Donald Where's Your Troosers?

Is it just me or do others find it odd to see kilted soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Scotland commemorate the men of the Lowland regiments at First World War Centenary events?

Since 2006 and the formation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland the uniform for all battalions, no matter what their precedence, has been the same – a Government tartan kilt. We’ve briefly covered this in a Blog before.

The First World War Centenary will be with us until 2019. At many events the Royal Regiment of Scotland will provide a contingent, and invariably they will be in No. 2 Dress – Khaki tunic, glengarry, kilt, sporran, hose and spats. It’s a very smart uniform, and appropriate for many WW100 events as the uniform looks very similar to the service dress worn by the Highland regiments in 1914.

What irks- and will undoubtedly continue do so throughout the next few years - is seeing the men of the Royal Regiment of Scotland parade in kilts when they are commemorating men of the Lowland regiments; or when they are at Centenary events in the former recruiting areas of the Royal Scots (RS), Royal Scots Fusiliers (RSF), King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) , Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)(SR) and Highland Light Infantry (HLI).

Apart from their pipers (and three Territorial battalions) the men of the Lowland regiments did not wear kilts in 1914. Until 1881 most Lowland regiments did not even wear tartan. They were proud of their Lowland status and their history of not being Highlanders; two Lowland regiments were first raised in 1689 to fight a Jacobite army full of Highlanders. Before 2006 only one Lowland regiment – the Highland Light Infantry  -  fought with the War Office to be uniformed in kilts because of its Highland regimental history. In the early twentieth century the HLI had two Territorial battalions in kilts  - but during the First World War it was not a kilted regiment. It was not until after the Second World War that the HLI once more parade in kilts after a one hundred and forty year hiatus.

Two recent First World War related occasions particularly stick in the mind where it would have been befitting for the Royal Regiment of Scotland to be wearing trews rather than kilts.

The first was the reburial of Private William McAleer of the 7^th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers in May this year. Private McAleer was killed in action at Loos in 1915 and his body was only found during building work on the battlefield in 2010. At a well attended event organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he was re-buried with full military honours and the Royal Highland Fusiliers provided the burial party. How much more appropriate would it have been for the pall bearers to have been in trews on that day?

Thanks to John Duncan for the photograph

The second occasion was last week’s naming of the square outside the Usher Hall in Edinburgh to McCrae’s Place. This was to commemorate the centenary of the raising of the 16^th (2^nd Edinburgh) Battalion, Royal Scots by local man George McCrae. The Royal Regiment of Scotland were there to commemorate the men of the Royal Scots who served in the First World War in this battalion. How much more appropriate would it have been for them to be there in trews like the Royal Scots Association men they stood beside?

Next year we will see the Royal Regiment of Scotland take part in official commemorations for the Gretna Rail Crash (RS), Gallipoli (RS, RSF, KOSB,S, HLI), and Loos  (RS, RSF, KOSB,S, HLI). How much more apt will it be for the men of the Royal Scots Borderers, Royal Highland Fusiliers and the 52^nd Lowland to be uniformed in trews for these events?

The Royal Regiment of Scotland already has an order of dress which combines the khaki tunic and the trews – According to the RHF’s dress regulations which are online it is No. 2c Dress.

Currently it specifies it is to be worn “..on Battalion duties during cold weather at the discretion of Commanding Officers. It is to be worn by all ranks on Regimental duties at Retreat-Staff Parade after 1800 hrs daily" but surely that could be changed for the two senior battalions of the regiment, and the Lowland volunteers, to allow trews instead of kilts to be worn on ceremonial occasions in place of 2a or 2b dress?

To try and rectify this sometimes incongruous use of kilts by the Royal Regiment of Scotland, an e-petition has been raised with the MoD to change the dress regulations to allow trews to be worn  by certain units on ceremonial occasions.

If you would like to see Scottish infantrymen parade in trews again, please take the time to sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/72626 and please spread the word.

What's in a name?

There have been rumours in the newspapers over the past few weeks that one of the battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland is to be disbanded. It may be 5 SCOTS or it may be 4 SCOTS. That is it might be the 4th (Highlanders) Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, or 5th (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. It is only to be expected.

Never mind excuses about austerity measures or the number of Fijians that fill the ranks; since the RRS was formed in 2006 it was only a matter of time until it would follow the practice of every large regiment formed since the 1960s and merge or disband one or more of its battalions just a few years after formation. To expedite this the MoD are probably going to remove the titles in brackets from the five battalions. This also follows the practice adopted in large regiments in England over the last forty-or-so years.

They have already removed uniform distinctions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland apart from the different coloured hackles; there are no Lowland regiments in the British Army only one Highland regiment. Apart from the historic names there is not much to distinguish the battalions. By removing even that distinction it will make it easier to remove one or more of the battalions. 

Scotland is relatively new to the large regiment. The Scottish Division was probably lucky there wasn't a Royal Regiment of Scotland in the late 1960s or at the very least a Lowland Regiment and Highland Regiment. Rumours say the Queen Mother had a hand in saving them to preserve the Black Watch but it was probably the operational needs in Northern Ireland in the 1970s which saved them. In England they were not so lucky and have been used to the large regiments for nearly fifty years.

The Queen's Regiment was formed in 1966 from four regiments from the South-East of England into a four battalion regiment. Two of those regiments had been only just been merged from four regiments in the preceding seven years so it was the inheritor of six famous regiments which had fought through the two World Wars. In 1968 the historic titles were dropped completely and in 1973 the 4th battalion was disbanded with every other 'junior' battalion of the large regiments.

Options for Change in the early 1990's under the last Conservative Government (which saw the merging of the Queen's Own Highlanders and Gordon Highlanders and nearly the end of the KOSB's) also saw the merging of the three battalion Queen's Regiment with the one battalion Royal Hampshire Regiment into the smaller two battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires). It has inherited the battle honours of twelve pre-1881 regiments and a staggering 57 VC's.

1968 saw the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers and Lancashire Fusiliers merge into the four battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. It is now down to two battalions, neither retaining any titles reflecting their predecessors.

Another regiment formed four battalions from four regiments in 1964 and is now down to two battalions. It has retained its local affiliations though and each of the eight companies across the two current battalions of the Royal Anglian Regiment reflects an old regimental title.

I think it is unlikely that the Royal Regiment of Scotland will ever merge with an English regiment but how long will it be before the Royal Regiment of Scotland is reduced in size again? How long before it is reduced down to a two battalion regiment like other large regiments; one recruiting in the old highland regiment recruiting areas perhaps and another in the Lowlands.

Would they follow the Royal Anglians and name companies after old regiments to retain and encourage local affiliations? Would that see a return to old names like the Seaforth Highlanders, Royal Scots Fusiliers or even the disbanded Cameronians? Probably not but without the old names and affiliations removed who would really care if 3 SCOTS or 4 SCOTS follow 5 SCOTS into history?

Can't our museums stay open a wee bit longer?

I don't think any of us feel we've had a summer, and here is autumn approaching already. When the leaves start to fall it seems it is time for certain museums and attractions around Scotland to start dusting off the shutters and canvas as the closed season is nearly upon them.

In an earlier post we bemoaned the fact that certain Scottish military museums have reduced opening hours that are almost farcical. They are open when no-one can visit them and are closed at weekends and evenings when people could actually visit them. Then they wonder why their visitor numbers are so low.

Now it's time for us to scratch our heads at attractions which don't even stay open until then end of the October holidays! The poor old KOSB museum at Berwick-upon-Tweed has been in the news a few times this year. As a show of support a few SMRG members were planning a trip down to visit them later in the year. A quick check on their website shows they close for the season on 30th September.

Another planned trip to Cumbria's Military Museum in November will have to bypass the Devil's Porridge Museum at Gretna as they will have been shut for two weeks. (to their credit the Carlisle museum only closes on four days of the year, 24th, 25th 26th December and the 1st January).

I've recently returned from France and the museums and attractions there stay open until 7pm in the summer, even on a Sunday. Would that happen over here? Fat chance

How many times in Scottish museums have staff made it clear you are unwelcome once it nears closing time? If it says it it closed at 18:00 then it's lights off and doors locked by six p.m. sharp, and hard cheese if you were enjoying your visit.

We understand times are tight and many museums rely heavily on volunteers but can things be so bad in Scotland's military museums that they have to be shut for so much of the year?

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Plea for help over fallen Gateshead soldier

An article from the Chronicle Live website. If anyone can add any information to this story, please get in touch using the email address provided.

His grave lies lovingly tended, but how the young British Tommy ended up there is a mystery.

Now an amateur historian is appealing for information on a Tyneside soldier who died in action during World War Two.

Private John James Edwards was 20 in 1940, when he died in France fighting with the British forces.

His body was buried in a war cemetery in Cherbourg, but few other details of his life are known.

Now, inspired by his father’s involvement in the war, Roderick Barron is trying to trace any relatives of the Private for a book about the expedition he was part of.

Private Edwards was born in the Gateshead area in 1919 or 1920, the son of Hannah Edwards and stepson of Thomas Faulkner of Heworth, who married in 1928.

At the time of his death he was serving with the 5th Battalion, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, with the service number of 3192288.

Mr Barron, 49, said: “I have a long-held interest in history and I visited the war graves in Cherbourg with my father, who served with the KOSB, but in a different battalion to Private Edwards.

“Inspired by this I started to research his battalion, who were deployed to France after the D-Day landing in June 1944.

“They were deployed as the covering rearguard during the hasty evacuation via the port of Cherbourg of remaining British forces still in Northern France and Normandy on June 17 and 18, 1940.

“In the course of the Battalion’s own withdrawal to Cherbourg on June 18, 1940, two platoons of the Battalion’s A Company were caught up in heavy fighting against advancing German forces, suffering several casualties, including Private Edwards and with many dozen men also taken prisoner.”

Mr Barron, from Kent, said he suspects that at the time of Private Edwards’ death he would be a fresh recruit to the army, probably with only three or four months’ training behind him.

His research has found that there were several new recruits who joined the 5th Battalion KOSB from Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North East in the first few months of 1940, areas well outside the Battalion’s traditional recruitment grounds in Dumfries and Galloway.

Mr Barron said: “I have tracked down some of the surviving veterans from the expedition and spoken to them about it.

“For many people the war is something they never want to speak of so it has been difficult and of course there are very few men still alive.

“I’ve also spoken to some families of those who died but Private Edwards remains a mystery. I haven’t been able to find out any more than basic details about him. It was would be nice to find some surviving relatives in the North East.

“My plan is to write a book about what was a little-known chapter of World War Two.”

Anyone who thinks they can help Mr Barron with his research can email him on barronrm@hotmail.com

KOSB Colours to be paraded through Borders for last time

From today's Border Telegraph

The Colours of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers will be paraded in The Borders for the last time when the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS) march through Melrose this weekend.

This is due to The Royal Regiment of Scotland being presented with new Colours from Her Majesty The Queen on Saturday, July 2.

In keeping with tradition dating back hundreds of years, the Battalion will parade through the town to show their thanks for the support that members of the public have shown the Battalion.

The parade, on Saturday, June 11, will also give the local population a chance to come out to show their appreciation to the Battalion for the hard work that they have carried out during their recent tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Many friends and families are also expected to turn out for the parade to show their appreciation and support for the troops.

The Parade takes place two-weeks before Armed Forces Day (AFD) 2011 which is to be held on Saturday, June 25, with events set to take place up and down the country over the two-week period from June 18 to July 3.

Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards, said: "I am delighted that I will be in Edinburgh again this year, now as Chief of the Defence Staff, to take part in the national event celebrations.

"Armed Forces Day is in its third year, and, from the start, has inspired the Nation to show its support for the servicemen and women of the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force at events across the country."

Traditionally The Borders along with Edinburgh and the Lothians have been recruiting grounds for 1 SCOTS.

The Parade, which will include a total of 96 officers and men, will form up at 11am in Gibson Park before marching through Melrose town centre and back to the park.

Black KOSB's diary found in Glasgow attic

Quite a few newspapers have covered the story of the find of the diary of Arthur Roberts which covered his time in the trenches in the First World War.

The diary had been found in a loft in Glasgow and is currently in the hands of the King's Own Scottish Borderers Museum in Berwick.

The Scotsman covers it here.

Royal Regiment of Scotland, freedom of Scottish Borders

In 2009 1 SCOTS aka 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Royal Scots Borderers, (which was an amalgamation of 1st Battalion, The Royal Scots and 1st Battalion, The King's Own Scottish Borderers) were given the freedom of Berwick, the old garrison town of the KOSB.

On 11th June in Melrose the whole Royal Regiment of Scotland will be given the freedom of the Scottish Borders. (But not Berwick, which is in Northumberland)

The regiment will be represented by men from 1 Scots and 6 Scots, the TA 6th Battalion, 52nd Lowland Volunteers. The volunteers are the inheritors of the traditions of the 4th Bn KOSB which recruited in what is now the Scottish Borders Council area, and which suffered very heavy losses at Gallipoli in 1915.

Sons of Galloway - Recommended website

Today's recommended website is the result of one man's passion in researching the sacrifice of his local area and the local territorial infantry unit. The Sons of Galloway is Dr Stuart Wilson's tribute to the men and women of South-west Scotland who served and died in the Great War.

The website covers the 5th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, which recruited throughout the three old counties which now make up Dumfries and Galloway*. It also is the home of the Stewartry Roll of Honour which is "a nominal roll of all men and women native to Kirkcudbrightshire, or resident in the county on enlistment, who served their country in the First World War".

The amount of data collected is staggering, and there is a wealth of information and photographs contained on the website. The work is ongoing and all contributions of information related to the projects will be gratefully received by Dr Wilson.

He now lives in England but is from Auchencairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, and apart from the website he has also written a book, "Answering the Call", about the men from Auchencairn who fought and died in the First World War. There is a bit about that on the website too where you can order a copy

Please take the time to visit the website even if you have no connection to the area. The story of the 5th KOSB's at Gallipoli is a tragic one; and the sacrifice of the whole of the Scottish Borders in early 1915 is often overshadowed by Scotland's greater losses first at Loos and the other battles of the Western Front. It is a tale that deserves a wider audience and Stuart Wilson's website does a magnificent job of telling it.

* During the First World War, Stranraer and the Rhinns of Galloway had territorial units of the Royal Scots Fusiliers rather than the King's Own Scottish Borderers.

Mixed fortunes for Scotland's regimental museums

In Victorian times line regiments sometimes felt aggrieved when they were in a battle next to a highland regiment because the Highlanders would steal all the glory. No matter if they had done as much if not more fighting than the Scots, the kilted warriors stood out and were a favourite for news illustrators. In a period when most armies wore uniforms based on French and Prussian styles the highlanders of Scotland were unique.

By 1881 the Lowland regiments raised to fight the Jacobite highlanders two hundred years before were transformed into pseudo-highlanders with tartan trews and basket hilted broadswords. In 2006 the transformation was complete when all Scottish infantry battalions were subsumed within the Royal Regiment of Scotland which became a highland regiment. All battalions of the regiment no matter their history or traditions became Black Watch clones in Government tartan kilts.

In 21st Century Scotland it seems that a Scottish soldier equals a highland soldier. When it comes to the museums of the Scottish infantry regiments this new pecking order seems to have taken precedence over the old Regimental Order of Precedence too.

The Highlanders museum at Fort George and the Black Watch museum at Perth have recently announced ambitious and expensive plans for their museums whilst just this week the complete opposite has happened at the King's Own Scottish Borderers Museum in Berwick which has been forced to reduce its opening hours because of a spat with English Heritage (who own the Barracks in Berwick where the Museum is based).

The other two museums to Highland regiments, The Argylls in Stirling Castle and the Gordon Highlanders museum in Aberdeen seem to be doing well too. The Argylls have the benefit of being in one of Scotland's top visitor attractions and the Gordons have a relatively new and well maintained museum at the former Bridge of Don Barracks.

The Royal Scots boasts a prime location in Edinburgh castle so it is guaranteed a large number of visitors but they are the luckiest ones when it comes to the four Lowland regimental museums.

The Cameronians are included in the South Lanarkshire run Low Parks Museum in Hamilton. It is open seven days a week and is free, but because of council cuts will that remain the case? I hope so. With the museum being in the care of a local authority you'd hope the items will always be on display. The downside is there may not always be money they want to improve their displays.

We've mentioned the KOSB museum above. It is a small museum with limited visitors and funding, and it seems that their troubles are probably going to get worse. With no more handouts from English Heritage, and no weekend opening to encourage more visitors where will they get the money they need to run the museum? It seems to me that this will lead to a downward spiral. Reduced opening hours means fewer visitors, which means less income, which probably means a cut in staff, which means a further reduction in opening hours, and then fewer visitors and so on...

Is there an answer to the KOSB Museum's problems? I hope so, and I hope former KOSB's and Berwick folk rally round their regimental heritage. It may be fifty years since the regiment last had a depot in the barracks but it is their spiritual home.

Finally last, but by no means least, is the poor old Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum. It sits forlornly at the wrong end of Sauchiehall Street and has such limited opening hours it is a wonder it gets any visitors at all. Like the KOSB they seem to be moving in ever decreasing circles. Currently the museum is only open Monday to Friday between ten and four. It isn't open in the evening and it isn't open at the weekends. Do they actually get anyone going through their door?

It is a real shame because it is a cracking museum. It is based in a Rennie Mackintosh building and out of all the regiments it probably has the most interesting history. The mix of Highland and Lowland regiments. The Royal Scots Fusiliers' long service and Highland Light Infantry's battle honours. The 71st at Waterloo and Vimiero, the 74th at Assaye and on the Birkenhead. The 21st at Blenheim in 1704, Inkerman in 1854, at the Jemappes Bridge in 1914 and countless other battles and campaigns from the Earl of Mar's regiment in 1678 up to 2 Scots in Afghanistan in 2011.

I hope the powers that be in charge of the RHF museum can see sense and make their collection more accessible. The history of Glasgow's infantry regiments should make Glasgow proud. Glaswegians, and especially the former members, and the families of former members, of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, Highland Light Infantry, Royal Highland Fusiliers and 2nd Bn Royal Regiment of Scotland should start supporting their local regimental museum and learn a bit about their glorious past.

Barracks (and therefore KOSB Museum) set to close at weekends

From the Berwick Advertiser website. This is quite a negative decision, and as someone who works regular office hours, this effectively prevents me from visiting this museum. I would hope that this decision is given a rethink.


Published on Thursday 31 March 2011 12:06

by Adam Drummond

Berwick barracks will be closed to visitors at weekends over the summer after English Heritage changed its opening hours.

English Heritage have told the Advertiser that closing at weekends is in response to poor weekend visitor numbers and because the KOSB Regimental Museum and Berwick Museum cannot afford to open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Last year the barracks, which houses the two other museums, which are run separately, was open five days a week, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, except for bank holiday Mondays.

However, English Heritage, owners of the barracks, have decided to close the visitor attraction at weekends from April 1 until the end of September.

A spokesperson told the Advertiser: “We’ve decided to open Monday to Friday this summer after we looked at visitor patterns from last year.

“We found that a handful of visitors were coming to the barracks on weekends compared to several dozen on weekdays.”

She added: “We took the decision with our site partners, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regimental Museum and the Berwick Museum who can not afford to open at the weekends any more due to cuts.

“We are confident that opening on Mondays and Tuesdays will see an increase in visitors as four years a go we opened the barracks seven days a week in the summer, and we saw a steady flow of visitors on those days.”

The spokesperson added that the site was only able to open five days a week and that the opening hours would be reviewed at the end of the summer. Anne Moore, curator of Berwick Museum has denied that cuts have been behind the weekend closure.

She said: “We will be open five days a week, the same as last year, just different days. It has nothing to do with budget cuts.

“The decision was made just to see if we could get better visitor numbers. The decision was led by English Heritage.”

She added that because turnaround day at local holiday parks was Saturday, people seemed to settle in over the weekend before visiting attractions during the week, resulting in lower visitor numbers at weekend, but she admitted that the weekend closure would hit day-trippers.

“It concerns me that we will not be open on Sundays, as that is a day when people get out and about for the day,” she said.

No-one from the KOSB Museum was available for comment.

The move to close the barracks at weekends, and therefore also effectively force the museum to close, has been criticised by chairman of the Friends of Berwick and District Museum and Archives, Brian Chappell.

He said: “It is a shame as weekends are when a lot of visitors are in Berwick looking to do things. It is disappointing, and a slightly difficult policy to understand.”

He added: “Closing at weekends is a very poor step to be taken.”

Mr Chappell also said the fact that the museum was housed within English Heritage’s barracks caused a number of problems, including visitors being unaware that it was free to visit, once they had paid the English Heritage entrance fee to the barracks.

He added: “It would be wonderful if we could get the museum out from under the restrictions it’s got at the moment.”

English Heritage provided the Advertiser with a breakdown of the visitor figures for 2010, which showed that while less people visited the attraction at the weekend than on Wednesdays and Thursdays, both Saturday and Sunday figures were higher than Friday visitor numbers.

The past five years have seen a decline in the total number of visitors at the barracks, dropping from over 15,500 in 2006 to less than 10,000 last year.

The change in the barracks’ opening times will leave it as the only English Heritage property in the north east to be closed at weekends this summer.

Jude Leitch, tourism development manager at Northumberland Tourism, said: “We see the co-ordination of the barracks with the regimental museum and borough archives as a positive move which we’ve been told will reduce confusion for visitors.

“Whilst it’s always a pity when visitors are unable to visit an attraction, we also realise the difficult situation that English Heritage find themselves in given the significant reduction in visitor numbers they have experienced.

“Although we’re not helped by the recent cuts in tourism funding, Northumberland Tourism will be working very hard, along with partners such as English Heritage to try to encourage more people to visit Northumberland and to experience what Berwick has to offer.

“Hopefully, if we’re successful in this aim, attractions like the barracks will be able to reconsider their opening hours in the future.”