The Black Watch (Watch or Highland Watch) was a British army force raised in 1729 to keep peace in the Highlands during the times of the Jacobite intrigue. The regiment was raised from companies employed to watch the Islands of Scotland and subsequently became renamed the Royal Highlanders and had the nickname of the Black Watch from the black tartan they wear. The Regiment's first blooding occurred in Flanders in 1745, in the War of Jenkin's Ear at the Battle of Fontenoy, where the French dubbed them 'Highland Furies'. In 1751 the Regiment was numbered the 42nd, The Gallant Forty Two. Seven years later the title 'Royal' was granted and it became the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment.
The Black Watch saw action in the Americas, most notably in Ticonderoga and the Heights of Abraham, and acquired its presentbadge and motto 'Nemo me impune lacessit' which refers to the Thistle and means 'nobody provokes me without being hurt'. In 1759 the red hackle, seen in the feather bonnets and worn by all ranks of the Black Watch, was first presented at Royston, in Hertfordshire.
During the Napoleonic Wars the Regiment fought at the Battle of Alexandria (hence the Sphinx and the word Egypt on its colours), in the Peninsula, including Corruna, and finally at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. Its 19th century battle honours include Alma and Lucknow, and in the 1860s Queen Victoria authorised the addition of the name 'The Black Watch' to the official title of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, a title which has become known throughout the world.
During the Great War, eleven Battalions of the Black Watch fought in France and Flanders, Macedonia, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, former Colonel in Chief of the Black Watch since 1937 until her death, had two brothers and a first cousin in the 5th Battalion, another brother killed in 1915 with the 8th and a cousin killed serving with 4/5th. Armistice Day found the Regiment advancing across the very field at Fontenoy where the Watch had fought 173 years before. The French commemorated the stalwart assistance given to them in Champagne in 1918 by erecting a cairn on the spot where fell the body of The Black Watch soldier who advanced the furthest - 'Here shall flourish for ever the gloriousthistle of Scotland among the roses of France'.
Highland Regiments is a term applied to regiments in the British army originally raised in the Highlands of Scotland. Their origin is found in certain companies of Highlanders armed by government about 1725-1730, for the purpose of keeping order in the Highlands, and called the Black Watch from the sombre colours of their tartans. These were embodied as a regiment of the regular army in 1739, the first Highland regiment being the 43rd, afterwards the 42nd, which bore a distinguished part in almost all the wars in which Britain had been engaged.
Seven other regiments were raised at different times, the 71st and 72nd in 1777; the 74th in 1787; the 78th or Rossshire Buffs in 1793; the 92nd or Gordon Highlanders in 1796; the 93rd or Sutherland Highlanders in 1800; and the 79th or Cameron Highlanders in 1805. The Highland Regiments and the old corresponding regiments consisted of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), 1st battalion 42nd Foot, 2nd battalion 73rd Foot, 3rd battalion Royal Perth Militia; The Highland Light Infantry, 1st battalion 71st Foot, 2nd battalion 74th Foot, 3rd and 4th battalions. 1st Royal Lanark Militia; the Seaforth Highlanders (Rossshire Buffs, Duke of Albany's), 1st. battalion 72nd Foot, 2nd battalion 78th Foot, 3rd battalion Highland (Rifle) Militia; the Queen's own Cameron Highlanders, 1st battalion. 79th Foot, 2nd battalion Highland Light Infantry Militia; the Gordon Highlanders, 1st battalion 75th Foot, 2nd batralion 92nd Foot, 3rd battalion Royal Aberdeenshire Militia; Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), 1st battalion 91st Foot, 2nd battalion 93 Foot, 3rd battalion Highland Borderers Militia, 4th battalion Royal Renfrew Militia. Each regiment had its own distinctive tartan, some retaining the kilt, others wearing trousers. There were also several Highland volunteer regiments which were brigaded with the various corps mentioned. Research Highland Regiments
Trews are close-fitting tartan trousers or breeches combined with stockings, formerly worn by Irishmen and Scottish Highlanders during the sixteenth century. Research Trews
Argyle describes a multi-coloured diamond pattern used mainly for socks and scarves. The Argyle pattern is based upon the tartan of the Scottish Argyle clan. Research Argyle
Bondage trousers are trousers fitted with multiple decorative zips and D rings for the attachment of bondage straps passing between the legs. Bondage trousers are frequently made in a red tartan pattern and are credited to the designer Vivien Westwood and were de rigueur fashion of the punk-rock counter culture of the 1970's. Research Bondage Trousers
Abbreviations
Research Black Watch
