Scottish Regiments : Scotland Magazine

Capital’s military connection

In the final part of our series on Scotland’s army regiments, Mark Nicholls looks at the Edinburgh-based Royal Scots, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the role of the Scots Guards

Edinburgh is a city steeped in the military history of Scotland. Few locations hold that closer than Edinburgh Castle, soaring above the capital. It hosts two regiments – the Royal Scots and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards – and their museums, and it is also home to the National War Museum of Scotlan...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 24 published on 05/01/2006

Set for the history books

In the latest in our series on the Scottish regiments, Mark Nicholls looks at the Royal Highland Fusiliers and Glasgow, the vibrant city where it still recruits many of its soldiers

As an independent regiment, days are numbered for the Royal Highland Fusiliers. With the planned merger of Scotland’s six infantry regiments into one ‘super regiment’ next year, the RHF is set to be absorbed. However, it is somewhat ironic that it owes its existence and name to the last major reor...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 23 published on 14/10/2005

Border patrol

Mark Nicholls looks at the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and its heartland where Scotland and England meet

The King’s Own Scottish Borderers is a regiment that truly embraces the spirit of its name. In every sense a Scottish regiment, the heartland for the KOSB is the landscape straddling the border with England, across which many a conflict has been fought over the centuries. And in one of those stran...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 22 published on 10/08/2005

Famous across the world

In our continuing series on the great Scottish regiments, Mark Nicholls looks at the origins of the Black Watch and the part of Scotland it calls its own

The very name provokes so many questions... Why the Black Watch, what were its origins, its history and how did this gathering of clansmen come to be known across the world as one of the most famous of the Scottish regiments? As a regiment, the Black Watch has an intriguing history, one that is lin...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 20 published on 10/04/2005

Changing of the guards for the Scottish regiments

Scotland’s historic infantry regiments are to undergo a major re-organisation. As part of our ongoing series looking at Scotland’s regiments, Mark Nicholls examines the proposal and its impact on their ancient traditions.

Over the centuries, soldiers from the famous Scottish regiments have fought in numerous conflicts across the globe. They have been present at the great battles of the 18th and 19th century, fought in two world wars and more recently been involved in operations in Iraq. Throughout this often flambo...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 19 published on 20/3/2005

Tough, loyal and proud

In the second in our series looking at Scotland’s army regiments, we focus on The Highlanders, the proud descendants of five famous Scottish fighting units. As Mark Nicholls discovered, they recruit over large tracts of some of Scotland’s most beautiful and challenging terrain

The image is irresistible: a lone piper stepping into the fray bravely playing on to stir his comrades into action in the face of withering enemy fire. There are such tales within the annals of Scottish military history. Piper Kenneth Mackay famously stepped outside the relative safety of the regi...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 18 published on 8/1/2005

Soldiers made of Stirling stuff

The Scottish army regiments have a long and distinguished history. Mark Nicholls looks at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the diverse attractions that lie in the regiment’s traditional recruiting heartland

It is hardly surprising that Stirling is home to one of Scotland’s most decorated army regiments. The name signifies ‘land of strife’ and history shows that it has been thus at the critical moments in Anglo-Scottish history over the last millennium. Two of Scotland’s bravest warriors left an indel...

By Mark Nicholls from Issue 17 published on 29/11/2004