Liverpool Scottish

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The Liverpool Scottish
The Liverpool Scottish, 24 April 1910.
Active	1900-present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army
Type	Territorial infantry
Size	Platoon
TA Centre	Townsend Avenue, Norris Green
Uniform	Glengarry, with blue hackle Forbes kilt
March	The Glendaruel Highlanders Quick March: Loch Rannoch [1]
Decorations	Victoria Cross: Captain N.G. Chavasse
Battle honours	South Africa 1902 The Great War: Bellewaarde, Somme 1916, Ginchy, Morval, Ypres 1917, Pilkem, Menin Road, Passchendaele, Cambrai, Lys, Estaires, France and Flanders 1914-18

The Liverpool Scottish, known diminutively as 'the Scottish', is a unit of the British Territorial Army raised in 1900 as an infantry battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment). Formally affiliated to the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in the 1920s, the battalion was transferred from the King's in 1937 with its identity preserved. The Territorial Army's decline in size since the 1940s first reduced the Liverpool Scottish to a company in 1967, then to a platoon of "A" (King's) Company in 1999. In 2006, the company was incorporated into the 4th Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

When the Liverpool Scottish was constituted, it became one of four battalions in English infantry regiments to explicitly associate with the Irish and Scottish communities. These were the Liverpool Irish, raised in 1860; the London Scottish, raised in 1859; and the London Irish Rifles, raised in 1860.

Service in the First World War was extensive. The Liverpool Scottish was one of the first territorial battalions to arrive in France when it deployed in November 1914. Approximately 1,000 of over 10,000 men who served with the Scottish died during the war.^[2] Though not engaged in the Second World War as a cohesive unit, contingents were supplied to other battalions and the Army Commandos.

[edit] 1900-1914

External images
	Museum display of WWI uniform[3]

The Liverpool Scottish marching past King George V and Queen Mary during a royal visit to Liverpool, July 1913.

There had been a previous attempt to raise a formation of Scotsmen in Liverpool. Heightened tension with France in the late 1850s had provided the impetus for the emergence of the Volunteer movement.^[4] Three "Scottish" companies (one "Highland" and two "Lowland") were formed as the 19th (Liverpool Scottish) Lancashire Volunteer Rifle Corps.^[5] They were composed predominantly of the middle class. Disputes between members over the use of kilts and the colour of their tartan culminated in the 19th's fragmentation. Four companies were in existence within the 19th and 79th by 1861, but the former was subsumed by the Liverpool Volunter Rifle Brigade and the latter disbanded in 1863.^[5]

Interest in establishing a unit composed of Scottish Liverpudlians was renewed during the Second Boer War began.^[6] On 30 April 1900, the 8th (Scottish) Volunteer Battalion was formed within the King's (LiverpooL Regiment), with headquarters at Highgate Street, Edge Hill. Traditional highland attire adopted for the battalion's dress uniform included the Clan Forbes pattern tartan and the glengarry headress. A former major in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Christopher Forbes Bell, was appointed commanding officer and officially assumed command on 24 October.^[7] Bell was succeeded to command by Andrew Laurie Macfie in 1902.^[8]

In common with other volunteer battalions, the Liverpool Scottish organised a detachment for overseas service in South Africa. The contingent of 22 volunteers under Lieutenant John Watson was dispatched in 1902 and attached to the 4th Service Company of the 1st Gordon Highlanders. As the war was approaching its conclusion by March, the contingent's assignments were limited. Their contribution was nevertheless recognised with a battle honour: "South Africa 1902".^[9]

New battalion headquarters were acquired in 1904 at Fraser Street, Liverpool City Centre, where the Liverpool Scottish would remain until 1967. Haldane's reforms established the Territorial Force in 1908, incorporating the volunteers and yeomanry. Regionally-defined brigades and divisions were constituted to administer territorial units. The Liverpool Scottish, renumbered the 10th, would, by 1914, be subordinate to the South Lancashire Brigade, West Lancashire Division.

[edit] First World War (1914-1918)

[edit] 1914-1915

"E" Company parading for kit inspection, September 1914.

War was declared in August 1914, the Liverpool Scottish mobilised and moved to Scotland under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Nicholl. Duplicate battalions were formed in Liverpool from personnel unable to volunteer for overseas service. The second-line battalion, designated as the 2/10th to distinguish it from the original, was organised in October, the third-line in May 1915. Their duties were to primarily train recruits, providing drafts for overseas service. While the 3/10th remained in Britain for the duration of the war, the 2/10th arrived in France in 1917 with the 172nd Brigade, 57th Division.

Considered by contemporaries to be socially élite and well-trained, the 1/10th volunteered for overseas service and became the seventh territorial battalion to be dispatched to the Western Front.^[10][11] The battalion arrived in Southampton and embarked aboard the SS Maidan on 1 November. Disembarkation at Le Havre was completed the following morning with the Queen's Westminster Rifles. Assigned to the 9th Brigade, 3rd Division, the Liverpool Scottish occupied trenches in the Kemmel area, five miles south of Ypres. The 1/10th suffered its first fatality on 29 November: Captain Arthur Twentyman, killed whilst attempting to return to British lines.^[12][13] The severe winter of late 1914, combined with trench warfare, depleted the strength of the Liverpool Scottish.^[14] From an establishment of 26 officers and 829 men recorded in November, the battalion had dwindled to 370 able-bodied men by January 1915.^[11][14]

Colonel Nicholl's pre-deployment succcessor, Major Blair, was replaced by J.R. Davidson within weeks of the battalion's arrival due to ill health. Davidson would command the battalion for three-years before he returned to Liverpool in 1917. Obsolete equipment was one of the challenges the battalion and other territorials contended with in France. The Scottish employed the long version of the Lee-Enfield (MLE), which had been superseded by the SMLE (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield) in the Regular Army. Unsuited to newer ammunition and the conditions of the Western Front, the 10th's MLEs began to be phased out by the SMLE in early 1915.^[15] Structurally different to their regular counterparts, territorial battalions were reorganised early in the war to conform with the regulars.^[16] Unlike the Regular Army, which had adopted a four-company system in 1913, territorial battalions were organised into eight companies. When the system was extended to the Liverpool Scottish, the battalion designated its consolidated companies "V", "X, "Y", and "Z". This was in contrast to the more conventional "A" to "D" or "1" to "4" - considered by the battalion to be potentially confusing.^[16]

The Liverpool Scottish, 16 June, 1915. A shell explodes in Railway Wood, to the left of the German front line.

The battalion's first major action occurred at Hooge, two-miles east of Ypres, on 16 June.^[17] The 9th Brigade, with 7th Brigade in support, was to conduct a three-phase attack intended to ultimately reach trenches along the Bellewaarde Lake. Situated behind German lines was the Belllewaarde Ridge, a feature that overlooked British lines.^[18][19] At 4:15 am, the first wave of troops proceeded to their objective and quickly secured the first-line trenches, which continued to be shelled by British artillery.^[20][21] The Liverpool Scottish and 1st Lincolnshire Regiment, forming the second wave, were ordered to pass through the first wave and advance on the German second-line.^[22] Resistance was encountered on V" Company's company while proceeding to the captured trenches. Pausing briefly, the company, reinforced by elements of "Z", charged the oppposing positions and took about forty prisoner.^[23] The battle quickly degenerated into a disorganised and chaotic affair, with British battalions, including the Scottish, becoming mixed up with each other. The battalion's advance on the final positions proved difficult in the face of a stout German defence. The few that managed to reach the positions held out for several hours before a withdrawal was carried out to consolidate the gains made, ending at the captured first-line trenches. The Liverpool Scottish had suffered heavily in their first battle - 79 killed, 211 wounded and 109 missing from a pre-battle strength of 542 officers and men. A memorial to this battle was erected in the area in 2000. An experienced Company-Quartermaster Sergeant, R.A. Scott Macfie, described the aftermath at camp in a letter to his father:

Battle of Hooge, 16 June, 1915. In the background, an artillery marker has been planted atop a parapet to show the extent of the Liverpool Scottish advance.

[edit] 1916-1917

The West Lancashire Division reformed in January 1916 as the 55th, under the command of Major-General Hugh Jeudwine. Many of the division's orignal constituent battalions returned and the Liverpool Scottish joined the 166th Brigade.^[26] Before it was committed to the Somme Offensive in July, the 55th was concentrated in the Amiens area.^[26] The Liverpool Scottish moved to the Somme in mid-July and relieved the 18th King's near Montauban on the 31st.^[27] The village of Guillemont was subject to five successive attacks by the Allies between July and September. Concerted efforts by the 55th Division during August were unsuccsseful. Elements of the 2nd and 55th Divisions conducted the third attack against Guillemont on 8 August. Heavy casualties were incurred and two battalions of the King's Regiment, having entered the village, were isolated and eventually captured.

Amid reports that the Liverpool Irish were holding out in Guillemont, orders were issued to renew the attack on the 9th.^[28][29] The Liverpool Scottish, with the 1/5th Loyals on its left, was to advance along a 400-yard front, penetrate the German front line and establish itself on Guillemont's eastern boundary.^[30] Difficulties arose before the attack while navigating through unfamiliar territory to the starting positions and the battalion was briefly without guides.^[30] Final orders were receieved late, affording Colonel Davidson only minutes to brief his company commanders.^[30][31] A five-minute artillery bombardment preceeded "Zero" hour, set, as the previous engagement was, at 4:20am.^[31] The Scottish were almost immediately caught in a counter-barrage, which, along with machine-gun fire, disrupted their progress. Colonel Davidson personally rallied his battalion and attempted to resume the advance. He was wounded and two further attempts by the remnants of the battalion to reach the frontline yielded no success.^[30][31] Few had entered the German trenches; the majority had been obstructed by uncut barbed wire. Of the 20 officers and 600 other ranks engaged at Guillemont, 74 had been killed, 174 were wounded, and 32 were missing. The village was captured in September. One of the wounded was Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, attached to the Liverpool Scottish from the Royal Army Medical Corps. He would have the distinction of being the battalion's only recipient of the Victoria Cross.

In the subsequent battles of Ginchy and Morval, the 1/10th was engaged in a purely supporting role: it collected and buried the dead, constructed new trenches and improved the existing trench-system near Delville Wood.^[32]. A party of two officers and 100 other ranks were attached to the 1/3rd West Lancashire Field Ambulance during the Battle of Morval.^[33]

Returned to the Ypres salient, positioned at Wieltje. On 31 July 1917, a new offensive around Ypres was launched to try and penetrate the German lines, advance to the Belgian coast and capture German submarine bases. The Liverpool Scottish experienced some of the heaviest resistance in 166 Brigade's area, taking heavy losses around the fortified farms. The battalion remained in some captured German trenches until they were relieved on 3 August. The following day, Captain Chavasse died of wounds having again assisted wounded soldiers - he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

[edit] 1918

In September the Scottish moved south to Epehy, thirteen miles south of Cambrai, where its division took part in the Battle of Cambrai in November. On 21 March 1918, Germany launched Operation Michael, the beginning of the last German offensive of the war. making substantial gains before it was halted on 25 March. This was followed by Operation Georgette, begun on 9 April, in Flanders. The Liverpool Scottish were involved in the defence of the Givenchy sector during the Battle of Estaires, sustaining such losses that they absorbed the 2/10th Liverpool Scottish, which had landed in France in February 1917. After the Spring Offensive was halted, the Western Front entered its final phase — a series of Allied drives from August to November known as the Hundred Days Offensive. The Liverpool Scottish fought one of its last actions of the war, at La Bassée Canal in October. By the end of the war on 11 November 1918, the Liverpool Scottish had suffered thousands of casualties, including over 1,000 dead.

[edit] Interbellum and Second World War

After reconstituting into the Territorial Army in 1920, the Liverpool Scottish formalised its relationship with the Cameron Highlanders and transferred in 1937 to become the regiment's second territorial battalion.^[34] The Camerons' area of recruitment in the Highlands was sparsely populated, in contrast to the urbanised region that was encompassed the King's Regiment in north-west England.^[35] Numerical designation was omitted but the battalion remained essentially unchanged: identity was preserved and headquarters at Fraser Street, Liverpool retained. New colours were presented at Goodison Park by King George VI during a royal visit to Liverpool in 1938.

Expansion of the Territorial Army was announced in March 1939 and a 2nd Battalion of the Liverpool Scottish formed. Mobilisation was later authorised, but both battalions would remain in Britain for the duration of the Second World War. The 2nd Battalion converted to artillery in 1942 as the 89th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery. Drafts were supplied to other units, principilly the Cameron Highlanders. Contingents were also received by the embryonic "Independent Companies" and their "Commando" successors. Among the earliest was the composite No. 4 Independent Company, which contained troops from the Scottish, King's, and South Lancashires, collectively under the command of Major J.R. Paterson - a pre-war officer of the Scottish.^[36] The company actively operated in support of the campaign in Norway before the evacuation of Allied forces in mid-1940. Battalion-sized "Commandos" were then established by the consolidation of the companies and subsequently amalgamated into Special Service battalions.^[37] These battalions later reverted to the Commando designation.

[edit] Post-war

The 1st Scottish deployed abroad in late 1945 to garrison Gibraltar. Conversion to a motorised infantry battalion occurred in 1947; the battalion later reverted to its standard infantry role. Economic constraints and alignment towards nuclear weapons and other military technology necessitated the reorganisation and rationalisation of the Territorial Army in the 1960s.</ref>^[38] Most battalions were reduced to cadre-strength or disbanded. The Liverpool Scottish lineage avoided extinction, but the battalion was disbanded and subsequently reconstituted into two distinct artillery and infantry units: "V" Company, 51st Highland Volunteers, and "G" Troop, The West Lancashire Regiment, RA. Both maintained their headquarters at Forbes House, Score Lane, in Childwall, Liverpool. While the troop disbanded with "R" (King's) Battery in 1969, the company would remain an integral component of the 51st Highland until 1992.

Post-Cold War restructuring incorporated "V" Company into the 5th/8th (Volunteer) Battalion of the King's Regiment, successor to the King's Regiment (Liverpool). Further reorganisation in 1999 reduced the Scottish to a platoon of A (King's) Company, King's and Cheshire Regiment. The platoon relocated to Townsend Avenue, Norris Green, where territorial infantry in Liverpool are concentrated. Individuals have been attached to other units and deployed on operational tours in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. ^{[39] [40]}

[edit] Commanding officers

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Liverpool Scottish Platoon, army.mod.uk
• Liverpool Scottish Museum Trust, liverpoolscottish.org.uk
• Liverpool Scottish and the Great War, mersey-gateway.org
• The Long, Long Trail (1914-1918) - Ordinary Heroes: Frederick Harding Turner, Liverpool Scottish, 1914-1918.net

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