The military family

 Today we went to the Black Watch museum somewhere near Perth. It was formed from Highlanders who were loyal to the Hanoverian King George II about 1739. Was created from six loyal clans? They were happy to join to a) protect their peoples in the Highlands and b) continue to wear the kilt and bear arms following the proscription of these things after 1715.

The original Black Watch was known as the 42nd Regiment, and when they raised the second battalion it became the 73rd Regiment. This latter one was sent to Australia in the 1790s. My x5 great grandmother, Margaret Leslie, was on board one of the transport ships of the regiment along with three teenage children. Her husband William Lewiston, probably an Irishman, was part of this regiment and must have been expected to travel to the colony of New South Wales for his family to be on board. She soon after married another soldier from the regiment. See the end of this post for my other relative associated with the Black Watch.

We were walked through a series of rooms by the museum curator, detailing the campaigns in the West Indies, India and other far flung places. There were some heroics, and some tall tales. 

An early misjudgment was the decision to walk back to Scotland after the king they had walked from Scotland to be reviewed by, had decided to go somewhere else. 100 men started to walk home, and it was judged a mutiny. Three leaders were executed, within the Tower of London, which was quite rare. Three of the other ten people so executed within the Tower were queens of England.

Then we reached the World War 1 room. This was a war of a different scale of loss. Of some 800-1000 men of the Black Watch who set off in August 1914, only 24 or so survived the war. More men were recruited, and they were some of the 900,000 British soldiers who were killed. 

Clothing

This was always distinctive and sometimes caused quite a stir, as in Paris where the women were scandalised by seeing legs. They added a big black hat to appear more frightening, but the addition of the red feather/hackle became their special symbol. Kilts ceased to be worn into battle after Somme, due to the horrors of pleats retaining mud, freezing up, and being quite impossible for battles lasting more than a few hours. Red coats ceased after the Boer war with the advent of longer range guns/artillery making the soldier too easy a target. They found that khaki was a very good color to stop standing out. Previously, colour was one of those advantages in close to close combat, to recognize your comrade. 

A Lego Black Watch soldier

Kilt worn at the Somme, retaining Somme mud

Along with the story of any item in a museum, is a backstory of how that item was preserved. This kilt was worn by a man who served at the Somme. It was part of the effects sent home to the grieving family. They kept it unopened for decades, thus preserved, before donating it to the museum.

13 Victoria crosses have been awarded to members of the Black Watch. Queen Victoria designed the medal, to be given for valour, and it became harder to earn as time went on. There are 6 of them in museum.

All highland regiments were disbanded in the 1990s and reformed into The Royal Scots. Big Bob  has included the letter he sent to his regiment, when this occurred (he was already in the Royal Scots, but they too were disbanded in order to reform into the larger unit). He became their second ranked General, a Lieutenant General, and was knighted aboard the yacht Brittania.

Sense of family within a regiment. I sensed this reading Big Bob’s memoirs; genuine regard and respect for the work that every part of the regiment had to perform. It was not a theme of the actual exhibitions but I had this sense of their cohesion and pride throughout it as depicted in the following painting.

Other highland regiments have their own museums, the Gordon’s, the Argyll Sutherlands, the Queens Own Guards. I did not expect to be much moved by the military history. Having read the memoir, and hearing from Alan and Helen what it was like to be part of the British Armed services abroad especially, has clearly affected me. 

The work of the museum is to support the families of soldiers, and the soldiers themselves, and prevent this history of service from being lost. 

The soldiers proudly following their ‘colours’, the final actual colours handed in once the regiment was disbanded were displayed in the museum. The colours of an army had a purpose in battle, but additionally as a symbol. The post of colour-sergeant was prestigious, and involved protecting the colours in battle and in defeat (from capture by the enemy). Remember the widow travelling to New South Wales in 1796? Her eldest son, another William Lewiston, joined the 102nd Regiment when it was formed in New South Wales. It was later known as the 100th regiment and the NSW Corps, who played a part in the notorious Rum Rebellion. They left Sydney in 1810 and he went onto serve in Bermuda and Canada. He was their colour-sergeant by the end of his military career. 

As a Chelsea Pensioner, he returned to Sydney, and on to Hobart, where he was given 200 acres as reward for his service. This land begins at the River Derwent roughly where MOMA stands now, and extends up Mount Wellington. Half of this land is still the virgin bush land he would have farmed.