The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum

18/06/2026

Today is Waterloo Day. A date that marks the defeat of Napoleon at The Battle of Waterloo and Sergeant Ewart of the Scots Greys famously taking the French 45th Regiment of Infantry of the Line’s standard.

It is also the date that the eagle and standard were returned to the Regiment. On Waterloo Day 1956 a ceremony was held at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The eagle was carried onto the parade by Sergeant George Ingram, a Chelsea Pensioner that had served with the Greys in the Second South African War. Then General Sir Bernard Paget, Governor of the Royal Hospital passed the eagle into the care of RSM Haynes. Haynes and the es**rt slow marched through the ranks after which the parade re-formed into three ranks and marched away with the eagle at its head.

The following month in a ceremony at Edinburgh Castle the regiment loaned the eagle and standard to the Scottish United Services Museum. They had been marched up the Royal Mile from Holyrood and then, when they reached the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, the standard was lain on the tomb of Ewart. After the ceremony had taken place the eagle and standard were carried over the drawbridge, into the Castle and to the Scottish United Services Museum where they were safely kept until 1995. Since then they have been proudly displayed in The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum.

12/06/2026

The World Cup is now underway and football fever has hit Home Headquarters with Scotland’s campaign due to start on Sunday morning (alarm clocks at the ready). Football has been a hugely important sport within The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and its antecedents.

The 3rd Dragoon Guards had a very successful team in the early 1900s being awarded the Challenge Cup outright in 1907 after winning four years in a row. They continued to challenge for the trophy after this and we have a Cavalry Cup runners-up medal that was awarded to Private J Shaw in the 1909/1910 season. After their amalgamation in 1922 the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards returned the trophy so that it could be competed for annually.

Then in 1998 The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards reached the 86th Cavalry Cup Final where they played The Royal Dragoon Guards. The SCOTS DG had already had a successful year winning the German Cavalry Cup on penalties. A report on the Cavalry Cup final features in the Eagle and Carbine. It describes the team getting off to a great start and opening the scoring in the first ten minutes. A dodgy penalty gave RDG an equaliser who scored again to go 2-1 up before Larry Lamb equalised and then as SCOTS DG chased a winner they were caught on the counter attack with the Royal Dragoon Guards scoring the winner to make it 3-2.

Enjoy the World Cup and best of luck to Scotland and England!

05/06/2026

In August 1915 the Edinburgh Gazette published the citation for Private D Kerr’s award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

‘For conspicuous gallantry and resource from the 30th May to 3rd June 1915. During that period he constantly carried and reported very clearly, important messages from the front to the sub-section report centre. These messages were carried across the open under heavy and continuous shell and machine-gun fire. On the 3rd June he made the journey five times and was twice buried by shell fire.’

Donald Kerr (known in the Regiment as Donny) was born in Lanark in 1892 and joined the 3rd Dragoon Guards in 1910. He arrived in France with the Regiment on 31st October 1914. By May 1915 the 3rd Dragoon Guards were defending the village of Hooge on the Menin Road about 2 miles from Ypres. The Regiment placed ‘B’ Squadron in the village, ‘A’ Squadron had one troop to the north of the road, three troops south of the road linking with ‘C’ Squadron which carried the line as far as Sanctuary Wood. Their entrenchments were of poor condition, knee deep in mud and water and with parapets crumbling – a shortage of sandbags made them difficult to repair. The war diary for the 31st May says 'the trenches were completely levelled, communication was kept up by men lying in the open.' Although we don’t have photos of the 3rd Dragoon Guards in these trenches in May 1915 we do have Scots Greys photos in a trench at Sanctuary Wood in April.

The position was heavily shelled during the whole of the 1st June and again from dawn to midday on the 2nd. When it stopped, efforts were made to rebuild the trenches as best they could. Then the Germans attacked again but were halted by rifle and machine-gun fire. Another bombardment started and blew in the trenches of ‘A’ and ‘C’ Squadron and the communication trench. Despite this they held on to dusk when the trenches were fully occupied and rebuilt. On the 3rd June the Regiment were relieved and marched back to the ramparts of Ypres. 34 men had been killed and 81 wounded. In total 24 awards were made to the Regiment for gallantry. It was through this that Donny Kerr had repeatedly carried messages.

As well as his DCM, Kerr was awarded the Medal Militaire in December 1915.

Kerr survived the war and in 1921 when the Regiment was stationed at Sialkot he was appointed Squadron Sergeant Major Riding Instructor. In India he married Mary – the Regimental school mistress. After initially retiring from the army in 1931 he worked with the Royal Parks and as a clerical officer at the War Office. With the Second World War underway he commissioned into the Royal Armoured Service Corps in January 1941 rising to be Captain.

Captain Donny Kerr passed away in 1963.

20/05/2026

King's College London recently released a podcast in which they interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Irwin of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards about HERRICK 14 (Jamie was then a Captain). It is a fascinating and at times emotional interview that covers the many challenges the Regiment faced in Afghanistan including the tactics, morale, combat and the tragic death of Craftsman Andrew Found.

🎙️ Podcast – Episode 2

In the second episode of the War Studies War Stories miniseries, King’s alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (War Studies, 2002–2005) speak with Jamie Irwin (War Studies, 2000–2003), who served with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in on HERRICK 14, having previously deployed to on TELIC 12.

The episode explores the high-intensity counter-insurgency campaign in in 2011 through the eyes of an armoured commander, delving into combat operations, tactics, morale and the realities of operating in a hostile environment alongside a civilian population under extreme pressure.

🎧Listen now: https://bit.ly/4vXhpN7

▶️Watch the interview: https://bit.ly/4dg6Ay9

21/04/2026

Yesterday our curator was at the wonderful National Army Museum Conference to present to the other regimental museums about the projects and activities we have done over the last few years. It was an excellent opportunity to get our name out there!

It was also a chance to hear about the other brilliant work that is going on in the sector with talks including The Tank Museum on their exhibition about armoured warfare in Ukraine and The Fusiliers film project that commemorated the 80th anniversary of Salerno.

27/03/2026

Looking to visit the Museum with children? Or perhaps you would just rather have the Regiment's history told through different eyes? Well, with the help of Connor, our fantastic student placement from the University of Glasgow, we have adapted the brilliant Leuchars Primary School animation from 2024. It is now a trail through the Museum where visitors can scan QR codes and learn about chapters of the Regiment's history through the words of the pupils.