Officer, The Cameronians, 1910

Description

The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. Formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Regiment and the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry, in 1968, when reductions were required, the regiment chose to be disbanded rather than amalgamated with another regiment, one of only two infantry regiments in the British Army to do so. Their uniform combines the characteristics of Scottish and Rifle regiments. The shako is like that of the Highland Light Infantry without the diced border, and virtually the same as that worn before 1878 by most infantry regiments. The doublet is of similar cut to those of other Scottish regiments but is of rifle green with black lace, and the strapped tartan overalls are, of course, typically Scottish, while the shoulder belt and pattern of the sword denote the Rifleman. The Cameronians first fought as Covenanters against James II under the militant preacher Richard Cameron and, after the accession of William and Mary, a regular regiment of the Army was raised from Cameron’s men. So keen were the men to join, that eight hundred were said to have enlisted within four hours, and the regiment to have filled its establishment in four days. They were known from the first as the Cameronians, unofficially to begin with, but officially later, and to this end many of their traditions harked back to their Covenanting origin. In their early days they had an elder of the Kirk to each company and their officers had to be such men ‘as they could in conscience submit to’. They fought with a religious fanaticism which could not be withstood and, in their first engagement, at Dunkeld in 1689, they drove off a force four times their own number.