Embroidered in delicate, golden stitching, the names are instantly recognisable as some of the most famous military engagements: Guadeloupe, Waterloo, Sevastopol, Lucknow and Basra, Iraq.
For almost three centuries, soldiers from the Black Watch have carried their historic standard aloft in many of the world's major conflicts.
Guadaloupe 1759
For almost three centuries, soldiers from the Black Watch have carried their historic standard aloft in many of the world's major conflicts.
No more. Yesterday, they mustered for one final time behind the historic flag, in a ceremony first performed by the infantry on the banks of the River Tay, near Dundee, 273 years ago. The illustrious Colours, which they never lost in 164 battles, were consigned to history.
Scotland's most famous infantry, distinctive for its famous red Hackle – a feather plume attached to the headdress – marched through the streets of Perth before a crowd of more than 1,000 onlookers who had come to pay their respects.
In an emotional ceremony, testament to their nearly 300-year history, the battalion laid up their Colours – an act which symbolised the culmination of a process in which the Black Watch and the 51st Highland Volunteers merged into a larger regiment in 2006.
Last year, the Queen presented the new Royal Regiment of Scotland Colours to the Black Watch and 51st Highland, marking their change of status to the 3rd and 7th Battalions of the Scotland-wide regiment. The creation of the new regiment means the end of the historic, dark tartan.
Defence cuts will involve the government reducing army numbers by some 20,000 to 82,000 – the lowest level since the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century.
The opposition will hold a debate this week on changes to British regiments. Several battalions from key regiments face the axe: 3rd Merciers, 3 Yorks, two battalions from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the Queen's Royal Lancers and two battalions from the Royal Regiment of Wales.
Battle honours
Scotland's most famous infantry, distinctive for its famous red Hackle – a feather plume attached to the headdress – marched through the streets of Perth before a crowd of more than 1,000 onlookers who had come to pay their respects.
In an emotional ceremony, testament to their nearly 300-year history, the battalion laid up their Colours – an act which symbolised the culmination of a process in which the Black Watch and the 51st Highland Volunteers merged into a larger regiment in 2006.
Last year, the Queen presented the new Royal Regiment of Scotland Colours to the Black Watch and 51st Highland, marking their change of status to the 3rd and 7th Battalions of the Scotland-wide regiment. The creation of the new regiment means the end of the historic, dark tartan.
Defence cuts will involve the government reducing army numbers by some 20,000 to 82,000 – the lowest level since the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century.
The opposition will hold a debate this week on changes to British regiments. Several battalions from key regiments face the axe: 3rd Merciers, 3 Yorks, two battalions from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the Queen's Royal Lancers and two battalions from the Royal Regiment of Wales.
Battle honours
Guadaloupe 1759
Martinique 1762
Havannah
North America 1763-64,
Mysore
Busaco
Salamanca
South Africa 1846-76, 1851-2-36
Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882 '84,
Kirbekan, Nile 1884-5,
Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902
Retreat from Mons,
Marne 1914 '18,
Aisne 1914,
La Bassée 1914,
Ypres 1914 '17 '18,
Langemarck 1914,
Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914,
Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915,
Loos, Somme 1916 '18,
Albert 1916,
Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916,
Arras 1917 '18,
Vimy 1917,
Scarpe 1917 '18,
Arleux, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18,
St Quentin, Bapaume 1918,
Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918,
Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Béthune, Scherpenberg, Soissonnais-Ourcq, Tardenois, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, 1914-18,
Doiran 1917,
Macedonia 1915-18,
Egypt 1916,
Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Damascus, Palestine 1917-18,
Tigris 1916,
Kut al Amara 1917,
Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-16
Defence of Arras, Ypres-Comines Canal, Dunkirk 1940,
The Somme 1940,
St. Valery-en-Caux, Saar, Breville, Odon, Fontenay le Pesnil, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Falaise, Falaise Road, La Vie Crossing, Le Havre, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45,
Barkasan, British Somaliland 1940,
Tobruk 1941,
Tobruk Sortie, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, Medenine, Zemlet el Lebene, Mareth, Akarit, Wadi Akarit East, Djebel Roumana, Medjez Plain, Si Mediene, Tunis, North Africa 1941-43,
Landing in Sicily, Vizzini, Sferro, Gerbini, Adrano, Sferro Hills, Sicily 1943,
Cassino II, Liri Valley, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa Fortis, Rimini Line, Casa Fabbri Ridge, Savio Bridgehead, Italy 1944-45,
Athens, Greece 1944-45,
Crete, Heraklion, Middle East 1941,
Chindits 1944, Burma 1944
The Hook 1952, Korea 1952-53;
Al Basrah, Iraq 2003
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