Officer, 92nd Highland Regiment, 1854

Description

The Regiment was raised in Aberdeenshire by General George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon as the 100th (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot on 10 February 1794. Reranked the 92nd Highland Regiment in 1798 it amalgamated with Colonel Robert Abercromby’ 75th Stirlingshire Regiment of Foot to form the Gordon Highlanders in 1881. There was indignation at these unpopular amalgamations, and the number ’92’ was buried with full military honours. But the grave sprouted a tombstone with the inscription ‘Ninety-twa, not deid yet’. A line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed for 113 years, from 1881 until 1994, it was amalgamated with the Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) to form the Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) then, in 2006, it became The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland ‘4 SCOTS’. Here is an officer of the 92^nd in the dress in which Highland Regiments went to the Crimean War. The coat had developed since 1814 along the lines of those of the rest of the army. The collar, previously open in front, has been closed in the Prussian fashion, and the epaulettes have grown from the small and rather elegant fringes of 1814 to the cumbersome and heavy ornaments abandoned by the Army in 1856 but which were retained by the Navy until 1939, and now survive only in a few orders of dress, such as that of the Gentlemen at Arms, and the officers of the Yeomen of the Guard. The short, handsome tails behind the jacket were worn instead of the longer tails, reaching nearly to the knee, worn by the rest of the army, but would not have suited the kilt. The sash, sword belt, bonnet, kilt, and claymore differ very little from those worn in 1939.