Winston Churchill famously said 'it was in Scotland I found the three best things in my life: my wife, my constituency and my regiment'. The regiment he found was the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the second oldest Scottish regiment and one of the most distinguished in the British Army.
Origins
- It was originally raised in 1678 as the Earl of Mar's Regiment of Foot by Stuart loyalist Charles Erskine, 5th Earl of Mar, to suppress rebelling Covenanters.
- In 1689, the regiment was converted to 'Fusiliers' after being armed with 'Fusil' muskets - the most technically advanced weaponry of the day. It wasn't until 1881 that it was renamed the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
- The regiment fought in many major conflicts from the Second Jacobite Rebellion at Culloden to the American War of Independence and the Boer wars.
- In 1959 it was merged with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers.