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?

Advance notice of the annual Royal Scots Gretna Rail Disaster Service

From the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership's website. Advance notice of an annual remembrance service:

Royal Scots Service

Gretna Rail Disaster

Saturday 19th May

Rosebank Cemetery

10-30am.

(Assemble 10am. Pilrig St. Entrance)

Annual Service of Remembrance at the Royal Scots Memorial in Rosebank Cemetery, where 214 men of the 1/7th Leith Royal Scots are interred as a  result of the horrific Gretna Rail Disaster on the 22nd May 1915.

We use the nearest Saturday to the Disaster date which will be the 19th May 2012 meeting at 10am. at the Pilrig entrance to Rosebank Cemetery, we shall then proceed to the Memorial for a 10.30am Service.  With so many groups and associations committed throughout the City on Armistice Day (11th November) we wish to hold a "Remembrance Service" when people are more readily available.

This service will allow... "Leithers".... ex Royal Scots'...ex Service men and others an opportunity to show their respects. Prayers will also be said for our forces serving in Afghanistan and their families, and the children who also died at Quintinshill.

Please come and show your respects.

Further information:  Revd. Ray Williamson  Tel: 07548740250

Remembering Captain Samuel McKnight - Bank Messenger

Anti-capitalist protesters are currently targeting financial districts in cities around the world. In Edinburgh they are camped across from 36 St Andrew Square, the former head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Whilst bankers are easy targets for media and protesters it's worth considering that most people employed by the bank are ordinary folk like you and me; and that was the same almost 100 years ago.

In the run up to Remembrance Day as we start wearing our red poppies, it is maybe worth remembering that in August 1914 many bank staff were already keen volunteers in the Territorial Force in Scotland. Many more left their branches and head office departments to answer Kitchener's call to arms, and joined the ranks of the New Army when war was declared.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Archives have an item from 1918 from one of the bank's volunteers which at first glance seems nondescript; it is a simple postcard with just a few words. The significance is that it is a postcard sent from the front by a former bank messenger to his old colleagues just four weeks before he was killed in action.

One of his colleagues wanted to make sure he wasn't forgotten and saved his postcard. It was put in an envelope around the time of the official end of the war in 1919, when peace and victory parades were being organised, and filed away in a room at 36 St Andrew Square. Luckily it was found years later and passed to the bank archives.

Twenty five year old Captain Samuel McKnight of the 17th Battalion, Royal Scots was one of eighty four Royal Bank of Scotland staff killed in the Great War; and one of fifteen hundred bank workers who lost their lives between 1914 and 1918 from all the banks which now makes up the British part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. He is listed on the bronze and marble war memorial in the entrance hall of the Royal Bank of Scotland branch at 36 St Andrew Square. You can see the memorial, Captain McKnight's postcard, and the moving story behind it on the RBS Archives website:

http://www.rbs.com/about-rbs/g2/heritage/rbs-history-100/themes/people-at-work/46.ashx

Scottish Regiments in TV Programmes and Films

A few years ago I compiled this list of Scottish regiments I had seen in films and television programmes. It has been a while since I updated it so recent appearances of Scottish troops on large or small screen may not have not been noted. If anyone can add any more, or correct any mistakes please leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

Note that most entries are for highland regiments. As far as I know, no KOSB or HLI soldiers have featured in a film.

Real Regiments

Scots Guards

TV Film ‘Tumbledown’ – Robert Lawrence’s story based on his own book about his time with the Scots Guards before and during the Falklands Conflict.

TV Drama ‘The Camomile Lawn’ – Character Hector is in Scots Gds in WW2. Service Dress tunic on screen is of Grenadiers but his wife refers to the three button spacing of his tunic in another scene.

Film ‘Paratrooper’ – Harry Andrews’s Para RSM is ex-Scots Guards.

Royal Scots Greys

Film ‘Waterloo’ – Charge of the Union Brigade. See also Gordons

Royal Scots Fusiliers

TV Series - Poirot special. Chronologically the first story but not first one made. See also unknowns

Black Watch

Film ‘The Sand Pebbles’ – Extras in scenes in Shanghai Bund

TV Series ‘Strathblair’ – Son is a Black Watch Major

TV Series ‘Monarch of the Glen’ – Flashback special where one character is a Boer War period Black Watch officer.

Film ‘Gunga Din’ – Easy to identify British soldiers for the US movie goers

Film ‘Soldiers Three’ – Easy to identify British soldiers for the US movie goers

Film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Black Watch on march behind Allenby in one scene

TV series ‘Northern Exposure’ – The former astronaut’s father or grandfather was an ex- Black Watch piper. His kilt and pipes are found in his loft.

Seaforth Highlanders

TV Series - Evelyn Waugh autobiographical comedy / drama – One of the officers wears a Seaforth glengarry

Film ‘Tobruk’ - Nigel Green’s colonel is a Seaforth.

Film ‘Appointment with Venus’ – David Niven as Seaforth Commando

TV Series - Blood Red Roses – Crippled father is a Seaforth. Fought in N.Africa, Italy N.W. Europe and Norway in the script. No Seaforths in Norway.

74th Highlanders

Film 'The Rare Breed'- James Stewart Western about breeding cattle. Brian Keith is a rival rancher and Scottish ex-soldier who turns up in 74th Full Dress to impress Maureen O'Hara. Keith’s ridiculous accent is more than matched by the fiery thatch of ginger facial hair he sports. (Rip Torn recreates this ridiculous combination of hair and tortured accent as a drunken Scottish sailor in Goldie Hawn / Kurt Russell comedy ‘Swept Away’)

Gordon Highlanders

TV Series ‘The Monoc’led Mutineer’ – Involved in rioting in town.

Film ‘Waterloo’ – Several scenes. See also Scots Greys

Film ‘Zeppelin’ – Michael York as a half-German, half-Scots Gordon

Film ‘The Heroes of the Krait’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

Film ‘The Highest Honour’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

TV Series ‘The Heroes’ Gordons officer leading Operation Rimau against Japs – all captured, tortured and beheaded.

Film ‘The Drum’ – Volunteers from regiment help Political Officer Roger Livesey on North West Frontier during the 1930’s

Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders

TV Film ‘Kim’ – Deserter is a Cameron

Film ‘Whisky Galore’ – Island in Inverness-shire. Home Guard in Camerons uniform

Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

Film ‘Too Late the Hero’ South-East Asia 1941/42

Film ‘To End All Wars’ – Several key characters are Argylls

Film ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ – 93rd Highlanders

Film ‘The Captive Heart’ – Blind Gordon Jackson is an Argyll. See also unknown regiment section.

Recent TV Film ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ – Set in 1914. Wrong sporrans.

The Highland Regiment

TV Sitcom ‘Dad’s Army'

Canadian Scots

Film ‘The Devil’s Brigade’ – Canadian contingent led by Pipe Band. Several Canadian Scots regiments represented.

Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

Film ‘Paratrooper’ Alan Ladd joins Paras via Seaforths of Canada. Also Harry Andrews is an ex-Scots Guards RSM

Unknown regiments

Poirot special – In military hospital red tartan kilt. Canadians? See also RSF

Film ‘The Captive Heart’ – Reformed 51st Div personnel used as extras playing captured 51st Div. men using real POW camp in Germany for film set. See also Argylls

Film ‘The Man who Would be King’ Sean Connery and Michael Caine laughing about one of the pipers in their old regiment during their campaign in Afghanistan. Could be 72nd or 92nd Highlanders?

Confused Soldiers

Sean Connery in 'Murder on the Orient Express' is a Royal Scot in one scene and a Scots Guard in another

Richard Todd is referred to as a Cameronian and but dressed as a Cameron Highlander in the ‘Hasty Heart’. Both regiments had battalions in Burma where it is set.

Made-up Regiments

Caledonian Highlanders - Film ‘Bonnie Scotland’ Laurel & Hardy. Uniform based on Black Watch and Camerons

Spofforth Highlanders - Film ‘The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer’. The Colonel of the Regiment, Julian Glover, is bribed to steal the Swiss gold reserves for Britain to avoid amalgamation. Can’t remember uniform details (Camerons?)

Third Foot and Mouth - Film ‘Carry-on Up the Khyber’ – Uniformed as Camerons

Un-named Highland Regiments

Film ‘Tunes of Glory’ - Hunting Scot tartan for the kilts. Lion rampant replaced the St Andrew of the Cameron's badge. The regiment in the book is based on Gordon Highlanders. See also the book George McDonald Fraser’s ‘The General Danced at Dawn’ which has characters very obviously based on the same real life people as Kennoway’s ‘Tunes of Glory’)

TV Series ‘The Avengers’. Episode from 1st series ‘Esprit de Corps’. Duncan MacRae. Roy Kinnear, John Thaw. 1960s Jacobites in Camerons uniform.

Film ‘The Amorous Prawn’ hard up General uses his HQ as a Country house hotel. Camerons? turn up at the end.

Film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ – Song & Dance scene in Portobello Road. Uniform of government tartan kilt, Black Watch bonnet badge (Not hackle).

TV Pathologist Series from early 1990’s. Officer Presiding at a Court martial. QOHldrs glengarry with a thistle badge. Couldn’t identify kilt.

Film ‘You Must be Joking’ – Several military / secret service folk are set some tasks around London to assess their suitability for a mission. Lionel Jeffries as Sgt. Maj. McGregor turns up in Full Dress including feather bonnet. Argyll uniform?

Others

I have a feeling that Alexander Korda had a Highland regiment in his Sudan shots in ‘The Four Feathers’. This story has been remade several times and pretty much all of them re-used Korda’s footage so there may well be several more films with these Highlanders in them.

I’m not sure that ‘Young Winston’ has some Highlanders in the Battle of Omdurman scenes but it has been many years since I have seen that film so can’t be sure. The Seaforths and Camerons were both involved in this Campaign. In the same film Edward Woodward plays an officer in the Boer War train derailment scene. In real life Churchill was travelling with Royal Dublin Fusiliers but in the film I’m pretty sure the officer had a helmet flash of the Douglas tartan of the Cameronians.

Fans plan new Hearts war memorial

An article from the Edinburgh Evening News about a new memorial for McCrae's Battalion. Would it be wrong to point out that McCrae's Battalion already has a memorial in Edinburgh? It's in St Giles Cathedral - maybe they should go and have a look for it. And if it's to the team as they say, then there's a memorial to the men from Hearts at Haymarket...

A New memorial to the Hearts players who fought and died in the First World War could be created outside Tynecastle.
Hearts supporters' groups have come together to launch a bid to raise £60,000 for a new memorial to the famous "McCrae's Battalion" or "footballer's battalion", which took part in the Battle of the Somme.

The 600 men that were part of the battalion included all 13 players in the Hearts first team of the time, which had been at the top of the table when they agreed to fight.

Now it is hoped that a statue, likely to take the form of a soldier with a football, can be created outside the club's home ground to recognise the role the club's staff played on the battlefield.

A group of fans have come together to raise money under the name of the 1914 Memorial Trust.

Steven Kilgour, vice-chairman of the new trust, said: "This was a unique team not only to Hearts but to Scottish history and this will be a lasting tribute to them. We don't want a war memorial as such, but something to commemorate the actual team."

The Hearts players that took part formed the backbone of the 16th Royal Scots, later dubbed the "footballer's battalion". The majority never returned.

Many players and officials from other clubs took the lead of the Hearts squad and signed up to the 16th Royal Scots. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, three of the Hearts players were killed along with 21,000 others.

Gorgie councillor and former Lord Provost Eric Milligan said: "Every supporter in the world thinks there is something special and unique about their football club but I do not think there is any football club anywhere that has a story that surpasses the story of Heart of Midlothian Football Club.

"It stands unique in the world with a rich history that is not just about the football field but a lot more than that and those players that took part in the First World War are a big part of that."

Royal Scots scrapbook digitised

We've just come across a post on the Great War forum by John Duncan about a project he completed for the Royal Scots museum. This project involved the digitisation of a scrapbook, compiled from newspaper entries for the Great War.

The scrapbook comprises almost 3000 entries for men from the Royal Scots.

You can find a list of the men photographed on the Great War Forum, where you can request a lookup for a particular name.

Another great resource!

The Childers Reforms - On this day on Scottish military history - 1881

1st July 1881 was the date when the Childers Reforms of the British Army were implemented. On that date the old numbered regiments of the army officially disappeared, and many new paired regiments first appeared on the Army List.

The first twenty five regiments of foot already had two battalions so there was very little change for them. For the 26th Foot and the regiments numbered above that then a new name was needed and old traditions and uniform distinctions had to be agreed on. For Highland regiments there was an added twist to this amalgamation because the uniform for each regiment was so distinctive and in many ways so different.

In some cases the pairing led to one battalion completely taking over the identity of the other. The 92nd Highlanders were the junior partner in the amalgamation with the 75th Stirlingshire Regiment but it was the 75th who took on the uniform and name of the Gordon Highlanders. In fact in all cases where kilted regiment amalgamated with a trewed regiment, the new regiment ended up wearing the kilt.

In 1881 there were ten Highland regiments on the army establishment but only five wore kilts. The rest wore trews. The 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th and 91st Highlanders had originally been raised as highland regiments in kilts, but in 1809 they had been clothed as line infantry. They had only been allowed to assume a highland identity after hard battles with Horse Guards in London but it was in kilts not trews in which they were clothed.

The 1st Royal Scots, 21st Royal Scots Fusiliers, 26th Cameronians, and 90th Perthshire Light Infantry were all Scottish regiments too, but until 1881 wore the standard line infantry uniform used by English, Welsh and Irish regiments. In 1881 that all changed. Scottish regiments from Lowland to Highland adopted diced bands, tartan and doublets.

Over the years stories have surfaced of the unhappy unions, and the fights over traditions and uniforms. In the Highland Light Infantry the 1st Battalion continued to call itself the 71st, and the 2nd Bn continued to call itself the 74th and each continued to use traditions and uniform distinctions peculiar to their old regiments.

This is understandable given the forced union between many regiments. However that shouldn't have been the case. Since 1873 the infantry regiments of Scotland had been operating a linked depot scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms. Each pair of regiments shared a depot in one location which had counties assigned to it for recruiting. Then while one regiment was abroad on overseas imperial duties its linked regiment at home in the UK (including Ireland) would train the new recruits and send drafts of reinforcements when needed. The system worked well and the pairings seemed to suit both parties.

Here are the links and the depots used Between 1873 and 1881 by the Scottish regiments

1st Royal Scots - (2 battalion regiment) at Glencorse
21st Royal Scots Fusiliers - (2 battalion regiment) at Ayr
26th Cameronians and 74th Highlanders at Hamilton
42nd Black Watch and 79th Cameron Highlanders at Perth
71st Highland Light Infantry and 78th Ross-shire Buffs at Inverness
72nd and 91st Argyllshire Highlanders at Stirling
73rd Highlanders and 90th Perthshire Light Infantry at Hamilton
92nd Gordon Highlanders and 93rd Sutherland Highlanders at Aberdeen

The 25th Foot and 75th Foot were not considered Scottish regiments at this point. The 25th was a two battalion regiment at York, and the 75th was linked with the 39th Foot at Dorchester in Dorset.

When Hugh Childers came to reform the regiments it should just have been a case of forming these already linked and similar regiments together into new regiments. That was a sound plan until the proposals were laid before Queen Victoria for her royal assent.

The problem was the proposed amalgamation between the 42nd Black Watch and the 79th Highlanders. The 79th were actually the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. They were her own highland regiment and she was certainly not amused at the prospect of them becoming 2nd Battalion Black Watch.

At the eleventh hour the proposed amalgamations were thrown into disarray and hurriedly redrawn to accommodate the wishes of the Queen-Empress.

The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders were not to be amalgamated, and for the next sixteen years were to be the only one battalion regiment in the British Army. That meant a new second battalion was needed for the Black Watch, and a reshuffle akin to musical chairs took place to find suitable pairings.

The first change was that the 73rd Highlanders would now move from Hamilton to Perth to become the 2nd Bn Black Watch. This was a sensible move since the 73rd had originally been formed as a second battalion of the Black Watch way back in 1780, before becoming a regiment in its own right in 1786.

The 90th Perthshire Light Infantry had missed the chance to go back home to Perth and stayed in Hamilton. It would now merge with another Hamilton based regiment, the 26th Foot Cameronians, to form Scotland's only green-jacketed rifle regiment as the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The 1st Battalion as the Cameronians and the 2nd Battalion as the Scottish Rifles.

The 26th's old partner, the 74th Highlanders was to stay at Hamilton too; and it would now be paired with another trews wearing highland regiment, the 71st Highland Light Infantry. This was probably the most controversial of all the moves. The HLI had been very happy being paired with the 78th at Inverness. They had always considered themselves as a proper highland regiment and had petitioned for the return of the kilt on several occasions over the previous seventy years. The Childers reforms had finally promised that chance as they would have adopted the Mackenzie kilt of the 78th instead of their Mackenzie trews. Their amalgamation at Hamilton with another Lowland regiment robbed them of that chance. As a sop to the senior partner the new regiment adopted the 71st's name and tartan but it was not a happy union on either side.

With the 78th now needing a new pairing the 72nd Highlanders at Stirling was chosen. This suited both parties as both had been raised by Mackenzies, and in this case the 72nd were happy to ditch their garish Royal Stewart tartan trews and adopted the Mackenzie kilt of their junior partner. They happily merged as the Seaforth Highlanders using the 72nd's Stag's head badge.

This left another gap at Stirling, and the 91st now paired with the 93rd Highlanders. In this case too the junior partner was given 'top billing' and it was originally called the Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders. It was another few months before it took on the more familiar name of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Finally the 92nd at Aberdeen needed another regiment. There were no more regiments available in Scottish depots so an old Scottish regiment now depoted outside Scotland was needed. The 94th Scotch Brigade at Armagh, or the 99th Lanarkshire regiment at Devizes could have been chosen; but it was the 75th Foot, the old Stirlingshire regiment which was poached from Dorset and sent north to Aberdeen. The West Countrymen were to become Highlanders overnight. The 75th's place in Dorchester was taken by the 54th regiment, which had been paired with the 95th at Derby, and in turn was replaced by the 45th which had been at Leicester with the 17th Foot. Luckily the 17th Foot was a two battalion regiment so no more reshuffling was needed.

Well not quite. The 25th Foot was at York in 1881, but in 1887 the King's Own Borderers became the King's Own Scottish Borderers. The old Edinburgh Regiment was given the whole of the Scottish Borders from Berwick to Galloway as a recruiting area from the Royal Scots, and Royal Scots Fusiliers; and a depot at Berwick-upon-Tweed from the Northumberland Fusiliers.

By then the process of adapting new names, uniforms and badges had been adopted by the other Scottish Regiments. The KOSB finally came into the fold six years after the others but it was on this day one hundred and thirty years ago that the paired regiments (Cameronians, Black Watch, Highland Light Infantry, Seaforths, Gordons and Argylls) which became famed throughout the world for their service in two world wars, came into being.

Royal Scots return to Leith from Russia - On this day in Scottish Military History 1919

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the guns stopped in France and Belgium. The Armistice with Germany signalled the end of the Great War and the end of four years of fighting.

For one Scottish unit it was a different story. On 11th November 1918 whilst the cease fire took place on the Western Front a Royal Scots battalion from Linlithgow was fighting a bitter battle against the Communist Bolsheviks in the snow of North Russia.

The reasons for British troops being in North Russia in 1918 go as far back as 1915 and the debacle at Gallipoli where so many Lothian men had died.

By 1915 Britain and France needed to help prop up their ally Russia. Russia was unprepared for war against an industrialised country like Germany and all sorts of arms and equipment were being shipped to Russian ports to support their war effort. With their victory at Gallipoli the Ottoman Turks controlled the Straits of Marmara which connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. That meant the Black Sea ports in Southern Russia were now out of reach to the British and French ships.

Instead the stores and supplies had to go up to the Arctic Circle to the port of Archangel and later to the British-built port at Murmansk. Throughout 1916 and 1917 the Allies landed thousands of tons of arms and equipment in the North Russian ports but poor transport links and mismanagement within Russia meant that huge stock of these stores were piling up at the docks and were not being shipped south to be used against the Germans and Austrians.

By late 1917 Russia was in turmoil. Revolutions in March and October 1917 left the Bolsheviks in nominal control of the country. They immediately sued for peace with Germany and then turned their attentions to defeating their enemies the ‘Whites’.

In Spring 1918 with the winter snow melting, the Bolsheviks started shipping the stockpiled British arms from Archangel south to fight the Whites. The British decided these arms and stores should be used by the Russian White Armies instead. With British and French backing it was thought the Whites could defeat the Bolsheviks and then start fighting the Germans again on the Eastern Front to ease the pressure on the Western Front. By late March the Royal Navy landed Royal Marines at Murmansk and the British started to put together an expeditionary force to be sent to Russia to advance on Archangel.

In late August 1918 as the war in France was reaching its climax the 2/10th Battalion Royal Scots, Territorial Force was approaching Archangel. The 2/10th Battalion had originally been raised in Linlithgow in September 1914. Its role had been to replace other first line Territorial units which had gone overseas. Up until 1918 it had only served in Scotland and Ireland. 935 of the fittest and able men had been drafted to other units on the Western Front and the men who served in the unit in 1918 were category B1, B2 and B3 – all considered unfit for active service. Every available man who could fight was already at the front fighting the Germans so when the task force being sent to Russia was being put together it was from home defence units serving on garrison duty in the UK.

The Royal Scots recruited up to their war strength of 1,000 men with drafts from other regiments and had sailed on the S.S. ‘City of Cairo’ from Newcastle on 17th August 1918. They arrived in Archangel on 25th August 1918 to a port caught up in a civil war, with troops and sailors from several nations based in and around it.

On the Allied side apart from the British were Canadians, Australians, French, French Colonials, Italians and Americans. There were also some Poles and Serbs who had been serving on the Eastern Front alongside the Imperial Russian Army. They all had their own reasons for joining the fight against the Bolsheviks and continuing the fighting on the Eastern Front against the Germans. (Elsewhere in Russia at the same time there were more British and French troops, as well as Belgian, Czech, Greek and Japanese troops; but they are not part of the 2/10th Battalion’s history).

Also fighting with the allies were local Russians recruited into an auxiliary regiment of the British Army (The North Russia Rifles) and there were also White Russian soldiers and sailors.

Against them were the Bolsheviks and just to add to the confusion the Finnish Army and their allies the Germans were also a potential threat to the Allies from the nearby Karelia Peninsula

By the time the Royal Scots arrived the Allies had been in North Russia for five months. They had captured the city of Archangel and were holding a line far south of the city along the River Dvina and across to the railway line running south out of the port of Murmansk.

On their arrival the Royal Scots marched through Archangel behind a US Marines band, over their shoulders were Mosin–Nagant rifles. The ‘City of Cairo’ had also been carrying a consignment of US made Russian rifles for the British and American forces in North Russia, and the Royal Scots were issued with them instead of the usual Lee Enfield rifle.

The next day most of the battalion sailed South up the River Dvina on barges to Bereznik where the Dvina meets the River Varga, and with some Royal Marines, Poles, Russians and some Royal Navy manned boats they formed a battle-group called ‘C’ Force.

‘D’ company of the Royal Scots moved to another part of the front and also served alongside some Royal Marines and Russian levies and they were called ‘D’ Force.

During September 1918 the Royal Scots of patrolled in forest and marshland on both sides of the Dvina around Bereznik and fought several engagements with Bolshevik troops. In mid September ‘C’ Force was bolstered by the American 339th Infantry Regiment.

By October 1918 the Bolshevik forces were attacking more frequently and in strength using gunboats and artillery. At the same time winter was starting to grip around the White Sea. The port of Archangel was frozen by the end of October and the Royal Navy’s ships were trapped in the ice. This allowed the Bolshevik river boats to sail up the Dvina and it forced the Allies to retreat back towards Archangel. By this time the Royal Scots had 100 wounded men in the hospital in Borok and they had to be evacuated in the retreat.

On November 11th 1918, Armistice Day on the Western Front, the Royal Scots of ‘C’ Force were attacked by 1,000 Bolsheviks at Toulgas. Their target was the Canadian Artillery of the Force and bitter hand to hand fighting developed as the Royal Scots struggled to repulse the attacks. On the day the people of the Lothians celebrated the end of the Great War for Civilisation the 2/10th Royal Scots suffered casualties of 19 men killed and 34 more men wounded. They were also awarded three Military Crosses, two Distinguished Conduct Medals and three Military Medals

For the troops in North Russia the conditions were now very harsh. In some places they had to patrol through snow over 10 feet deep. To deal with the conditions the Royal Scots adapted to patrolling on skis, snowshoes and on sleighs.

The skis especially were a hit. The ordinary soldiers of the Royal Scots could take some comfort from their miserable posting with the thought that it allowed them to indulge in a rich-mans sport which before the war had been the preserve of those who could afford to travel to the Alps.

The skiing was a small respite from the extreme cold and the constant attacks from the Bolsheviks. All this time the Bolsheviks were gaining in strength whilst the White Russian forces were suffering from poor morale, desertion and mutiny. In January 1919 without the support of the ice-bound Royal Navy the Allies were forced further back towards Archangel.

The British realised that they needed to send more troops to defend Archangel and prop up the Whites so volunteers from the troops returning from France who wished to stay in the Army and serve in Russia were formed into a new Brigade which would be sent to Archangel when the winter ice broke up.

In May 1919 as the Bolshevik 6th Red Army prepared for a new offensive the fresh British troops arrived. The Royal Scots got the welcome news that they were to be relieved of their front line duty and would return home.

On 6th June 1919 the 2/10th Bn Royal Scots were replaced by 2nd Bn The Hampshire Regiment and the Royal Scots moved to Murmansk to wait for a troopship.

A few days later the battalion embarked at Murmansk for home. By happy coincidence they were to land in Leith. The ‘Czartisa’ sailed into the Imperial Dock on 18th June 1919.

Along with the 277 Canadian Artillerymen, and 51 other soldiers who had sailed with them, the 987 men of the battalion marched through cheering crowds from the docks to Leith Central Station. They then travelled the short distance to Gorgie Station and marched up to Redford Barracks where they were to be demobilized.

Two days later they were entertained along with men from the recently retuned 1/9th Battalion Royal Scots by the Provost and City at Forrest Hill drill hall and then marched along Princes Street.

The 1/9th Bn had a long and distinguished war service on the Western Front but the service of the 2/10th Bn in Russia had been well reported in local papers. The men of the 2/10th Bn who had left the UK ‘unfit for active service’ returned as battle hardened soldiers and were treated as the equals of the veterans of the 1/9th Bn that day.

Over the next few days the battalion was wound up and on 25th June 1919 the 2/10th Battalion Royal Scots officially ceased to exist.

It wasn’t quite the end though. Not all the men had been demobilized and were sent to the 3rd Reserve battalion of the regiment. A few days later a party of 50 former 2/10th Bn men returned to the headquarters of the battalion at Linlithgow for another reception where they were warmly received.

The 2/10th Bn had missed the celebrations on Armistice Day but they were included in the Peace celebrations when the war officially ended in 1919. A grand peace march was organised in Glasgow on 4th August 1919 with 10,000 men and women from all branches of the armed services and those involved in war work taking part. Contingents from every Scottish regiment marched through George Square and one of the biggest cheers of the day were for the men who had served in the 2/10th Royal Scots. Coming from the city of ‘Red Clydeside’ for an Edinburgh regiment which had been fighting the Communist Bolsheviks it shows how much of an impact the actions of the Royal Scots had made at home.

The battalion had been in existence for nearly five years but had only served overseas for just less than ten months. In that time it suffered 132 fatalities. That was only a fraction of the number of casualties suffered by the Royal Scots battalions which served at Gallipoli, the Somme and at Arras; but they had served on a distant and almost forgotten battlefield on the edge of the Arctic Circle. They suffered from swarms of mosquitoes and horseflies in malarial marshland in the summer, and the bitter cold of the deep forests in the Russian Winter. They had to fight an enemy who never gave up and had to rely on White Russians who frequently did give up. In the ten months in Russia the battalion had been turned from unfit boys fit only for guard duty into soldiers praised by their commanding generals, and fêted in their homeland.

There was one more act in the history of the 2/10th Bn Royal Scots. On 18th July 1920 former officers and men of the battalion assembled at Linlithgow and were presented with a King’s Colour. No other 2nd Line Territorial battalion of the Royal Scots was issued one. With the battalion disbanded it was handed over to the safe keeping of St Michael’s Parish Church next to the Palace. On it was proudly displayed the Battalion’s only, and hard earned, battle honour - Archangel 1918-1919

*Many thanks to Alistair McEwen for the images

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.

1914 Hibs - Hearts derby to be recreated at Pozières

From today's Edinburgh Evening News

Hearts and Hibs back at war . . on a French battleground

Published Date: 12 April 2011
By SUE GYFORD

IT was one of the most poignant scenes of Edinburgh's war years - the derby at which the entire Hearts team signed up to serve in the First World War, followed by supporters from both sides.

Now the match at Tynecastle, which gave birth to McCrae's Battalion, is to be re-enacted on the French battlefields.

The event will be at the heart of commemorations at the village of Pozières, close to where the battalion, 16th Royal Scots, fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

For the past five years, the anniversary of the start of the battle, July 1, has been marked by a Son-et-Lumière show at the village, with a different theme each year.

This year's events will honour Edinburgh and the role played by the 16th Royal Scots and their founder and commander, Sir George McCrae.

Jack Alexander is the author of the book McCrae's Battalion, and was part of the group that arranged the creation of the Edinburgh Cairn, a monument to the battalion in nearby Contalmaison in 2004.

He said the re-enactment of the December 1914 derby - which Hearts won 3-1 - would be organised by the authorities in Pozières. The game famously saw Sir George parade the players to encourage others to join.

Mr Alexander said: "This year (the French authorities] have chosen us as their central theme and it's quite an honour. We've worked very hard to make friends with the locals.

"They don't know a great deal about the details of the match, so they've been asking me questions about things like what colour strips, so I'm talking to Hearts and will be talking to Hibs about finding old-style kits. It's going to be the portion of the football match with the reciting of a speech from Sir George.

"A local will make his speech and then people depicting the players and supporters will all join together and enlist together.

"From an Edinburgh point of view, it's something we should be very proud of."

The day will also include a re-enactment of the bravery of Edinburgh Corporation greenkeeper Corporal Michael Kelly, who single-handedly overcame a group of German signalmen.

Mr Alexander said: "The production values are quite spectacular. It's quite a rural area but it's a little bit like one of the re-enactments at Edinburgh Tattoo."

Although the battalion is closely associated with Hearts, Mr Alexander said he was keen to stress the contribution of other teams, including Hibs.

He said: "The heart of the battalion was the Hearts players, but once they made the gesture of joining up they became a footballers' battalion.

"There were substantial contingents from people who followed Hibs, there were Falkirk players, Raith Rovers players, it was a very broad church."

A group from Edinburgh will travel to Pozières by coach for the event and there are still a small number of places available - contact Mr Alexander on 07876 106 509 for further details.

DECEMBER DERBY DAY ROLL CALL

BY December 1914, football players were being criticised for not signing up for the war effort while other young men went off to fight. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George McCrae announced that he would raise a battalion of men and pledged to fill it within seven days.

At Tynecastle on December 5, during the Edinburgh derby, he paraded the Hearts team members who had already enlisted and gave a speech, inviting anyone else in the stadium who wanted to follow their lead to join the parade. The entire Hearts first team signed up, followed by 500 of their supporters and 150 Hibs supporters. By the end of that day, 980 men had enlisted at the recruiting office in Castle Street.

Sir George commanded the battalion on the Western Front, where it was credited with achieving the deepest penetration of the enemy line anywhere on the battlefront at the Somme. The battalion suffered massive losses, including seven of the Hearts players.

Alexander Brook - The Story Behind The Name

Of all the names listed on the Bank of Scotland war memorial, Alexander Brook is noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, he is (so far as we can tell) the oldest casualty of the bank for the First World War, and as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he is also the highest ranking.

Alexander Brook was born on the 12th of June 1865, the only son of John Brook, a master grocer and Annie Leckie, of Primrose Bank, Haddington. He attended the Knox Institute in Haddington, before attending Edinburgh University as a Student of Arts between 1883 and 1887, gaining an M.A. He was appointed Writer to the Signet in 1891.

Shortly before the outbreak of War he was appointed County Clerk and Treasurer to the County of East Lothian. He was also a member of Haddington Town Council.

He served as joint agent at the Haddington branch of the Bank of Scotland from 1895 until his death in 1915. At the time bank agents usually had no formal training and were normally "upstanding" members of the community, such as lawyers, and it was while working as a solicitor that Brook was joint agent.

Brook had joined the 8th Battalion of the Royal Scots in 1886, and had been awarded the Volunteer Decoration for his services, and on the outbreak of war he was mobilised as a Major. He was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in November 1914 and was Mentioned in Despatches.

At the time of his death his battalion had taken part in three days of fighting, and he and a Major Gemmill were in a trench studying a map when a shell burst beside them. Major Gemmill was deafened and buried by the shell, and on clearing himself found the Colonel Brook had suffered a head wound from shrapnel.

Four men were detailed to carry Colonel Brook to an aid post, and in the process two of these men were themselves wounded. It was to no avail as Colonel Brook died shortly afterwards on the 19th of May 1915. He was buried the following day, 100 men from the battalion attending the service.

Colonel Alexander Brook is buried in Section II, Row H, Grave 12 of Bethune Town Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Bank of Scotland memorial in The Mound, the civic memorial at Haddington as well as at Edinburgh University.

The Royal Scots Club completes refurbishment

The Royal Scots Club in Abercromby Place in Edinburgh has recently completed a £1.5 million refurbishment, which was unveiled by the Princess Royal.

The Scotsman has an article about the club and the upgrade which is well worth reading.

With the recent closure of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Memorial Club, is this perhaps the only club of its kind in Scotland?

On this day in Scottish military history #7 - 1920, Unveiling of the war memorial in Nenthorn, Roxburghshire

On this day in Scottish military history #7 - 1920, Unveiling of the war memorial in Nenthorn, Roxburghshire.

November 1920 was a busy time for war memorial unveilings. Many church memorials were completed and smaller civic war memorials were also being unveiled in time for the second Remembrance Day. On this day ninety years ago the Earl of Haddington unveiled the Nenthorn War Memorial.

Nenthorn’s memorial cross listed twelve names. Four of them had been pipers in the 1/4th Bn King’s own Scottish Borderers and all had four had died in Gallipoli. Two of them were killed on the same day, 12th July 1915, when the 1/4th KOSB practically ceased to exist.

I don’t think I’ve seen another memorial which lists four pipers amongst the dead and for pipers to make up one third of the total is unprecedented anywhere else in Scotland.

After the Second World War a further four names were added.

Transcription of the names on the Nenthorn War Memorial:

1914-1918

ELLIOT, Frank , Trooper , Scottish Horse
GIBB, William , Private , King's Own Scottish Borderers
GRANT, Robert , Private , King's Own Scottish Borderers
HARDIE, James , Private , 13th Bn Canadian Expeditionary Force
HARDIE, Thomas , Sergeant , Seaforth Highlanders
HENDRY, Andrew , Piper , 4th Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers
INGLIS, Andrew , Lance Corporal , Machine Gun Corps
KERR, James , Piper , 4th Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers
LUNHAM, Thomas , Piper , 4th Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers
MOFFAT, Thomas , Private , King's Own Scottish Borderers
ROBERTSON, Robert , Private , Royal Scots
WOOD, Frank , Piper , 4th Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers

1939-1945

FERGUSON, Alexander , Private , Army Catering Corps
FRIZZEL, James , Private , Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
PURVES, George , Corporal , Royal Marines
THOMSON, Ronald R , Wing Commander DFC , Royal Air Force

Club demands return of memorial to Great War heroes

The following appeared in The Scotsman as well as several other publications.

In my opinion, I think this is a little of a fuss over nothing. Unlike some memorials, this one still exists and will be back in its rightful place before too long. Some memorials don't have that luxury...

Heart of midlothian FC have demanded the club's memorial to mark the fallen of the Great War be reinstated to its rightful spot at Haymarket before next year's Remembrance Service, after the tramsworks forced the event to be moved to Tynecastle Stadium again this year.

The clock tower was erected in tribute to the men of the table-topping 1914 squad, who enlisted en masse for the 16th Royal Scots Battalion, raised by politician and businessman Sir George McCrae. They were the first professional players in Scotland to do so, but were soon joined by players from Hibernian, Falkirk, Dunfermline, Raith Rovers and East Fife.

Known as the Sportsman's Battalion, they were involved in the Battle of the Somme and, of the 13 Hearts players who left for war, only six returned.

The war memorial was gifted to the city in 1922 and was the focal point for Remembrance Sunday services before the controversial tramworks forced its temporary removal. For a second year, next month's service will be held at Tynecastle instead, disappointing Hearts managing director David Southern, who says the club is now fighting to ensure a return to Haymarket in time for 2011.

Mr Southern said: "We had hoped that the memorial would have been reinstated by now and it would be there this year, but that's not the case, so we will again hold it at Tynecastle.

"But we do feel that it loses some of it's poignancy.

"The positioning of the Heart of Midlothian War Memorial at Haymarket is as important to the club as keeping the stadium at Tyencastle. It is something we feel very strongly about, and we want to preserve and protect it.

"We have made it clear to Edinburgh Council that we will be lobbying hard to have it back in its rightful place for next year, whether the work on the tramlines is delayed or not."

Royal Scots museum visit

This isn't really an item of news, but I wanted to show off a little.

The other week I paid a visit to the Royal Scots museum, and I wanted to thank Tom Gordon for taking time out to show me some of the "behind the scenes" stuff. It's always interesting to see what goes on in the background.

And also, you sometimes get to see some very interesting items:

Yes, it's genuine. And yes, I was utterly flabbergasted to be able to get to see it.

100,000 new Chelsea Pensioner records now on findmypast.co.uk

Latest news from findmypast.co.uk:

We’ve just added 96,434 records and 437,825 images for the period 1855-1872 to our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records collection on findmypast.co.uk.

This new batch of records brings the total amount of Chelsea Pensioners records and images on findmypast.co.uk to 506,870 records and 3,196,935 images.

Here’s a reminder of the records you can find on the site and which are still to come:

Date range	Approx no. of records	Approx no. of images	When available
WO97 1855-1872	96,434	437,825	Now
WO97 1873-1882	97,515	540,423	Now
WO97 1883-1900	312,921	2,218,687	Now
WO97 1760-1854	184,000	1.2 million	By July 2010
WO97 1901-1913	303,000	2.1 million	By August 2010
WO96 1806-1915	500,000	3.5 million	By Sept 2011

The connection with ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ is that the pensions were administered through The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the Hospital itself.

Many other military records provide information about officer-class soldiers; however, these records relate to other ranks. This makes it more likely that you will be able to find details about your ancestors.

Remember that these records are free to search, like all the records on findmypast.co.uk. Even if you don’t think that any of your ancestors could have been a Chelsea Pensioner, give searching the records a go - your ancestor may have only served in the army for a short time before they were pensioned out.

Why are the Chelsea Pensioners records so special?

The sheer amount of information these records provide sets them apart. It’s possible to build up a picture of your ancestor by reading these records - they are the next best thing to a photograph. The records contain detailed descriptions of a soldier’s physical appearance and any distinguishing features like tattoos or scars.

There are usually six or seven records per soldier. Most of the service records note all of the regiments in which a soldier served, with both start and end dates, ranks attained, and the total service rendered, in years and days, in each rank and regiment. Service in either the East or West Indies is noted separately.

The reason for the soldier’s discharge (illness, wounds or end of service) is given, as are remarks on general conduct while in the service and the soldier’s civilian occupation. The form is dated and signed by both the soldier and commanding officer. These records are among the most popular at The National Archives as family historians and genealogists have realised how valuable they are.

To give you an example of how valuable these records are to those researching Scottish soldiers, here are some figures of how many entries there are per regiment:

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) - 91st & 93rd Foot: 1990 entries

Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) - 42nd & 73rd Foot: 1498 entries

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) - 26th Foot & 90th Light Infantry: 1016 entries

Gordon Highlanders - 75th & 92nd Foot: 1551 entries

Highland Light Infantry - 71st & 74th Foot: 1512 entries

King's Own Scottish Borderers - 25th Foot: 1137 entries

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders - 79th Foot: 973 entries

Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) - 1st Foot: 1214 entries

Royal Scots Fusiliers - 21st Foot: 1167 entries

Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) - 72nd & 78th Foot: 1545 entries

And remember - there's more to come!

Now, if someone from findmypast is reading, I'd be happy to give a review of their website in return for a free subscription...:-)