History of the Scottish Regiments in the British Army

by Archibald K. Murray

DUKE OF SCHOMBERG, COLONEL OF THE FIRST ROYALS.

When the Revolution of 1688 promised the downfall of the house of Stuart, whose power had been so long built upon the suppressed liberty of the people, the exclusion of James II.—the degenerate representative of an ancient and once beloved race—from the throne, as the minion of the Papacy and the dawn of a better state of things, under the more healthy rule of the Prince of Orange, the champion of Protestantism, as monarch of these realms, it might have been deemed excusable had our “Royal Scots,” from their antecedents on behalf of the Protestant cause, sided with the Prince. The result, however, was far otherwise, and affords us another splendid illustration of the firm fidelity of the soldier in the sterling devotion of this regiment. The “Royal Scots” had been James’s favourite regiment, and well they merited that monarch’s trust. Whilst other troops exhibited a shameful defection, the “Royal Scots,” with unshaken constancy, adhered to the desperate fortunes of their infatuated King. Nor when all else had submitted, save Claverhouse’s Dragoons, and resistance had been rendered fruitless by the pusillanimous flight of James, did they see it their duty to exchange into the service of the new Sovereign. The term “mutiny” is wrongly applied when given to express their conduct on this trying occasion. By lenient measures the 500 men and officers who had refused to tender their submission were at length induced to make their peace with the new king, who, appreciating their ancient name for valour, could admire their unshaken fidelity to one who was even forsaken by his own children; and therefore gladly retained the regiment to grace our military annals. Their conduct was at the same time most exemplary in those days of military license and excess; faithfully they remained at the post of duty, when other regiments, breaking from their ranks, shamefully disgraced themselves by the riot and disorder they everywhere committed. The Earl of Dumbarton, following King James into France, the vacant colonelcy was conferred on one of the oldest, ablest, and most distinguished officers of the age—the veteran Marshal Frederick de Schomberg.

The arrival of the dethroned James at the Court of France, whilst it awakened mingled feelings of commiseration and contempt in the mind of the crafty Louis, the bitterness of disappointed ambition roused a spirit of revenge, and was to be regarded as the signal for war. Accordingly, a powerful army was advanced towards the frontier, ostensibly to co-operate in the cause of the exiled monarch, but really to take advantage of the absence of the Stadtholder, for the annexation, by way of compensation for his increased power elsewhere, of his continental dominions in Holland. To divide attention, and direct the efforts of William away from his own more immediate designs, the French King, by paltry succours, helped to bolster up James in his ricketty Irish kingdom. To meet this combined assault, William, whilst himself was present with his army in the reduction of Ireland, sent the Earl of Marlborough with a British army, including the “Royals,” to co-operate with the Dutch in the defence of their fatherland. In 1692 he joined the allied army, and himself assumed the command. In an attempt to surprise the powerful fortress of Mons, Sir Robert Douglas, who, on the death of the Duke de Schomberg at the battle of the Boyne, had been promoted to the colonelcy of the “Royals,” was taken prisoner by the French cavalry. Released, on payment of the regulated ransom, he was reserved for a sadder but more glorious fate at the battle of Steenkirk, where he fell at the head of his regiment, gallantly fighting for and defending the colours he had rescued from the foe. General Cannon writes:—“Sir Robert Douglas, seeing the colour on the other side of the hedge, leaped through a gap, slew the French officer who bore the colour, and cast it over the hedge to his own men; but this act of gallantry cost him his life, a French marksman having shot him dead on the spot while in the act of repassing the hedge.” The able dispositions of the French commander, the Marshal de Luxembourg, sustained by the valour of his troops, compelled the retreat of the Allied army. Still pressed by the French at Neer-Landen, notwithstanding the most desperate resistance of our Infantry, especially the Royals, and Second, or Queen’s Royals, our army continued to retire. These disasters were somewhat redeemed by the successes of subsequent campaigns, crowned in the siege and fall of Namur, a powerful fortress, long and bravely defended by Marshal Boufflers. The peace of Ryswick, subscribed in 1697, put an end to the war, and our army in consequence returned home.

During the war of the Spanish Succession, which commenced in 1701, the Royals were destined to play an important part. They were present under the great Marlborough at the several victories of Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, Wynendale, and Malplaquet, which, distinguishing the war, we have elsewhere already alluded to. In many of these battles their gallant colonel, Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, who had succeeded Sir Robert Douglas, was present, and led the regiment to the fight. Their conduct at Wynendale was specially remarkable, where, in defence of a large and important train of stores, etc., a British front of 8000 men resisted the combined and repeated efforts of 22,000 French to capture the stores and treasure. The war was terminated by the peace of Utrecht, in 1713.

During the thirty succeeding years the regiment was employed garrisoning various towns, etc., at home, except in 1742, when the second battalion was sent to do duty in the West Indies. In the following year, disputes arising as to the Austrian Succession, and our country inclining to the side of Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, whilst France, on the other hand, had, for political reasons, espoused the cause of its old ally, the Elector of Bavaria, an appeal was made to arms. A British force, under our own chivalric King, George II., had already appeared in Germany, and achieved the signal victory of Dettingen, when the Royals joined the army in time to share the disasters of Fontenoy. The rebellion of Prince Charles Edward subsequently occasioned their recall. Whilst the first battalion remained in camp under Marshal Wade, in the south of England, prepared to defend our shores from the threatened invasion and co-operation of France, the second battalion, stationed at York, proceeded in pursuit of the rebels, who, after having penetrated to Derby, finding that the expected aid from England was not realised, returned to Scotland, where, joined by a body of recruits, they undertook the siege of Stirling Castle. In this they were interrupted by the advance of the King’s army, towards Falkirk, under Lieut.-General Hawley. Encountering the enemy in the vicinity, a sanguinary battle ensued, but devoid of any decisive result, both parties claiming the victory. Whilst some of the King’s troops were broken by the combined assaults of the elements and the enemy, the Royals stood fast. The dissensions which had but lately prevailed to distract the counsels of the rebels had been hushed by the preponderating eminence of a coming struggle, and the promise of plunder as the reward of victory. Now that the excitement of battle had ceased, the Royal army retired, and the hopes of booty disappointed, these evil feelings, more fatal than the sword, burst forth with renewed virulence, to ruin the interests of the Jacobites, occasioning the retreat of their broken-hearted Prince, with a diminished, and disspirited, yet brave and faithful army. Meanwhile the King’s forces, greatly strengthened by the arrival of fresh troops, a second time advanced upon the enemy. Led by the Duke of Cumberland, the advance soon assumed the character of a pursuit. At length the rebels, overtaken and driven to bay, made a stand in the neighbourhood of Inverness, on Culloden Moor, where, notwithstanding the fiery valour of the clans, they sustained a total defeat, and were never afterwards able to rally.

“For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight;

And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight.

They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom and crown:

Woe, woe, to the riders that trample them down!

. . . . . . . . . .