The Black Watch existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 2006.
Original composition When the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot, to become the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, seven pre-existent militia and volunteer battalions of Fife, Forfarshire, and Perthshire were integrated into the structure of the regiment. 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.
BattalionFormedFormerlyRegular1st17391st Battalion, 42nd Highlanders2nd17801st Battalion, 73rd Regiment of FootMilitia3rd (Militia)1798The 86th Royal Perthshire RiflesVolunteers1st (Dundee) Volunteer18591st Forfar (Dundee) Rifle Volunteer Corps2nd (Angus) Volunteer18592nd Forfar (Forfarshire, or Angus) Rifle Volunteer Corps3rd (Dundee Highland) Volunteer18603rd Forfar (Dundee Highland) Rifle Volunteer Corps4th (Perthshire) Volunteer18591st Perthshire Rifle Volunteer Corps5th (Perthshire Highland) Volunteer18602nd Perthshire (The Perthshire Highland) Rifle Volunteer Corps6th (Fifeshire) Volunteer18601st Fifeshire Rifle Volunteer Corps
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".
BattalionFormerly4th (City of Dundee)1st (City of Dundee) Volunteer Battalion5th (Angus and Dundee)Amalgamation of 2nd (Angus), and 3rd (Dundee Highland) Volunteer Battalions6th (Perthshire)4th (Perthshire) Volunteer Battalion7th (Fife)6th (Fifeshire) Volunteer Battalion8th (Cyclist)5th (Perthshire Highland) Volunteer Battalion
First World War
The Black Watch fielded 25 battalions and lost 8,390 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 three-line battalions of the 5th Black Watch were numbered as the 1/5th, 2/5th, and 3/5th respectively. Many battalions of the regiment 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 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.Westlake pp. 4-7
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1739Western Front2nd1780Western Front, Mesopotamian, PalestineSpecial Reserve3rd (Reserve)1798Britain, IrelandTerritorial Force1/4th (City of Dundee)1859Western FrontSee Inter-War1/5th (Angus and Dundee)1908Western FrontAmalgamated with the 1/4th Battalion, to become the 4/5th Battalion on 15 March 19161/6th (Perthshire)1859Western FrontSee Inter-War1/7th (Fife)1860Western FrontSee Inter-War2/4th (City of Dundee)Dundee, September 1914BritainDisbanded on 19 December 19172/5th (Angus and Dundee)Forfar, September 1914BritainAbsorbed into the 2/4th (City of Dundee) Battalion in November 19152/6th (Perthshire)Perth, September 1914BritainDisbanded in September 19172/7th (Fife)St. Andrews, September 1914BritainDisbanded in April 19183/4th (City of Dundee), 4th (City of Dundee) (Reserve) from 8 April 1916Dundee, March 1915BritainDisbanded 19193/5th (Angus and Dundee), 5th (Angus and Dundee) (Reserve) upon amalgamationForfar, March 1915BritainAmalgamated into the 4th (City of Dundee) (Reserve) on the 8 April 19163/6th (Perthshire), 6th (Perthshire) (Reserve) upon amalgamationPerth, April 1915BritainAmalgamated into the 4th (City of Dundee) (Reserve) on the 8 April 19163/7th (Fife), 7th (Fife) (Reserve) upon amalgamationSt. Andrews, April 1915BritainAmalgamated into the 4th (City of Dundee) (Reserve) on the 8 April 191613th (Scottish Horse Yeomanry)Abbassia, 1 October 1916, from the 1st and 2nd Scottish Horse RegimentsSalonika, Western FrontReturned to the Scottish Horse in 191914th (Fife and Forfar) YeomanryIsmalia, 21 December 1916, from the 1st Fife and Forfar YeomanryPalestine, Western FrontReturned to the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in 1919New Army8th (Service)Perth, 21 August 1914Western FrontDisbanded in 19199th (Service)Perth, 13 September 1914Western Front, BritainDisbanded in 191910th (Service)Perth, 13 September 1914Western Front, SalonikaDisbanded on 15 October 191811th (Service)Nigg, October 1914BritainBecame the 38th Training Reserve Battalion, in the 9th Reserve Brigade15th (Service)Deal, 1 June 1918BritainAbsorbed into the 9th (Service) Battalion on 19 June 1918Others12th (Labour)Blairgowrie, May 1916Western FrontBecame the 5th and 6th Labour Companies of the Labour CorpsVolunteer Training CorpsWestlake pps. 117, 1251/1st Battalion City of Dundee Volunteer Regimentlater the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchDundeeDisbanded post war2/1st Battalion City of Dundee Volunteer Regimentlater the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchDundeeDisbanded post war1/1st Battalion Forfarshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchForfarDisbanded post war2/1st Battalion Forfarshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchArbroathDisbanded post war1st Battalion Perthshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 5th Volunteer BattalionPerthDisbanded post war2nd Battalion Perthshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 6th Volunteer BattalionCrieffDisbanded post war1/1st Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 7th Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchKirkcaldyDisbanded post war2/1st Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 8th Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchDunfermlineDisbanded post war2nd Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regimentlater the 9th Volunteer Battalion, Black WatchSt. Andrew'sDisbanded post war
Inter-War By 1920, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The Black Watch did not, however, return to its original peacetime size; half of its territorial battalions were lost to amalgamation 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 (City of Dundee)Amalgamated with the 5th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion on 31 December 19215th (Angus and Dundee)Amalgamated with the 4th (City of Dundee) Battalion, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion on 31 December 19216th (Perthshire)Amalgamated with the 7th (Fife) Battalion, to form the 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion on 31 December 19217th (Fife)Amalgamated with the 6th (Perthshire) Battalion, to form the 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion on 31 December 1921
Second World War The Black Watch's 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 to this, 22 battalions of the Home Guard across Perthshire, Fife, Angus, Dundee and Kinross-shire were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge, and also by 1944 one rocket battery (Z Battery).Whittaker p. 107 Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of these men, the batteries required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular battery.Whittaker p. 23 A number of Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troops were formed from the local battalions to defend specific points, such as factories.Whittaker p. 124
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1739France, North Africa, Sicily, France, Western front2nd1780Somaliland, Crete, North Africa, India, Burma (Chindits)See Post-World War IISupplementary Reserve3rd1798See Post-World War IITerritorial Army4th (City of Dundee), (redesignation of 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion)1921France, Gibraltar, BritainSee Post-World War II5th (Angus and Dundee)1939, as a duplicate of 4th (City of Dundee) BattalionFrance, North Africa, Sicily, Western FrontSee Post-World War II6th (Perthshire), (redesignation of 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion)1921France, Britain, North Africa, Italy, GreeceSee Post-World War II7th (Fife), (redesignation of 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion)1939, as a duplicate of 6th (Perthshire) BattalionFrance, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Western FrontSee Post-World War II8th (Training)1939BritainAmalgamated with the 9th (Home Defence) Battalion in August 19419th (Home Defence)November 1939BritainSent as reinforcements, to the 6th (Perthshire) Battalion in North Africa, upon amalgamation10th1940 (transferred to the Black Watch from the Orkney and Shetland Islands Defence Forces in 1943)BritainDisbanded in 194630th1941BritainDisbanded in 1943Others50th (Holding)1940BritainDisbanded 194370th (Young Soldier)1940BritainDisbanded 1942 Home GuardBattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)BattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Angus1st BrechinANG 12nd ForfarANG 23rd ArbroathANG 3Dundee1st City of DundeeDDE 12nd City of DundeeDDE 23rd City of Dundee (13 G.P.O.)DDE 3Fife1st CuparF 12nd St. AndrewsF 23rd AnstrutherF 34th LevenF 45th KirkcaldyF 56th LochgellyF 67th DunfermlineF 78th KirkaldyF 89thRosyth DockyardF 910th DonibristleF 10Kinross-shire Independent CompanyKinross--Perthshire1stNorth PerthshireTAY 12nd BlairgowrieTAY 23rd StrathernTAY 34th PerthTAY 45th DunblaneTAY 56th Perth CityTAY 6Home Guard Anti-Aircraft unitsFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationDDE 101 City of Dundee218th Battery, 20th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard) (Z battery)F 5Burntisland, (British Aluminium Co. Ltd)A Troop LAAF 9Lathalmond, (Royal Navy Stores Depot)A 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.
BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 2nd Battalion on the 13 July 1948, without a change in title2ndAmalgamated with 1st Battalion on the 13 July 19484th (City of Dundee)Amalgamated with 5th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion5th (Angus and Dundee)Amalgamated with 4th (City of Dundee) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion6th (Perthshire)Amalgamated with 7th (Fife) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 6th/7th (Perthshire and Fife) Battalion7th (Fife)Amalgamated with 6th (Perthshire) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 6th/7th (Perthshire and Fife) Battalion
Amalgamation The 2003 Defence White Paper, titled Delivering Security in a Changing World, set out the future structure of the British military, one of the points being that the single-battalion regiments would be amalgamated into large, multi-battalion regiments. All of the Scottish regiments were amalgamated to form the 7 battalion strong Royal Regiment of Scotland.
BattalionFate1stBecame the 3rd Battalion (Black Watch), Royal Regiment of Scotland3rd (V), a battalion formed through the amalgamation of the 4th/5th and 6th/7th Battalions, in 1967Became A (Black Watch) Company of the 7th Battalion (51st Highland), Royal Regiment of Scotland
References