Ray Westlake looks at a Territorial soldier of the Gordon Highlanders
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Ray Westlake looks at a Territorial soldier of the Gordon Highlanders, from between 1908 and 1914, and reveals all the elements of his uniform.
Two aspects of this photograph identify the subject as a member of the Territorial Force: His three-tier shoulder title and the efficiency stars worn just above the cuff. Between 1908 and 1914 the Gordon Highlanders had four Territorial Force battalions, the 4th with headquarters at Aberdeen, the 5th at Peterhead up the coast, 6th at Keith and the 7th, which could be found at Banchory, 18 miles from Aberdeen. There were also two independent companies (the Shetland Companies) based at Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands.
Brass shoulder titles made up of the letter ‘T’ over battalion number over ‘GORDON’. The Shetland Companies has ‘T’ over
‘S’ over ‘GORDON’.
Red doublet with white piping, white chevrons and royal arms, general service buttons.
Stars, each representing four years as having been passed as efficient.
Yellow collar with a line of white piping at the bottom. Badges, the Royal Tiger which was authorised in 1807 to the old 75th Highlanders (later in 1881 the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders) for services in India.
Blue glengarry cap with diced border, the badge being that of the Gordon Highlanders. The familiar white metal stag’s head issuant from a ducal coronet flanked by a wreath of ivy with below a scroll inscribed ‘Bydand’.
White leather waistbelt with general service - royal crest and motto ‘Dieu et mon droit’ clasp.
Sporran badge, a shield charged with a stag’s head, coronet and ‘Bydand’.
Kilt, Gordon tartan.