1st Tyneside Scottish (1 TS)

Unit Details

Name: 1st Tyneside Scottish
Abbreviation: 1 TS

History

The 1st Tyneside Scottish was originally raised in 1939, just like the other two Battalions of the Brigade, as a second-line duplicate. In their case they were the 12th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, a duplicate of the 9th Battalion - "The Gateshead Gurkhas". Just like the other two Battalions, the 12th became the home of the most recent recruits signed up as part of the expansion of the Territorial Army.

Right from the beginning, the pressure from a group of citizens who had successfully argued for a Tyneside Scottish Brigade in World War One (and indeed a Tyneside Irish Brigade as well) to create a Tyneside Scottish unit in World War 2 was considerable. Lobbying of the Secretary of State for War took place and approaches were made to Scottish Regiments looking for what one might call "sponsorship". Colonel J R Hall, a local figure who had been prominent during the recruitment of the Brigade in World War One, and had been the Honorary Colonel of the 4th Battalion, featured significantly in this initiative, and became the Honorary Colonel of the 1st Tyneside Scottish in 70th Brigade - visiting the Battalion in Camp on several occasions.

After the negotiations the Black Watch agreed that the Battalion - which had been formally titled 12th Battalion (Tyneside Scottish) The Durham Light Infantry up to that point - should be moved from the Corps of the Durham Light Infantry to that of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) as a full Battalion of the Regiment. The formal move took place on 1st February 1940 and the Officers and men on the strength were transferred - an exercise reflected, as far as the Other Ranks were concerned - in the Army Enlistment Books 358 of both Regiments. This allowed the full transferring manpower of the Battalion at the time of transfer to be identified.

From that point reinforcements and drafts of new recruits came via the Infantry Training Centre No. 8 at Perth, a further dilution of the North Eastern basis of the Brigade.

The history of The Black Watch - written by Brigadier Fergusson - refers, unfortunately, to The Tyneside Scottish as an "affiliated Regiment", much like the Black Watch of Canada, rather than being a full Battalion of the Regiment, as the formal files at The National Archives at Kew make clear was the case.

That point was reinforced by the presence in The National Archives of the file dealing with the decisions on the settling of the Regimental title, badge and dress regulations, including correspondence between H M Queen Elizabeth - then Colonel in Chief of the Black Watch - and her husband, H M King George VI. Buckingham Palace were kind enough to allow the Lead Researcher to refer to this correspondence in order to clarify and confirm the status of the 1st Tyneside Scottish as a full Battalion of the Black Watch.

Wikipedia History

To read the short Wikipedia page on the Battalion, please click here.

Battalion War Diary

1st Tyneside Scottish 1940

1st Tyneside Scottish 1941

1st Tyneside Scottish 1942

1st Tyneside Scottish 1943

1st Tyneside Scottish 1944

Personnel Records for 1 TS

1st Tyneside Scottish (1 TS)

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