Blackcock Feathers From the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers
Abbreviation
SCOTS
Military unit
The Royal Regiment of Scotland (SCOTS) is the senior and only current Scottishline infantryregiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of three regular (formerly five) and two reservebattalions, plus an incremental company, each formerly an individual regiment (with the exception of the former first battalion (now disbanded and reformed into the 1st Bn Rangers based in Northern Ireland), which is an amalgamation of two regiments). However, three regular battalions maintain their former regimental pipes and drums to carry on the traditions of their antecedent regiments.
The regiment consisted originally of a total of seven battalions: one of these was formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers, while the others are each formed from one of the remaining single-battalion regiments of the Scottish Division. Of all of the new regiments formed following the announcement of 16 December 2004, the Royal Regiment of Scotland is the only one where the former regimental titles have been prominently retained with the new numbered battalion designations as subtitles. There is however a common regimental cap badge, tactical recognition flash (TRF), tartan, stable belt and Glengarry headdress but distinctively coloured hackles are also worn by each separate battalion on the Tam o' Shanter headdress to maintain their individual identity and the pipes and drums of each battalion continue to wear the ceremonial uniforms and tartans of their former regiments.[3]
In 1948, every regiment of line infantry was reduced to a single battalion. The subsequent process of reducing the overall number of infantry regiments in the Army through disbandment or amalgamation of the traditional county regiments that were formalised in the Childers Reforms of 1881 to form larger multi-battalion regiments, has continued to affect most of the British Army Infantry since the 1957 Defence White Paper outlined the first mergers. The creation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland encountered considerable opposition amongst former soldiers, and nationalist groups.[6]
The new regiment is also primarily a kilted one and there are concerns that the much older Lowland units, which traditionally wore trews, will be effectively absorbed into a Highland tradition. However, the Ministry of Defence's case that change was necessary to enhance operational efficiency through economies of scale, improve and create more flexible conditions of service and to resolve chronic recruiting and retention problems amongst the eight single-battalion Scottish regiments was endorsed by the then Chief of the General Staff, Sir Mike Jackson. Jackson delegated the decision on how the reduction of battalions would be achieved to the Council of Scottish Colonels. The Council recommended that the Royal Scots should be amalgamated with the King's Own Scottish Borderers reflecting the former regiment's long term poor recruiting record and high reliance on Commonwealth recruits.[7]
The status of the Black Watch was particularly controversial. When the confirmed plan to amalgamate the regiments was announced, 1st Battalion The Black Watch was deployed away from Basra at Camp Dogwood in a relatively dangerous region of Iraq. Hoon was accused by the SNP of "stabbing the soldiers in the back" and being motivated purely by political and administrative concerns, with little regard to the effect on morale. This controversy was further exacerbated in the minds of some by the fact that the Colonel of the Black Watch, Lieutenant-GeneralAlistair Irwin, was a member of the Army Board at the time that the options to change the size and structure of the infantry by forming large regiments, including to amalgamate regiments of the Scottish Division into a single regiment, were being considered in the Ministry of Defence and final decisions taken.[7]
The regiment was initially formed of six regular and two territorial battalions on 28 March 2006. On 1 August 2006, the Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion were amalgamated into the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Borderers, leaving the final regular roll of five regular battalions.[8]
On 1 December 2021, as part of the Future Soldier programme, the 1st Battalion (Royal Scots Borderers), was disbanded and subsequently reformed as part of the new Ranger Regiment and based in Northern Ireland.[10]
Organisation
All battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, to preserve regional ties and former regimental identities, took the name of their former individual regiments. The order of battle is as follows:[11][12]
Highland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland (Reserve) – Part of 7 SCOTS at Queen's Barracks, Perth
Pipe Bands:
Pipes and Drums of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
Pipes and Drums of The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
Pipes and Drums of 51st Highland, 7th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (Reserve)
At the creation of the Regiment in 2006 there were five additional pipes and drums:
Pipes and Drums of 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (Reserve). Disbanded in 2007.
Pipes and Drums of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. Disbanded in 2013, with the reduction of the 5th Battalion to Balaklava Company.
Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland. Disbanded February 2021.[27]
Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots, disbanded in August 2006 following merger into Royal Scots Borderers
Pipes and Drums of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, disbanded in August 2006 following merger into Royal Scots Borderers
The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland falls within the Royal Corps of Army Music. The reserve bands are administered by the Royal Corps of Army Music, though fall under the command of their respective battalions.
The new regiment's various Dress Uniforms incorporate a number of "golden threads" from the antecedent regiments. Some of the most prominent include:[32]
In No. 1 and No. 2 pattern dress, all battalions wear Blackcock tail feathers attached to the Glengarry in a tradition taken from the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers.
The tartan adopted by the new regiment is Government 1A (sometimes known as Sutherland), a version of the Government (Black Watch) tartan worn by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.[33]
The Pipes and Drums of each battalion preserve the ceremonial dress of the antecedent regiments. Thus 2 SCOTS pipers and drummers wear Government no 11 tartan, Red Erskine, 3 SCOTS drummers wear no 1, Black Watch, and pipers wear Royal Stewart, 4 SCOTS pipers and drummers wear no 4, Cameron of Erracht, and 7 SCOTS pipers wear Royal Stewart (see Government tartans).[34]
The Black and Red diced Hose and scarlet Garter flashes are in a style worn by the Black Watch. The Spats with black buttons, worn over the Brogues, are in a style worn by the Gordon Highlanders, with a point to the rear, as worn by the Black Watch.
The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland wears the Feather bonnet with a red over white hackle and scarlet Doublet in Full Dress Uniform.
Hackles
While in PCS combat dress, each battalion wears its own unique coloured hackle on the Tam O'Shanter:
Members of the Regiment serving in an appointment outside of regimental duty (also formerly the hackle of the former 1st Battalion): Black
^Chappell, Mike (1987). The British Soldier in the 20th Century Part 2, Field Service Head Dress 1902 to the present day. Wessex Publishing. ISBN978-1870498012.
^"Our Mascot". The Royal Regiment of Scotland. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
^ abThe London Gazette, Page 3300-3301 (1 July 1881). "Childers Reform". No. 24992. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 27 October 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^The London Gazette, Page 5713 (22 November 1881). "War Office Memorandum". No. 25040. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 27 October 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^The London Gazette, Page 2590 (2 June 1882). "War Office, Pall Mall". No. 25114. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 27 October 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)