Black Watch

Origin of the name

The source of the regiment's name is uncertain. In 1725, following the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, General George Wade was authorised by George I to form six "watch" companies to patrol the Highlands of Scotland, three from Clan Campbell, one from Clan Fraser of Lovat, one from Clan Munro and one from Clan Grant. These were to be "employed in disarming the Highlanders, preventing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, and hindering rebels and attainted persons from inhabiting that part of the kingdom." Francis Hindes Groome states in his Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1901) that the watch was "embodied in a field [in Aberfeldy] in 1739". The force was known in Gaelic as Am Freiceadan Dubh, "the dark" or "black watch".

This epithet may have come from the uniform plaids of dark tartan with which the companies were provided. Other theories have been put forward; for instance, that the name referred to the "black hearts" of the pro-government militia who had sided with the "enemies of true Highland spirit", or that it came from their original duty in policing the Highlands, namely preventing "blackmail" (Highlanders and reivers demanding extortion payments to spare cattle herds).

History

The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form two battalions of the newly named Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). The 42nd became the 1st Battalion, and the 73rd became the 2nd Battalion.

The 1st Battalion saw action at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War. It was in combat again during the Mahdist War, at the First and Second Battles of El Teb in February 1884, the Battle of Tamai in March 1884 and at the Battle of Kirbekan in February 1885. They were stationed in India from 1896, but were sent to South Africa for service during the Second Boer War. After the war ended in June 1902 with the Peace of Vereeniging, 630 officers and men left Cape Town on the SS Michigan in late September 1902, arriving at Southampton in late October, when they were posted to Edinburgh.

The 2nd Battalion were posted to South Africa in October 1899, following the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The battalion suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Magersfontein in December 1899. After the end of the war, about 730 officers and men left Point Natal for British India on SS Ionian in October 1902, where, after arrival in Bombay, they were stationed in Sialkot in Umballa in Punjab.

In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve and five Territorial battalions.

First World War

The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 1st Brigade in the 1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. It saw action during the Retreat from Mons in August 1914, the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914 and the First Battle of the Aisne later in September 1914; it also took part in the advance to the Hindenburg Line in September 1918.

The 2nd Battalion landed at Marseille as part of the Bareilly Brigade in the 7th (Meerut) Division in October 1914 for service on the Western Front. It took part in the defence of Givenchy in December 1915 and then moved to Mesopotamia later that month and saw action during the siege of Kut in Spring 1916, the fall of Baghdad in March 1917 and the Battle of Istabulat in April 1917. It transferred to Palestine in January 1918 and took part in the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918.

The 1/4th (City of Dundee) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the Bareilly Brigade in the 7th (Meerut) Division March 1915 for service on the Western Front and, following heavy losses at the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915 and the Battle of Festubert in May 1915, amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion in September 1915.

The 1/5th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 24th Brigade in the 8th Division for service on the Western Front. It also saw action at the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915 and the Battle of Festubert in May 1915.

The 1/6th (Perthshire) Battalion and the 1/7th (Fife) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 153rd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front. They saw action at the Battle of the Ancre Heights in October 1916.

The 8th (Service) Battalion was raised in Perth by Lord Sempill of Fintray who had previously served with the Black Watch in the Sudan. Recruiting commenced on 21 August 1914 and the ranks were filled by 3 September 1914. The 8th was the senior battalion in the 26th Infantry Brigade, which in turn was the leading brigade of the 9th (Scottish) Division, the first division of Lord Kitchener's New Army. As such, the 8th (Service) Battalion can claim to be the vanguard of the "First Hundred Thousand" men in Kitchener's K1 Army. The battalion officially formed at Albuera Barracks in August 1914 before moving to Maida Barracks in September 1914. A core cadre of experienced regular and ex-regular officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers formed the backbone of the new unit. The enlisted men came mainly from the cities, farms and collieries of Fife and Forfarshire. 16 January 1915 saw the 26th Infantry Brigade move from Aldershot to Hampshire with the 8th Battalion billeted at Alton. On 22 January 1915 Lord Kitchener inspected the battalion, along with the rest of the 9th (Scottish) Division during downpour of rain on Laffan's Plain (now Farnborough Airport). The battalion marched to Oxney Farm Camp near Bordon on 21 March 1915 to undertake a final musketry course where the 8th Battalion Machine Gun Section obtained the highest score in the brigade. In early May 1915, the battalion received the long-awaited orders to proceed overseas to France.

Second World War

The 1st Battalion landed in France in September 1939 as part of the 12th Brigade in the 4th Infantry Division for service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The battalion later transferred to the 153rd Brigade of the 51st (Highland) Division and was captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux during the Battle of France. It was reformed from reserve units of the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division in August 1940 and moved to North Africa in August 1942 where it fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 and then continued to fight in the Tunisian Campaign before it took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. It also took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944, the Battle for Caen later that month and the Battle of the Falaise Pocket in August 1944. It later saw action at the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945, Battle of the Reichswald in February 1945 and the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945.

The 2nd Battalion was serving in Palestine from where it was sent to East Africa in August 1940 and saw action during the Italian conquest of British Somaliland. It was sent to Crete, as part of the 14th Brigade in the 8th Division, and took part in the Battle of Heraklion in May 1941. It moved to North Africa in October 1941 and took part in the break out from Tobruk in November 1941.

The 4th Battalion landed in France in January 1940 as part of the 153rd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division for service with the BEF and then took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940. From July 1940 to April 1943 the battalion was stationed in Gibraltar. The battalion remained in the United Kingdom for the rest of the war.

The 5th Battalion landed in North Africa as part of the 153rd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division and fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. It also took part in the Normandy landings, while attached to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, in June 1944 and saw action at the Battle for Caen followed by the Battle of Bréville later that month. It saw combat again at the Battle of the Falaise Pocket in August 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945.

The 6th Battalion landed in France in January 1940 as part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division for service with the BEF. The battalion exchanged places with the 1st Battalion and became part of the 12th Brigade of the 4th Division and then took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940. It moved to North Africa in the spring of 1943 for service in the final stages of the Tunisian Campaign and then on to the Italian Front in February 1944 where it took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino in the spring of 1944. The battalion later fought on the Gothic Line before being sent to Greece in late 1944, where it remained for the rest of the war.

Postwar

The 2nd Battalion was deployed to India in 1945 and arrived at Cherat Cantonment, thirty-four miles from Peshawar, on 15 August 1947, when India and Pakistan became independent. In February 1946, the Black Watch was deployed to suppress the Royal Indian Navy mutiny at Karachi. On 26 February 1948 the battalion became the last British Army unit to leave Pakistan, boarding a transport ship at Karachi, after a formal parade through the streets with the salute taken by the prime minister Jinnah.

The regiment won honours after the Second Battle of the Hook in November 1952 during the Korean War. The regiment helped to suppress the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya in 1953 and to suppress the actions of EOKA during intercommunal violence in Cyprus in the late 1950s.

During the state funeral of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, nine bagpipers from the regimental band which had been on tour in the USA were invited to participate in the funeral procession. Between the White House and the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle they performed The Brown Haired Maiden, The Badge of Scotland, The 51st Highland Division, and The Barren Rocks of Aden. The Black Watch had won such renown that in December 1964 during an Anglo-American summit, President Lyndon Johnson asked the British prime minister Harold Wilson to send the Black Watch to Vietnam, a request that was refused.

The Black Watch served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles as part of Operation Banner. The regiment was frequently a major target of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army. A lance corporal serving with the regiment was shot by a sniper in East Belfast in November 1971 and a young private serving with the regiment was killed while on foot patrol in Dungannon, County Tyrone, by a remote control device in July 1978.

The Black Watch was the last British military unit to leave Hong Kong in 1997, and it played a prominent role in the handover ceremony.

Modern day

During the 2003 Iraq War, the Black Watch fought during Operation Telic in the initial attack on Basra, and during its deployment, the unit suffered a single fatality. The following year, the Black Watch was dispatched to Iraq again, as part of 4 (Armoured) Brigade. On 12 August, a soldier from the regiment was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED). In October, the Black Watch was at the centre of political controversy after the United States Army requested British forces to be moved further north, outside of the British-controlled Multi-National Division (South East), to replace forces temporarily redeployed for the Second Battle of Fallujah. Despite objections in Parliament, the deployment went ahead. Based at Camp Dogwood, located between Fallujah and Karbala, in an area later dubbed the "Triangle of Death", the Black Watch came under sustained insurgent attack from mortars and rockets. On 29 October, during the journey to their new base, a Black Watch soldier was killed in a road accident. On 4 November, three soldiers and an interpreter were killed by a car bomb at a check point, and on 8 November, another soldier was killed.

Under a plan devised by Lieutenant General Alistair Irwin and approved by General Sir Mike Jackson, on 16 December 2004, it was announced that the Black Watch was to join with five other Scottish regiments – the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders – to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, a single regiment consisting of five regular and two territorial battalions. The measure, which reflected recruiting difficulties and the inefficiencies inherent in maintaining a number of relatively small separate units, took place on 28 March 2006. The Black Watch were retained following intervention from Queen Elizabeth II.

In July 2007 the battalion moved from Palace Barracks in Belfast to Fort George.

On 24 June 2009, it was reported that elements of the battalion numbering about 350 troops carried out one of the largest air assault operations of the NATO troops in Afghanistan, named Operation Panther's Claw, by deploying into and attacking a Taliban stronghold located near Bābājī (باباجی ), north of Lashkar Gah. The operation commenced on 19 June just before midnight. After a number of combat engagements with the insurgents, the soldiers of the battalion secured three main crossing points: the Lui Mandey Wadi crossing, the Nahr-e-Burgha canal and the Shamalan canal. Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, Commanding Officer of The Black Watch battalion, was reported saying that this operation established a firm foothold in what was the last remaining Taliban area controlled in the southern Helmand Province. The location of the Taliban force in the area had allowed it to conduct attacks on the A01 highway, a major national route connecting Kandahar and Herat. During 22 June, troops of the battalion also "found 1.3 tonnes of poppy seed and a number of improvised explosive devices and anti-personnel mines before they could be laid." Analysis by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation revealed the haul to be of mung beans, not poppy seed.

Structure

The regiment is currently organised into a standard light infantry organisation (included are affiliated units):

Home Headquarters, at Fort George, Inverness – subordinate to RHQ, Royal Regiment of Scotland based at Edinburgh Castle

Active Battalion, at Fort George, Inverness – organised as a Security Force Assistance Battalion

Battalion Headquarters

Headquarters Company

A (Grenadier) Company, with ANPR (Pipes and Drums) B, and D (Light) Companies (Light Infantry)

C (Fire Support) Company

51st Highland Volunteers, 7th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (Army Reserve)

A (Black Watch) Company, in Dundee

Platoon, at Gordon Barracks, Aberdeen

Lovat Scouts Platoon, in Kirkcaldy

The Black Watch Regimental Museum, at Balhousie Castle, Perth

Regimental museum

The battalion headquarters and regimental museum are at Balhousie Castle in Perth.

Uniform and traditions

The Black Watch's primary recruiting areas are in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross. The battalion is permitted to retain its most famous distinction, the red hackle on the Tam o'Shanter.

Notable members

The following are notable individuals who served with the regiment:

Alfred Anderson, Scotland's last surviving World War I veteran (d. 2005)

Bernard Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, the last British-born Governor-General of New Zealand

Hugh Rose, 24th of Kilravock, Commander of the 1st Battalion.

James C. Gibson, Scottish-born plantation manager and community leader in British Guiana. Acting Staff Corporal during World War I.

Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer

Fergus Bowes-Lyon, older brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Duncan Campbell, Scots nobleman and British army officer

Iain Cuthbertson, actor

Harold Davis, Scottish former professional football player

Henry Davie, Liberal Member of Parliament for Haddington

Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher, social scientist and historian

Al Foreman, British lightweight boxing champion, assigned as a non-combat drummer boy at the end of WWI at age 14, very brief service. Later received Distinguished Flying Cross with Royal Air Force in WWII.

Stewart Granger, actor

J. B. S. Haldane, British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist

Recipients of the Victoria Cross

The following Black Watch servicemen were awarded the Victoria Cross:

Francis Farquharson, Indian Mutiny Lucknow, 9 March 1858

John Simpson, Indian Mutiny Fort Ruhya, 15 April 1858

Alexander Thompson, Indian Mutiny Fort Ruhya, 15 April 1858

James Davis, Indian Mutiny Fort Ruhya, 15 April 1858

Edward Spence, Indian Mutiny Fort Ruhya, 15 April 1858

William Gardner, Indian Mutiny Bareilly, 5 May 1858

Walter Cook, Indian Mutiny Sissaya Ghat, 15 January 1859

Duncan Millar, Indian Mutiny Sissaya Ghat, 15 January 1859

Samuel McGaw, Ashanti War Amoaful, 31 January 1874

Thomas Edwards, Egyptian Campaigns Tamaai, 13 March 1884

John Ripley, First World War Rue du Bois, 9 May 1915

David Finlay, First World War Rue du Bois, 9 May 1915

Charles Melvin, First World War Istabulat, 21 April 1917

Lewis Evans, First World War Zonnebeke, 4 October 1917

Bill Speakman, Korean War, 4 November 1951

Battle honours

The battle honours consist of the combined battle honours of the 42nd Regiment and the 73rd Regiment, together with:

Guadaloupe 17591, Martinique 17621, Havannah1, North America 1763–64, Mysore5, Busaco³, Salamanca4, South Africa 1846–476, 1851-2-36 Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882 '84, Kirbekan, Nile 1884–85, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899–1902

The Great War [25 battalions]: Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Béthune, Scherpenberg, Soissonnais-Ourcq, Tardenois, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1915–18, Egypt 1916, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Damascus, Palestine 1917–18, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915–17

The Second World War: Defence of Arras, Ypres-Comines Canal, Dunkirk 1940, Somme 1940, St. Valery-en-Caux, Saar, Breville, Odon, Fontenay le Pesnil, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Falaise, Falaise Road, La Vie Crossing, Le Havre, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44–45, Barkasan, British Somaliland 1940, Tobruk 1941, Tobruk Sortie, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, Medenine, Zemlet el Lebene, Mareth, Akarit, Wadi Akarit East, Djebel Roumana, Medjez Plain, Si Mediene, Tunis, North Africa 1941–43, Landing in Sicily, Vizzini, Sferro, Gerbini, Adrano, Sferro Hills, Sicily 1943, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa Fortis, Rimini Line, Casa Fabbri Ridge, Savio Bridgehead, Italy 1944–45, Athens, Greece 1944–45, Crete, Heraklion, Middle East 1941, Chindits 1944, Burma 1944

The Hook 1952, Korea 1952–53; Al Basrah, Iraq 2003; Second Battle of Fallujah, Iraq 2004

1. awarded 1909 for services of 42nd Regiment.

Colonels-in-Chief

1912–1936: King George V

1937–2002: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

2003–present: King Charles III

Regimental colonels

Colonels of the regiment were:

The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

1881–1888 (1st Battalion): Gen. Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron (ex 42nd Foot)

1881–1885 (2nd Battalion): Gen. Sir Henry Robert Ferguson-Davie, Bt. (ex 73rd Foot)

1888–1907 (1st Battalion): Gen. Sir Robert Rollo

1907–1914: Lt-Gen. Sir John Chetham McLeod

1914–1929: Gen. Sir John Grenfell Maxwell

1929–1940: Gen. Sir Archibald Rice Cameron

The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) (1935)

1940–1946: Gen. Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope

1946–1950: F.M. Sir Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell

1950–1952: Gen. Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie

1952–1960: Maj-Gen. Neil McMicking

1960–1964: Maj-Gen. Robert Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott

1964–1969: Brig. Henry Conyers Baker-Baker

1969–1976: Brig. Rt. Hon. Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae

1976–1981: Brig. John Cassels Montieth

1981–1992: Maj-Gen. Andrew Linton Watson

Alliances

The battalion has the following alliances:

Australia – Australia – The Royal Queensland Regiment

Australia – Australia – The Royal New South Wales Regiment

Canada – Canada – The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada

Canada – Canada – 42nd Field Artillery Regiment (Lanark and Renfrew Scottish), RCA

Canada – Canada – The Prince Edward Island Regiment (RCAC)

South Africa – South Africa – Solomon Mahlangu Regiment

Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka - Gemunu Watch

Royal Navy – HMS Montrose

Before and after the Second World War, the Australian Militia, later renamed the Citizen Military Forces (CMF), included the 30th Battalion, New South Wales Scottish Regiment. This unit was affiliated with the Black Watch.

Canada (from 1862) has its own Black Watch, being raised as the 5th Battalion of the Canadian Militia, being renamed by 1914 as the 5th Regiment (Royal Highlanders of Canada). It adopted its current title, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, prior to the Second World War, and saw action in both world wars.

New Zealand raised the New Zealand Scottish Regiment in 1939, which was allied to the Black Watch and disbanded in 2013.

Anecdotes

When wearing the kilt, it is customary for troops to "go regimental" or "military practice", wearing no underwear. In 1997, a Black Watch soldier received wide press exposure because of windy conditions during a military ceremony in Hong Kong.

In popular culture

Anthems associated with the regiment include "Wha Saw the Forty-Second", ("Wha saw the Forty Twa") a reworking of the Jacobite song "Wha Wadna Fecht For Charlie", "The Gallant Forty Twa", and "Twa Recruiting Sergeants".

In 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland premiered a new play, Black Watch, by Gregory Burke at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Compiled from interviews with former soldiers, the play dealt with the history of the regiment and in particular the recent deployment in Iraq.

The regiment are lambasted in an Irish rebel song The Black Watch, recorded by various artists such as the Irish Brigade, the Fighting Men of Crossmaglen, Athenry and Shebeen, for their role in the Troubles. The lyrics speak of the Black Watch, "strolling down the Falls Road with riot guns and gas, terrorising women as they're coming out of Mass." (The tune is taken from the earlier song "The Gallant Forty-Twa".)

The tabletop game BattleTech features a fictionalized version of the Black Watch known as the Royal Black Watch Regiment, serving as the bodyguard of the First Lord of the Star League and using the same insignia and motto as their real life counterparts.