HLI Chronicle 1910 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

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HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CH:R01SI 17.1 T"e. National Character of the Scottish Regiments. [CONCLUDED.] (Continued from; July Number.) RECRUITS. We now come to the recruits, and we believe that some of the particulars will be found rather interesting. In 1850 a Parliamentary Oommittee sat in regard to Army and Ordnance expenditure, at which period, as will be reoollected, the War and Ordnance Departments were separate. Before this Committee a good deal of information about recruits was elicited from such officers as the late Lieutenant-General Sir John Macdonald, Adjutant-General, and Major-Gtmeral Brown, * who was his deputy for eight years, and succeeded him as Adjutant-General. The recruiting is carried on under the directions of the Adjutant-General. It appears to have been the regulation, to rame two-thirds of the recruits yearly required in England and Scotland, and the remaining one-third in Ireland, and that the average of rejections is forty per cent. Several Regiments are mentioned as recruited for exclusively in Scotland, but that only as many real Highlanders as would keep up two or three Regiments could now be yearly obtained. We are therefore glad to learn that so many mountaineers are enlisted, as we were under the impression that most of the men were Lowlanders, although many are the descendants of Highlanders who settled in the Lowland towns. In regard to the Cavalry, Major-General Brotherton, then Inspector-General, stated that agricultural labourers are preferred, but that a large proportion of that class is not to be obtained, and therefore that, London having a mixed population, the best Cavalry recruits are usually enlisted there. This, of , * Now General Sir George Brown. Ha gave up the lippointmant of Adjutant-General to take the Command of the Light Division in the Crimea. He is now Commander-in-Chief in Ireland. . course, refe1l to the Cavalry Regiments in. general, and not to those which have old, connections in other parts-as, for example,. the Household Cavalry and Scots. Greys. Major-General Sir F. Smith, R.E., mentioned that the Royal Engineers* obtained a great many men from Scotland who are very intelligent, as well as many from Dublin, and that those from London are not such fine men in stature, so well conducted, nor so welf educated, as those from Scotland and Dublin. The Artillery have always recruited in. Scotland, and been very successful, as Scots- men are fond of that branch of the service. In Ireland they only recruited in the northern districts for many years, and which perhaps, still continues. The great advantage of raising recruits in. counties where Regiments are well known and have' old connections was pointed out by Lieutenant-Colonel A. M. Tulloch, Superintendent of Out-Pensioners (now Major-General Sir A. Tulloch), as old soldiers generally return to their native place. As a proof of this, hementioned that in Glasgow alone there were at that period no fewer than from 200 to 300 of the old soldiers of the 7lst Highland Light Infantry residing there. There is no doubt of the truth of Colonel Tulloch's statement, and the great esprit de corps of the Scotch Regiments may be attributed to it. A soldier's life is viewed with favour by all classes in Scotland. The recruits raised (Artillery and Engineers excluded) from the 1st January, 1845, to the 31st December, 1849, are given in a Return dated May, 1850. The following are the numbers raised in each country, and passed" during the five years mentioned : England .and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, ReeruitB. 28,922 8,434 18,854 56,210 P~pulation in ISH. 15,906,741 2,620,184 8,175,124 In regard to Ireland, as already mentioned. only OfI,e-third of the reoruits yearly required * This corps is now to be kept up chiefly by picked volunteers from the Cavalry and Infantry Regiments. The recruiting has been limited to Glasgow, London, and Devonport. The best recruits are enlisted in Glasgow.
~~~~~~~~-- 172 HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE. :are obtained from that country. Of course ·4uring war there is no rule; and the famine years (1846 and 18(7) were also exceptions, when, as Major-General Brown stated, a .great many were taken over to England. A large proportion of this excess were enlisted for the Regiments in India. The excess will .appear when it is mentioned that in 1845, the year previous to the famine, the number ·of Irish recruits passed was only 2358; in 1846 they increased to 4952; and in 1847 reached to 6316. In 1849 the number again fell to 2738. The famine years, therefore, ·caused the large excess of 'Over 7000 men above the average of previous years to be received into the army. The next returns which we have examined are after the amalgamation of the War and Ordnance Departments. These Returns have for some years been made up for the official year, commencing the 1st April and ending the 31st March; but the system having again been lately changed to the current year; they were only complete to the 31St December, 1859, and therefore we were unable to obtain the numbers from the 1st January to the 31st March, 1860. Eng. Average per Million. Scot-. Average per Million 1853-54, 9,492 537 3,213 1,112 1854-55, .. 22,336 1,248 6,888 2,375 1855-56, " 32,264 1,799 7,518 2,602 1856-57, .. 5,039 281 1,584 548 1857-58, .. 35,144 1,960 5,737 1,985 1858-59, .. 30,984 1859 1 (1st Apr. to (16,683 930 2,852 987 31st Dec.) t 1,666 5,227 2,005 151,942 33,019 Average per million, 8,421 11,614 Irilh. Average per MilIlinn. 1853-54, 6,613 1,009 1854-55, 11,997 1,846 1855-56, 12,222 1,865 1856-57 3,682 561 1857-58; 16,056 2,450 1858-59, 13,145 1,809 1859 (1st April to 31st December), 7,842 1,196 71,557 A verage per million, 10,736 In addition to the above numbers, Wales, for the same period, gave 2395 men, and also 668 foreigners were enlisted. The rejections numbered 64,256. The total number passed was 195,325. In 1851 the population of each country was: England and Wales, 17,927,609 Scotland, 2,888,742 Ireland, 6,515,794 Our previous observations in regard to the Highland Regiments being now in India are to sume extent borne out by the above. It is clearly shown that in 1853-54, and during the Russian war, in 1854-55, 1855-56, the Scotsmen who offered·for the Army, generally, far exceeded both English and Irish in proportion to populatiQn; but since the Highland and SQ many other Regiments have gone to India this enthusiasm decreased in 1857-58 and 1859, althQugh in the ascendant in 1858-59. SCQtsmen are tQ be fQund in nearly, we may say, every Regiment in the service; yet we suspect that a dislike to service in India may be the cause of the decrease in the two years mentioned since the ~~uropean war; but even then, taking the average numbers given fQr the seven years, SCQtland CQntinues in advance 'Of both England and Ireland. We should have wished to give the tQtal number 'Of English, Scotch, and Irish respectively in the Army during the last year but we could not 'Obtain it. In 1853, h'Owever, the following statement was published, excluding the Artillery and Engineers, which were then under the Master-General of the Ordnance Irish. Soot. Household Cavalry, 29 73 F'O'Ot Guards, 61 536 Cavalry, 2,486 803 Infantry, 32,840 12,562 35,416 13,974 The rest 'Of the Army is merely stated t'O be English,* with 'Out the number being given. * Perhaps it may interest some of our readers to know that the 13th Light Dragoons (now Hussars) is the Regiment which Colonel Gardiner commanded at the hattle of Prestonpans.
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HLI Chronicle 1910 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

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