Afternoon Lecture | Officers of The Black Watch, 1902-1918

Between 1^st June 1902 and 11^th November 1918, 1,861 officers were commissioned in The Black Watch, and over 2,000 served in the regiment during the period. From the diminutive Edwardian officer corps to the vast citizen army of the First World War, as the officers of a Highland regiment they were a group defined by two concepts: social status and national identity. This talk examines who these men were and how they were chosen, from the sons of Highland lairds to the humblest wartime volunteers. Through their letters, diaries, memoirs and photographs, it examines their unique experience of war as the leaders of Scotland’s soldiers and the impact of this service on their individual perceptions of status and nationality.

Ruadhán Scrivener-Anderson is an historian at the University of St Andrews. His research focuses on the commissioned officers of The Black Watch in the period 1902-1918, examining how candidates were selected for commissions and appointed to regiments in war and peace, and how the resultant social and national composition impacted socialisation, identity and esprit de corps. He is a member of the Society for Army Historical Research and of the Royal Historical Society.

2.00pm Lecture Commences

£12 non members | £10 Friends