Royal Regiment of Scotland
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Battalions |
Along with The Rifles [Regiment] it was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army. There is a common regimental cap badge, tartan, tactical recognition flash, stable belt, and Glengarry headdress. Different coloured feather hackles are also worn by each separate battalion on the Tam O' Shanter headdress when they are in combat uniform in order to maintain their individual identity. The pipes and drums of each battalion continue to wear the dress uniform and tartans of their former Regiments.
Scotland has made a very great contribution to the Army in recruiting. The Scots are, by and large, a warlike people. In the Highlands people did not join the Army, they joined the Regiment — Seaforth, Cameron and Queens' Own Highlanders, Black Watch, Gordons, and Argylles. This has always been the case in the Highlands. Some men would join a Highland regiment who would not join any other. In Scotland officers and men joined a specific regiment, not the Army, and they wore their own traditional uniform, their own tartan. Long experience had shown that there was a great psychological difference between people of the Highlands and people of the Lowlands, and a great deal of time would be saved if the training of Highland recruits was carried out in one place and the training of Lowland recruits in another unit.
Traditionally, the infantry created the greatest connection with the Scottish people. That is why they had a relatively high proportion or regiments with famous names. The Scottish contribution to the infantry had always been relatively higher than the Scottish contribution of population to Britain as a whole. In the 1960s one man per thousand of the male population in England was a Regular soldier, whereas for Scotland the figure was about 3 per thousand. The vast majority of people who joined the Highland regiments requested to join a particular regiment. In 1957 many Scottish regiments were disbanded as a result of the defence policy of the Macmillan Government.
In the 1990s reductions to 38 instead of 55 battalions led to the amalgamation of the Queen's Regiment with the Royal Hampshire Regiment, the Cheshire Regiment with the Staffordshire Regiment, the Royal Scots with the King's Own Scottish Borderers [KOSB], and the Queen's Own Highlanders, already amalgamated from the Seaforths and the Camerons, with the Gordon Highlanders. The First Battalion of the Royal Scots — which was stationed in Colchester — the finest regiment in the British Army, was the successor regiment to the Lovat Scouts, which was cut down by Hitler's machine guns on the D-day beaches.
Scottish regiments were routinely based in Scotland. As of 2001, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) were stationed at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh and The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) at Fort George, Inverness. Such deployments continued as part of the Army's Arms Plot. The location of the other Scottish regiments of the Foot Guards, Scottish Division and Royal Armoured Corps were as follows [in 2001]: Wellington Barracks, London (Scots Guards); Somme Barracks, Catterick (The King's Own Scottish Borders); Ballykelly, Northern Ireland (The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)); Belfast, Northern Ireland (The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)); and Fallingbostel, Germany (The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) and The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)).
By 2004 there were only six Scottish infantry regiments: the Lowland regiments — the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the King's Own Scottish Borderers [KOSB] — and the Highland regiments — the Highlanders, who are already an amalgamation of the Queen's Own and the Gordon Highlanders, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Black Watch.
The full names, locations, and colour of hackles of each battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland are:
- The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS) Headquarters, Edinburgh (black hackle)
- The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) Headquarters, Penicuik (white hackle)
- The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) Headquarters, Inverness (red hackle). In 1729 six companies of Highlanders were raised and armed for service among their own piny glens and mountain fastnesses. The men were generally the sons of landholders and independent gentlemen, who had originally espoused the cause of William III, and continuing to wear their national costume of black, blue, and green tartan, were named the 'Freicudan Du,' or 'Black Watch,' in allusion to their sombre attire; while the scarlet-coated regulars were called 'Seideran Dearag,' or ' Red soldiers.'
- The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) Headquarters, Fallingbostel, Germany (blue hackle). The Gordon Highlanders, the old 92nd regiment, was raised in 1794 by the Marquis of Huntly, afterwards the last Duke of Gordon, whose beautiful young mother placed the "King's shilling" between her lips as the price of a kiss — and enlistment - for unwilling recruits. Honour be to Scotland that few refused to accept it! The regiment which has served in every quarter of the globe with distinction and glory— what a host of gallant deeds its name recalls to memory! * The most stirring, perhaps, of the Gordons' feats was performed in the afternoon of Waterloo. The Scots Greys were moving up to charge the French, and the 92nd was ordered to open out to allow them to pass through its ranks. It was too much for the Highlanders to bear; they could not stay behind while their countrymen were going forward. Scottish private shouted to Scottish dragoon, Scottish dragoon, cried back to Scottish private. The shouts and cries rose to a wild yell of "Scotland for ever!" and the pipes skirled madly, stirring the common blood of both regiments to fever heat. United Scotland fell pell-mell on the French column and utterly routed it! In 1994 the Gordon Highlanders was amalgamated with Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons), to form The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons).
- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS) Headquarters, Canterbury (green hackle)
- 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (6 SCOTS) Headquarters Glasgow, with TA Centres throughout South and Central Scotland (grey hackle)
- 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (7 SCOTS) Headquarters Perth, with TA Centres throughout the Highlands and North of Scotland (purple hackle).
The Queen presented the Colours to six battalions of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, for the first time since the Regiment’s formation five years earlier. The parade, which included marching contingents from six of the seven battalions of The Royal Regiment of Scotland - the 4th battalion was then deployed on operations in Afghanistan - their pipes and drums, along with the Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, took place in Holyrood Park.
This was the first time that six battalions from any regiment have been on parade at the same time. The parade also included several hundred veterans from the Regiment’s antecedent units. Her Majesty has been the Colonel in Chief of The Royal Regiment of Scotland since its formation.
Colours are incredibly important to any Army unit as they represent the spirit of the Regiment. They consist of two large brocade and embroidery flags and they were originally carried into battle so that soldiers of a particular unit could see where the rest of their unit was located at all times. The infantry units of the British Army each have two Colours: The Queen’s Colour, which is a Union Flag; and a Regimental Colour, which has all the unit’s battle honours inscribed on it. Colours are no longer carried on the battlefield but are held in the greatest of esteem by the soldiers and officers. They are brought out on important parades and Regimental occasions and are escorted by a ‘Colour Party’. When new Colours are presented, the old ones are not destroyed but are laid up in a regimental museum, church, or other military building with significance to its particular unit. Colours are normally presented only every 20-25 years – in essence only once in a soldier’s career.
Uniquely 2 SCOTS have the distinction among infantry units of carrying three Colours on parade. The third - the Assaye Colour - was originally awarded by the Governor General in India on behalf of the British East India Company to the 74th Highland Regiment [antecedent regiment] for distinguished service at the Battle of Assaye in India in 1803 while under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.
The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
In 2006 The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) was united with The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, The Black Watch, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons), and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, to form The Royal Regiment of Scotland. "The Royal Scots" boasts the unique distinction of being the oldest regiment in the British Army. Although the first name it bears on its colours is that of the famous victory of Blenheim, in 1704, it is certain that it existed for at least a century before that date. In reference to its claims to antiquity it has been styled " Pontius Pilate's Body Guards," and more seriously it has been asserted that it represents the body of Scottish archers who were kept for centuries as the guard of the French Kings.
The "First Regiment of Foot," "The Royal," "Royals," or "Royal Scots," (having had these various appellations bestowed upon it from time to time) is said by some to be a regular continuation of the ancient Scots Guards, or "Le Regiment des Gardes Ecossoises," and must unquestionably be considered to be the oldest military body in existence in Europe. The general and received opinion, that this regiment derives its original formation from the body guards of the Scottish kings, and that they formed a part of the 7,000 auxiliaries sent to'France in 1420*, under the Earl of Buchan (which will be noticed hereafter), cannot be established by any researches which have been made into the histories of either France or Scotland; nor is there any mention made of any such body being in existence, either at that period or at any subsequent one, from which this corps could possibly have derived its origin. The supposition, that the body guards of the Scottish kings were first instituted either by William the Lion, or his immediate successor, in consequence of that monarch being made prisoner in his camp near Alnwick, in 1174 (on his invasion of England in the reign of Henry II.), for want of a body guard, does not appear to be founded on fact.
It is said that a League had been entered into by Charlemagne, and Achaius, King of Scotland, in 790: it seems it was renewed by Gregory and King Charles; for the last had a guard of twenty-four Scotsmen, that attended his person; and this was the first rise of that illustrious Cors the Gardes Escossoises, which has ever since made so noble a figure at that court. Chalmers, in his 'History of Caledonia,' doubts the existence of this League; and the late Lord Hailes, in his 'Remarks on the History of Scotland,' roundly asserts it to be a positive fiction. But Buchanan, Bishop Lesly, Abercromby, Maitland, and the translator of M. Beauge's History, speak of it as to have been actually made, as here stated. The ancient League between France and Scotland is mentioned, in the histories of Scotland, as having been frequently renewed between the two nations.
The Scots Guards were a celebrated band, which formed the first company of the ancient gardes du corps of France. It happened from the ancient intercourse between France and Scotland, that the natives of the latter kingdom had often distinguished themselves in the service of the former. On this foundation the company of Scots guards, and the company of Scots gendarmes, were instituted. Both of them owed their institution to Charles VII of France, by whom the first standing army in Europe was formed, in 1454.
Valour, honour, and fidelity, must have been very conspicuous features of the national character of the Scots, when so great and civilized a people as the French could be induced to choose a body of them, foreigners as they were, for guarding the persons of their sovereigns. Of the particular occasion and reasons of this predilection is a recital by Louis XII a succeeding monarch. After setting forth the services which the Scots had performed for Charles VII in expelling the English out of France, and reducing the kingdom to his obedienee, he adds— " Since which reduction, and for the service of the Scots upon that occasion, and for the great loyalty and virtue which he found in them, he selected 200 of them for the guard of bis person, of whom he made an hundred men at arms, and an hundred life-guards: And the hundred men at arms are the hundred lances of our ancient ordinances; and the life-guard men are those of our guard who still are near and about our person."
As to their fidelity in this honourable station, the historian, speaking of Scotland, says, "The French have so ancient a friendship and alliance with the Scots, that of 400 men appointed fur the king's life-guard, there are an hundred of the said nation who are the nearest to his person, and in the night keep the keys of the apartment where he sleeps. There are, moreover, an hundred complete lances and two hundred yeomen of the said nation, besides several that are dispersed through the companies: and for so long a time as they have served in France, never hath there been one of them found that hath committed or done any fault against the kings or their estate ; and they make use of them as of their own subjects."
In France they continued in great reputation until the year 1578. From that period, the Scots guards were less attended to, and their privileges came to be invaded. In the year 1612, they remonstrated to Louis XIII on the subject of the injustice they had suffered, and set before him the services they had rendered to the crown of France. Attempts were made to re-establish them on their ancient foundation; but no negotiation for this purpose was effectual. The troops of France grew jealous of the honours paid them: the death of Francis II and the return of Mary to Scotland, at a time when they bad much to hope, were unfortunate circumstances to them. The change of religion in Scotland was an additional blow; and the accession of James VI to the throne of England disunited altogether the interests of France and Scotland.
In 1633 Charles I of England was crowned at Edinburgh; in that year, and possibly on that occasion, a division of the Scots Guards, or the regiment of Scots Guards, landed from France, and from the 26th January of that year it bears date upon the British establishment as "The First (or the Royal) Regiment of Foot." The designation of this regiment unquestionably was that of the "First (or Royal) Regiment," when it was first incorporated as a British regiment in 1633, as appears in an extract from a warrant of Charles I. Shortly after his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent became Colonel of the regiment, it was designated "Royals ;" in 1806, "The Royal Regiment;" in 1811, "Royal Scots;" and on 29 August 1821, the designation of "The First (or the Royal) Regiment" was again resumed, and continued as its designation. In many accounts, where mention is made of this regiment, it is named after the Colonels of it, as "Douglas's;" "Darnley's ;" "Dumbarton's;" "Schomberg's;" " Orkney's;" " Hamilton's;" "St. Clair's," &c. &c. It was also sometimes called "the Royal Scotch Regiment," and "Scotch Royals."
The 'regiment De Douglas' is incorrectly styled 'the Scots Guards in France.' With the old Scots Guards (La Garde Ecossaise) of France it had no connection; but the mistake may have arisen from the fact that there was for a short time in France another regiment of Scots Guards (Les Gardes Ecossaises), raised by the Earl of Irvine in 1642. This latter regiment was broken up in 1660 and incorporated with the regiment of Douglas (Le Regiment de Douglas). This regiment is the one of which George Douglas, Karl of Dumbarton, was Colonel; but it was always known as le Regiment de Douglas, not as Scots Guards.
After the Restoration, while Charles II was still seated on an insecure and tottering throne, the Douglas regiment was removed to England to assist in the maintenance of order. It arrived in the spring of 1661, and obtained rank in the British army from that date; but in 1663 it was sent back to France, Three years later, war breaking out between England and Holland, and Louis XTV. allying himself with the Dutch, the Douglas regiment was again ordered to quit the French service. It accordingly landed at Rye, in Sussex, on June 12, 1666. It then mustered eight companies of one hundred men each. Afterserving nearly two years in Ireland it was once more returned to France, and shared in several campaigns against Holland, from 1672 to 1678. In the latter year the slothful and eminently unpatriotic ministers of Charles II arrived at the conclusion that England could no longer calmly acquiesce in Louis XIV.'s aggressive and encroaching policy, and the Scots regiment received final orders to quit the French employ. From that period it has been permanently attached to the British military establishment. In 1684 it was named 'The Royal Regiment of Foot.' In 1678 it went over to Scotland, still under Lord Dumbarton's command. Dumbarton did follow James into exile; but the regiment was not incorporated into the British army, but remained on the Scots establishment till the Union in 1707. It is not represented by the Scots Guards, but by the Royal Scots or Lothian Regiment.
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