The establishment of the Black Watch

On 25 October 1739, the 43rd Highland Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) was established by Royal Warrant.

The regiment was formed by bringing together six Independent Highland Companies to create a regular highland line regiment that would serve in the British Army. The colonelcy of the regiment was given to Major-General John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford with Sir Robert Munro of Foulis appointed as Lieutenant-Colonel.¹ Four additional companies would be raised and added, increasing the regiment’s strength to 1,000 men by the time they gathered for the first muster at General Wade’s Taybridge outside Aberfeldy in May 1740.

The Independent Highland Companies were re-established in 1725 by Major-General George Wade, who served as the commander-in-chief in Scotland from 1724 to 1740. These companies were formed from loyal clans and had the responsibility of policing the highlands and enforcing the disarming acts that were implemented after the Jacobite Rising of 1715. They also served as guides and interpreters for regular troops and worked to suppress blackmail, which involved paying protection money to prevent the theft of black highland cattle. This led to their nickname, Am Freiceadan Dubh, meaning “the Black Watch.”

Upon their formation, General Wade instructed the company commanders to ensure that all the men wore plaids of the same or very similar colours for uniformity. As a result, these companies became the first specific Scottish subgroups to be identified by their tartan, long before the invention of clan tartans by Lowland weavers, which occurred over 50 years later. The individual companies continued to wear tartans chosen by their commanders until around 1748 when the regiment was issued with the dark government tartan that is now associated with the regiment. It is a common misconception that the name “Black Watch” comes from this dark government-issue tartan; however, the name predates the issuance of the dark tartan.²

The rank-and-file soldiers were equipped with a Long Land Pattern musket, commonly known as the Brown Bess, along with a bayonet and a basket-hilted broadsword, all of which were supplied by the government. They were also allowed to carry a dirk, pistols, and a targe at their own expense, in keeping with Highland tradition. Officers carried spontoons or fusils, while sergeants carried Lochaber axes. Once the regiment was formed, each soldier was issued a scarlet jacket, a bonnet, and buckled shoes.

After assembling at Aberfeldy, the regiment stayed there for more than a year, undergoing regular drills and exercises under Lieutenant-Colonel Munro. The next two years were spent in the highlands where they manned the forts and barracks, as well as patrolling General Wade’s military roads. In 1743, the regiment was ordered to London for review before being deployed to the war on the continent. While in London a rumour began to spread that the regiment would be sent to the West Indies, and more than 100 men mutinied and started heading back home. They were quickly rounded up and three of the ringleaders were executed while the rest of the mutineers were sent away for garrison duty in the West Indies.

On 30 April 1745, the regiment received its baptism of fire at the Battle of Fontenoy in Belgium where the Duke of Cumberland’s British-Allied army was defeated by the French under Marshal Saxe. They won distinction in attacking heavily fortified French positions before covering the retreat of Cumberland’s army. Cumberland was impressed by their conduct and recommended that a second regular highland regiment be established, which became the Earl of Loudoun’s 64th Highland Regiment of Foot.

In 1749 the Black Watch regiment was renumbered as the 42nd Regiment of Foot and retained this number in line until the Childers Reforms of 1881 when numbering was replaced by territorialisation.

To commemorate the first muster of the Black Watch regiment at Aberfeldy, Gavin Campbell, Marquis of Breadalbane unveiled the Black Watch Memorial overlooking Wade’s Bridge in May 1887. On top of the monument is Private Farquhar Shaw, one of three soldiers who were shot for their part in the Black Watch mutiny of 1743.

Notes:

1. Royal Warrant addressed to John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford dated 25 October 1739; The London Gazette, 1 December 1739, no. 7862. ↩︎
2. In a letter dated 20 December 1735, Major Lewis Grant writing to Robert Grant of Tammore, mentioned ‘Our Northern troops alias Blak Watch’, and in a letter dated 7 April 1739, Lord Lovat used the name Black Watch to refer to the Independent Highland Companies; The Clothing Book of 1742 and a contemporary image of the Black Watch on campaign in Germany in 1743 show soldiers of the regiment in brighter tartan than the later government-issued dark green and blue tartan. ↩︎

Cite this article: Ritchie, N. (25 October 2024). The establishment of the Black Watch. https://www.scottishhistory.org/blog/establishment-of-the-black-watch/