“We have to go now, Sir! It is time for us to go.”
These were the immortal words spoken by Lieutenant Colonel L. P. G. Dow to the Commander-in-Chief in Scotland on 14 May 1968, signalling the time had come for the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) to disband.
Watercolour of the 1st Battalion’s Disbandment Service, by Tom Carr, 1968
14 May 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Disbandment of the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), as a result of reductions to the UK Defence budget. Despite being raised in 1689 (as the Earl of Angus’ Regiment), The Cameronians were the junior regiment of the Lowland Brigade and it was to them that the bitter choice to amalgamate or disband was given. As it would not have been possible to preserve its unique history and traditions on amalgamation with any other regiment the painful decision to disband was taken.
So it was that on May 14 1968, at Douglas, the 1st Battalion The Cameronians ‘marched from the Army List and into history’. The majority of officers and men remained in the Army, transferring to other regiments and Corps. The name of the Regiment lived on through companies of the Lowland Volunteers and the Army Cadet Force until 1996 when they were rebadged and affiliated to other regiments. Further reduction of the army in 2006 brought the end of the names of all the Scottish infantry regiments, which were merged into the newly created Royal Regiment of Scotland.
While The Cameronians are no longer a part of the British Army, they are remembered with pride across the world; in foreign lands where they fought to liberate the oppressed and help preserve peace, and in Lanarkshire, their home. Low Parks Museum is the proud custodian of The Cameronians regimental collections, through which the Regiment’s name lives on in perpetuity.
To commemorate this momentous occasion in the Regiment’s history, we have created a small display within Low Parks Museum showing some key objects from the regimental collection that relates to the disbandment of the 1st Battalion. One of the objects in this display is the insignia of a Commander of the Swedish Order of the Sword, which had been presented to Lieutenant Colonel Dow on the morning of the disbandment service. The honour was bestowed on behalf of His Majesty King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Colonel in Chief of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
Neck badge of a Commander of the Swedish Order of the Sword, presented to Lt-Col L. P. G. Dow
It was possibly with mixed emotions that Dow received such an honour, given that his first opportunity to wear it was at the disbandment of his Battalion. As Commanding Officer, Dow had the painful task of formally disbanding the 1st Battalion – bringing almost 300 years of service to an end. The date chosen for the disbandment service was symbolic; the anniversary of the founding of the Earl of Angus’ Regiment 279 years earlier. Douglas was where that regiment had been raised and it was only fitting that that is where the disbandment of the 1st Battalion should take place.
The first Commanding Officer of the Earl of Angus’ Regiment was William Cleland, the young, veteran commander of Covenanting forces at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge. Cleland had the honour of commanding his regiment in it’s first victory, at Dunkeld on 21 August 1689. The victory was tainted by tragedy as Cleland was among those killed in the action. His sword would go on to become one of the Regiment’s most treasured relics, and was placed on the Communion Table on the day of the disbandment, a physical reminder of the first Commanding Officer of the Regiment.
The sword of Colonel William Cleland
Cleland was a man of words, and indeed left behind a legacy of poetry in addition to his accomplishments as a soldier. After his death, a poem dedicated to him by an unknown author was included in a collection of Cleland’s works.
It is titled ‘An Acrostik Upon His Name’ and reads:
Well, all must stoop to death, none dare gainsay.
If it command, of force we must obey:
Life, Honour, Riches, Glory of our State
Lyes at the disposing Will of Fate:
If’t were not so, why then by sad loud thunder
And sulph’rous crashes, which rends the skies asunder
Must a brave Cleland by a sad destiny
Culled out a Victime for his country die.
Lo, here’s a divine hand, we find in all,
Eternal Wisdom has decreed his fall.
Let all lament it, while loud fame reports,
And sounds his praise in Country, Cities, Courts.
No old forgetful Age shall end his story,
Death cuts his days but could not stain his Glory.
Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Dow, last Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), wrote his response in 1968, in dedication to William Cleland:
Another Acrostik Upon His Name
Would you approve of how the tree has grown?
I like to think so. You bequeathed your own
Love of a harassed land and honest cause,
Love which without advertisement or pause
Inspired a hundred Clelands less renowned
And warms platoons of Thompsons in the ground,
Men who have walked this road and shared this view.
Campbell and Lindsay forged the sword with you.
Lit by your pride they handed on the text,
Each generation shaping up the next.
Lindsay and Campbell finish it today.
Axed lies the tree. Now put the sword away,
No old forgetful age will end our story,
Death cuts our days but could not stain our Glory.
The first and last Commanding Officers, William Cleland and Leslie Dow, share one other, remarkable connection. Leslie Phillips Graham Dow was baptised on 16 February 1926 in the Cathedral Church of St. Columba, Dunkeld, the final resting place of Lieutenant Colonel William Cleland.
In 2007 a tree was planted at the National Memorial Arboretum, dedicated to The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). It is fitting that the accompanying plaque bears the last two lines of Colonel Dow’s poem, quoted above.
The plaque accompanying the Regimental Tree, at the National Memorial Arboretum.
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