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Gordon Highlanders
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1840-1914
Sporran porté par les officiers et hommes de troupe
The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 instigated under the Childers Reforms. The new two-battalion regiment was formed out of the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot-which became the 1st Battalion of the new regiment-and the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, which became the 2nd Battalion.
During Victorian Era, the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot embarked for the Cape Colony in 1830 and took part in the Sixth Xhosa War in December 1834. It returned home in 1843 and then embarked for India again in 1849. The regiment, as part of the first storming column, led a bayonet charge at the Siege of Delhi in June 1857 during efforts to suppress the Indian Rebellion. It was also engaged at the Siege of Lucknow in November 1857 and formed the funeral party for Major-General Sir Henry Havelock later that month before going on to take part in the Capture of Lucknow in March 1858.
The regiment returned home in 1862 and was deployed to Gibraltar again in 1867, to Hong Kong in 1868 and to Singapore in 1869 before returning to the Cape Colony in 1870. It returned home again in 1875.
During Victorian era, the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot embarked for Jamaica in April 1819; many of the troops died from yellow fever, before the regiment returned home in 1827. The regiment embarked for Gibraltar in 1834 and went on to Barbados in 1841 before returning home again in 1844.
It was deployed to the Ionian Islands in 1851 and to Gibraltar in 1853 from where it was dispatched to take part in the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War but saw no serious action.
The regiment embarked for India in January 1858 to help suppress the Indian Rebellion and were engaged in several skirmishes with remaining rebel forces. The regiment embarked for home in January 1863, and returned to India in 1868.
In December 1878, the regiment was ordered to Afghanistan where it was engaged in various security operations following the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. In October 1879, it took part in the Battle of Charasiab, where the regiment captured three hills, thereby turning the enemy's flank.
Major George White received the Victoria Cross for his part in this action.
A further Victoria Cross was won by Lieutenant William Dick-Cunyngham at the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment on 13 December 1879. At the end of August 1880, the regiment formed part of the force which marched under General Frederick Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar, and at the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880, formed part of the 1st Brigade, which led the advance in sweeping the enemy out of the closely wooded enclosures along the western slopes of the hill on which the village of Gundi Mullah Sahibdad stood.
Instead of returning to the United Kingdom in 1881, the regiment was diverted to Natal to serve in the First Boer War. The regiment participated in the disastrous Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881. After capturing the hilltop in order to dominate the Boer line, the force of 350 British soldiers of the 58th and 92nd Regiments including a number of Royal Navy gunners, found themselves exposed to heavy and accurate fire early on the following day. This was followed by an assault by 2,000 Boers; despite a desperate last stand, the survivors were swept from the summit.
After amalgamation consecutive to the Childers reform, the 1st battalion fought at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War, and then took part in the Nile Expedition in an attempt to relieve Major-General Charles Gordon during the Mahdist War.
The 1st Battalion then took part in the Chitral Expedition and then the Tirah Campaign; it was during operations on the North West Frontier in October 1897, during the storming of the Dargai Heights, that one of the regiment's most famous Victoria Crosses was earned. Piper George Findlater, despite being wounded in both legs, continued to play the bagpipes during the assault. Another of the heroes involved in the charge of the Gordon Highlanders at Dargai Heights was Piper John Kidd. Piper Kidd was with Piper Findlater when, half-way up the heights, both pipers were shot down. Unmindful of his injuries, Piper Kidd sat up and continued to play "The Cock o' the North" as the troops advanced up the heights.
Both battalions were sent to South Africa following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899. The 2nd Battalion fought at the Battle of Elandslaagte in October 1899 and was part of force to relive the Siege of Ladysmith in November 1899. Meanwhile the 1st Battalion, which arrived a little later, saw action at the Battle of Magersfontein in December 1899 and was again in action at Doornkop, where they suffered severe losses, in May 1900. The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which ended with the Peace of Vereeniging in June 1902. Four months later 475 officers and men of the 1st battalion left Cape Town on the SS Salamis in late September 1902, arriving at Southampton in late October, when the battalion was posted to Glasgow.
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Citation de la Victoria Cross : For conspicuous bravery during the engagement at Charasiah on 6 October 1879, when, finding that the artillery and rifle fire failed to dislodge the enemy from a fortified hill which it was necessary to capture, Major White led an attack upon it in person. Advancing with two companies of his regiment; and climbing from one steep ledge to another, he came upon a body of the enemy, strongly posted, and outnumbering his force by about 8 to 1. His men being much exhausted, and immediate action being necessary, Major White took a rifle, and, going on by himself, shot the leader of the enemy. This act so intimidated the rest that they fled round the side of the hill, and the position was won. Again, on 1 September 1880, at the battle of Kandahar, Major White, in leading, the final charge, under a heavy fire from the enemy, who held a strong position and were supported by two guns, rode straight up to within a few yards of them, and seeing the guns, dashed forward and secured one, immediately after which the enemy retired. |
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