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The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch.Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment (mustered 1739) and numbered 43rd in the line, in 1748, on the disbanding of Oglethorpe's Regiment of Foot, they were renumbered 42nd, and in 1751 formally titled the 42nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot.
The Gallant Forty Twa" is a traditional Scottish song associated with the 42nd Foot regiment known as the Black Watch. [1] It is generally dated to the mid-19th century, although it may have been based on an older tune from Ulster. It was reportedly sung by soldiers from the regiment during the Dunkirk evacuation. [2]
The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form two battalions of the newly named Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). The 42nd became the 1st Battalion, and the 73rd became the 2nd Battalion. [6]
Robert Burns described it as "This excellent loyal Scottish song" and states that it first appeared in print in Herd's Collection of 1769. Alternative titles include The Highland Character and The Highland or 42nd Regiment's March. [1] The tune was originally a quick march but was later rearranged as a slow march. [2]
The first true Highland regiment of the British Army was the 42nd Regiment of Foot (Black Watch) formed by amalgamation of the IHCs in 1739, and had its own consistent uniform tartan (known as Black Watch, 42nd, or Government tartan) by 1749 or 1757 at the latest. Some later Highland units also wore this tartan, while others developed minor ...
When the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot, to become the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, seven pre-existent militia and volunteer battalions of Fife, Forfarshire, and Perthshire were integrated into the structure of the regiment.
George's reforms standardised the colours to two per regiment: a "king's colour" (known as a "royal" or "queen's colour" during the reign of a queen), based on the union flag and a "second colour" (later known as the "regimental colour") with a field in the colour of the regiment's facings defaced by the new regimental numbers. [8]
In some cases the nickname actually replaced it: in 1881, the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot became officially known by its nickname, The Black Watch. What follows is a list of nicknames of Canadian regiments, arranged alphabetically by regimental title.