The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry

 

 

Other Ranks, The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry

Walking Out Dress, c. 1890

In 1798 The East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry, The Berwickshire Yeomanry Cavalry, The Midlothian Yeomanry and The Royal Edinburgh Volunteer Light Dragoons (the Princess Street Lancers) were raised to provide a defense against the armies of Napoleon. In 1800 the last two of these amalgamated to form The Royal Midlothian Yeomanry Cavalry. A reduction in strength of all three at the end of the Napoleonic Wars was followed by an increase in recruitment during the unemployment and social unrest of the early nineteenth century.

All had been disbanded by 1838, only for the Midlothians to be formed again in 1843, followed by the East Lothians in 1846. In 1888 they became The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry, consisting of two troops from East Lothian, one from Berwickshire and one from Midlothian, and, in 1892, a West Lothian Troop was added.

In the Second Boer War, the regiment sponsored the 19th (Lothians and Berwickshire) Company, which served in the 6th (Scottish) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, in South Africa from 1900 until 1902.

 

The Lothians and Berwickshire Yeomanry Resting on Belhaven Sands by R. Payton Reid, 1891.

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Departed the collection in 2022.

Brigadier Herle Maudslay Hordern, OBE

 

 

Brigadier Herle Maudslay Hordern, OBE

 1892-1981

 Full Dress Tunic, c. 1914

 

 Hordern attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1913. As a Captain, he received the Military Cross for service in The Great War in 1918. Beginning in 1922, Hordern served with the Mechanical Warfare Experimental Establishment, which was responsible for the development of tanks and armoured vehicles. For this, he was appointed an Officer, Order of the British Empire in 1927. Hordern became Deputy Assistant Director of Mechanization in 1932. He was made Commandant of the Military College of Science in 1941 and made a Temporary Brigadier in 1942. Hordern retired in 1946 and was granted the honorary rank of Brigadier

9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

 

 

Captain, 9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

 Full Dress, c. 1909

 

The 1st Administrative Battalion, Dumbartonshire Rifle Volunteers, with headquarters at Balloch, Scotland, was formed in May of 1860. The Volunteer Rifle Corps included in it were the 1st through the 14th.

In April of 1880, the battalion was consolidated and retitled as the 1st Dumbartonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, with twelve companies and headquartered at Helensburgh, Scotland.

The battalion adopted the scarlet doublet with yellow facings, trews, and glengarry of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in March of 1887. Following the Haldane Reforms of 1907, the battalion was reconstituted as the 9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, and consisted of eight companies. It was then that the battalion adopted the kilt, hose, and sporran.

 

From Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force: 1859-1908, first published in 1909.

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North Deane Sismey

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North Deane Sismey

 1900-1993

 Mess Jacket, c. 1930

 

 Sismey graduated from Eton College in 1918 and became a second lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps on July 16, 1920. He was advanced to lieutenant in 1922 and made adjutant in 1926. Sismey received his captaincy on July 16, 1929, and married Anna Laetitia Philips, the daughter of Brigadier Lewis Francis Philips in 1931. From 1935 to 1938, Sismey was on staff at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as an instructor. He was promoted to major on August 1, 1938, and returned to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps by the year’s end. Sismey became a temporary lieutenant colonel in 1941 with the Second Battalion of the King’s Rifles. The Second Battalion had been reformed after having been lost during the defense of Calais, which allowed for the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force to proceed. In early 1942, Sismey took command of the Second Battalion, leading it during the Battle of Gazala during the North African Campaign. He relinquished command of the Second Battalion in August of 1942. Whilst with the First Battalion during the Italian Campaign, Sismey was mentioned in despatches in January of 1945. He retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in 1948 and due to his age was released from the Reserve of Officers in 1951, but returned to the service as an officer in the Territorial Army on February 11, 1952, as a second lieutenant. Having been made a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the County of Huntingdon on June 3, 1952, Sismey left the service again as a captain in 1956.

21st (Empress of India's) Lancers

 

 

Captain, 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers

 Mess Kit, c. 1900

 

The regiment was originally raised in Bengal by the East India Company in 1858 as the 3rd Bengal European Light Cavalry, for service in the Indian Rebellion. As with all other "European" units of the Company, it was placed under the command of the British Crown in 1858, and formally moved into the British Army in 1862, when it was designated as a hussar regiment and titled the 21st Regiment of Hussars.

In 1897 it was re-designated as a lancer regiment, becoming the 21st Lancers. The Indian origin of the regiment was commemorated in its "French grey" facings - this distinctive light blue/grey shade having previously been the uniform colour of the East India Company's eight regiments of Bengal Native Cavalry.

In 1898 the regiment served in Sudan during the Mahdist War, as the only British cavalry unit involved. It was there that the full regiment charged with lances in the classic cavalry style during the Battle of Omdurman. "Omdurman" was the regiment's only battle honour, giving rise to the satirical regimental motto of "thou shalt not kill." That same year, the regiment was given the title 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers, taking the name from Queen Victoria who was the Empress of India.

 

21st (Empress of India's) Lancers Mess Dress, 1901

By Richard Simkin
 

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Departed the collection in 2022.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

 

Other Ranks, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

 Glengarry Cap, c. 1939

 

The regiment was formed in 1881 as the Princess Louise's (Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders), by the amalgamation of the 91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire) Regiment and the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment. The following year, the order of the "Argyll" and "Sutherland" sub-titles was reversed and the regiment became the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

The regiment was one of the six Scottish line infantry regiments, and wore the Sutherland district tartan (Government No. 1A) as its regimental tartan; this is a lightened version of the Black Watch (Government No. 1) sett.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was expanded to fifteen battalions during the First World War (1914–1918) and nine during the Second World War (1939–1945). The 1st Battalion served in the 1st Commonwealth Division in the Korean War and gained a high public profile for its role in Aden during 1967.

Captain Oliver W. Hind

 

 

Captain Oliver W. Hind

1873-1931

Mess Jacket, c. 1905

 

Hind studied law at Cambridge, earning a Bachelor’s degree in 1894. He joined the family firm of Wells and Hind at that time and later, in 1899, earned a Master of Laws degree. Hind became an officer with the 1st Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood) Volunteer Rifle Corps prior to 1903 and was made a lieutenant in February of that year. He became a captain on September 27, 1905 and retained that rank as a supernumerary in 1908 when the regiment was reorganized as the 7th (Robin Hood) Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). Hind was assigned to the Territorial Force Reserve in 1914.