THE martial scots

In 1914, in proportion to the size of the population, more Scots volunteered to fight than in any other area of the UK. It is thought that approximately 190,000 joined up. By the beginning of the 20th century, Scots no longer fought in the army in the same numbers that they had in the 19th century, but the symbols of Scottish military history like the kilt, the Clan system and the tradition of military service continued to be important to the Scottish identity. The old Volunteers and, after the reorganisation of the Army in1908, the Territorial Force, reflected the martial notions of Scots especially in rural areas. Involvement in the local territorial force was often an important part of community life. The sense of a shared history and membership of the territorial forces helped boost recruitment at the start of the First World War.

After 1881 in England, Wales and Scotland, each regiment was to have two regular or "line" battalions and two “militia” battalions. In Ireland, there were to be two line and three militia battalions. This was done by renaming the numbered regiments of foot and county militia regiments. In addition, the various corps of county rifle volunteers were to be designated as volunteer battalions. Each of these regiments was associated by headquarters location and territorial name to its local "Regimental District".

In the light of experience of the Boer War (1899 to 1902) where the British Army were faced with an irregular but well-armed citizen militia, the army reassessed its performance in the field and used this experience to reform the tactics, structure and equipment of the army. For instance, the emphasis on musketry was enhanced so that soldiers were trained to shoot, and practiced shooting more regularly than other continental armies. The army became a significantly more effectively organisation, able to perform a broad range of tasks albeit tasks that would meet the needs of policing the Empire rather than fighting a war on the continent.

In the years prior to 1914, there was a poor view of the effectiveness of the Territorials: the Territorials were not considered to be an effective military force by the regular army. As it turned out, the impact of casualties on the regular army battalions in 1914 and 1915 meant that territorial force battalions were necessarily drawn into the fighting in a manner that had not been expected: the purpose of the pre-1914 Territorial Force was to guard the homeland releasing front line soldiers for service overseas. In the event Territorial Force units were necessarily drawn into the front line to replace an unanticipated level of casualties and would appear on the battlefield in Spring 2015.

In 1914, the rush of volunteers wanting to join up meant that recruiters were somewhat spoiled for choice. The post 1881 re-organisation of battalions into the “home” and “overseas” battalions (after 1908 with attached Territorial Force units) had established a County link which meant that soldiers would be recruited for regiments in designated local areas. The re-organisation was contentious, and the physical 1882 reorganisation meant that sometimes the pairing of “home” and “overseas” battalions could be anomalous. The newly named “Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders” was somewhat random or conveniently bureaucratic. Given the geographical locations of Argyll and Sutherland in the original regimental titles, i.e. 91st (Princess Louises's Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, the regimental title was something of a convenience: the basing of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regiment in Stirling was logically illogical.  By 1914 however, the amalgamations were well established. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had been drawing from its established areas of Argyllshire, Buteshire, Dumbartonshire, Kinross-shire, Renfrewshire and Stirlingshire.

Joining up was seen by most as the right thing to do, and a chance to see the world and also a way to make a decent income. There was also the belief amongst volunteers that, if they did not join up quickly, they would miss being part of a new adventure.

But it was soon clear that the war would not be over by Christmas.

Small and perfectly formed, the army of 1914 met the needs of Empire, But in the age of industrialised continental armies, the British Army of 1914 was outnumbered but well-equipped, overwhelmed but not outfought.

Turns out the British Expeditionary Force’s Rubicon was to be the English Channel….. but for so many of the battalions (particularly in 1914 and 1915) passed through Bedford, a sleepy town north of London and west of Cambridge where, for instance 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, stopped to continue training for the battles ahead.