| 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1661-1718 1725-1881 |
| Country | Kingdom of Great Britain United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Branch | British Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Nickname | Black Watch Forty-Twa Black Jocks |
| Motto | (Scotland's!)Nemo me impune lacessit |
| Engagements | War of Austrian Succession French and Indian War American War of Independence Peninsular War Indian Mutiny |
| Battle honours | Egypt 1801 Corunna Peninsula Waterloo Alma, Sevastopol Lucknow Ashanti |
The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Originally the 43rd Highlanders they were renumbered the 42nd in 1748.[1]
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After the 1715 Jacobite Rising the British government did not have the resources or manpower to keep a standing army in the Scottish Highlands. As a result, they were forced to keep order by recruiting men from local Highland clans that had been loyal to the Whigs. This proved to be unsuccessful in deterring crime, especially cattle rustling, so independent companies (of what would be known as the Black Watch) were raised as a militia in 1725 by General George Wade to keep "watch" for crime. He was commissioned to build a network of roads to help in the task.[2] The militia was recruited from local clans, with one company coming from Clan Munro, one from Clan Fraser, one from Clan Grant and three from Clan Campbell. These companies were commonly known as Am Freiceadan Dubh, or the Black Watch, taking their name from their task and from the dark green government tartan they were issued, and eventually recruited many young gentlemen from both Jacobite and Whig clans.
The Regiment of the Line was formed officially in 1739 as the 43rd Highland Regiment of Foot under John Lindsay, 20th Earl of Crawford, and first mustered in 1740, at Aberfeldy. In May 1740, when the Independent companies were formed into the 43rd Highland Regiment (later the 42nd Royal Highlanders), Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet of Foulis was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and John Earl of Crawford and Lindsay was colonel. Among the captains were his next brother, George Munro of Culcairn, and his cousin John Munro, 4th of Newmore who was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1745. The surgeon of the regiment was his younger brother, Dr James Munro.
The regiment's earliest days were inauspicious: ordered to London in 1743 for an inspection by King George II, rumours flew that they were to be shipped to the West Indies to fight in the War of Austrian Succession, and many left for Scotland. They were recaptured, three of the leaders shot in the Tower of London, and the remainder of the regiment shipped to Flanders.
The regiment's first full combat was the disastrous Battle of Fontenoy in Flanders in 1745, where they surprised the French with their ferocity, and greatly impressed their commander, the Duke of Cumberland. Allowed "their own way of fighting", each time they received the French fire Col. Sir Robert Munro ordered his men to "clap to the ground" while he himself, because of his corpulence, stood alone with the colours behind him. For the first time in a European battle they introduced an infantry tactic (alternately firing and taking cover) that was not superseded. Springing up and closing with the enemy, they several times drove them back, and finished with a successful rear-guard action against French cavalry. Robert Munro's cousin John Munro, 4th of Newmore also fought bravely and was afterwards promoted to be a lieutenant-colonel.
When the 1745 Jacobite Rising broke out, the regiment returned to the south of Britain in anticipation of a possible French invasion. However one company of the regiment fought for the Hanoverians under Dugald Campbell of Auchrossan at the Battle of Culloden, where they suffered no casualties[3]. From 1747 to 1756 they were stationed in Ireland and then were sent to New York.
During the French and Indian War, at the first battle of Ticonderoga, also known as the Battle of Carillon (1758), the regiment lost over half of its men in assault. At that time they were already officially recognized as a Royal regiment. The second battalion of the Black Watch was sent to the Caribbean but after the losses of Ticonderoga, the two battalions were consolidated in New York. The regiment was present at the second battle of Ticonderoga in 1759 and the surrender of Montreal in 1760. They were sent to the West Indies again where they saw action at Havana, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Between 1758 and 1767 it served in America. In August 1763, the Black Watch fought in the Battle of Bushy Run while trying to relieve Fort Pitt, modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during Pontiac's Rebellion. The regiment went to Cork, Ireland in 1767 and returned to Scotland in 1775.
During the American Revolutionary War, the regiment was involved in the defeat of George Washington in the Battle of Long Island and the later battles of Harlem, Brandywine, Germantown (Light Company only), Monmouth and the siege of Charleston. The regiment returned to Glasgow in 1790. The Royal Highland Regiment never officially recognized the battle honours for their part in the American War of Independence, because it was decreed that Battle Honours should not be granted for a war with kith and kin.
The Black Watch fought in a dozen battles of the Napoleonic Wars. During the battle of Alexandria in 1801 a major in the regiment captured a standard from the French.
At the battle of Corunna it was a soldier of the 42nd Highlanders who carried the mortally wounded General Sir John Moore to cover, and six more who carried him to the rear, but only after he had witnessed the victory in which the stout defence of the Black Watch played a major part. Moore's army was evacuated from Spain and the 1st Battalion of the 42nd Highlanders went with them.
As the 1st Battalion left, the 2nd Battalion was dispatched from Ireland to Spain where it served throughout the Peninsular War with great distinction in the Duke of Wellington's Army.
The 42nd was at the chaotic Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 and was one of four battalions mentioned in despatches by Wellington. Two days later at the Battle of Waterloo, the 42nd and also the 2nd/73rd Highlanders, which was to become the 2nd Battalion, Black Watch, were both in some of the most intense fighting in the battle and lost 289 men.
It is said that without Quatre Bras there would never have been a Battle of Waterloo.
The regiment formed part of the Highland Brigade in the Crimean War, at Cawnpore and Lucknow in 1858, and in the Anglo-Boer War.
The regiment captured its regimental gong during the Indian Mutiny. Since then the gong has tolled the hours in Black Watch quarters. As part of the Childers Reforms of 1881, the 42nd Regiment of Foot was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form a new regiment. In recognition of its famous nickname, the new regiment was named The Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch), being officially redesignated The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) in 1931. In a further reorganisation in 2006 this regiment in turn became an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.