42nd Regiment of Foot

Also known as The Black Watch.

Chronology

• 1725 four Independent Highland Companies raised to police Highlands, commonly called the Reicudan Dhu, or Black Watch
• 1729 two additional companies raised
• 1739 Earl of Craufurd's Regiment formed by regimentation of existing six coys and four new coys; also known until 1751 by the names of other colonels
• 1751 became 42nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot
• 1758 became 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
• 1861 became 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, The Black Watch
• 1881 amalgamated with the 73rd Regiment of Foot to become the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch)
• 2006 merged with five other Scottish regiments - the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland

Service in British India

• 1857 Indian Mutiny
• 1882 Egyptian Campaign
• 1897 Subathu
• 1899 Sitapur
• 1919 Baluchistan
• 1921 Allahabad
• 1923 Quetta
• 1925 Lahore
• 1928 Chakratta
• 1931 Meerut
• 1935 Barrackpore

The 1st Btn BW was stationed in India from September 1919, when they arrived at Allahabad until December 1936 which saw their departure from Barrackpore (after a stay which began October 1934). In between, short visitations were made to Quetta (November 1922), Multan (December 1925), Chakrata (March 1928), and Meerut (October 1930). The hill stations used by the BW between 1931-35 were: Ranikhet 1931 & 1932, Kailana 1933 & 1934. Lebong 1935.

Regimental Journal

The Red Hackle :the Chronicle of the Black Watch, the Royal Highland Regiment, and of the Black Watch Association. First published in April 1921 but not during the war years, 1939 - 45, the British Library has issues from Volume 1, no. 3 (Oct. 1921)

All volumes from 1921-2010 are in the process of being made available digitised and put on to a flash drive that will be available to buy through the Regimental Association office, see the Museum website below.

External links

• 42nd Regiment of Foot Wikipedia
• Black Watch Wikipedia
• The Black Watch Castle and Museum in Balhousie Castle, Perth, Scotland. Includes a Research Room (user donation required)
  • Regimental Association page: The Red Hackle Magazine. The Regimental Association has had the Red Hackle Magazines (1921-2020) digitised and put on to a flash drive. There are still a few available to purchase (as at 8 July 2024) through the Regimental Association office.
• List of Inscriptions on Christian Tombs and Tablets of Historical Interest in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh by Sir Edward Arthur Henry Blunt (1911) Archive.org. Pages 100-103 details memorials to the 42nd Royal Highlanders who fell in the Mutiny campaigns 1857-1860. Also gives some background about the regiment
• Private John Ellison in India 1860-1868 from RichardMoles.com
• The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) from British Armed Forces & National Service. Includes deployment of both the 1st and 2nd Battalions in India.
• 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, The Black Watch including deployments Regiments.org, an archived website
• The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived website
• The 1st Battalion Black Watch in India 1919-1936, Annual Manoeuvres 1933, Barrackpore 1934 from the Black Watch Archive, a memorial to John Davidson, a Black Watch Soldier. Includes many photographs.
• Sunset on the Raj: The Last to Leave The last British Army colours to leave the part of India which is now Pakistan were the 2nd Battalion , Black Watch who left Karachi on 26 February 1948. britains-smallwars.com, now archived

Historical books online

• History of the Scottish Highlands : Highland clans and Highland regiments Volume 2 "The 42nd Royal Highland Regiment “The Black Watch” " by John S Keltie (c.1886) Archive.org. Indian service commences page 419 in 1857.
• Chronology of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, The Black Watch, from 1729 to 1892 1892 Archive.org. For Private Circulation only. Printed for the Regiment.
• History of the 42nd Royal Highlanders - "The Black Watch" now the first battalion "The Black Watch" (Royal Highlanders) 1729-1893 by John Percy Groves 1893 Illustrated by Harry Payne. Archive.org
• The "Black Watch": The Record of an Historic Regiment by Archibald Forbes 1896 Archive.org
• A Short History of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders); 42nd, 73rd, 1725-1907. To which is added an account of the second battalion in the South African War, 1899-1902 by [Arthur Grenfell Wauchope] 1908 Archive.org
• A History of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in the Great War 1914-1918 (in three Volumes) Edited by Major General A G Wauchope 1926. Vol. 1 (1st, 2nd & 3rd Battalions), includes 2nd Battalion in Mesopotamia and Palestine. Vol. 2 (4th, 5th 6th, 7th Reserve Battalions, The Royal Highlanders of Canada & The Sydney Scottish Rifles). Vol. 3 (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th & 14th Battalions), includes 10th Battalion in Salonika and 14th Battalion in Palestine.

Volume One Digital Archive@McMaster University Library. Vol. One Archive.org; Vol. Two Archive.org; Vol. Three Archive.org

• Page 126, Archibald Don, a Memoir 1918. Archive.org. Archibald Don was a medical student who was commissioned as an officer of the 10th Battalion, Black Watch, which was sent to Salonika in November 1915. He died of malignant malaria September 1916.
• Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and 14th (F.& F. Yeo) Battn. R.H. 1914-1919 [R. H. = Royal Highlanders] by Major D D Ogilvie 1921 Archive.org.