History of the Scots Guards (1805–1913)

The following year the Third Coalition was formed against France and the 1st Battalion took part in the expedition to Hannover in 1805 at a time when Napoleon's armies burnt across the continent.

In 1806 the Fourth Coalition against France was created and the following year the 1st Battalion took part in the second Battle of Copenhagen in Denmark, an expedition intended to prevent the Danish Fleet falling into the hands of the French.

On 12 May, the 1st Battalion took part in the crossing of the River Douro, an operation that ended so successfully that the French Army were in full retreat to Amarante after the actions in Oporto and its surrounding areas.

Despite their more privileged nature as an elite force in comparison to the normal infantry, the Guards still helped in the digging of trenches, an arduous duty made especially more by the absolutely terrible weather.

When the assault on Ciudad Rodrigo finally happened on 19 January 1812 it was bloody, with fierce and chaotic hand-to-hand fighting taking place at the two breaches made in the walls of the fortress.

After fighting so hard against the French in Portugal and Spain, in late 1813, the British finally pushed into France itself, where the 1st Battalion took part in a number of successful engagements, including at Nive.

The 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards, who were stationed in what is present-day Belgium, took part in, on 18 June, one of the most famous battles in history, Waterloo.

The 3rd Foot Guards were positioned on the ridge just behind Hougoumont Farm under the command of Second Major Francis Hepburn, while the light companies of the two battalions, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell, garrisoned the Farm, a place, on the right flank of the British and Allied army, that would be a key position during the battle.

[2] Just after 11:00am, the battle commenced, with a French division, under the command of Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, beginning the assault on Hougoumont, with the Farm coming under heavy artillery fire.

A few companies of the 3rd Guards subsequently confronted the French troops and, after some hard fighting, drove them from the orchard and back into the woods.

The elite Guards had proven their professionalism and valour once more in the field, and contributed greatly to the British and Allied victory at Waterloo, gaining the praise of the Duke of Wellington in the process.

One brave group of Royal Welch Fusiliers had held their ground and were firing into the Russians until confronted by a mass of Russian soldiers, forcing them to retreat rapidly, and in the process, smashed straight into the formation of the advancing Scots Fusiliers Guards, causing immense chaos.

The British, and their French allies, were attacked by numerically superior Russian troops, hoping to break the Siege of Sevastopol.

The attack happened in very thick mist and despite having weak defences and being outnumbered severely, the British defended stoutly against the Russians.

The Crimean War would end in 1856 with the Treaty of Paris, with the Scots Fusilier Guards returning home to the UK that same year.

In 1862, the 2nd Battalion landed in the then-colony of New Brunswick to reinforce the garrison there during increased tensions with the United States during the American Civil War.

The Scots Guards gained the battle honours "Tel-el-Kebir" and "Egypt 1882" for taking part in the Egyptian Expedition, and it was the last time the regiment carried the Colours into war.

The battalion returned home to the UK in late 1885 and took part in Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Military Review in 1887.

During its time in Africa, the regiment performed a variety of duties, including manning blockhouses, rather than just its involvement in the many battles of the war.

Following the end of the war the battalion returned home, leaving Cape Town in Winifredian and Michigan in September 1902, arriving at Southampton early the following month.

In 1910, Edward VII died and both battalions of the Scots Guards performed a variety of duties during the sad time, including lining the route of the procession.

That same year the regiment gained its second Colonel-in-Chief, the newly crowned George V. In 1911, small detachments of the Scots Guards were involved in a decidedly unpleasant event, the Siege of Sidney Street.

In 1910 a group of Latvian anarchists had attempted to rob a jewellers shop in Houndsditch in December 1910, and it had ended in the murder of three policemen and two being seriously wounded.