“The soldiers of the 42d cannot have a better or more instructive history than their regimental records. They tell how, 100 years ago, the 42d won the honoured name of ‘Royal’ at Ticonderoga in America, losing, although one battalion, 647 killed and wounded. How the 42d gained the ‘Red Heckle’ in Flanders. How Abercromby and Moore in Egypt and in Spain, dying in the arms of victory, thanked, with parting breath, the 42d. Well might the heroes do so! The fields of honour on which they were expiring were strewed with the dead and wounded soldiers of the 42d.
“The 42d enjoy the greatest distinction to which British regiments can aspire. They have been led and commanded by the great Master in War, the Duke of Wellington. Look at your colours: their badges will tell you how often—and this distinction is the more to be valued, because his Grace, so soldierlike and just was he, never would sanction a regiment’s wearing a badge, if the battle in which they had been engaged, no matter how bravely they may have fought in it, was not only an important one, but a victory.
“In the Crimea, in the late campaign in this country, the 42d again did excellent service under my very gallant and distinguished predecessor, Lord Clyde. The last entry in the regimental records shews that the spirit of the ‘Black Watch’ of 1729 was the same in 1859, when No. 6 company of the 42d, aided only by a company of the Kumaon levy, four guns, and a squadron of irregular cavalry, under Sir Robert Walpole, beat back, after several hours obstinate fighting, and with severe loss, 2000 rebels of all arms, and gained the day. Lord Clyde bestowed the highest praise on the company that a general can do,—His Lordship thanked them for their valour and their discipline.
“I am sincerely obliged to Lieutenant-Colonel Priestley for having, on the part of the 42d Royal Highlanders, requested me to present them with their new colours. It is an honour and a favour which I highly prize, the more so, because I am of Highland origin, and have worn for many years the tartan of another regiment which does undying honour to Scotland—the 92d Highlanders.
“I have chosen this day—New Year’s day—for the presentation of colours, because on New Year’s day in 1785 the colours were given to the 42d under which they won their red plume. Besides, New Year’s day, all over the world, particularly in Scotland, is a happy day. Heaven grant that it may be a fortunate one for this regiment!”
On the 3d, after inspecting the regiment, His Excellency desired Lieutenant-Colonel Priestley to thank them for the admirable condition in which he found them, and for their regularity and good conduct. His Excellency further called several officers and soldiers to the front of the battalion and thanked them for their gallant conduct on various occasions, and No. 6 company for the valour and discipline evinced by them on the occasion alluded to in His Excellency’s speech.
On the 8th of March three companies were detached to Futteghur. On 23d March headquarters moved from Bareilly to Agra, where they arrived on the 8th of April, and were garrisoned along with the 107th regiment. On 27th July the regiment moved into camp, on account of cholera having broken out, and returned to barracks on 12th August, having lost from cholera 1 officer and 40 non-commissioned officers and men. After returning to barracks, the regiment was prostrated by fever and ague, so many as 450 men having been at one time unfit for duty out of seven companies.
On 12th September the regiment was delighted by having its old name reconferred upon it, as a distinguished mark of honour. A notification was received that on 8th July 1861 Her Majesty had been pleased graciously to authorise The Royal Highland Regiment to be distinguished, in addition to that title, by the name by which it was first known—“The Black Watch.”
In March 1862, Lieutenant-General, the Marquis of Tweeddale, was appointed Colonel in place of the deceased Sir James Douglas. The Marquis, however, in September of the following year, removed to the 2d Lifeguards, and was succeeded by the regiment’s former commander, who led them up the slopes of Alma—Major-General Sir Duncan Cameron.
On 6th December 1863, the Black Watch marched by forced marches from Lahore to Rawal Pundee, on account of active operations having been commenced against some of the hill tribes. It arrived at the latter place on December 19. Affairs on the frontier having, however, assumed a favourable aspect, the regiment returned to Dugshai, which it reached on the 13th February 1864, but returned to Rawal Pundee, where on 14th December it was put into garrison with the 79th. It left the latter place in October 1865, and proceeded to Peshawur, where it was in garrison with the first battalion of the 19th regiment, and subsequently with the 77th. In 1867, while at Peshawur, cholera broke out in the cantonments, and on the 21st of May five companies, under Major Macpherson, were removed to camp; these were followed on the 25th by headquarters and the other five companies. From the 20th to the 31st May, 66 men, 1 woman, and 4 children died of cholera. On the 1st of June the regiment commenced its march to Cheroat, a mountain of the Kultoch range, where headquarters was established on the 15th. The health of the regiment was not, however, immediately restored, and the number of deaths at Cheroat were 1 officer, 15 non-commissioned officers and men, 2 women, and 1 child. The total deaths in the regiment, from 20th May to 17th October, including casualties at depot, were 2 officers, 86 non-commissioned officers and men, 5 women, and 9 children;—altogether 102, or nearly one-sixth of the whole regiment.