Shako plate, 94th Regiment of Foot, 1862-69.
NAM. 1970-12-233Introduction
In 1568 Scotland was under the rule of the Earl of Moray, acting as regent for the newly-crowned teenage James VI (later also James I of England). Wanting to bolster his reputation as a good Protestant, that year Moray sent a ‘Scots Brigade’ to the Netherlands to demonstrate his support for its rebellion against Catholic Spain. It remained in the Netherlands for over a hundred years and swore loyalty to the Dutch Republic in 1665.
In 1688 James I’s grandson, James II, transferred the brigade to the English establishment to strengthen his failing grip on the British throne. However, 80 per cent of its officers refused this summons and instead joined James’s Dutch rival William III in his invasion of England.
The brigade then stayed in Scotland from 1688 to 1692 before returning to the Netherlands. In 1783 it refused to accept orders in Dutch, and Dutch army uniforms, and returned to Scotland. 11 years later it was placed on the British establishment as the ‘Scotch Brigade’.
Originally including four regiments or battalions, this had fallen to one by 1797, which fought in both the Mysore War and the Mahratta War and gained an elephant as part of its cap badge. In 1802 it was made the 94th Regiment of Foot, the fourth infantry regiment to bear that numeral since 1760, but it only returned from India to Scotland in 1808.
An elephant tusk captured at Sekukuni’s Kraal in 1879 and later used to store snuff in the officers’ mess of the 94th Regiment. NAM. 1951-11-88-1The regiment sailed for Portugal in January 1810 and the following month moved to garrison Fort Matagorda in Cadiz, then under siege from the French. The regiment fought throughout the Peninsular War and was finally shipped from southern France to Ireland in 1814. It remained in Ireland throughout the Waterloo campaign (1815) and was disbanded in 1818.
However, five years later, a new 94th Regiment was formed at Glasgow, centred on four former officers from the old one. The regiment immediately deployed to Gibraltar and remained in the Mediterranean until returning to Britain in 1834.
It was posted to India from 1838 to 1854, 1857 to 1868 and 1899 to 1908. These periods included time in Ceylon, Aden, the Yemen and the North West Frontier. The intervening periods were mainly spent in Britain, from which it sent men to reinforce units in the Crimea.
In 1875 it was recognised as the successor to the previous 94th Regiment and granted that regiment’s badge, uniform and battle honours. Four years later it fought in the Zulu War and then against the Boers (1880-81). There one of the regiment’s privates, Francis Fitzpatrick, won a Victoria Cross now in the National Army Museum's Collection. In 1881 it was amalgamated with the 88th Foot to form the Connaught Rangers.
Key facts
Nickname:
- The Garvies (Scots for the European sprat species of fish, after the extreme youth or poor physique of its original Scottish recruits)
Titles to date:
- Scots Brigade
- Scotch Brigade
- 94th Regiment of Foot
- 2nd Battalion, Connaught Rangers
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Regimental Merchandise
National Army Museum Collection
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