Name : Royal Scots Fusiliers Started : 1881 Ended : 1959 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- Earl of Mar's Regiment of Foot (1678 - 1689) 21st Regiment of Foot (1689 - 1709) North British Fusilier Regiment of Foot (1709 - 1713) Royal North British Fusilier Regiment of Foot (1713 - 1751) 21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot (1751 - 1877) 21st (Royal Scots Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot (1877 - 1881)
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Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- Royal Highland Fusiliers (1959 - 2006) Royal Regiment of Scotland (2006 - Present)
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"The Foote Regiment commanded by ye Earle of Marre" was raised "on the Scotch establishment" in 1678, and was to be provided with a grenadier company, which was to have some practical knowledge of gunnery as well as hand grenades. It was placed on the English establishment in 1689, and therefore counts its seniority from that date. It first came under fire at Bothwell Brigg, then as "O'Farrell's Fusiliers", clad in red with red facings, did good work at Steenkirk, Walcourt, and Landen. It served through Marlborough's campaigns, was in Cutt's brigade with the "Royal Scots" in their attack on the palisades, and shared in the victories of Neer Hespen, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Lisle, Wynandale, Douay, Bouchain, and Malplaquet, bearing these three last and Blenheim on the colours, and being granted the designation of the "Royal Regiment of North British Fusiliers" in 1713 instead of the "Scots Fusiliers" by which the regiment had frequently been known.
Returning to Scotland in 1714, it was opposed at Sheriffmuir by the Jacobite army commanded by the son of the first colonel, and again fought on its native soil at Culloden. It fought at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and commenced wearing the curious conical fronted cap long worn in the army, copied probably from a Prussian source, while the grenadiers bore on theirs the thistle and crown with the white horse of Hanover and the motto "Nec aspera terrent". By this time it was numbered the 21st of the Line. It served at Belleisle in 1761, at Quebec in 1776, and at Stillwater, surrendering with the rest of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. Seventeen years later it was again serving in the West Indies, and was present at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe, receiving the commendation of General Prescott for its gallantry.
After Bergen op Zoom in 1814 - where a 2nd battalion, formed in 1804, saw its only foreign service, for it ceased to exist in 1816 - the 1st battalion sailed the same year from Genoa for America, and saw hard fighting at Bladensburg, which it bears on its colours; Baltimore, where it suffered severely; and at the capture of Washington. From this period until the Crimea it saw no active service, though its valuable services in the insurrection of the negroes in Demerara after 1819 were gratefully recognised by the local authorities by the presentation of mess plate and swords of honour; and it marched thirty four consecutive days in 1846 to take part in the operation against the Sikhs, but was not engaged. The battalion embarked for the Crimean campaign in 1854& as part of the 4th division, and fought at the Alma and at Inkerman, where their general fell. They behaved with the greatest gallantry at the Redan on the 18th June, 1855, and assisted at the capture of Kinburn; and bear Sebastopol, as well as the battles mentioned above, on their colours.
"South Africa, 1879", the last name in their battle roll, was gained by the 2nd battalion, which was raised in 1858, and saw its first active service there. By this time the former title of "Royal North British Fusiliers" had been changed to the "Royal Scots Fusiliers". They were engaged against the Zulus at Ulundi, in the operations resulting in the capture of Sekukuni's Kraal, and against the Boers in the Transvaal, where they garrisoned Rustenberg, Potchefstroom, and Pretoria, in the early part of which operations on of their officers, Captain Lambart, was treacherously taken prisoner, and a similar disgraceful act was performed at Pretoria, where the Fusiliers, misled by a flag of truce, left their cover and were fired on, though they had replied to the flag by a similar emblem. The whole war abounds in such cases. The Boers seem to have been destitute of every feeling of honour, for the small garrison of Potchefstroom, reduced to exhaustion, surrendered, when an armistice had already been concluded some days before. Their present arduous service in Burmah is the first foreign service they have seen since the South African troubles.
Two Militia regiments, the Scottish Borderers Militia, and the Royal Ayr and Wigton Militia, form the 3rd and 4th battalions of the Fusiliers. The former was raised in 1797, and volunteered for service both during the Crimean war and the Indian Mutiny; the latter first appeared in 1802, and was formed from the men of the disembodied 7th North British Militia. They were embodied from 1803 to 1816, doing duty in different parts of the United Kingdom, and again in 1855, undergoing several changes of title until the territorial system was introduced in 1881. The Volunteer battalions are the 1st and 2nd Ayrshire, raised in 1859, with red uniform and blue facings; and the 3rd Galloway, with grey and scarlet. The depot is at Ayr. The uniform of the regiment resembles that of the Royal Scots, but the head-dress is the usual black racoon skin "cap", with a gilt grenade in front. The regimental nickname is "Earl of Mar's Grey Breeks", from the colour of the men's breeches when the regiment was first raised.
Extract from "The British Army and Auxiliary Forces" Colonel C. Cooper King, R.M.A., 1894
