The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada is the oldest Highland
regiment in the Dominion, and was the first of the Dominion battalions to become
allied with their Parent regiment in Scotland. Like the Parent Black Watch, the unit
was founded when there were threats of local trouble, and eight Montreal
"chieftains" each raised a company of soldiers to keep the peace. The occasion
was the American Civil War. Canada was threatened with invasion from the
South, and on January 31, 1862, these Montreal leaders formed the Royal Light
Infantry which for many years was popularly called the "Royals."
Many changes ensued over the next fifty years. At first, only one of the eight companies wore
Highland dress, but by 1883 the entire battalion wore the Black Watch kilt. The Battalion's worth as
a military unit was proven on many occasions - when it was called out to serve for many months on
the Canadian border of the Niagara Peninsula and the Eastern Townships during the Fenian Raids of
1886 and 1870, and in aid of the civil power during the Orange Riots of 1877, the Quebec dock
riots of 1878, the smallpox riots of 1885, the Valleyfield strike of 1900 and the Montreal dock riots
of 1903.
During the Boer War, Canada's overseas force was a composite one. New regiments were formed
out of detachments of older ones. The regiment at Montreal supplied what is alleged to have been
the largest single detachment for the new Royal Canadian Regiment. Five officers of the regiment
and 51 of its men served with the Canadian contingents in Africa. It was because of their service
that the regiment was awarded the battle honour SOUTH AFRICA 1889-1900.
In 1905, the Canadian regiment became formally allied with the Black Watch in Scotland. In the
same year, its familiar Bleury Street Armoury was built, to a large extent at the expense of its
officers. In 1906, the regiment was authorized to form a second Battalion, and for many years it was
the only two-Battalion regiment in Canada stationed in one city.
When the Great War of 1914-18 broke out, the Royal Highlanders of Canada volunteered as a
unit. The Canadian units, as they were raised for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, were given
consecutive numbers. So it was that the two peace-time battalions of the Royal Highlanders became
the 13th Battalion (RHC), CEF. When the first contingent left, a second was recruited. The
regiment raised another Battalion, and this time LCOL G.S. Cantlie, who commanded it, arranged
that its CEF number be the historic 42nd of the Parent regiment in Scotland. It, too, went overseas,
and then a third Battalion was raised under the Black Watch number, the 73rd. The Regiment was
the only Canadian one to have three battalions at the front of this campaign, and all of them fought
their way up the slopes of Vimy on the same day in 1917.
In addition to those three battalions, it sent over from Montreal three reinforcing companies, and
supplied defence duty on the English Channel, taking part in the training manoeuvres and exercises in
England and Scotland which prepared the Armies for the invasion of Europe. In August,1942, the
Canadian raid on Dieppe took place, and the 1st Battalion was represented by its C Company and
the Mortar platoon, most of whom became casualties.
D-Day, for the invasion of Europe, was 6 June, 1944. A month later the 1st Battalion crossed to
France with the second Canadian Division. From then until the final defeat of Germany, 11 months
later, the 1st Battalion fought steadily, taking part in some 30 battle actions across France, Belgium,
Holland, and into Germany. One of its greatest battles took place at May-sur-Orne and St. Andre
in Normandy on 25 July, 1944, when the battalion was practically wiped out in a gallant attack
against heavy odds.
Following the cessation of hostilities, the 1st Battalion carried out occupational duties in Germany for
two months, and was later deployed in the Netherlands for a further two months. It then returned to
Canada to be demobilized from the Active Army.
