page_title: Gordon Highlanders
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Gordon Highlanders / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument to a forgotten war War memorial to Gordon Highlanders who fell in the 1882 Egyptian Campaign.
context_page_description: The Gordon Highlanders was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed for 113 years, from 1881 until 1994, when it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Highlanders to form the Highlanders. Although the 'gordon highlanders' had existed as the 92nd Regiment of Foot since 1794, the actual 'Gordon Highlanders Regiment' was formed in 1881 by amalgmation of the 75th Regiment of Foot and 92nd Regiment of Foot.
context_section_description: The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 instigated under the Childers Reforms as the county regiment of: Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Shetland.  Although the regiment was formed by two regular regiments, it in-fact controlled other units which were of the former Militia and Volunteer Force, including:
  Regimental Headquarters & Regimental Depot at Castlehill Barracks
  1st Battalion (Regular, former 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot)
  2nd Battalion (Regular, former 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot)
  3rd (Royal Aberdeenshire Highland Militia) Battalion (Militia) based at the King Street Barracks in Aberdeen
  1st Volunteer Battalion (Volunteers, former 1st Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, became 1st VB in 1884), later became 4th (City of Aberdeen) Btn
  2nd Volunteer Battalion (Volunteers, former 2nd Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, became 2nd VB in 1884), later became 5th (Buchan and Formartin) Btn
  3rd (The Buchan) Volunteer Battalion (Volunteers, former 3rd Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteer Corps)
  4th Volunteer Battalion (Volunteers, former 4th Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteer Corps), later became 6th (The Banff and Donside) Btn
  5th (Deeside Highland) Volunteer Battalion (Volunteers, former 1st (Deeside Highland) Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire Rifle Volunteer Corps), later became 7th (Deeside Highland) Btn
  The 1st Battalion fought at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War, and then took part in the Nile Expedition in an attempt to relieve Major-General Charles Gordon during the Mahdist War.
  The 1st Battalion then took part in the Chitral Expedition and then the Tirah Campaign; it was during operations on the North West Frontier in October 1897, during the storming of the Dargai Heights, that one of the regiment's most famous Victoria Crosses was earned.  Piper George Findlater, despite being wounded in both legs, continued to play the bagpipes during the assault. Another of the heroes involved in the charge of the Gordon Highlanders at Dargai Heights was Piper John Kidd. Piper Kidd was with Piper Findlater when, half-way up the heights, both pipers were shot down. Unmindful of his injuries, Piper Kidd sat up and continued to play "The Cock o' the North" as the troops advanced up the heights.
  Both battalions were sent to South Africa following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899. The 2nd Battalion fought at the Battle of Elandslaagte in October 1899 and was part of force to relieve the Siege of Ladysmith in November 1899. Meanwhile the 1st Battalion, which arrived a little later, saw action at the Battle of Magersfontein in December 1899 and was again in action at Doornkop, where they suffered severe losses, in May 1900. The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which ended with the Peace of Vereeniging in June 1902. Four months later 475 officers and men of the 1st battalion left Cape Town on the SS Salamis in late September 1902, arriving at Southampton in late October, when the battalion was posted to Glasgow.
  In 1908 the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve and four Territorial battalions.
caption: Monument in Aberdeen to the Gordon Highlanders who fell in the Anglo-Egyptian War
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