Officer, The Gordon Highlanders, 1959

Description

The Gordon Highlanders originally comprised the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, raised in Aberdeenshire by General George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon as the 100th (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot on 10 February 1794 and the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot, raised in Stirling by Colonel Robert Abercromby for service in India as the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot in October 1787. 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). This officer of the Gordon Highlanders shows the dress of a Highland officer just before the great amalgamation of all the Scottish regiments in 2006. He has lost his feather bonnet and his belted plaid; his doublet, shorn of its Inverness flaps, is now piper green instead of scarlet; and his sporran, one of the most distinctive features of his old full dress, has become very utilitarian. Nevertheless, like the Lowlander, he has managed to remain a Scotsman, and to lend colour and distinction to the Army in an age when such qualities are becoming all too rare