The Story of the Royal Scots - the Lothian Regiment
Published 1915 - The Story of the Royal Scots (The
Lothian Regiment) Formerly The First or The Royal Regiment of Foot. In the
"Country Life" series of military histories. Frontispiece and sixteen black and
white plates, numerous illustrations and plans within the text. Covers history
from 1421 to 1916 including Gallipoli campaign.
The Story of
THE ROYAL SCOTS
(THE LOTHIAN REGIMENT)
Formerly The First or The Royal Regiment of Foot
BY
LAWRENCE WEAVER
WITH A PREFACE BY
THE EARL OF ROSEBERY, K.G,, K.T.
LONDON
PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF "COUNTRY LIFE,"
20 TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C., AND BY
GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., 8-n SOUTHAMPTON STREET,
STRAND, W.C. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1915
--o--
PREFACE
BY THE EARL OF ROSEBERY AND MIDLOTHIAN,
K.G., K.T.
IT is well at this time to be reminded of the history of The Royal Scots, for we
in the Lothians think that it is not sufficiently borne in mind. There are so
many famous regiments in Scotland that ours, though the senior, stands some
chance of being overlooked.
Those who read this excellent book will not be likely to commit this fault.
There they may read the long pedigree of The Royal Scots, who date, so to speak,
their legal existence to 1662, but who may be traced long before then, and
indeed earned from their antiquity the playful nickname of " Pontius Pilate's
Bodyguard." They will see how ineffaceably The Royal Scots have stamped their
name on almost every battlefield in which our army has been engaged ; how they
have been com-
manded and trusted by such consummate captains as Turenne, Marlborough and
Wellington. It has, indeed, been their habit to fight all over the world; there
is scarcely a region where they have not left their mark. That is the way now
with all our regiments, but The Royal Scots have been longer at it. And now they
are marching gallantly into the burning fiery furnace of this world
conflagration.
Just now we can think of nothing but this war which is to make or mar the world.
Each soldier of the King, great or small, who is fighting in this campaign,
fights that we may breathe freely once more and be relieved from the nightmare
of a brutal and odious tyranny. Each soldier and sailor, then, is the champion
of civilization and liberty as well as of his country. He will conquer, as he
did the less barbarous armies of the Zulus and the Mahdists. forces trained,
like the Prussian, for the injury and domination of their neighbours. He is
fighting for as sacred and vital a cause as any Crusader, against venomous
gases, poisoned wells, the piratical submerging of innocent vessels, the
tramping underfoot of the law of nations, and the other abominations of Prussian
culture.
And those who cannot serve strain anxious eyes to discern all that we can of our
champions and their deeds.
But in a closer fashion we are concerned with our neighbours who have left their
homes in our province of Lothian, be they mansions or cottages, to fight for us.
For them even more than for ourselves this Story is written. We wish them to
know the full splendour of the tradition which they carry like their colours.
Nothing surely to them or to us can be more inspiriting than the record of the
centuries of valour which they represent. They have in this war proved already
that they yield
nothing to their forbears in achievement, yet they may well wish to know the
details of the traditions that they inherit and emulate.
We at any rate, men, women and children of (he Lothians, Edinburgh and Peebles,
the romantic county with the unromantic name, desire to know all about our
famous regiment, and so we welcome this book. There will need to be another
volume added to it when this war is over.
Honour, then, to The Royal Scots, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, among
the choicest of our fighting men, whose record is in this book, as on the field
of battle. We who cannot stand with them must at least try all we can to sustain
them and fill their ranks.
--o--
CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION i
CHAPTER I
THE FIGHTING SCOTS ABROAD, 1421-1632
Scots in Mediaeval France Regiments serving with Gustavus Adolphus Sir John
Hepburn The Green Brigade Le Regiment d' Hebron 5
CHAPTER II
ROYAL WARRANT FOR HEPBURN'S REGIMENT, 1633-1636
Charles the First's Order Arguments as to Seniority Serving Louis XIII against
Germany Death of Sir John Hepburn in 1636 15
CHAPTER III
MINGLED FRENCH AND ENGLISH SERVICE, 1636-1683
Hepburn's Successors Le Regiment de Douglas The Conde Turenne Campaigns Battle
of Dunkirk Dunes Recall to England Pepys and the Regiment Further Foreign
Campaigns Two Battalions End of French Service The Grenadier Company Tangier,
1680-1683 . . . . 21
CHAPTER IV
THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT AND JAMES II, 1684-1689
Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion Royals at Sedgemoor Second Battalion goes to
Scotland Infant Officers and their pay Hobos Flight of King James and Dumbarton
Colonel Count Schomberg The Ipswich Mutiny .... 37
CHAPTER V
THE REGIMENT'S SERVICE UNDER WILLIAM in, 1689-1702
Steenkirk Death of Sir Robert Douglas Lord George Hamilton becomes Colonel
Landen The Siege of Namur Uncle Toby's Account of the Assault Treaty of Ryswick
Five years of Peace 47
CHAPTER VI
MARLBOROrGH'S CAMPAIGNS, 1702-1713
Minor Sieges in 1702 The March to Bavaria Sehellenberg Blenheim 1693, Revenged
at the Little Geet, Ramillies Oudenarde, --Malplaquet, --Marlborough's Fall, The
Treaty of Utrecht . . . ........ 57
CHAPTER VII
PIPING TIMES OP PEACE, 1713-1740
Police Duty in Ireland - Irish Recruits -Sergeant MacLeod - Death of Colonel the
Earl of Orkney . 85
CHAPTER VIII
THE SPANISH MAIN; THE SEVEN YEARS WAR; THE
'FORTY-FIVE, 1740-1755
Fighting Fever in the West Indies - Dettingen Fontenoy - The Fall of Ghent -
Prisoners of Prince Charlie - Falkirk -Culloden - Fort Sandberg - The Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle . 92
CHAPTER IX
CANADA AND THE WEST INDIES, 1756-1792
Early days of North America Canada and the French The Royals at Louisburg
Fighting the Cherohees Cuba and the Assault on the Moro Newfoundland Brimstone
Hill,
St Christopher Big Sam 108
CHAPTER - X
THE FRINGE OF THE GREAT FRENCH WAR, 1793-1799
A Brief Shetch of Causes The Second Battalion at Toulon, Corsica and Elba The
First Battalion in St. Domingo
ireland and the 'Ninety-tight
CHAPTER XI
THE NAPOLEONIC WAR, EGYPT, 1801-1803
The Mediterranean Situation Second Battalion in Egypt The Landing in Aboukir Bay
Battles of March 13 and March 21, 1801 The end of French rule in Egypt Troubles
at Gibraltar . ' . . . . 127
CHAPTER XII
ST. LUCIA, WEST INDIES, INDIA, AMERICA, l8oi-l8l6
Seizure of Island of St. Martin Life in the West Indies Demerara and Berbice St.
Lucia Depleted ranks Service in India Campaign against the United States Changes
in Uniform 137
CHAPTER XIII
THE THIRD BATTALION IN THE PENINSULA, 1808-1814
Captain Waters' adventure Corunna The interlude of Walcheren Busaco Fuentes
d'Onor First use of name "Royal Scots" Salamanca Vittoria Siege of San Sebastian
Nive 150
CHAPTER XIV
THE CRUSHING OF NAPOLEON, 1815
Third Battalion at Quatre Bras The attack on the Squares Waterloo La Haye Sainte
The Royals and their Colours The Fourth Battalion Bergen-op-Zoom . . . .166
CHAPTER XV
FORTY YEARS OF LITTLE WARS, 1816-1853
Peace Service of First Battalion Second Battalion in Mahratta Wars Nagpore
Maheidpoor Asseerghur Burmese War Ava The Rebellion in Canada 173
CHAPTER XVI
CRIMEA, 1854-1856; CHINA, 1859-1860; PEACE, 1861-1899
Alma Siege of Sevastopol Inkerman Private Prosser's V.C. Taku Forts Changes of
Organization and Title Colours and Battle Honours Bechuanaland . . . .182
CHAPTER XVII
THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, 1899-1902
Faithful Reservists Paardeplatz Sergeant Robertson and Major Twyford Lieut. C.
L. Price at Bermondsey Casualties and Honours 195
CHAPTER XVI
MILITIA, VOLUNTEER, TERRITORIAL AND SERVICE BATTALIONS
The Edinburgh Militia South Fencibles Dukes of Buccleuch South African Service.
1899-1902 TA Special Reserve The Volunteer Movement Territorial Battalions,
Fourth to Tenth Service Battalions, Eleventh to Seventeenth . . 202
CHAPTER XIX
FIRST YEAR OF THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1915 :
FRANCE AND FLANDERS
The Royal Scots in the First Onset Mons Le Cateau Cambrai Capture of
Orly-sur-Marne and Vailly On the Aisne La Bassee Canal and Croix Barbie Petit
Bois V.C. won at Kemmel The Fights for Ypres V.C. won at Givenchy . 208
CHAPTER XX
FIRST YEAR OF THE GREAT WAR, 1915 :
THE DARDANELLES
Ait Epic of Territorials The Fifth (Queen's) in the 29th Division The Fight for
the Landing Captain Maclagan's Narrative Saving the situation on June 19 The
Storming of The Gully Ravine on June 28 The Fighting during July " Achieving the
Impossible" 228
APPENDICES
(A) A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 250
(B) THE REGIMENTAL MUSIC ...... 251
(C) THE REGIMENTAL ROLL OF HONOUR (OFFICERS KILLED,
WOUNDED, PRISONERS OF WAR AND MISSING IN
THE GREAT WAR) : MADE UP TO AUGUST 31, 1915 253
(D) A LIST OF THE OFFICERS OF THE REGIMENT SERVING
IN AUGUST 1915 ....... 257
INDEX ........ 269
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
Facing page
A Private, Battalion Company, 1742 (in colour), from a
drawing 1 by George Kruger . . Frontispiece
The Badge of The Royal Scots 5
I Tomb of Colonel Lord James Douglas ... 22
II Portrait of Colonel Lord George Douglas, Earl of
Dumbarton ........ 28
III Portrait of Colonel The Duke of Schomberg . . 44
IV Portrait of Colonel The Earl of Orkney ... 50
V Portrait of Colonel Sir Henry Erskine, Bart. . . 112
VI Portrait of Colonel The Duke of Argyll . . .116
VII Portrait of Colonel Lord Adam Gordon . . .138
VIII Portrait of Colonel H.R.H. The Duke of Kent . . 170
IX Portrait of Colonel The Duke of Gordon . . .174
X Portrait of Colonel Lord Lynedoch . . . .176
XI Portraits of Colonel Sir George Murray and Colonel
Sir James Kempt ....... 180
XII Portraits of Colonel Sir Edward Blakeney and Colonel
Sir George Bell 186
XIII Colours of the First Battalion 190
XIV Colours of the Second Battalion 192
XV Portrait of Major-General Sir E. A. Stuart . . .196
XVI Portrait of General George Hay Moncrieff . . . 200
Map of Flanders ........ 268
Map of the Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) . . 268
FIGURES IN TEXT
PAGE
1 Musketeer and Pikeman, 1633 . . . . .12
2 Musketeer and Pikeman, 1647 2 5
3 Private in Grenadier Company, 1684 .... 34
4 Map of Marlborough's March to Blenheim, 1704 . . 60
5 Battle of Blenheim, 1704 (Plan) 62
6 Battle of Ramillies, 1706 (Plan) 68
7 Battle of Oudenarde, 1708 (Plan) 72
8 Battle of Malplaquet, 1709 (Plan) 78
9 Marlborough's Soldiers: Officer and Private, 170) .
10 Uniform of the Grenadier Company, 1721 . . .86
11 An Officer in The Royals, circa 1739 . . .90
12 Battle of Fontenoy, 1745 (Plan) 97
13 An Officer in The Royals, 1773 115
14 Egyptian Campaign, 1801 (Plan)
15 Grenadier's Chaco-plate, 1768-1802 . . . . 136
16 Private's Chaco, 1800-1811
17 Officer's Chaco, 1811-1815 139
18 Chaco-plate, 1800-1811 141
19 Chaco-plate, 1813-1816 ....... 143
20 Cross-belt Plate, 1800-1816 145
2t Officer's Sword ........ 147
22 Officer's Gorget, 1812 . . . . . . 149
23 Battle of Salamanca, 1812 (Plan) 157
24 Battle of Vittoria, 1813 (Plan) 159
25 Battle of Waterloo, 1815 (Plan) 169
26 Buttons, 1808-1859 175
27 Chacos: Three Types, 1816-1844 76
28 The Albert Chaco, 1844-1855 177
29 Epaulette, 1825 178
30 Three Types of Officers' Uniforms, 1826 . . . . 171)
31 Private's and Bugler's Uniforms, 1849 . . . .180
32 Officer, 1856 ; Private and Corporal, 1875 ... 188
33 Chacos, 1856-1878 189
34 Private's Belt-clasp, 1855-1872 190
35 Buttons 191
36 Glengarry Badges, 1881-1890 and as still worn . . 193
37 Officer's Helmet-plate, 1878-1881 193
38 Thistle Collar Badge (Private's) 194
39 Map of Gallipoli Peninsula 234
40 The Music of The Scots' March 252
Illustrations reduced in size from those in the
ebook
