On a summer's day in August 1882, thousands of Edinburgh's citizens packed the streets of the Scottish capital from the Castle esplanade, down the High Street and the Mound to the Waverley Station where two North British Railway Company trains stood waiting to take the soldiers of the Black Watch south to England, to the docks at Woolwich where the regiment would embark for active service on the sands of Egypt.

Large Black Watch Drawing (slow: 137K)

The 42nd had been garrisoned at the Castle for the last sixteen months and the regiment was extremely popular with the town's citizens and the Chief Constable of the County Police due to their exemplary conduct during their stay in the city.

The 42nd had also been present at the 'Wet Review' which had been held at the Queen's Park the previous year when the Scottish volunteer regiments and nine from England had paraded before Queen Victoria in torrential rain before returning to their homes in an extremely sodden state.

The reservists of the 42nd, the 72nd and the 78th (the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Seaforth Highlanders) had been recalled to the Colours and D and E companies commanded by Captain Fox and Captain Wauehope, consisting of 5 officers and 240 men, based at Maryhill Barracks, had been ordered to report back to the Castle to join the main body of the regiment which was preparing to go on active service. After being entertained by the cavalry detachment, the 3rd Dragoon Guards, who were also garrisoned at the barracks, on the previous evening, the 42nd were given a rousing send off by the Lord Provost Or Glasgow, the city magistrates and the band and pipers of the H.L.I. at a flag-bedecked Maryhill Station as they boarded the train to Edinburgh.

Waiting

On August 7th, after saying goodbye to their friends and relatives at the Castle barracks 768 officer's and men of the regiment stood waiting for the buglers to sound the call to assemble. Over the last few. days the Castle had been a hive of activity. Stores had been issued by the Quartermaster, baggage forwarded to Woolwich, arms inspected and valises and haversacks packed for the coming campaign. The 42nd had been inspected early in the morning on the 7th and later that day at noon. Two privates had climbed down the Castle Rock to West Princes street Gardens a few days earlier to escape active service but Lieutenant Colonel McPherson had permitted the men to mix freely with their friends instead of confining the regiment to barracks.

Although the men had taken full opportunity to visit their favourite pubs such as the 'Indies' and the 'Black Bull' to quench their thirst with a well deserved dram or two washed down by pints of McEwans or Youngers 'Edinburgh' ales before the long voyage to Egypt, the colonel's s confidence in his men had paid off and every man was on parade on departure day and not one of them had been found by their officers to be the worse for drink. One of the privates who had absconded a few days earlier had been taken to the military hospital in the Castle after tumbling down the steep rock while his companion had walked straight into the arms of the Edinburgh 'polis' waiting for him down in Princes Street Gardens.

After the noon inspection the men had been treated to tea and cakes laid out on tables on the Mills Mount Battery by the female patrons of the Soldiers Home and each member of the regiment had been given a copy of 'The Soldiers Textbook or Confidence in Time of War. At 5 o'clock seven young buglers in full highland dress sounded the assembly and the officers said farewell to their friends and relatives gathered outside the orderly room. As the regiment formed into their companies the strains of the tune 'Auld Lang Syne' could be heard coming from the soldiers of the 42nd detailed to be left behind in the Castle, followed by a hearty cheer as a piper of the regiment struck up a pibroch.

Wearing full marching order the regiment was drawn up in eight companies, two of the companies at Mills Mount on the north side of the Castle, while the remaining six companies stood on the high ground adjacent to the orderly room. The men were dressed in their white shell jackets, kilts and glengarries. Their equipment consisted of the valise, canteen and folded overcoat worn at the rear. Two ammunition pouches capable of carrying 100 rounds of ammunition were carried on the front of the belt while each man had been issued with a bag containing his sea kit. A gully knife on a cord was worn round each of the soldier's necks while a canvas haversack and wooden waterbottle completed the cumbersome, heavy valise equipment. A combination pick-axe and spade which was designed to be strapped to the back of the valise had been issued to some of the men for digging trenches in the soft desert sand.

The average height of the men on parade varied from 5'8"to 5'9". Many of the 42nd were veterans who had fought in the fever ridden jungles of Ashanti, while the reservists of the 72nd were old campaigners who had marched with General Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar during the Afghan War. The officers wore dark blue patrol jackets and kilts while some wore trews. Each officer carried a canvas haversack, waterbottle and field glasses, or a telescope, in addition to their side arms.

When the roll call had been completed and all of the 42nd had answered to their names, attendants went along the lines issuing a small item to the officers and men which brought home the purpose of the parade to each soldier and spectator in the Castle. Small rolls of lint were handed out, which each man put carefully away into his haversack.

Inspection

Just before six o'clock the regiment was drawn up in a line extending from the Castle gate to the orderly room and down again to the barrack commandant's residence. The inspection was carried out by Major General Macdonald accompanied by Captain Crofton A.D.C., Colonel Preston and Major Williams of the 3rd Dragoon Guards. A party of eight sergeants and a sergeant major were the first to leave the Castle to act as pivots at the Waverley Station and as they marched out of the gate and down the esplanade a tremendous cheer went up from the waiting crowds.

The small advance party marched down the Lawnmarket their boots ringing on the cobbles and turned into Bank Street to take a short cut down the steps at St. Giles Street while the waiting crowds gave them a tremendous ovation.

At a few minutes after six Lieutenant Colonel McPherson's voice echoed off the Castles ancient walls and carried along the line of the white-jacketed and kilted soldiers who had been patiently waiting for their colonel's orders to march off. 'Black Watch! Attention! Fours Right! March!'. The regimental band struck up the march 'Far Away' and the 42nd with their Martini-Henry rifles at the shoulder marched over the cobbles of the Castle and across the wooden drawbridge on their long journey to North Africa leaving the 3rd Royal Seots Militia to garrison the Scottish fortress. As they marched across the castles drawbridge, kilts swinging in unison, the guard presented arms while their comrades left to garrison the fortress clambered up the ramparts to cheer the departing regiment.

Outside the Castle gate a squadron of the 3rd Dragoon Guards who had ridden up from Piershill cavalry barracks, accompanied by their regimental band, were waiting patiently to escort the Black Watch through the massed crowds lining the streets to their destination at the railway station.

A detachment of the cavalry regiment had already left Piershill barracks to join the 7th Dragoon Guards who were presently on active service in Egypt. A large crowd had assembled on the esplanade whose outer walls were lined with hansom cabs and carriages. A tremendous cheer went up from the spectators on the esplanade when the Queen's Colour carried by the regiment's youngest officer and escorted by two stalwart colour sergeants was seen being carried through the, Castle gate. Only the Queen's Colour was being taken on active service as the regimental colour had been left behind at the regiment's depot at Perth.

View Points

From the esplanade all the way down the High Street every vantage point had been taken and the open windows of the tall tenements in the Lawnmarket and the High Street were packed with cheering citizens. As the main body of the Royal Highlanders turned left from the High Street into Bank Street, the mounted band of the dragoons played 'Will ye no' come back again', while the band of the 42nd raised their instruments to respond.

The crowds were so dense that the dragoons had difficulty in keeping a passage clear for the marching men. As the heavily laden soldiers began the difficult march down the steep cobbled incline of the Mound, women wept while men cheered and well wishers pressed forward to shake their hands and wish the men good luck. The manager of the Imperial Hotel had capitalised on the regiment's departure by filling his windows with spectators who had been willing to pay 2/6d a head for the privilege of seeing the Black Watch march off to war. At the Waverley Bridge the dragoons and the police held back the expectant crowds of people as the regiment approached Edinburgh's main railway station.

The trains, one consisting of 18 carriages and the other of 17 waited at no.3 platform for the arrival of the regiment. The right division of the Black Watch was the first to march into the station which was packed with cheering crowds waiting to see them off. The first train consisted of a saloon carriage, a first class semisaloon carriage, twelve third class carriages, two luggage vans and a guards van. Each third class carriage had five compartments capable of holding six men.

The second train waiting at the platform for the railway guard's whistle had two horse boxes coupled to it to accommodate the four officers chargers which were being taken on campaign. While the men were being formed up to board the two trains, many of their friends had managed to gain access to the station by cutting through the outlying goods sheds or by climbing over the Waverley's walls. Crossing the railway lines, unhampered by benevolent railway officials, the well wishers clambered up on to platform 3 to shake their friends hands before the soldiers boarded the train.

At 6.45 the signal was given by the railway guard for the first train to depart and the crowds cheered, waved their hats or handkerchiefs until the back of the guards van could be seen disappearing into the black hole of the Calton Tunnel. Fifteen minutes later the second train was given the signal to move off and as the soldiers wives and girlfriends wept into their handkerchiefs the band of the Dragoons played 'Auld Lang Syne'.

As the two trains sped southwards towards the English border the townsfolk of Dunbar flocked into their local railway station to wave goodbye to the troops as the engines and carriages steamed past the little seaside town. After a stop for refreshments at York the trains continued on south to Woolwich where the regiment filed aboard the S.S.'Nepaul' which was waiting at the Albert Dock to carry them to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. On board the troopship the Black Watch were issued with tropical white helmets adorned with pugarees into which the men inserted the regiment's famed red hackle, the symbol of the 42nd who were soon to distinguish themselves, yet again, fighting alongside the Cameron Highlanders, the H L 1. and the Gordon Highlanders, under their general Sir Archibald Alison at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir.

THE 42nd's DESERT DRESS

When the Black Watch marched out of Edinburgh Castle to fight in the Egyptian campaign, only the Queen's Colour went with the 42nd as the regimental Colour had been left at their Perth depot. The other ranks were wearing glengarries, white shell jackets and dark green kilts of the 42nd tartan. Each man, including the officers wore white spats and red and black hose set off by red garter tabs. The regiment's sporrans were made of white hair with black tassels surmounted by a black leather cantle bearing the cross of St.Andrew.

The regiment left the Scottish fortress in full marching order which consisted of the 1872 Valise equipment. The grey overcoat was folded and worn high on each soldier's back. The mess tin in a black waterproof cover was worn underneath the overcoat at the point in the back where the braces of the equipment crossed. The valise was carried just below the mess tin and some of the men had combination pickaxes and spades strapped to its back.

Two white leather ammunition pouches were carried at the front of the belt and each pouch was capable of carrying 100 rounds of ammunition. A white canvas haversack and wooden 'Oliver' pattern waterbottle completed the heavy and cumbersome equipment. Each man had a gully knife worn on a cord round his neck while his haversack contained a small book entitled 'The Soldiers Textbook or Confidence in time of War' which had been handed to each man by the lady patrons of the Soldiers Home in Edinburgh. The sergeants of the 42nd were issued with sword bayonets for the Martini Henry rifle.

A journalist from 'The Scotsman' noted that the officers of the regiment on parade were wearing glengarries, dark blue patrol jackets and either trews or kilts of the 42nd tartan. Each officer was equipped with a haversack, waterbottle and field glasses or a telescope in addition to their side arms.

Desert Wear

In the desert the Black Watch rank and file wore scarlet serge jackets fastened by brass buttons. The jackets had highland ,gauntlet' cuffs adorned with three brass buttons and dark blue collars with the regimental badge giving the kilted soldiers a very Scottish appearance. The white tropical helmets which had been issued had been stained light brown, and the Black Watch had fixed the proud symbol of the regiment, the red hackle into the headgear's puggaree.

The valise, overcoat and blanket carried by each soldier had been left at Kassassin by Brigade order before the regiment marched across the desert on their 5 mile nocturnal march to Tel-el-Kebir.

On campaign the 42nd's officers were dressed similarly to the men except that their kilts had the additional embellishment of green silk ribbons on the right hand side while their sporrans had copper gilt cantles. Each officer wore a Sam Browne belt with a lanyard, revolver and bullet pouch. Their highland broadswords were carried in brown leather scabbards. Round leather waterbottles were purchased locally and were carried on the march opposite the haversack.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com