The regiment now known as the Scots Guards traces its origins to the Marquis of Argyll's Royal Regiment, a unit raised in 1642 by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll in response to the 1641 Irish Rebellion.[3] After the Restoration of Charles II, the Earl of Linlithgow received a commission dated 23 November 1660 to raise a regiment which was called The Scottish Regiment of Footguards.[4]
Both battalions were in London during the 1745 Rising; an engraving by William Hogarth shows them marching to take up defensive positions in North London. However, the Jacobite army turned back at Derby, and in July 1747, the Second Battalion was sent to Flanders, where it fought at Lauffeld, before the war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.[9]
In the absence of a modern police force, the military was often used for crowd control; in Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, William Hickey describes a detachment from the "Third Regiment of Guards, principally Scotchmen" dispersing a crowd attempting to release the radical politician, John Wilkes from prison in 1768.[10]
In April 1809, the 1st Battalion was sent to the Iberian Peninsula, and served in the Peninsular War in Portugal and Spain. It took part in the crossing of the River Douro on 12 May, an operation that ended so successfully that the French Army were in full retreat to Amarante after the actions in Oporto and its surrounding areas. In late July 1809 the regiment took part in the Battle of Talavera, one of the bloodiest and most bitter of engagements during the war.[3]
At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, the Scots Guards were positioned on the ridge just behind Hougoumont. Their light companies, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell, held Hougoumont Farm throughout the battle, a key defensive position on the right flank of the Allied army.[12]
Scots Guards drummer, piper, bugler and musician, circa 1891
In April 1940, the 1st Battalion, as part of the 24th Guards Brigade, took part in its first campaign of the war, during the expedition to Norway.[14]
In North Africa, as part of the 22nd Guards Brigade, the 2nd Battalion took part in fighting against the Italians in Egypt followed by tough fighting in Libya, then also controlled by Italy. In North Africa, in March 1943, the 2nd Battalion took part in the defensive Battle of Medenine, after the Germans had counter-attacked the Allies.[14]
In September 1943, the 2nd Battalion, as part of the 201st Guards Brigade of the 56th (London) Division, took part in the Landing at Salerno. In December 1943, the 1st Battalion, as part of 24th Guards Brigade, arrived in the Italian Theatre. At the Battle of Monte Cassino in early 1944, the 2nd Battalion suffered heavy casualties in tough fighting.[15]
The 1st Battalion, as part of its brigade, joined the 6th South African Armoured Division in May 1944. The regiment took part in many fierce engagements throughout 1944, including those against the Gothic Line, a formidable defensive line.[16]
In the years following the Second World War the Scots Guards saw action in a number of Britain's colonial wars. In 1948, the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Guards was deployed to Malaya (now part of Malaysia) to crush a Communist-inspired and pro-independence uprising during a conflict known as the Malayan Emergency. The 2nd Battalion performed a variety of duties, such as guarding duties, patrols into the dense jungle, and assaults upon MNLA guerrillas. The battalion was involved in an incident known as the Batang Kali massacre, in which they were responsible for the execution of 24 unarmed civilians.[17][18] By the time the battalion left Malaya in 1951 and returned home, it had lost thirteen soldiers.[19]
By late 1951, the 1st Battalion was deployed to Cyprus; and in February 1952, the battalion deployed to the Suez Canal Zone, Egypt. In February 1962, the 2nd Battalion arrived in Kenya, and operated in support of the civil power during the Mau Mau Uprising. In 1965 the 1st Battalion undertook two tours in Borneo during the Indonesian Confrontation.[20]
Both the 1st and 2nd Battalion deployed to Northern Ireland during the Troubles in the early 1970s.[21] In 1992, during their time in Northern Ireland, the Scots Guards were involved in the contentious shooting of civilian Peter McBride: two soldiers were convicted of murder.[22][23]
During the Falklands War in 1982 the main force of the Scots Guards began its advance on the western side of Mount Tumbledown. During the course of the battle in the early hours of 14 June 1982, men of the 2nd Battalion "wearing berets instead of helmets" launched a bayonet charge on the redoubtable Argentinian defenders, which resulted in bitter and bloody fighting, and was one of the last bayonet charges by the British Army.[15]
On 1 May 2022 (delayed from the originally intended 1 April 2022), soldiers in A (The London Scottish) Company, the London Regiment transferred to foot guards regiments and the company became G (Messines) Company, Scots Guards, 1st Battalion London Guards.[26][27]
The Scots Guards and other Guards regiments have a long-standing connection to the Parachute Regiment. Guardsmen who have completed the P company selection course are transferred into the Guards Parachute Platoon, which is part of 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. This continues the lineage of the No. 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company, who were the original Pathfinder Group of the 16th Parachute Brigade.[28]
The Scots Guards is ranked as the third regiment in the Guards Division. As such, Scots Guardsmen can be recognized by having the buttons on their tunics spaced in threes. They also do not wear hackles (plumes) in their bearskins, unlike the other Foot Guards.[15]
Since 1993, F Company, permanently based in Wellington Barracks, London on public duties, has been the custodian of the colours and traditions of the 2nd Battalion, which was placed in permanent suspended animation in 1993 as a result of Options for Change.[29] F Company was formerly part of the 2nd Bn as its 'support weapons company', operating mortars, anti-tank weapons, and reconnaissance vehicles.[30]
The regiment consists of a single operational battalion, which was based in Catterick between 2008 and 2015, thereafter moving to Aldershot in the armoured infantry role. 1st Battalion will be equipped with Mastiff Vehicles (and later the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV)) under Army 2020 Refine and be under the first Strike Brigade. The 1st Battalion will not rotate public ceremonial duties unlike the other guards regiments with F Company performing that role.[31][32][33][34]
Regular Recruits to the Guards Division go through a thirty-week training programme at the Infantry Training Centre (ITC). The training is two weeks more than the training for the Regular line infantry regiments of the British Army; the extra training, carried out throughout the course, is devoted to drill and ceremonies.[36]
Colonels-in-Chief
King Edward VII assumed the colonelcy-in-chief of the regiment on his accession,[37] and subsequent monarchs have also been colonel-in-chief.[38]
For many years a Colonel was given the full-time appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Commanding the regiment. After 1986 a Lieutenant Colonel was appointed, but in 1989 the role was retitled Regimental Lieutenant Colonel; this was an honorary appointment, filled by a senior serving officer who took on responsibility for the 'regimental affairs' of the regiment alongside his primary military role.[63]
The Regimental Lieutenant Colonels have included:[64]
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