 The Tyneside Scottish Cap Badge
St.Andrew's Cross; on the lower tablet inscribed
"Tyneside Scottish";
resting on the centre of the tablet and reaching to the
centre of
the cross, a tower, surmounted by the Scottish Lion
bearing in its
front paws a flagstaff carrying a swallow-tailed flag,
in the centre
of which is a small St.Andrew's Cross; sprays of
thistle emerge from
the tablet up each side of the cross. The badge is in
white metal
for all ranks.
Kitchener's famous call to the Nation's young men came as a result
of his realisation that the War was not going to be "over by
Christmas", and that Britain was going to need a much bigger army.
The problem was that there was no core to build on, the existing army
was already in France, and so the Minister of War took the bold step
of forming a completely new force. Despite opposition, Parliament
eventually sanctioned the raising of a force of 500,000 men, and at
the end of August 1914 Kitchener made his famous call for the "First
Hundred Thousand". Thus was born the "New Army", known to many as
"Kitchener's Army", the men of which it was made up being
"Kitchener's Men".
When the people of Tyneside responded to the Minister of War's
call to volunteer, it was not the first time that a local unit had
been formed. In the summer of 1859, fears of a possible French
invasion grew, and a number of local Militia forces were raised.
Amongst these was the 1st Newcastle Rifles, formed by the surgeon Sir
John Fife, members of the local Rifle Club forming the core of the
unit. By the beginning of 1861 there were thirteen Companies in the
unit, of which No.4 Company was formed largely from Scotsmen living
in the area and was known as the Kilted Company, being entitled to
wear Highland dress. By 1883, however, when the unit became known as
the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, all Companies
wore a uniform similar to its parent Regiment. On the death of Sir
John Fife, the unit drifted into oblivion. In 1900, during the South
African War, the Government called for the raising of local units of
Volunteers to reinforce the Regular Army. Efforts were made to
re-establish the former unit with Scotsmen living in Newcastle, and
about 1,000 men quickly volunteered. The new unit failed to
materialise, however, as the Authorities would only accept Service
Companies formed from the existing Volunteer Battalions.
In 1914 several of the local dignitaries who had been involved
with the previous attempt to raise a local unit were still in
positions of authority, and so quickly responded to Kitchener's call.
Once again they suffered disappointment, as can be seen from the
First Report of the Honorary Secretary of the Tyneside Scottish
Committee (Mr J R Hall), presented in December 1914. The Report
records that, despite initial encouragement from the War Authorities,
in September 1914 a change of mind seemed likely. On Saturday, 14th
October Lord Haldane, the Lord Chancellor (who had organised the
Territorial Force before the War), visited Newcastle, and was
obviously influenced by the enthusiasm of the Committee, which
immediately re-convened on the following Monday. Lord Kitchener's
original intention, which was put into practice, was to form a
Tyneside Brigade, consisting of one or two Battalions known as the
'Commercials', to be raised by the Chamber of Commerce, one Battalion
formed by the Tyneside Irish Committee and one formed by the Tyneside
Scottish Committee. At first, the latter Committee thought they would
be hard pressed to raise a Battalion of 1,100 men, and hoped that, if
they could raise some 700 or 800 men, the War Office would bring the
unit up to Battalion strength with men from elsewhere. In the event,
the response from the Tynesiders was overwhelming.
An initial problem faced by the Committee was that of finance. The
National scheme envisaged that locally raised units would bear the
cost of their own equipment, training, billeting etc. until the War
Office took the unit over. Since this could be some considerable
time, huge expenses could be involved. This problem was quickly
removed from the Tyneside Committees by Mr Joseph Cowan of Stella
Hall, who donated the then considerable sum of £10,000, one
third of which was to go to each Committee. At the same time, Mr
Cowan gave guarantees to the Committees' Bankers for further large
sums, pending eventual reimbursement by the War Office. In the event
the Committee raised some £500,000 before the War Office finally
took over the Brigade.
Relieved of financial problems, the three Committees concentrated
on the immediate task of recruitment. On Friday, 16th October 1914,
the Head Recruiting Offices were opened at 17 Grainger Street West,
with Branch Offices at North Shields, Wallsend, Hebburn, West Moor,
Gosforth, Prudhoe, Sunderland, South Shields, Jarrow, Ashington,
Bedlington and other places opening simultaneously. The results were
staggering. By 26th October 1,268 men had been enrolled in the
Tyneside Scottish, and the War Office sanctioned the formation of a
second Battalion, which was completed in a further eight days.
Another four days (including a Sunday) saw the raising of a third
Battalion, and six days later sufficient men had volunteered to fill
a fourth Battalion. So, instead of a Tyneside Scottish Battalion,
within 28 days there came into existence a Tyneside Scottish Brigade,
amounting to some 4,000 men.
At the same time, the Tyneside Irish Committee was recruiting at
an equal rate, drawing largely from ex-patriate Irishmen who had been
working in the coal fields of Northumberland and Durham. The local
people followed the contest with great interest, and in the end both
Committees claimed to be the first to raise a Brigade. The real
winners will probably never be known, so close was the result.
Later, two Reserve Battalions of the Tyneside Scottish were
raised, the 29th Northumberland Fusiliers at Alnwick in July 1915,
and the 33rd Battalion at Hornsea in June 1916. The original
intentions of the two Committees had been to restrict recruiting to
Irishmen and Scotsmen, and to a large extent the former was achieved.
The Tyneside Scottish, however, contained as many as 75% Geordies,
men who did not try to pass themselves off as genuine Scotsmen, but
who were attracted by the renown of Scottish fighting men, and the
Scottish garb and customs, and who became as proud to be headed by
pipes and drums as if they were true natives of Scotland. The story
of the rush to volunteer had been the same all over the country, and
Kitchener in fact had had his New Army of 500,000 men since the end
of September.
...
Chapter 2
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