History of the Scottish Regiments in the British Army

by Archibald K. Murray

“Caledonians, brave and bold!

Heroes, never bought or sold!

Sons of sires, who died of old

To gild a martial story!”

SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS—SCOTTISH CIVIL WARS—REVOLUTION.

Whilst the Grenadiers and Coldstreams were unwilling witnesses to the profligacy and lewdness of the Court, the Scots Foot Guards, since their establishment in 1661, were more especially the witnesses of its cruelties. The inquisition established by Royal Commission, and presided over by the then Duke of York, rioted in the shedding of the blood of “the faithful,” and with merciless cruelty persecuted and tortured our Covenanting forefathers. In 1679, the Scots Foot Guards were called to make their first essay in arms in the defence of Glasgow. Their firm front, as they withstood the army of the Covenanters, may be said to have stemmed the torrent of rebellion, and saved the Government and the royal cause from the ruin which threatened it. At the battle of Bothwell Bridge they were charged with the attack upon the bridge, which, although desperately defended, they ultimately carried. This single achievement was victory; the terror, the panic it inspired in the still formidable army of the Covenanters, led to a disorderly flight, even before the royal troops could be brought across the river and formed in line of attack.

The Scots Foot Guards continued to be deeply involved in the strifes of these unhappy times. Towards the close of their sojourn in Scotland, 200 of the regiment, under Captain Streighton, associated with a portion of the Scots Greys, were employed in taking summary and merciless vengeance upon Macdonald of Keppoch and his unfortunate clan, because of their recent raid upon the Macintosh. Immediately thereafter, the imminent danger to the Crown, caused by the threatened irruption of the Prince of Orange, which was so soon to overthrow the existing dynasty, induced James to draw together to London the whole reliable forces of the kingdom. Accordingly the Scots Foot Guards, under their colonel, Lieutenant-General Douglas, marched with the Scottish army southward. Arriving in London towards the close of October, the regiment, 1251 strong, was quartered in the vicinity of Holborn. Advanced with the royal army, the Scots Foot Guards were stationed at Reading. Here, becoming tainted with the general disaffection then prevalent, a battalion deserted to the Prince of Orange. The events in the sequel, bringing about the dissolution of the authority of the King, and the establishment of the House of Orange under William and Mary, speedily reunited the battalions of the regiment under the new authority, and it is hereafter to be regarded as the Scots Fusilier, or Third Regiment of Guards. The title of Scots Fusilier Guards was conferred on them as late as the 22d April, 1831.

The ambitious views of Louis XIV.—“Le Grand Monarque”—of France were for the moment paralysed, as he found himself outdone in his calculations by the unexpected turn of events in England—the overthrow of the Stuarts and the splendid triumphs of the House of Orange. Nettled by these disappointments, he readily entertained the schemes of James, not so much that he desired the restoration of that imbecile monarch—even although, as hitherto, enjoying the shadow of independent power, he should continue the tool of the Jesuits of France—but rather that he might find a favourable pretext to trouble the House of Orange, whom he had been long accustomed to regard as his natural and mortal foe. He aspired, moreover, to unite the Netherlands—the hereditary dominion of the Stadtholder—to France, perchance to reduce these sea-girt isles of ours to acknowledge his authority and become an appanage of his Crown. Whilst James—encouraged by the fair promises of Louis—laboured to fan into flame the discontents of the English Jacobites, the Scottish Clans, and the Irish Papists, Louis prepared formidable armaments by sea and land, with which he speedily assailed the Netherlands. Meanwhile, aided by the natural reaction which generally follows the outburst of strong feelings, James succeeded but too well in his malignant purpose; in Scotland, by the rebellion of the Highland Clans, under Viscount Dundee, and in Ireland, by the rebellion of Irish Papists, under Tyrconnell. It required all the firmness and ability of William to meet this formidable coalition, which threatened his dominions at home and abroad; but the King, who could point to times in his eventful history when, with far less promise of a successful issue, he had overthrown more powerful foes—sustained now, too, by the veteran experience of Schomberg and the rising genius of Marlborough—promptly prepared to uphold his new-gotten and extensive authority as the Champion of the Protestant cause, a title which he had long enjoyed, and a faith which, despite the wrathful persecution of kings, he had owned and protected.

For a time, in Scotland, victory seemed indecisive, but after the death of Dundee at Killiecrankie, the cause of James, languishing for a while, was at length abandoned as hopeless by the Clans, and in 1691 the rebellion terminated by their submission. In Ireland, the success of James was complete, with the exception of Londonderry and Enniskillen, which, being resolutely and gloriously defended as the last bulwarks of Irish Protestantism, still held out. Even the arrival of Schomberg, in 1689, at the head of a considerable number of newly-raised regiments of English and French Huguenots, aided by a Dutch force, failed to do more than awe the rebels. In the following year William himself joined the army, with large supplies, and by his presence revived the spirit of his troops—now increased to 36,000. A battalion of the Scots Foot Guards at the same time recruiting the royal army, led by their colonel, General Douglas, were present at the battle of the Boyne, where they materially contributed to the overthrow of the Irish rebels. They were also present with the army, under Ginkel, which ultimately dispersed the troops of the malcontents, driving James from the throne of Ireland, and so united the island once more to the British Empire.

While these events were taking place at home, Marlborough had been sent in command of a British contingent, which comprised, with other troops, a battalion of the Scots Foot Guards and one of the Coldstream Guards, to act with the Dutch and German allies, under Prince Waldeck, against the French in the Netherlands. It is interesting to note this, as being the first effort in arms of the Scots Foot Guards upon a foreign shore and against a foreign foe. In the first action of the campaign, fought at Walcourt, our Guards were present, but occupied no very important post, the brunt of the battle having been sustained by the Coldstreams, under Colonel Talmash, the Sixteenth Regiment of Foot and the First Regiment of Royal Scots, under Colonel Hodges. Although forming a part of the Scottish brigade, the regiment, indeed the army, achieved nothing of importance until 1692, when King William, having effectually secured peace at home, placed himself at the head of his forces, infusing by his presence new energy and life into the war. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm which pervaded the troops when William assumed the command, they could make no impression upon the French army, directed by the abilities of the Duc de Luxembourg. On the contrary, the allies were doomed to suffer severe defeats at Steenkirk in 1692, and Landen in 1693. In the latter, Corporal Trim, in Sterne’s renowned “Tristram Shandy,” is represented to have been wounded whilst serving with his master, the kindly-hearted Uncle Toby, in Leven’s regiment, now the Twenty-fifth King’s Own Borderers. The after campaigns are unmarked by any decisive event. The death of Luxembourg, and the incapacity of his successor—Villeroy—enabled the confederates somewhat to retrieve the disasters of the past. Soon the almost impregnable fortress of Namur—bravely defended by Marshal Bouffleurs, and as bravely assailed by our troops—was, after a fearful carnage, lost to France. In 1697, weary of a war which had been fraught with no decided success on either side, the peace of Ryswick put an end for the present to a further waste of blood and treasure.