A Brief History: Gordon Highlanders

With their berets and pompoms, their kilts and red and white tartan socks, the Gordon Highlanders are Scotland’s most renowned infantry regiment.

Since 1794, the regiment gained renown in the British Army’s greatest campaigns in Europe, Asia and Africa. The 100th (later renamed the 92th battalion) was initially trained to fight against the French Revolution. It distinguished itself against Napoleon on the bleak plain of Waterloo in 1815. Battle-hardened, it also took part in the second Afghan War and the Boer War in South Africa at the end of the 19th Century.

The regiment is composed mainly of soldiers recruited in Aberdeen and in the northeast of Scotland. Every parade, to the rhythm of the “Cock o' the North”, “St Andrew's Cross” or “The Garb of Old Gaul“ marches, is a national event that draws huge crowds.

William Walker had wanted to pay the regiment the homage it deserved. The bookseller, a magic lantern expert, gave his first cinematographic screening in Aberdeen in October 1896. To finance the purchase of variety films, Walker shot advertisements for businesses in the area. He also filmed local events and these short newsreels soon became more popular than the variety programme.

Soon after shooting The Braemar Gathering in 1898, Walker was invited to Balmoral Castle by Queen Victoria. He subsequently baptised his small business: Walker’s Royal Cinematograph. Between 1910 and 1911, Walker shot hundreds of short news reports. He stopped working in 1911. Today only three films attributed to Walker remain in the Scottish Screen Archive.

The myth of the Gordons lives on today. After two centuries of loyal and dedicated service to the British Crown, the Gordon Highlanders were incorporated into the Royal Highland regiment. The Gordon Highlanders Museum can be found in Aberdeen.

The original music for this film was composed by Antonio Coppola in 2008.