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Celtic Hist. Newsletter: Scottish Royal Company of Archers
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hist-@historicgames.com
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Feb 01, 2009 07:51 PST
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The Celtic History Newsletter
Brought to you by
The Celtic Croft
http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/
&
MacGregor Historic Games
http://historicgames.com
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The Scottish Royal Company of Archers
I was recently looking up something in the book "A Short History of
the Scottish Dress" by R.M.D. Grange (1966) and rediscovered a tidbit
that I thought it would be fun to share. Most people assume that the
Black Watch was the first official military unit to be assigned a
tartan, but Grange claims that:
"The first military body, under Government control, to adopt tartan as
a part of their uniform was, not as might have been expected, a
Highland regiment, but a Lowland one...The Royal Company of Archers in
1715 adopted a red tartan sett for their uniform. The first Highland
regiment to wear tartan was the famous Black Watch (42nd) raised in
1729."
The Company of Archers received its Royal Charter in 1704 and is a
ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland,
a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV,
when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his
visit to Scotland. (Although members of the Company served in the
military, in my brief look at them I have not found a reference to the
Company itself ever fighting as a unit.) The company was revitalised
in 1713 and a new, tartan, uniform was created for its members. Tartan
had become fashionable at the time as an expression of anti-Union and
pro-Jacobite sentiment. It seems a little ironic that this body guard
for the crown seems to have had a number of members who were known
Jacobites.
Not long ago I happened stumble on to a photograph of an early 18th
century uniform of the Royal Company of Archers on the site of the
National Museum of Scotland: http://tinyurl.com/cf774n
Although the Company was formed in 1676 as a private club originally
created to promote the sport of archery in Edinburgh, there is a
legend that suggests (on doubtful authority) that in an early form it
was created by the commissioners apointed by James I of Scotland for
overseeing the exercise of archery. These commissioners supposedly
selected the best bowmen under their charge and formed them into a
company to attend the king as a body guard on "perilous occasions."
There is also a tradition in the Company which says that the body of
the Scottish king, when located on the battlefield of Flodden, was
found covered and surrounded by the bodies of his archers' guard.
Unfortunately, the oldest records of the Company are said to have been
destroyed in a fire at the end of the 16th century. However, the
Musselburgh Arrow, a shooting prize for which the members have
competed since 1676 actually has medals attached to it going back as
far as 1603. But the early competitions may have been open to all
comers and not confined to the members of the Company.
Not long after their establishment the members settled on a uniform
for occasions when they appeared in public consisting of a white vest,
green breeches, and bonnet, with no mention of a coat or jacket. They
ultimately fixed upon a "Stuart" tartan for the coat, and resolved
that the lining should be " of fine white shalloon, (A lightweight
wool or worsted twill fabric) and white stockings, with a white
linning bow-case, with a green worsted bob, and a blew bonnet with a
St Andrew and a Coque (cockade) of white and green ribbons, and the
officers are allowed to trim or adorn their habits as they think
proper, according to their ranks." The shalloon was found to be
unavailable, so members were allowed to line their coats with anything
that was white except silk. The only difference in an officer's dress
was the trimming; the uniform itself was to be made of the same stuff,
both inside and outside, as the others.
The Royal Company currently has about four hundred active members and
a non-active retired list. Their current duties include attending the
Sovereign at various functions in Scotland, including the Order of the
Thistle investitures at The High Kirk of Edinburgh (St Giles
Cathedral), investitures at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the
presentation of new colours to Scottish regiments. A picture of the
Company in 2006 on the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle
http://tinyurl.com/dalsee
A full-text version of the book The History of the Royal Company of
Archers, by James Balfour Paul (1875) can be read online or
downloaded in PDF format from Google Books at http://tinyurl.com/bznyon
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