The Queen's Edinburgh Rifles was a brigade of Rifle Volunteers raised in the county of city of Edinburgh in 1859. It later formed two battalions of the Royal Scots, which fought in World War I at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front. The two battalions combined between the world wars before being converted into an air defence regiment of the Royal Artillery (RA). This served in Anti-Aircraft Command during World War II and continued in the postwar Territorial Army (TA) until 1961, when its successors were converted into Royal Engineers (RE).
Volunteer Force The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Grierson, pp. 1–12.Spiers, pp. 163–8. The 1st City of Edinburgh RVC comprised 21 different companies raised in that city between 31 August 1859 and November 1860 under the command of James Moncrieff, MP for Edinburgh (later 1st Lord Moncrieff), as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant. Nine of these companies were professional by background (lawyers, accountants, civil servants, university men and merchants), four were drawn from miscellaneous interests (Freemasons, Total abstainers, the Highland Society of Edinburgh), two were citizens' companies, two were lower middle class (tailors and bankers' clerks) and four were artisan companies:Beckett, pp. 59–60.Beckett, Appendix VII.Frederick, p. 299.Grierson, pp. 12–4, 177–84.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers, pp. 78–81.J.T. Thomson, 'The 1st City of Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Corps', Soldiers of the Queen, No58/59, January 1990.
1st (Advocates) Company, formed 31 August 1859, disbanded 1868 2nd (1st Citizens) Company, formed 31 August 1859 3rd (Writers to the Signet) Company, formed 31 August 1859, disbanded 1868 4th (Edinburgh University) Company, formed 31 August 1859 5th (Solicitors before the Supreme Court) Company, formed 31 August 1859 6th (Accountants) Company, formed 31 August 1859 7th (Bankers) Company, formed 31 August 1859 8th (1st Artisans) Company, formed 31 August 1859 9th (2nd Artisans) Company, formed 31 August 1859 10th (Civil Service) Company, formed 7 October 1859 11th (3rd Artisans) Company, formed 7 December 1859 12th (Freemasons) Company, formed 7 December 1859, reorganised as 12th (Water of Leith) Company 1861 13th (4th Artisans) Company, formed 7 December 1859 14th (2nd Citizens) Company, formed 8 December 1859 15th (1st Merchants) Company, formed 21 December 1859 16th (Total Abstainers) Company, formed 29 February 1860 17th (2nd Merchants) Company, formed 11 May 1860 18th (High Constables) Company, formed 25 May 1860 19th (5th Artisans) Company, formed 8 November 1860 1st (Highland) Company formed 31 August 1859 2nd (Highland) Company formed 18 May 1860 3rd (Highland) Company formed 23 July 1860
The author R. M. Ballantyne was appointed Ensign in No 13 (4th Artisans) Company, and then promoted to be Captain of No 9 (2nd Artisans) Company in July 1860, resigning in July 1863. He rejoined the corps in 1867 as Captain of No 15 (1st Merchants) Company, but resigned again at the end of 1869. His brother John was one of the first officers appointed to the corps, being commissioned as ensign in No 2 (1st Citizens) Company and then selected as Captain of No 14 (2nd Citizens) Company on its formation, before resigning in June 1860.J.T. Thomson, 'R.M. and J. Ballantyne and the Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Corps', Soldiers of the Queen, No 56/57, June 1989.
The first six companies were self-supporting, the members paying for their own uniforms, equipment and arms, while No 7 Company composed of bank clerks, No 15 (1st Merchants) and No 19, mainly tailors, received financial support from their employers. The other artisans paid for their uniforms by instalments and their company expenses were met by public subscriptions. The three Highland Companies came from the Highland Society of Edinburgh. Interest in No 12 Company, the Freemasons, soon fell away and by 1861 it had almost ceased to exist. The novelist Catherine Sinclair came forward with funds and No 12 Company was reorganised, recruited mainly from the Water of Leith district.
In 1865 the unit received the title of 1st Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade (1st QERVB). A 2nd City of Edinburgh RVC had been formed in 1862 as one company of Highlanders raised from W.D. Young's Ironworks at Fountainbridge with William D. Young himself as captain. On 23 February 1867 this unit was increased to three companies, but simultaneously was included in the 1st QERVB as the 4th, 5th and 6th (Highland) Companies.
No 16 Company had been formed by John Hope entirely from men who had 'signed the pledge' as total abstainers. Hope then decided to raise a complete corps of abstainers from Edinburgh and on 27 May 1867 the 3rd City of Edinburgh RVC of two companies was formed with Hope in command. Most of his recruits (and the cap badge) were taken from No 16 Company, and the 3rd RVC remained administratively attached to the 1st QERVB for several years. The unit, known locally as 'John Hope's Water Rats', grew to six companies by 1880, when it was renumbered as the 2nd Edinburgh RVC. It became the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Scots in 1888, and the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots in 1908.Grierson, pp. 185–6.Army List, various dates.
The 1st QERVB continued to grow, adding a 7th (Highland) Company on 27 December 1867 from natives of Caithness living in Edinburgh. Nos 1 and 3 Companies were disbanded in 1868 but on 19 March 1869 a new No 20 Company was formed and the brigade divided into two battalions: 1st Battalion comprised Nos 2, 4, 5. 6, 7, 10, 18 and 1st to 7th Highland Companies; 2nd Battalion comprised Nos 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 Companies. It was the largest RVC in the Volunteer Force. The unit established its Headquarters (HQ) at Forrest Hill drill hall, Edinburgh, in 1872, and enlarged the building in 1905. In common with other Edinburgh Volunteer units, it used a rifle range at Hunters Bog in Holyrood Park.
J.H.A. Macdonald, later Lord Kingsburgh, Lord Advocate of Scotland, was commissioned as a Lt-Col in the brigade in 1864 and became Lt-Col Commandant in 1882. He was one of the leading Volunteer advocates of drill reform, author of On the Best Detail Formation for the New Infantry Tactics (1873) and Commonsense on Parade or Drill without Strings (1886). In 1885 he organised a spectacular night assembly of the brigade, which resulted in 500 new recruits. In 1886 a Mounted Infantry detachment was formed and an affiliated cadet corps was formed at Merchiston Castle School.Beckett, p. 198; Appendix VI.
Localisation Under the 'Localisation of Forces' scheme introduced in 1872 by the Cardwell Reforms, the 1st QERVB was grouped with the 1st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots), the Edinburgh Light Infantry Militia and a number of RVCs from neighbouring counties into Brigade No 62. When these were combined into a single regiment under the Childers Reforms, the 1st QERVB provided two Volunteer Battalions of the Royal Scots from 1 July 1881. The 2nd Battalion formed a Mounted Rifle company in March 1886. On 1 April the unit was designated the Queens Rifle Volunteer Brigade Royal Scots, when it was split into three battalions: 1st Battalion with A-I Companies (previously Nos 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 18 and 1–3 Highland); 2nd Battalion A–H Companies (previously Nos 8, 9, 11–16); 3rd Battalion A–H Companies (previously Nos 4, 17, 19, 20 and 4–7 Highland).
The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training.Beckett, pp. 135, 185–6.Dunlop, pp. 60–1; Appendix A.Spiers, pp. 228–9. Under this scheme the QRVB was included in the Forth Brigade under the command of Col J.H.A. Macdonald, based at 51 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, later at Surgeons' Hall. In 1902 the Forth Brigade was split into the 1st and 2nd Lothian Brigades, with the QVRB in the 1st Brigade based at the QRVB Drill Hall in Forrest Road, later at 28 Rutland Street.
2nd Boer War A contingent from the brigade served in the Volunteer Service Companies of the Royal Scots alongside the Regulars in the Second Boer War, and others with the Scottish Volunteer Cyclist Company and the City of London Imperial Volunteers. In all, 245 members of the brigade served in the war, earning its first Battle honour: South Africa 1900–02.Leslie.
In 1900, during the 2nd Boer War, the Government provided support (army pay and allowances, with separation allowances for families) for longer than usual summer training camps for the Volunteers. This allowed the Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Brigade to camp for 28 days instead of the usual week, and to concentrate on progressive training.Beckett, p. 220. From 1902 to 1906 the brigade provided one battalion to the 32nd Brigade of the field army for 13 days' annual training, the remainder staying with 1st Lothian Bde.
Recruitment soared during the Boer War and the brigade underwent further enlargement in 1900, with the addition of I Company (recruited from Colinton) for 3rd Battalion, and the expansion of the Mounted Infantry detachment to three sections. In 1875 the brigade's highland companies had been ordered to discontinue Highland dress, but in 1900 a complete new Highland Battalion of eight kilted companies was formed in Edinburgh. This was detached from the brigade the following year and became independent as 9th (Highlanders) Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots.
In 1905, Sir Robert Cranston, as one of the lieutenant-colonels of the brigade (as well as its Honorary Colonel, ex officio, as Lord Provost of Edinburgh), participated in meetings with H. O. Arnold-Forster, Secretary of State for War, over the future of the Volunteer Force.Beckett, p. 245. George Watson's Boys' College formed an affiliated cadet corps in 1905.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the three battalions of the brigade were reorganised to form the 4th and 5th Battalions of the Royal Scots, both granted the subtitle 'Queen's Edinburgh Rifles' in March 1909. A Company of the brigade's 3rd Bn, the old No 4 (Edinburgh University) Company, became the Edinburgh University contingent of the Senior Division of the Officers' Training Corps (OTC) and the Merchiston Castle and George Watson's Cadet Corps joined the Junior Division of the OTC.
The two battalions remained in the Lothian Brigade, which did not join any of the TF's new infantry divisions but continued independently in its coast defence role.James, p. 42/
World War I Mobilisation
On the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, the Lothian Brigade mobilised at Edinburgh as part of Scottish Coastal Defences.HQ 221 Mixed Brigade War Diary 4 August 1914 – 30 July 1919, The National Archives, Kew, file WO 95/5458.