Scottish Yeomanry

The Scottish Yeomanry (SCOTS YEO) was a Yeomanry Regiment of the British Territorial Army formed in 1992. It served until 1999 when it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Yeomanry (QOY).

History
The Scottish Yeomanry was raised on 1 November 1992 as a result of Options for Change with Headquarters at Inchdrewer House, Colinton Road, Edinburgh. It was a Land Rover based reconnaissance regiment with a home defence role. The Regiment consisted of a Headquarters and three Sabre Squadrons.

Headquarters Squadron (Edinburgh) was named for the Lothian and Border Horse Yeomanry and was formed by the re-roling of 225 Squadron, 154 (Lowland) Regiment Royal Corps of Transport.

"A" (Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry) Squadron (Ayr) was transferred into the new regiment from the QOY where they had been serving on both CVR(W) Fox and other CVR(T) variants.

"B" Squadron (East Kilbride) was named for both The Lanarkshire Yeomanry and The Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry and was formed by the re-roling of 222 Squadron, 154 (Lowland) Regiment Royal Corps of Transport.

"C" Squadron (Cupar) was named for the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and Scottish Horse and was formed by the re-roling of 239 (Highland Yeomanry) Squadron, 153 (Highland) Regiment Royal Corps of Transport. Until 1999 "C" Squadron also maintained part of the lineage of the Lovat Scouts.

The regiment served in its home defence role with annual exercises in the UK but many of its members also seized on the opportunities opening up to the TA to serve on operational tours in the Balkans.

On 27 June 1998 The Scottish Yeomanry paraded at the Racecourse in Ayr to celebrate the Bicentenary of The Ayrshire Yeomanry. The parade was reviewed by Major General Mark Strudwick, GOC Scotland.

On 1 July 1999, after nearly seven years of service, the Regiment was amalgamated with the QOY as result of the Strategic Defence Review. "A" Squadron returned to the QOY and were joined by "C" Squadron. HQ Squadron was disbanded and its building taken over by the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming. "B" Squadron was re-roled to become 52 Squadron of 32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment.

Uniform
The Scottish Yeomanry had a number of distinctive elements to their uniform.

Headdress & Cap badge
In working dress the regiment wore the grey beret of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. This was also worn by personnel attached from other arms and services such as Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers tradesmen, Royal Logistic Corps Chefs or a Commanding Officer from a regular cavalry Regiment.

The scarlet hussar cap of the Ayrshire Yeomanry was adopted for wear with ceremonial uniforms with subalterns wearing silver peaks, as worn in the QOY, and field officers and above wearing gold peaks as would have been correct for the Ayrshire Yeomanry.

In "C" Squadron a red-white-green diced balmoral bonnet with cock feather was often worn in place of the scarlet cap.

The cap badge of the regiment consisted of the Lion Rampant of Scotland upon crossed lances under the Scottish Crown. It was the only British Army cap badge, at the time, to show the Scottish Crown. The cap badge of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland is very similar.

Upon establishment of the Regiment the "Mailed Fist" badge of the Royal Armoured Corps was worn which was superseded by cloth patch badges bearing the new Regiment's approved badge. Metal badges arrived later and were worn on a black cloth backing on the grey beret, and without backing on No 1 and No 2 Dress caps. Officers wore wire embroidered badges on their berets and side-caps, and the metal badge on No 1 and No 2 Dress caps.

Ceremonial uniforms
The ceremonial uniforms (No1 and No 2 Dress) were based upon Ayrshire Yeomanry patterns with individual Squadron distinctions such as collar badges. B Squadron only wore the collar badges of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry with every squadron wearing buttons with the badge of The Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry in order to represent that regiment's history.

There were initially no specific collar badges for Regimental Staff such as the Honorary Colonel or a TA Commanding Officer and they continued to wear the accoutrements of their own Squadrons. Lieutenant General Sir Norman Arthur, a regular officer of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, wore the collar badges of the Headquarters Squadron (Lothians & Border Horse) whilst he was Honorary Colonel. Subsequently small, inwards facing, variants of the capbadge were produced as collar badges, in metal for No 2 Dress and in wire embroidery on a scarlet backing for No 1 Dress and Mess Kit.

Mess Kit in the patterns of the predecessor regiments could be worn but the accepted pattern was again that of the Ayrshire Yeomanry, with each squadron wearing distinctive embroidered collar badges (Gold Griffon's head on scarlet for A Sqn, Lanarkshire Eagle on scarlet for B Sqn, FFY/SH on scarlet for C Sqn, and Wheatsheaf on French Grey for HQ Sqn).

In No 1 Dress a shoulder belt was produced for officers in gold thistle lace, which was a copy of the Glasgow Yeomanry pattern. The Pouch was based on the Ayrshire Yeomanry pattern and was embroidered in gold and silver wire on a scarlet backing, the "AY" cypher being replaced by "SYC"

This basis of uniform upon the Ayrshire Yeomanry made the Scottish Yeomanry a "Gold Regiment" in that its accoutrements and lace were gold and not silver as is normally the case with Yeomanry regiments.

Officer's Rank Insignia
In combat dress officers rank insignia were embroidered onto a yellow background with the regimental title also embroidered in yellow.

Stable Belt
The regimental stable belt which was adopted was a reversed version of the Ayrshire Yeomanry belt. This was the colour of the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars' belts and with their pending amalgamation a ready stock was available.

Tartan
Through their service as Scottish Infantry Battalions in the First World War each of the Squadrons could claim the rights to a Regimental tartan; Hunting Erskine tartan from the Royal Scots Fusiliers for the Ayrshire and Lanarkshire Yeomanries, Mackenzie of Seaforth tartan from the Highland Light Infantry for the Queen's Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry and Government tartan from the Black Watch for the Fife & Forfar Yeomanry. After the Second World War, in recognition of the strong links between them and the Royal Scots Greys, the Ayrshire Yeomanry's pipers wore Royal Stewart tartan, a prvilege confirmed by HRH the Duke of Rothesay (Earl of Carrick). However the Scottish Horse had a direct claim to the Murray of Atholl tartan, through their historic linkage with the Dukes of Atholl, and this became the regimental tartan. As a Cavalry Regiment there would be little opportunity to wear tartan in uniform but a patch of Murray of Atholl tartan was often worn on the upper arm of combat dress in a precursor of today's TRFs.

Memorials
Scottish National War Memorial, which was built after a proposal in 1917 by the 8th Duke of Atholl in Edinburgh Castle contains a memorial and book of remembrance to all Scottish Yeomanry's antecedent Regiments.

Affiliated Regiments and Formations
- The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)

Affiliated Cadets
Now the Scottish Yeomanry's name is only continued by the Army Cadet Force units who were affiliated to A & C Squadrons of the Scottish Yeomanry.