the Cameronians
(scottish rifles)
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The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Regiment and the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry.
After the amalgamation,
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the 1st Battalion preferred to be known as "The Cameronians" while
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the 2nd preferred to be known as "The Scottish Rifles".
The 2nd Battalion saw action at the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900 during the Second Boer War.
Two Militia battalions were formed from the former 2nd Royal Lanark Militia.
The 3rd battalion was embodied in May 1900 for service during the Second Boer War. More than 600 men embarked for South Africa in April 1901, and returned in June 1902, following the end of hostilities.
The 4th battalion had been embodied already in December 1899, also for service in the same war, and 600 officers and men embarked for South Africa in late February 1900.
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had two Reserve and four Territorial battalions.
In 1948, along with every other infantry regiment of the British Army, the Cameronians regiment was reduced to a single regular battalion. The 1st Battalion which had been repeatedly decimated in the Burma campaign was placed in suspended animation and the 2nd Battalion was renamed the 1st Battalion while at Gibraltar. It was deployed to Malaya in 1950 during the Malayan Emergency.
Under the reforms of the army in the 1967 Defence White Paper, which saw several regiments amalgamated, the Cameronians chose to disband rather than amalgamate with another in the Lowland Brigade. The 1st Battalion, The Cameronians was disbanded on 14 May 1968 at Douglas Castle, near Douglas, South Lanarkshire in the presence of the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Angus.
For more information on this Regiment, we recommend the following videos:
- Cameronian disbandment - A piece of Scottish history:
