This is a list of battalions of the Royal Scots, which existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1633 to 2006.
Original composition In 1881, under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, one pre-existent militia and seven volunteer battalions of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Berwickshire, Haddingtonshire and Linlithgowshire were integrated into the structure of the Royal Scots. Volunteer battalions had been created in reaction to a perceived threat of invasion by France in the late 1850s. Organised as "rifle volunteer corps", they were independent of the British Army and composed primarily of the middle class. The only change to the regiment's structure during the period of 1881–1908, was the loss of the 1st Berwickshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, and the numbering of the remaining Rifle Volunteer Corps into Volunteer Battalions.
BattalionFormedFormerlyRegular1st16252nd16863rd1804 (disbanded 1817)4th1804 (disbanded 1816)Militia3rd (Militia)1798Queen's Edinburgh Light Infantry MilitiaVolunteers1st Volunteer18591st Battalion, 1st Edinburgh (City) Rifle Volunteer Corps2nd Volunteer18652nd Battalion, 1st Edinburgh (City) Rifle Volunteer Corps3rd Volunteer18884th Volunteer18592nd Edinburgh (City) Rifle Volunteer Corps5th Volunteer18591st Midlothian (Leith) Rifle Volunteer Corps6th Volunteer18602nd Midlothian (Midlothian and Peebles-shire) Rifle Volunteer Corps7th Volunteer18601st Haddington Rifle Volunteer Corps8th Volunteer18601st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteer Corps9th (Highlanders) Volunteer1900
Reorganisation
The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve". All volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order.
BattalionFormerly4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)1st Volunteer Battalion (along with elements of 3rd Volunteer Battalion)5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)2nd Volunteer Battalion (along with elements of 3rd Volunteer Battalion)6th4th Volunteer Battalion7th5th Volunteer Battalion8th6th Volunteer Battalion9th (Highlanders)9th Volunteer Battalion (Highlanders)10th (Cyclist)8th Volunteer Battalion
First World War
The Royal Scots fielded 35 battalions and lost 11,213 officers and other ranks during the course of the war. The regiment's territorial components formed duplicate second and third line battalions. As an example, the battalions of the 4th King's were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, and 3/4th respectively. Many battalions of the Royal Scots were formed as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener's appeal for an initial 100,000 men volunteers in 1914. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army. The 15th to 18th King's, New Army "Service" battalions, were referred to as the "Pals" because they were predominantly composed of colleagues. The Volunteer Training Corps were raised with overage or reserved occupation men early in the war, and were initially self-organised into many small corps, with a wide variety of names. Recognition of the corps by the authorities brought regulation and as the war continued the small corps were formed into battalion sized units of the county Volunteer Regiment. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1625Western Front2nd1686Western FrontSpecial Reserve3rd (Reserve)1798Britain, IrelandTerritorial Force1/4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)1859Western FrontSee Inter-War1/5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)1865Gallipoli, Western FrontAmalgamated with 1/6th in June 19161/6th1859North Africa, Western FrontAmalgamated with 1/5th in June 19161/7th1859Gallipoli, Middle East, Western FrontSee Inter-War1/8th1860Western FrontSee Inter-War1/9th (Highlanders)1900Western FrontSee Inter-War1/10th (Cyclist)1860Britain, IrelandSee Inter-War2/4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Edinburgh, September 1914Britain, IrelandDisbanded in August 19172/5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Edinburgh, September 1914Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 2/4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) in November 19162/6thEdinburgh, March 1915Britain, IrelandMerged with 2/4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) in November 19152/7thLeith, August 1914Britain, IrelandDisbanded in March 19182/8thHaddington, September 1914Britain, IrelandDisbanded in Summer 19172/9th (Highlanders)Edinburgh, September 1914Britain, IrelandDisbanded in July 19182/10th (Cyclist)Linlithgow, September 1914North RussiaDisbanded June 19193/4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Peebles, May 1915Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19163/5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Peebles, May 1915Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19163/6thPeebles, July 1915Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19163/7thPeebles, June 1915Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19163/8thPeebles, December 1914Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19163/9thPeebles, June 1915Britain, IrelandAbsorbed into 4th (Reserve) Battalion in July 19174th (Reserve)Hawick, June 1916Britain, IrelandDisbanded in 19185th/6thFrance, July 1916Western FrontDisbanded sometime after October 1919New Army11th (Service)Edinburgh, August 1914Western FrontDisbanded sometime after November 191912th (Service)Edinburgh, August 1914Western FrontDisbanded in June 191913th (Service)Edinburgh, August 1914Western FrontDisbanded in June 191914th (Reserve)Weymouth, November 1914Britain, IrelandBecame the 54th Training Reserve Battalion, February 191615th (1st City of Edinburgh) (Service) (Cranston's Battalion)Edinburgh, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded in August 191816th (2nd City of Edinburgh) (Service) (McCrae's Battalion)Edinburgh, December 1914Western FrontDisbanded in August 191817th (Service) (Rosebery's Bantams)Edinburgh, February 1915Western FrontDisbanded sometime after April 191918th (Reserve)Edinburgh, July 1915Britain, IrelandBecame the 77th Training Battalion, September 1916Others19th (Labour)Blairgowrie, April 1916Western FrontTransferred to Labour Corps as 1st and 2nd Labour Companies, in April 19171st GarrisonEdinburgh, August 1915Britain, Egypt, CyprusDisbanded in May 19192nd GarrisonLeith, August 1916BritainBecame 1st Battalion, Royal Defence Corps, August 1917Volunteer Training CorpsWestlake pps. 111, 118, 122-123, 1251/1st Battalion City of Edinburgh Volunteer Regimentlater the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentEdinburgh Disbanded post war2/1st Battalion City of Edinburgh Volunteer Regimentlater the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentEdinburgh Disbanded post war1/1st Battalion Midlothian Volunteer Regimentlater the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentEdinburgh Disbanded post war2/1st Battalion Midlothian Volunteer Regimentlater the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentLiethDisbanded post war1st Battalion Haddingtonshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 5th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentHaddingtonDisbanded post war1st Battalion Linlithgowshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 6th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentLinlithgowDisbanded post war1st Battalion Peebles-shire Volunteer Regimentlater the 7th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots RegimentPeeblesDisbanded post war
Inter-War By 1922, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The King's Regiment did not, however, return to its original peacetime size; it lost many of its territorial battalions shortly after the war ended. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to the Supplementary Reserve in 1924; however, its battalions were effectively placed in 'suspended animation'. As World War II approached, the Territorial Army was reorganised in the mid-1930s, many of its infantry battalions were converted to other roles, especially anti-aircraft.
BattalionFate4th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Absorbed 5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) Battalion, and 10th (Cyclist) Battalion, to form 4th/5th Battalion (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) in 19215th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles)Amalgamated with 4th Battalion (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles), to form 4th/5th Battalion (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) in 19216thAmalgamated with 8th Battalion, and transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery, forming part of 57th (Lowland) Medium Brigade in 19217thAbsorbed 9th (Highlanders) Battalion, to form 7th/9th Battalion in 19218thAmalgamated with 6th Battalion, and transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery, forming part of 57th (Lowland) Medium Brigade in 19219th (Highlanders)Amalgamated with 7th Battalion, to form 7th/9th Battalion in 192110th (Cyclist)Absorbed into 4th/5th Battalion, as A Company, in 1921
Second World War The Royal Scots expansion during the Second World War was modest compared to 1914–1918. National Defence Companies were combined to create a new "Home Defence" battalion. In addition 17 battalions of the Home Guard were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge, and also by 1944 two batteries of [Anti-Aircraft] rocket batteries (Z Battery.Whittaker pp. 107-108 A Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troop was formed from one of the local battalions to defend a power station.Whittaker p. 124 Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of the men in the LAA troops, the troops required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular unit.
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1625France, India BurmaSee Post-World War II2nd1686Hong Kong, Italy PalestineSee Post-World War IITerritorial Army4th/5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) (52nd Searchlight Regiment)1921BritainTransferred to the Royal Artillery, July 1940 and became 52nd Searchlight Regiment (Queen's Edinburgh, Royal Scots)7th/9th (Highlanders)1921Britain, Western FrontSee Post-World War II8th (Lothians and Peebleshire)Formed as a duplicate of 7th/9th (Highlanders), August 1939Britain, France, North West EuropeSee Post-World War II10th (Home Defence)Late 1939BritainRedesignated as the 30th Battalion, 194111th (Home Defence)Late 1939BritainDisbanded in 194012thOctober 1940BritainDisbanded in 194230thRedesignation of 10th (Home Defence) Battalion, 1941BritainDisbanded in 1943Others50th (Holding)June 1940BritainRedesignated as the 12th Battalion, October 1940 Home GuardBattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)BattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Edinburgh1st City of EdinburghEGH 12nd City of EdinburghEGH 23rd City of EdinburghEGH 34th (Portobello)City of EdinburghEGH 45th City of EdinburghEGH 56th City of EdinburghEGH 67th (Musselburgh)City of EdinburghEGH 78th City of EdinburghEGH 89th (University STC)City of EdinburghEGH 910th (3rd Bn London and North Easter Railway)City of EdinburghEGH 1011th (11 G.P.O.)City of EdinburghEGH 11West Lothian1st North BerwickEL 12nd HaddingtonEL 2Mid Lothian1st EdinburghML 12nd DalkeithML 2East Lothian1st EdinburghWL 12nd BathgateWL 2Home Guard Light Anti-Aircraft unitsFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationEGH 101Portobello208th Battery 20th Anti Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard)EGH 102Edinburgh217th Battery 20th Anti Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard)EGH 4 Portobello Electricity Power stationA Troop LAA
Post-World War II
In the immediate post-war period, the army was significantly reduced: nearly all infantry regiments had their first and second battalions amalgamated and the Supplementary Reserve disbanded.