Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 22 on 10/08/2005.

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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 strange quirks of history and geography, its regimental museum is at Berwick-upon-Tweed, south of the border in England.

Today, the KOSB focuses on a key recruiting area covering some wonderful scenery, historic castles and sites and fascinating towns and villages that have seen the political landscape change dramatically as English and Scottish armies passed to and fro.

Until a decision last year to merge it with other Scottish regiments, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers was one of the oldest unamalgamated regiments in the United Kingdom, famously formed with 800 men in around two hours by David Leslie, 3rd Earl of Leven on 18th March 1689. It first saw action at the Battle of Killiecrankie on 27th July that year.

From next year the KOSB is being absorbed into a new Scottish super regiment under a planned reorganisation of Scotland’s six infantry regiments.

Under the process the King’s Own Scottish Borderers would merge with the Royal Scots and form one battalion of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. The other four battalions would be made up by the Black Watch, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the Royal Highland Fusiliers and the Highlanders.

The KOSB, however, will fierc.....

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By Mark Nicholls

Section : Scottish Regiments

Page number : 62