42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, The Black Watch [UK]

Authors and Contributors this page: T.F. Mills

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Page created 15 July 2000. Corrected and updated 04.06.2006

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	42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, The Black Watch
	United Kingdom

Titles & Lineage

History

Battle Honours

Colours, Standards & Guidons

Uniforms & Badges

Colonels-in-Chief

Colonels

Biography & Gallantry Awards
Traditions
Alliances
Associations, Forums, Re-Enactors
Museums, Monuments, Memorials
Bibliography

How to find information about individuals who served in this corps


	1661-1662	independent companies raised in the Highlands by local chiefs (supplemented by detachments of Scots Regt of Foot Guards)
	1668.09.11	Highland Watch company raised by John, Earl of Atholl; this was the first coy not limited to a locality and paid from the state Treasury; subsequent coys were clothed in tartans of their chief, but paid and maintained by the State
	1678.09.04	two independent companies raised for security tasks in Highlands
	1681.03	independent companies disbanded (Highland policing assumed by two new coys of Earl of Mar's Regt to 1688)

	1688?	two independent companies raised for security tasks in the Highlands
	1704	third company raised
	1714.08?	companies disbanded?
	1714.08.09	independent company raised
	1715.01.21	two additional companies raised
	1718	all companies disbanded

	1725.04.24	Independent Highland Companies four companies raised to police Highlands, commonly called the Reicudan Dhu, or Black Watch
	1729	two additional companies raised
	1739.10.25	Earl of Craufurd's Regiment formed by regimentation of existing six coys and four new coys; also known until 1751 by the names of other colonels
	1747	ranked as 43rd Foot
	1749	ranked as 42nd Foot upon disbandment of Oglethorpe's Regiment
	1751.07.01	42nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot
	1758.07.22	42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
	1861.07.08	42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, The Black Watch
	1881.07.01	united with 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot, to form The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)


	*Note:*	The origins of the name "Black Watch" are somewhat uncertain and a matter of disagreement among historians. The name applies both to the regiment and its tartan, which was both the first military tartan and the first modern tartan. Earliest documents about the Highland Companies in the 1660s refer to their "watch" and suppression of various crimes including blackmail (i.e. protection money paid as insurance against cattle theft, the word "blackmail" itself also being of Highland origin). It is not clear whether these companies wore a uniform tartan before their regimentation in 1739. The "government" tartan adopted about that time was a dark blue, black and green sett which looked almost black from a distance and contrasted sharply with red coats. Although the Oxford English Dictionary cites two sources (1822 and 1864) in support of the notion that "Black Watch" was in reference to the colour of their dress, many historians now agree that the "blackness" of the tartan is not the origin of the name, but rather that the government-issue tartan later took its name from the regiment.


		The Black Watch [1624-1745] (Highlander Web)
		The Black Watch, 1739-1881 (Regimental site)
		The Black Watch [1739-1886], by Electric Scotland.
		42d Royal Highland Regiment 'The Black Watch', by Ian Coghlan
		The Black Watch Regiment, by Rich Hawkins.
		42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foot [Seven Years War], by Clyde R. Jasper (Digital History Ltd.) [Internet archive]
		History of the 42nd in North America, 1739-1790, by Preston M. Smith.

	*Regulars:*
		1st Battalion [1739-1881]
		2nd Battalion [1758-1762]
		2nd Battalion [1780-1786]
		2nd Battalion [1804-1812]

	*Depot and Reserves:*
		? Depot Battalion [1856-1871]
		57th Brigade Depot at Perth [1873-1881]
		Reserve Battalion [1842-1850]


	[Egypt]¹, Corunna, Fuentes D'Onor, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Sevastopol, Lucknow, Ashantee 1873-4 1. the Sphinx badge superscribed "Egypt". Note: see also successor for belatedly awarded battle honours.


		The Colours, ca. 1780, by Preston M. Smith.
		The Colours, 1815, by 42nd Royal Highland Regiment Australia Inc

Badges:

Uniform:

1661-1681:

1688-1718:

1725-1739:

1739-1758: scarlet; facings: green
1758-1881: scarlet; facings: blue
headdress:
tartan: Government (kilts & plaids, 1739-1881)

Uniforms, ca. 1780, by Preston M. Smith.
Uniforms, 1815, by 42nd Royal Highland Regiment Australia Inc


	[none]


	1739.10.25	Lt-Gen. John (Lindsay), 20th Earl of Crawford [also 4th Tp Horse Gds, 2nd Tp Horse Gren Gds, 2nd Dgns, 25th Foot; AG 1739-43]
	1741.01.14	Brig-Gen. Hugh (Forbes), 12th Baron Semphill [also 25th Foot]
	1745.06.01	Gen. Lord John Murray
	1787.06.01	Gen. Sir Hector Munro, KB
	1806.01.03	Gen. George (Gordon), 5th Duke of Gordon, GCB (Marquess of Huntly) [also 3rd Gds, 1st Foot, 4 92nd Foot]
	1820.01.29	Gen. John (Hope), 4th Earl of Hopetoun, GCB [also 6th Bn 60th Foot, 92nd Foot]
	1823.09.06	Gen. Sir George Murray, GCB, GCH [also 1st Foot, 7th Bn 60th Foot, 72nd Foot; MGO 1834-35 & 1841-46]
	1844.01.15	Lt-Gen. Sir John Macdonald, GCB [also 67th Foot; AG 1830-50]
	1850.04.10	Gen. Sir James Dawes, Douglas, GCB [also 93rd Foot]
	1862.03.07	F.M. George (Hay), 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, GCB [also 2nd Life Gds, 30th Foot; Gov. & C-in-C Madras 1842-48]
	1863.09.09	Gen. Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron, GCB


		Victoria Crosses, by Mike Chapman (VC Reference).
		VCs in the Black Watch Regimental Museum, by Iain Stewart.
		List of Officers, 1817-1872, by Ian Coghlan.
		Succession of Sergeant Majors, 1814-1873, by Ian Coghlan.


	Motto:	Nemo me impune lacessit
	Nicknames:
	Anniversaries:
	Freedoms:
	Marches:
	Musicians:
	Band History, by Gordon Turner and Alwyn W. Turner (Droit Music Ltd) Bandmasters, by Gordon Turner and Alwyn W. Turner (Droit Music Ltd)
	*Mascot:*
	*Miscellaneous Tradition Links:*


	[none]


		The Black Watch Webring
		43rd Highland Regiment [Jacobite Rebellion) (Lace Wars)
		His Majesty's 42nd Regiment of Foot: The Royal Highland Regiment, Grenadier Company [French & Indian War] (Muskets of the Crown)
		42nd Royal Highland Regiment Graham's Company [French & Indian War; Michigan], by Ron Casto.
		The 42nd Royal Highland Regiment [American Revolution; Indiana], by Preston Smith.
		42nd Royal Highland Rgt., Grenadier Co'y - January, 1777 (NWTA)
		The 42nd Royal Highland Regiment Homepage [American Revolution; New Jersey], by Lee J. Mathews.
		Grant's Company 42nd Regiment of Foot The Royal Highland Regiment [American Revolution; Michigan], by David Marquis.
		42nd Royal Highland Regiment (Australia) West Australian Squad, Craig Prince.
		42nd Royal Highland Regiment Australia Inc. [Napoleonic re-enactment]
		42nd Highlanders The Blackwatch (The Franco-British Napoleonic Brigade)


		The Black Watch Museum, Perth (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)
		The Black Watch Museum, by Henrik Teller (Simonides listing).


	Regimental Journal:


	Full Histories:
		Simpson, Peter. The Independent Highland Companies 1603-1760. John Donald, 1996


	Short Histories:


	Manuscripts and Archives:
		Orderly Books of the Crown Forces in America 1775-1784, compiled by John K. Robertson, Don Hagist, Todd Braisted, and Don Londahl-Smidt (RevWar'75)