Royal Highland Fusiliers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland | |
|---|---|
 Cap Badge of the Royal Regiment of Scotland |
|
| Active | 28 March 2006- |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Role | Light Role Infantry |
| Part of | Scottish Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Edinburgh |
| Motto | Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (No One Assails Me With Impunity) |
| Commanders | |
| Royal Colonel | HRH The Duke of York |
| Insignia | |
| Tactical Recognition Flash |  |
The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) was a regular Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division, and known (for short) as 'The RHF'. The regiment was formed on 20th January 1959 by the (then) controversial amalgamation of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, raised on 23rd September 1678 as The Earl of Mar's Regiment and becoming known as the Scots Fusiliers in about 1685 and as the 21st Regiment in 1694, with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment), formerly the 71st (Highland) Light Infantry raised in 1777 and the 74th Highlanders, which considered itself the senior 'clan' regiment (almost all the officers being Campbells) and was raised in 1787; all regiments of considerable and distinct lineage. For example, the 21st (then called Campbell's Regiment) and the forebears of the 71st had fought on opposite sides at the Battle of Culloden (1745). The regiment celebrated its 300th anniversary at Edinburgh in 1978. It comprised a single regular Army unit (1st Battalion The Royal Highland Fusiliers) approximately 600 strong, under the Commanding Officer a Lieutenant Colonel. This unit moves every few years from station to station, changing roles, in accordance with the British Army's 'arms plot'. The Regimental Headquarters and museum is run by the Regimental Secretary (a retired officer) and is permanently based at Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. A magazine is published: 'The Journal of the Royal Highland Fusiliers'; enquiries to reg.sec@rhf.org.uk. There are also various old comrades groups and associations linked to the current and former Regiments.
Notably, the regiment had the distinction among British infantry regiments of carrying three colours on parade. In addition to the Queen's and Regimental Colours, the third - the Assaye Colour, was originally awarded by the Governor General in Council in India on behalf of the British East India Company to the 74th Highland Regiment for distinguished service at the Battle of Assaye in India in 1803 while under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.
The Regiment maintained the traditions of the long 'Attention' command being given on parade (rather than the modern abbreviated Army 'shun') and of referring to the Commanding Officer's orders (disciplinary parade) as 'haul up' from the days of the unit acting as escorts to prisoners being transported to the colonies. Officers wore red 'infantry' piping on the epaulettes of their greatcoats, a detail inherited from the Royal Scots Fusiliers and mentioned by Boris Pasternak in his book Doctor Zhivago, but long lost to other infantry regiments. On administrative days, officers wore a blue patrol jacket detailed with a pleated spine pad, a relic of the Boer War.
The Regiment's uniform included the blue Glengarry cap with red 'tourie', red, white and green dicing, black silk cockade and Grenade cap badge, Mackenzie tartan trews and black highland brogue shoes worn with white spats. In the field in combat dress, the Glengarry was replaced, when a helmet is not worn, by a khaki 'tam o'shanter' bonnet with Mackenzie tartan patch and with a white fusilier (feather) hackle when appropriate. The Regimental badge (box above right) was the 'grenade in flames' from the Royal Scots Fusiliers cap badge, on which is mounted the crowned HLI monogram from the Highland Light Infantry. The tartan is 'Mackenzie', the blue and green 'government' tartan with added white and red lines.
The Regiment has been awarded over 200 battle honours, from Blenheim to Gulf 1990-91, gained in every major and many minor conflict, campaign and theate of war since the 21st Regiment's first engagement at the Battle of Walcourt in 1689, a number unsurpassed by any other unit in the British Army. The Regiment has fought against Louis XIV, Napoleon, Kruger, George Washington, The Kaiser, Hitler, Bonnie Prince Charlie the IRA, The United States, various natives of Africa and Asia and Saddam Hussein; in the Netherlands, in the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, in the American Revolution, in India, the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, in the Crimea, in the South African wars, in the First and Second World Wars and in recent Gulf conflicts. The 'Royal' Achievement was conferred on the 21st Fusiliers in 1712 by Queen Anne for exceptional services in the War of the Spanish Succession. The Regiment's 'achievements' as born on the colours and on the drums are: The Royal Cypher and The White Horse of Hanover, St Andrew, The Castle and Key of Gibraltar and the Assaye Elephant.
The Regiment's most cherished Battle Honours are: Blenheim (August 1704 - War of the Spanish Succession), Assaye (September 1803 - Mahratta War) , The Storming of Badajos(April 1812 - Peninsular War), Vitoria (June 1813 - Peninsular War), Waterloo (July 1815), Inkerman (November 1854 - Crimean War) and Gheluvelt (October 1914 - World War 1 - France). 44 battle honours are carried on the Regimental Colour, 29 on the Queens Colour and 2: Seringapatam and Assaye, on the Assaye Colour.
In the Regiment's Pipes, Drums and Bugles band, pipers wear the all-blue Cameron pattern Glengarry with Dress Erskine tartan kilt, drummers also wear the kilt but retain the diced Glengarry as do buglers who wear Mackenzie trews. All wear the RHF 'band' cap badge which is the Regimental badge superimposed on the cross of St Andrew and the star of the Order of The Thistle. The Drum major wears a fusilier officer's full dress pattern bearskin with a bearskin grenade cap badge.
The Regimental Marches are: Pipes, Drums and Bugles: Quick Marches - Hielan' Laddie/Blue Bonnets over The Border; Slow March - My Home. Military Band: Quick Marches - Whistle o'er the Lave o't/The British Grenadiers (the quick march of all British Fusilier Regiments); Slow Marches - The Garb of Auld Gaul/The March of the 21st Regiment.
A history of the Royal Highland Fusiliers from 1959 is yet to be written. However, the most important histories of the forebear regiments are: The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers 1678-1918 by the famous novelist John Buchan, written in memory of his brother who served in the Regiment, and Proud Heritage. The Story of the Highland Light Infantry (4 Volumes) by Lieutenant Colonel L B Oatts DSO late of the HLI.
The Regiment recruits as far as possible from the greater Glasgow area and from Ayrshire but warmly welcomes members from all over Scotland, the UK and from the Commonwealth of Nations as far afield as the Republic of Fiji.
In 2004, as part of the restructuring of the British infantry, the UK Ministry of Defence announced that the Royal Highland Fusiliers was to be merged with the other surviving Scottish infantry regiments as part of a single seven battalion unit with the title of the 'Royal Regiment of Scotland'. This merger took place in March 2006. As with the other Scottish regiments, the Royal Highland Fusiliers were permitted to retain their former name as their main title, with the new battalion number as a subtitle. There, the regiment is now known as The Royal Highland Fusiliers (2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland); in addition, members of the battalion are permitted to wear the white fusilier hackle under certain circumstances. Three Territorial Army Companies of the 52nd Lowland Regiment are also affiliated with the regular Royal Highland Fusiliers battalion.
