HLI: Highland or Lowland Infantry ?

[Lachlan09]

This subject is likely seen as “typically Brit” parochial and tribal in the great scheme of things, but for many years it was a source of enduring but deep frustration to the Highland Light Infantry and of heated debate among HLI, ex-HLI and outsiders alike. Was the Highland Light Infantry a Highland or Lowland regiment ?

Even the all-knowing Wikipedia states the HLI’s status as “ambiguous”

For – the HLI always maintained it was a Highland Regiment, right up to its amalgamation with the RSF in 1959. Reason – it was raised as a Highland regiment (73rd MacLeod’s Highlanders later renumbered as 71st) and was never removed from the Highland establishment at any stage by Horse Guards/Whitehall et al.

Against- At the time (and even argued since), cold logic and public perception stated that the HLI’s argument was emotional and historic and indeed the indisputable facts were:-

a) The Lowland regiments were all wearing tartan trews while Highland regiments wore kilts, the HLI wore trews, demonstrating the HLI to be a Lowland regiment.
b) The HLI’s HQ was Glasgow and the regimental recruitment area was the City of Glasgow, which is entirely in the Lowlands.
c) The HLI’s territorial battalions (TF in WW1, TA in WW2) mainly served in the 52nd Lowland Division, none were in the 51st Highland Division.
d) One of the HLI’s territorial battalions was the 9th Btn HLI, Glasgow Highlanders. Why would they call themselves Highlanders unless it is to identify themselves as a Highland unit within a Lowland regiment ? The 9th (Highlanders) Btn Royal Scots is a case in point.
e) In WW1, the HLI wore standard British khaki uniforms of tunic, trousers and puttees as worn by all Lowland regiments. Highland regiments wore tunics, kilts, aprons, hose-tops and (short or long) puttees or else spats.
f) The HLI’s Highland heritage was purely historical, a still-used courtesy title overtaken by events through the years, the reality was at the earliest they were dekilted along with 5 other Highland regiments in 1809 due to lack of Highland recruits, maintaining an ambigious status until 1881, when they became Lowland in all respects.

I agree with the HLI, that they were always Highland.

Does anyone here agree, disagree etc ?

[wullie m]

Highland of course Lachie, certainly recruited in Glasgow but the Highland folk had mostly moved there. I had a Mackenzie (HLI) kilt myself when I was aboot five. You still won't hear the "ken" word spoken by Glaswegians, ken! wullie m

[Lachlan09]

My thoughts - To answer the “against” points above:-

a) As we all know, Lowland regiments wore standard British uniforms from the 17th Century until 1881, as kilts, trews, tartan, bagpipes, broadswords, dirks etc were not part of Lowland culture and tradition. In 1809, 5 Highland regiments (72nd , 73rd, 74th, 75th and 91st), due to poor recruitment of Highlanders, lost their Highland status and dress in entirety, even losing their right to have pipers. About the same time, the 71st (Glasgow Highland) Regt of Foot was converted as the Highland representative of the Light Infantry. There was already a Lowland representative, the 90th Perthshire LI. No doubt, the Light Infantry corps’ commander and organizer, Gen Sir John Moore, chose the 71st as he was a Glasgow man himself. The 71st had to give up most of their Highland dress, as they were expected to dress in Light Infantry style, but unlike the 5 de-kilted regiments, the 71st HLI kept their Highland round bonnets, converting them into LI style diced shakos, kept their pipers and also their Highland status.

In honour of George IV’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822, the most senior de-kilted regiment, the 72nd, was chosen to be re-instated as a Highland regiment. To defray expense, they were not allowed to adopt the kilt and sporran etc, but instead, feather bonnet, fly-plaid (shoulder / body plaid for officers), trews, broadsword and dirk for officers and of course, pipers were restored. They were given the romantically named Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan. The 71st felt that trews and light infantry trousers performed similarly and so after presenting their case, by 1835, were allowed to adopt Highland dress in the same manner as the 72nd, but keeping their diced (bell-top) shako and the tartan being the 71st’s old MacKenzie tartan. In 1844, Lt Col Eyre Crabbe’s petitions resulted in the 74th becoming Highland again and adopting the 71st’s uniform, but wearing the white-striped Lamont tartan. In 1864, the long-suffering 91st’s commander Lt Col Bertie Gordon, secured the Duke of Argyll’s support and Queen Victoria’s ear and the 91st Argyllshire Highlanders re-appeared in Campbell of Cawdor trews. Meanwhile, the Lowland regiments wore standard British uniforms, the 21st Royal Scots Fusiliers wearing the brown fur fusilier cap. In 1881, the tartan bandwagon arrived and it was decided the Lowland regiments would dress like their Highland counterparts in trews etc. However, though adopting doublets, the Lowland regiments continued to wear their police style 1878 pattern home service helmets and adopted Government tartan trews. The Scottish Rifles became a rifle regiment and adopted a rifle green/black version of the new Lowland dress. Meanwhile, the 72nd paired with the 78th as the 1st Btn Seaforth Highlanders, adopting the kilted uniform of the 78th, the 91st paired with the 93rd to become the 1st Btn Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and adopting the kilted uniform of the 93rd. The 71st paired with the 74th to become the 1st Btn HLI, the only Highland regiment to continue wearing trews. What happened over time is that the public thought Highlanders = kilts and trews = Lowlanders, even though the Lowland regiments had hijacked the HLI’s Highland dress.

b) Black Watch: regimental HQ = Perth (Lowlands) recruitment area – Perthshire (northern and far west parts = Highlands, the rest = Lowlands), Forfarshire (Lowlands), Angus (Lowlands), Fife (Lowlands), Dundee (Lowlands); Gordon Highlanders: regimental HQ = Aberdeen (Lowlands) recruitment area = Aberdeenshire (west part = Highlands, the rest = Lowlands), Kincardineshire (Lowland), Banffshire (Lowland), Nairnshire (Highland), Morayshire (south = Highlands, north = Lowlands); Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders: regimental HQ = Stirling (Lowlands) recruitment area = Argyll & Southern Inner Hebrides(Highlands), Arran (Highlands), Bute (Highlands), Dumbarton (west = Highlands, east = Lowlands), Renfrewshire (Lowlands), Stirlingshire (Lowlands), Clackmannanshire (Lowlands), Kinross-shire (Lowlands). Most recruitment came from the Lowlands for these regiments. The HLI recruited mainly in Glasgow, from Highlanders and Lowlanders. The 19th Century saw large migration of Highlanders to Glasgow.

c) The 12 battalions of the Highland Division in 1914 (the 51st number came later) was fully populated by all 4 TF battalions of the Gordons (Gordons Brigade : 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th), all 3 of the Seaforths (4th, 5th and 6th), the one and only TF battalion of the Camerons (4th) all in the Seaforths and Camerons Brigade and 4 of the Argylls battalions (6th, 7th 8th and 9th) in the Argyll & Sutherland Brigade. The Black Watch had its own independent brigade (BW Brigade comprising 4th, 5th 6th and 7th BW and 5th Argylls). There was no room for the HLI in the Highland Division ! Further, the TF split its responsibility between North Scotland (HQ Perth) and South Scotland (HQ Hamilton). The division line drawn across Scotland just went South of Stirling, so the Argylls were in the North Scotland district and therefore Highland Division, while the HLI in Glasgow were just South of the line. So it was allocated to the Lowland Division, whilst the Royal Scots had its own independent brigade.

d) The Glasgow Highlanders, during its independent existence, modelled itself on the Black Watch and intended to be linked to it in the future. Instead, it became part of the HLI, but it kept its previous title and BW dress style. The Highlanders title was not to infer the HLI was Lowland and had it become part of the Black watch, it would have kept its title.

e) All except kilt-wearing troops wore trousers and puttees in WW1. In fact, kilted battalions were also seen in trousers and puttees in winter-time, as a general order was given in time for Winter 1916 on the Western Front to dress that way for the duration of the harsh winters.

f) Not so – the HLI was never excluded from the Highland corps, but the pressure of perception that Highlanders wore kilts and Lowland troops wore trews was such that the HLI pressed for kilts following WW2 and in 1948, the HLI was granted kilts of their own MacKenzie tartan and the same Highland dress as the other kilted regiments. Thus endeth any argument !

Then after all that hard work, in 1959, they were teamed up with the RSF to become the Royal Highland Fusiliers – a Lowland regiment !!


Do you think I need to get out more ?

[wullie m]

Lachie, ah think this'll take a while tae sink in, ye never mentioned the "strictly nae drawers policy" wullie

[Lachlan09]

Ahh the famous "Kilty-Cauldbum" clause in Highland regimental contracts !

[Bumbleinc]

Please excuse the postings of a newbie but seeing that you all have knowledge of the HLI I wonder if you could point me in the right direction to find information on them from 1860-1863. My Great great great Grandad was in the 71st HLI and was killed in 1863 in the Umbeyla campaign/Eusofzai. I have a very old photo of a memorial with JB Adams (John Brown Adams) name on which I have recently found out is in Glasgow Cathederal. I know he died 6th Nov 1863 but I have no idea when or where he was born and who he was married to and was hoping to findi his military records. I do know that he had a son who was born in India in 1861 (no idea who the mother was) and ended up being adopted in Glasgow by 1871.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

[Lachlan09]

I wish I could be of help, but unfortunately I don't know how to research ancestors/persons during this period. If I may suggest a couple of sources -

1) the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum in Sauchiehall St Glasgow (previously the HLI Museum), they have a website which can be readily accessed through a web search

2) The National Army Museum, Chelsea, London. As well as the 20th Century the NAM specialises in Britain's military history in the 17th to 19th Centuries and may well have records of soldiers of the period you are looking for.

The campaign you mention was the last vestiges of the Indian Mutiny, the Battle of Ambela occurred in October 1863 in the Yusufzai part of the North West Frontier. The 71st fought in that battle,as well as the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, as part of a 7,000 strong force. A photo exists of 20 men of the 71st's, in red undress jackets, trews and diced kilmarnock bonnets at Peshawar after their return from Ambela in 1863. A photo of the same period shows 7 kilted soldiers of the 93rd's at Ambela with their prisoners. Both photos are available on the web at militaryphotos.com in their pre-1900 (forum) section.