Earlston Rifle Volunteers

The latest organisation to feature in our series of local  clubs & societies is Earlston Rifle Volunteers - the fore-runners of today's Territorial Army. 

 The Rifle Volunteers setting off for camp in 1907

 The Beginning  

In the 1860’s, volunteer rifle companies were being formed across the country and so, on his return from the Crimean War Mr Mitchell of Carolside decided to establish a Rifle Volunteer Company in Earlston.  Together with Henry Hewatt, an accountant in the village, he set about recruiting villagers and by the end of 1862, 41 men had volunteered.   

The Rifle  Ranges

Although the government had resolved not to accept the services of any volunteer corps after January 1863, the Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire persuaded Lieutenant- Colonel Jones, the Deputy Inspector of Volunteers, to inspect the rifle range of the proposed corps. The tenant of the Park Farm, Mr Weatherly, had granted the use of ground for a rifle range.

The ground, with the rifle butts on the south side of the White Hill and the targets and flag pole at the bottom of the Black Hill, provided a range of about 900 yards.  The range impressed Lieutenant-Colonel Jones and permission was granted to establish the Earlston Rifle Volunteers. And so on June 5th, 1863 the Earlston Rifle Volunteers (the 6th Berwickshire) was officially formed.  

Meantime a second, short, range was established on the “Early Haugh” on land owned by Lord Haddington on the banks of the Leader river closer to the village.

Ordnance Survey Map - Roxburghshire NIV 1924, 

Mr Mitchell, now Captain Mitchell, accepted the office of commanding officer of the Company. He appointed as his subalterns Lieutenant James Smail and Ensign Wilson. For his drill instructor,  Mitchell chose Sergeant Charles Wilson who had served 21 years in the 42nd Royal Highlanders, the Black Watch, and had seen service in the Crimea and the Indian Rebellion.

First Parade and Uniforms

The following year, 1864, saw the first parade of the Volunteers.  The uniforms were
described as scarlet tunics with scarlet cuffs and collar, black braid all round, an Austrian knot, and for officers four “fern leaves” in black embroidery on the breast, dark grey trousers with 1¼ inch scarlet stripes, dark grey shakos with red band, black piping, the Royal Arms in front, and light green ostrich feather plume (cock’s feathers for officers) and brown waist and pouch belts.

Captain Mitchell commissioned three village tailors, Messers Leslie, Inglis and Clendinnen to make the uniforms and Mr William Robertson, saddler, was commissioned to make the belts and pouches.

From “Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force 1859-1908” by Major-General J M Grierson.  Published by William Blackwood & Son 1909.

 
The   appearance of the corps and the pomp and circumstance of the occasion. After a dusty march back to the village the men gave a hearty three cheers to the Queen before being dismissed and treated to ale and biscuits, courtesy of Mr Leslie.

Ladies' Challenge Cup 

 On New Year’s Day 1866 a rifle competition was held at the Black Hill range which was to become an annual event.  Later in the year it was proposed that the ladies of the town and neighbourhood would subscribe for a silver cup named The Ladies’ Challenge Cup, to be competed for at Earlston and open to the Berwickshire Battalion.

The Ladies' Challenge Cup, courtesy of Mrs Bunty Mason  

                

The cup is inscribed “Presented to the 6th BRV by the Ladies of Earlston & neighbourhood 1866”. On the opposite side of the cup two volunteers are depicted, one in a kneeling firing position and the second is reloading his musket. The range flag pole is also shown. The first competition for the cup was held at the Early Haugh in October 1866 with every company except Chirnside taking part. The rules were such that should any marksman win the cup twice he was entitled to keep it and that honour fell to Sergeant John Burrell at the competition held on the Black Hill range in July 1893. The base of the Cup was inscribed “Won by Sergeant John Burrell 1893”.

Sergeant Burrell was something of a marksman since he won a number of prizes including the New Year’s Day competition in 1908 where the Tom Scott’s watercolour “Rhymer’s Tower” was the first prize.

  1908 Prize - Rhymer’s Tower by Tom Scott RSA, courtesy of Bunty Mason

Reorganisation 

In the  1870’s the British government started to reform the army to better organise home and foreign garrisons and incorporate the volunteer forces. As part of this restructuring, the Earlston Volunteers were consolidated into the Berwickshire Rifle Volunteers, forming Earlston F Company in 1880.

Royal Review 

1881 would be the 21st anniversary of the volunteer company movement and it was decided to celebrate the occasion at the Royal Review in Edinburgh with “the grandest parade Edinburgh had ever witnessed.”  On Thursday, October 25 that year, Queen Victoria and her entourage attended the event  at Queen’s Park, now Holyrood Park, where, 21 years before, the newly created volunteer forces had paraded before her.

The day was deemed to be a great success -  except for the weather which dumped 3 inches of rain over 24 hours. Undeterred, the population of Edinburgh was swelled with over 400,000 spectators keen to watch the spectacle from any vantage point with Arthur’s Seat being particularly popular. Over 40,000 troops including men from the Earlston Company took part, churning the Park into ankle deep mud.

"The Wet Review" by William Baird

 

Further Reviews
Another review were held in 1905 in front of King Edward VII and on August 29 1931, the fiftieth anniversary of the “Wet Review”  was held when 1,600 veterans marched past the Mound. During the Second World War, on August 29, 1941, 200 veterans of the “Wet Review” marched past the review stands in front of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. 

 

Earlston’s last veteran of the original “Wet Review”, George Hunter, who lived at The Terrace, died in May 1944 aged 85.

In 1884, the Berwickshire Volunteers were briefly affiliated with the Royal Scots and adopted their uniform, then in 1887 they were transferred to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers forming the 2nd Volunteer Battalion to be commanded by Colonel Hope of Cowdenknowes. In 1900 the uniform helmet was replaced with the glengarry with the familiar diced border and the trews were now Leslie tartan.

Earlston volunteers served in the Second Boer War (1900-1902) and when Robert Young and John Maltman returned to the village in 1902 they received a heroes' welcome. School children were given the day off to meet the men at the railway station. Even the mill workers at the tweed mill were given an hour off work to join in the celebrations.  Off to Camp - Report in the "Southern Reporter":  18th July 1907.

In 1908, the Volunteers Force merged with other militia and yeomanry companies to form the Territorial Force. Earlston men would form D Company 4th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borders. That same year the Berwickshire Volunteers would attend their annual camp outside Gordon.

The men from Earlston would serve with distinction during the First World War, especially during the Achi Baba Nullah attack in Gallipoli.

After the First World War there was another restructuring of the military and the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army.

In Earlston, in 1923, and after almost ninety years, the final competition was held at the Earlston Rifle Volunteers Black Hill range. Fittingly participants included old Volunteers, Territorials and ex-Servicemen.

Contributed by Jeff Price of the Auld Earlston Group 


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