Is this the Black Watch?

Discussion in 'British Army Units - Others' started by yogib, Apr 1, 2009.

  1. yogib

    yogib Member

    charlie pic.jpg

    Hi guys was told my g uncle was in the black watch this is he, born 1913 exeter devon but moved to glasgow would anyone be able to identify him and unit info and so on???:rolleyes:
     
  2. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Impossible to tell from the photo. Can you do a high-res scan of the shoulder title? Might be able to read it?
     
  3. yogib

    yogib Member

    again same problemas i had before its the only image i have!!
     
  4. yogib

    yogib Member

    do you no what the lanyard represents?
     
  5. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

  6. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    The lanyard won't confirm what regiment he was in, unfortunately.

    Do you not have an original of this image that could be re-scanned?
     
  7. yogib

    yogib Member

    nope only image i have !!
     
  8. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Ok, sadly very little we can do with this.
     
  9. nemesis

    nemesis Senior Member

    is there a name on the photo, like a studio name
     
  10. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    We made friends briefly with an old "One eyed,one armed" Black watch Colonel in Majorca. He was teaching a German Judge staying in the same Hotel...How to greet a Scot.......The greeting he had him practicing was "Up your Kilt Jock"

    Sapper
     
  11. Cpl Rootes

    Cpl Rootes Senior Member

    I've blown up the pic and done all sorts but can't see the buttons or anything that could help me.

    However, you mention that he was in Glasgow. The Black Watch traditionally recruited more from Fife type area. The Glasgow Highlanders and the Highland Light Infantry were the regiments who recruited extensively from Glasgow so he could have been in one of them rather than the Black Watch.
     
  12. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Cpl Rootes -
    I think that you will find that - until the recent changes - the Black Watch recruited mainly from the Dundee - Perth area of Angus - Perthshire.

    Fifeshire people went mainly to the Border regiments K.O.S.B's et al - with the odd mix of Fife and Forfar regiments - Forfar being a bit North of Dundee - in what was Forfarshire at one time now it's all Tayside.....as the old poem of Mac Gonnall goes -
    The Tay -The Tay - The Silvery Tay - flows from Perth to Dundee - every day !.....a classic !

    Cheers
     
  13. Cpl Rootes

    Cpl Rootes Senior Member

    Ah, cheers for clearing that up Tom. I was never quite sure where the boundries between them and other local regiments were. I had family in both the Gordon Highlanders (mostly from Aberdeen/Angus area) and Black Watch (Dundee and Fife).
     
  14. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Cpl Rootes -
    you are obviously thinking about your stomach with Aberdeen / Angus cattle as the Gordons and Camerons shared all of Northern Scotland -

    and the Black Watch were the next layer down - Angus / Perthshire -

    then Fife/Edinburgh with the Border regiments -KOSB's and Cameronians

    then Glasgow/Stirling with the HLI - Argylls etc -

    whereas the 4th battalion RTR took them from all over Scotland as did the Fife and Forfar Tanks - and Lothian and Border Horse's two Tank battalions( 6th Armoured and 79th Armoured ) !

    The Scots came up with three divisions - not all Scotsmsn of course ( many wannabe's) - 15th - 51st and 52nd.....so it wasn't the Americans who won the war - it was the Scots - so there !

    Then there was the Navy and Air Force.......

    Cheers
     
  15. Cpl Rootes

    Cpl Rootes Senior Member

    Speaking of wannabe Scotsmen I met an American chap in Edinburgh this year (I was staying with my sister who is at Uni there) who seemed dertermined to brave the rain at the time in full highland regalia, playing the bagpipes with a 'Scotland Forever' tattoo.

    When questioned about this (got talking as he actually played the pipes rather well) turned out he thinks his great (x about 5) grandfather was Scottish and so he is determined to be known as a Scot :D
     
  16. China Hand

    China Hand No Longer A Forum Member

    Cpl Rootes -
    you are obviously thinking about your stomach with Aberdeen / Angus cattle as the Gordons and Camerons shared all of Northern Scotland -

    and the Black Watch were the next layer down - Angus / Perthshire -

    then Fife/Edinburgh with the Border regiments -KOSB's and Cameronians

    then Glasgow/Stirling with the HLI - Argylls etc -

    whereas the 4th battalion RTR took them from all over Scotland as did the Fife and Forfar Tanks - and Lothian and Border Horse's two Tank battalions( 6th Armoured and 79th Armoured ) !

    The Scots came up with three divisions - not all Scotsmsn of course ( many wannabe's) - 15th - 51st and 52nd.....so it wasn't the Americans who won the war - it was the Scots - so there !

    Then there was the Navy and Air Force.......

    Cheers

    Quite right Tom haha :) However you did miss out mention of Pontious Pilate's Bodyguard, a.k.a. The Royal Scots, recruiting from Edinburgh and around ;)

    I have seen a figure (original source not known) quoted in one Scottish history book as saying Scotland sent 446,000 men to the armed services, 29,000 men to the Merchant Navy, and 69,000 women to the various branches open to them, while those killed amounted to 34,000 in the armed services.MN and 6,000 civilians.
     
  17. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    China Hand -
    exactly why I didn't mention the Royal Scots - they were the bodyguard of the biggest coward in History.......the figure of 446,000 should be considered within the context of the population of Scotland at 1939 could not have been more that 3- 4 million - if that many

    Cheers
     
  18. China Hand

    China Hand No Longer A Forum Member

    Ha !

    Yes indeed...high proportion of pop.
     
  19. Condie

    Condie Member

    Funny then that if Fife people didnt get put into the Black Watch.
    My Grandfather from Burntisland, FIFE - Black Watch WW2
    My Grt Uncle from Kenoway, FIFE - Black Watch 6th (as you know Tom)

    Did they buck the trend perhaps !!!
    Were they taken by surprise whilst holidaying in Perthshire ???
    Did the Black Watch recruiters run out of locals and have to poach from neighbouring counties ??

    Who knows, but for sure these Fifeshire men were in the Black Watch for sure

    :)) Gordon
     
  20. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Condie -
    NO one is saying that the Black Watch - or any other regiment - failed to take recruits from any quarter of the country - ALL it means is that their MAIN recruiting areas were as listed i.e Black Watch - Dundee and Perth - Argylls - Stirling - Gordon and Camerons - North of Scotland - HLI - Glasgow - Royal Scots - Edinburgh -KOSB's - Borders...... that's all

    In the same way that I started off with the Beds & Herts at Bury St Edmonds before going for Tank Training to finish up in Tank battalion which originated from the 8th battalion Duke of Wellington's - of Yorkshire !

    Even now I am still Scottish born - but a Canadian My children are all Canadians - but NOT Scottish !

    Cheers
     

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