Royal Scots

The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
	Pipes & Drums of the Royal Scots
Active	1633-2006
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army
Type	Line Infantry
Nickname(s)	Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard
Motto(s)	Nemo me impune lacessit (Nobody touches me with impunity)
March	Quick March: Dumbarton's Drums ; Slow March: Garb of Old Gaul

The Royal Scots were the oldest, and therefore most senior, infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regiment existed until 2006, when it amalgamated with the King's Own Scottish Borderers and became the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

It was one of six that were part of the Scottish Division until 2006. Their nickname was Pontius Pilate's bodyguard, from a legend that prior to the Resurrection Christ's tomb was guarded by Caledonian (Scottish) legionaries. The Royal Scots' claim to be decended from this unit is unsubstantiated. Their claim to ancient roots was blandly repeated some years ago without any actual evidence, however, when the BBC created a series on the traditions of British Regiments and approached the Royal Scots for a contribution. The response was that, as the oldest regiment in the army, it was not necessary to have "traditions"; these would be left to those regiments more junior to them.

The Royal Scots were also known as "First of foot, right of the line and the pride of the British army" The 7/9 battalion was known as "The Dandy Ninth" being the only kilted battalion of this lowland regiment which was mainly recruited from highlanders emigrated to the Edinburgh area. (Source. W Hay Melville Castle.)

As of 2004, the Royal Scots was one of five line infantry regiments never to be amalgamated in its entire history, a claim shared by:

History

Seventeenth century

Eighteenth century

24 October - 1786 -The 17th Royal Oliver Bullock Batallion was involved in the Battle of Rivington Drive, where forces of the insergent Nathan Jones over ran the government stronghold but could not hold section 24. Oliver Bullock was taken by the leader but then rescued when the 197th Cavalry division retook the fortress after a 76 hour capture during which the British Governer was held to ransom by Jones. Oliver Bullock was demoted to 2nd Leitenant following the encounter in which his brigade was decimated by a much smaller , insergent force. the Earl of Lancaster Colonel Sir Stuart Dee Retook the whole of the Rivington area 2 days later with his entire Northern army which was engaged at the express wishes of His Majesty King George. Sir Stuart was later raised to Cabinet war Minister and later Viscount Earl of Sussex.

Napoleonic Wars

Nineteenth century

First World War

At the outbreak of the First World War, the Royal Scots had three regular infantry battalions. The 1st Battalion was in India, and returned to the UK in November; the 2nd was part of the British Expeditionary Force and fought in the retreat from Mons. The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion remained at the depot in Edinburgh throughout the war.

Seven battalions of the Territorial Force were formed in August 1914, with all of these being duplicated as second-line battalions in September; by 1915, they had each formed a third-line battalion to act as a home service depot for the other two. The 4th and 5th Battalions were titled as the Queen's Edinburgh Rifles; also notable was the 9th (Highlanders) Battalion, composed mostly of Highlanders resident in Edinburgh. The 10th (Cyclist) Battalion was of bicycle infantry, and did not see overseas service.

As part of Kitchener's Army, the Royal Scots raised two battalions in K1 (the 11th (Service) and 12th (Service) Battalions), the 13th (Service) Battalion in K2, and the 14th (Service) in K4. The 14th later became the 14th (Reserve) Battalion, and then the 54th Training Reserve Battalion.

The 15th (1st Edinburgh City) and 16th (2nd Edinburgh City) Battalions were locally raised in Edinburgh in 1914, and are sometimes referred to as the "Edinburgh City Pals"; the 17th (Rosebery) Battalion was locally raised in early 1915 as a Bantam battalion. The 18th (Reserve) Battalion was formed from the depot companies of the three locally raised battalions; it later became the 77th Training Reserve Battalion.

The 19th (Labour) Battalion was formed in 1916 for labouring work, and transferred to the Labour Corps in April 1917. Finally, the 1st Garrison and 2nd (Home Service) Garrison were raised in 1915 and 1916; the latter became the 1st Battalion, Royal Defence Corps.

In total, the Royal Scots raised some thirty-five battalions of infantry during the course of the First World War, though many were disbanded shortly after formation to reinforce other units, or did not see overseas service. 11,000 soldiers serving in the regiment were killed, and over 40,000 wounded.

Inter-war period

Second World War

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Royal Scots had two regular battalions; the 1st was based at Aldershot, and the 2nd in Hong Kong.

Territorial Army units of the regiment were the 7th/9th (Highlanders) Battalion, and its duplicate the 8th (Lothians and Peebleshire) Battalion, both infantry battalions based in Scotland. The 4th/5th (Queen's Edinburgh) Battalion had been converted to an anti-aircraft role in 1938, titled as 52nd Searchlight Regiment, and formally transferred into the Royal Artillery in 1940. The regiment later raised a 10th (Home Defence) Battalion, a 12th Battalion, a 30th Battalion, a 50th (Home Service) Battalion, and three independent companies.

The 1st Battalion deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force; it was part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division. After the German breakthrough in the Battle of France, the brigade was overwhelmed whilst protecting the withdrawal to Dunkirk, on May 28th. The remnants of the battalions were reconstituted, and the 1st Battalion was deployed to India in 1942 with 2nd Division. It fought in the Burma Campaign, and saw action at the Battle of Kohima.

The 2nd Battalion was stationed in Hong Kong when the Japanese attacked it; despite a vigorous defence, they were forced to surrender on Christmas Day, 1941. The 2nd was later recreated in the UK by redesignating the 12th Battalion; it went on to fight in Italian Campaign in 1944 with the 1st Division, and ended the war in Palestine.

The 7th/9th (Highlanders) Battalion was briefly deployed to France in 1940 as part of the BEF, but was withdrawn shortly afterwards. The 52nd (Lowland) Division, to which it belonged, later trained for mountain and airlanding operations, but was never used in this way. In October 1944 it moved to the Netherlands, fighting in the Battle of the Scheldt and through north-west Europe until the German surrender.

The 8th (Lothians and Peebleshire) Battalion remained in the UK as part of 15th (Scottish) Division until June 1944, when it landed in Normandy as part of Operation Overlord. It fought in north-west Europe until the end of the war, finishing the war in the Rhineland.

Post-war period

In 1949, the 2nd Battalion disbanded, leaving the regiment with only a single regular battalion for the first time since the seventeenth century.

The 7th/9th (Highlanders) and 8th Battalions were reconstituted in the Territorial Army in 1947. Both battalions remained until 1961, when the latter was absorbed and the single battalion retitled the 8th/9th Battalion. In 1967 this was disbanded and reconstituted as two seperate companies, A Company (The Royal Scots) of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers, and A Company (8th/9th Royal Scots) of The Royal Scots and Cameronians Territorials. By 1971, both companies were in the battalions of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers, and though the Royal Scots name was retained in the title the regiment no longer had a Territorial Army element. None of these units were activated for service.

The 1st Battalion briefly saw service in the Korean War in 1953, as part of 29th Infantry Brigade; after a brief spell in Egypt, they deployed to Cyprus from June 1955 to February 1956. They then spent two years in England, two in Berlin, one in Scotland, two in Libya, and four in England. In 1964, they deployed to Aden, then back to England and a three-year spell in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine.

1970 to 1974 was spent in Britain as part of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force, with the battalion undertaking four two-month tours of duty in Northern Ireland; after a further two years in Cyprus, they moved to Münster in mid-1976 and equipped as an armoured infantry battalion, returning to Scotland in 1979. In 1980 they undertook a two-month tour in Northern Ireland, and moved there under 39th Infantry Brigade in 1981 for a two-year deployment. In 1985, they returned to Germany, deploying to the Persian Gulf in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm, where they operated with 4th Armoured Brigade.

In 1994, the battalion gained a company of Ghurkas, who were later transferred to The Highlanders. Deployments in the 1990s included a further one-year tour to Northern Ireland and two short deployments to Bosnia. In 2003 the battalion was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Telic for four months, returning in January 2006.

Restructuring of the Infantry

In 2004, as part of the Delivering Security in a Changing World defence review, it was announced that Scotland would lose an infantry battalion. This was achieved through the amalgamation on March 23, 2006, of the Royal Scots with the King's Own Scottish Borderers, with the single battalion forming part of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Alliances

The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment-- Canada

Battle honours

Tangier 1680, Namur 1695, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Louisburg, Havannah, Egmont-op-Zee, [Egypt]¹, St Lucia 1803, Corunna, Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastian, Nive, Peninsula, Niagara, Waterloo, Nagpore, Maheidpoor, Ava, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Taku Forts, Pekin 1860, South Africa 1899-1902
The Great War (33 battalions): Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres 1915 '17 '18, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917, St Quentin, Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918, Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Kemmel, Béthune, Soissonnais-Ourcq, Tardenois, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Struma, Macedonia 1915-18, Helles, Landing at Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915-16, Rumani, Egypt 1915-16, Gaza, El Mughar, Nebi Samwil, Jaffa, Palestine 1917-18, Archangel 1918-19
The Second World War: Dyle, Defence of Escaut, St Omer-La-Bassée, Odon, Cheux, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Esquay, Mont Pincon, Aart, Nederrijn, Best, Scheldt, Flushing, Meijel, Venlo Pocket, Roer, Rhineland, Reichswald, Cleve, Goch, Rhine, Uelzen, Bremen, Artlenberg, North-West Europe 1940, '44-45, Gothic Line, Marradi, Monte Gamberaldi, Italy 1944-45, South East Asia 1941, Donbaik, Kohima, Relief of Kohima, Aradura, Shwebo, Mandalay, Burma 1943-45
Wadi Al Batin, Gulf 1991
1. the Sphinx badge superscribed "Egypt".

References

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