42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
Dormskirk · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Unit name	42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
Caption	Men of the regiment in 1745
Dates	1739–1881
Country	Kingdom of Great Britain
Branch	British Army
Type	Line infantry
Role	Infantry
Garrison	Perth
Nickname	Black Watch
Motto	"Nemo me impune lacessit"

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a historic infantry regiment of the British Army raised in 1739 and known widely by its sobriquet the Black Watch. Formed amid tensions following the Jacobite risings, the regiment served in major campaigns across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, influencing British imperial operations and Scottish military identity. Its traditions and battle honours were carried forward into later formations and continue to be commemorated in museums and civic observances.

Formation and Early History

Raised in 1739 from independent companies drawn from the Scottish Highlands, the regiment emerged from the efforts of figures such as Duncan Forbes of Culloden and the Duke of Atholl, responding to concerns after the 1715 and 1719 Jacobite risings and the 1745 Rising. Early deployments involved policing duties in the Highlands, interactions with clans like the MacGregors and Camerons, and confrontations linked to the Treaty of Union and the Hanoverian succession under George II. The regiment's distinctive dark tartan and role as a government-clan constabulary shaped identities tied to Perthshire, Stirling, Inverness, and Edinburgh, while contemporary commanders and patrons included Henry Hawley, John Campbell, and John Cope.

Service in the American Revolutionary War

Detached battalions and companies of the regiment served in North America during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at engagements such as the Siege of Boston, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the campaigns around New York and New Jersey, and Saratoga. Officers and soldiers from the regiment encountered leaders like George Washington, William Howe, Henry Clinton, and Benedict Arnold, and operated in theatres tied to colonies such as Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and Quebec. The regiment's involvement intersected with events including the Stamp Act crisis, the Continental Congress, and the Franco-American alliance, and soldiers faced supply issues, smallpox outbreaks, and guerrilla actions by militias from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

Napoleonic Wars and Peninsular Campaign

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the regiment deployed to Europe, serving under commanders including the Duke of Wellington, Sir John Moore, and Arthur Wellesley in campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula and in Flanders. Engagements associated with the unit encompassed battles such as Corunna, Talavera, Salamanca, and Waterloo where units fought alongside formations like the Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, and regiments of the King's German Legion. The regiment's operations connected it to places and treaties including Lisbon, Cádiz, Madrid, the Congress of Vienna, and the Coalition wars against Napoleon, and it earned battle honours reflecting actions against forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte, Marshal Soult, Marshal Masséna, and Marshal Ney.

Victorian Era Deployments and Colonial Service

In the Victorian period the regiment undertook garrison and expeditionary duties across the British Empire, including service in India during the Anglo-Maratha conflicts and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, operations in China during the Opium Wars, and campaigns in South Africa such as the Xhosa Wars and the Anglo-Zulu War. Deployments brought the regiment into contact with figures and events including Lord Dalhousie, Sir Colin Campbell, the Treaty of Nanking, Canton, Calcutta, Cape Town, and Natal, and placed it alongside units like the Royal Highlanders, the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders), and colonial forces. The regiment participated in imperial ceremonies, military reforms associated with the Cardwell and Childers systems, and maintained links with civic institutions in Perth and Glasgow through militia and volunteer battalions.

Amalgamation and Legacy

Under the Childers Reforms of 1881 the regiment was redesignated and amalgamated with related Highland units to form successor regiments, linking its lineage to the Royal Highland Regiment and later the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). Its traditions influenced regimental museums, memorials in Edinburgh and Perth, pipe bands, tartan patterns, and civic honours conferred by municipal corporations and royalty such as Queen Victoria. The regiment's veterans were commemorated in works by historians and in connections with events like the First World War, the Second World War, and postwar reorganisations that involved units such as the Highland Light Infantry, the Seaforth Highlanders, and the Scots Guards. Its battle honours and cultural memory continue to be represented in collections at institutions like the National War Museum and through associations of former members and regimental trusts.

Category:Regiments of the British Army Category:Highland regiments