The Gordon Highlanders
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Gordon Highlanders
The Gordon Highlanders was a British Army infantry regiment from 1881 until 1994. The regiment recruited principally from Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland.
It was formed on 1 July 1881 by the amalgamation of the 75th Stirlingshire Regiment - which became the 1st battalion of the new regiment - and the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, which became the 2nd. The 75th Highlanders were raised in 1787 by Coloner Robert Abercromby of Tullibody for service in India, where they saw a great deal of action. They went on to serve in South Africa, the Indian Mutiny, Egypt and on the North-West Frontier. In 1809 they lost their kilt and their Highland identity but the title Stirlingshire was introduced in 1862. The 92nd were raised as the 100th Highlanders by the Duke of Gordon in 1794 being renumbered 92nd in 1798. Their early service included the Low Countries and Egypt, followed by Corunna, the Peninsula, Waterloo, Afghanistan and South Africa.
The Gordons raised 21 battalions in the First World War, serving on the Western Front and in Italy and winning 65 battle honours. The regiment lost 1,000 officers and 28,000 men during the war.
A further 27 honours were added in World War II when the battalion served in France in 1940, in Malaya, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and north-west Europe. After the war the Gordons saw active service in Malaya and Northern Ireland.
The novelist George MacDonald Fraser was posted as a lieutenant to the 2nd Battalion in the immediate post-war period, and wrote three volumes of short stories (the "McAuslan" books), which were lightly fictionalised recollections of his time with the regiment.
The original tartan of the 75th is not certain but it may have been akin to what is now known as Campbell of Breadalbane. The 92nd has always worn the Government sett with a yellow stripe, which is worn as a clan tartan by those of the name Gordon.
The regimental marches were Cock o' the North, St Andrew's Cross and The Garb of Old Gaul. HRH The Prince of Wales was Colonel in Chief.
The regiment was amalgamated with the Queens' Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) on September 17, 1994 to form The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons).
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.