions of pounds!). Still, an initially rather odd and interesting bit of memorabilia.