Chuchill and The Royal Scots Fusiliers
Since June last year I’ve been volunteering
at the The Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum. The Charles Rennie Mackintosh
designed Regimental Headquarters and Museum is located near Charing Cross on Sauchiehall
Street in Glasgow and it’s a hidden gem stuffed to the gunnels with a sorts of
historic military paraphernalia.
The Royal Highland Fusiliers were formed in
1959 by the amalgamation of two of the British Army’s most distinguished
Regiments The Royal Scots Fusiliers and The Highland Light Infantry. Recently
the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill's funeral two months ago caused me to think of
one of the more famous alumni of the The Royal Scots Fusiliers…. The very same Sir Winston Leonard
Spencer-Churchill.
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| Lt-Colonel Churchill commanding the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers 1916 |
Winston Churchill famously said ‘it was
in Scotland I found the three best things in my life: my wife, my constituency
and my regiment’. The regiment he found was the
Royal Scots Fusiliers, the second oldest of all the Scottish regiments.
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| Lt-Colonel Churchill commanding the 6th Battalion (close up) |
After his resignation from the government
in 1915, Churchill rejoined the British Army and after spending some time as a
Major with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, he was appointed
Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers on 1
January 1916.
Correspondence with his wife shows that his
intent in taking up active service was to rehabilitate his reputation, which
was at an all-time low after having to leave his position as First Lord of the
Admiralty after the disastrous battle of Gallipoli. During his period of
command the battalion did not take part in any set battle although Colonel
Churchill exposed himself personally to danger by making 36
excursions made into no man’s land. Churchill apparently won his troop’s affection early
on when he successfully lobbied for dry socks to be given to sentries who had been standing
in the rain. I’ve personally read a lot of the First World War battalion diaries there constant references to soldiers suffering from ailments caused by Trench Foot and poor footwear, I can see how this would have endeared him to the men.
During the First World War the regiment
raised 19 battalions, was awarded 58 battle honours and 4 Victoria Crosses. It
lost a total of 5,600 men over the course of the war.
Anyway, one item that caught my eye recently
was a beautifully framed letter and photograph of Churchill hidden away in one of
the museums more jumbled store rooms, jokingly known to museum staff as simply
‘Room 13’. It seemed a shame that this is not on view to the public so I thought
I’d post it here (see picture bellow).
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| Picture frame with photo and letter. |
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| Churchill letter (close up) |
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| Churchill photo (close up) |
The photograph appears to be hand signed by
Churchill himself.
The letter reads:
“I am very glad that the Second World
War history of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Scots Fuiliers, should
be written. I remember with pride commanding the 6th Battalion of
this famous Regiment in the First World War, and my memories and admiration for
it endure.
Winston Churchill”
I’m not sure what 'Second World
War history' the letter is referring
to but (I need to do a little more research on it) but its worth mentioning
that after the First World War in 1925 to mark the 250th anniversary of the regiment, the immensely
popular author of The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan published The History of
the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1678-1918). The book was dedicated to Buchan’s brother
Alastair who fell in the Great War while serving with the regiment.
