The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum

28/03/2025

Its been a busy couple weeks in the Museum! We have finished our refresh of Gallery 4 that now brings the Regiment's history from amalgamation up to the present day.

As a a result we have moved a few of our key collections such as the Field Marshal Robertson objects which now sit in a brand new case beside our First World War display.

If you get the chance to visit we hope you enjoy the new gallery!

20/03/2025

28/02/2025

We have just finished installing our latest new display. The case covers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards history from 2008-2023 with items from tours of Afghanistan, Iraq, Cyprus and Mali. It also features objects collected and donated by the Regiment from the Coronation of HM King Charles III.

The Museum is grateful to the Regiment and serving soldiers who have been kind enough to donate the objects on display and help us tell the Regiment's recent history.

21/02/2025

We have recently been doing an audit of our Museum collection. One of the items we came across was this pocket watch. Initially our record noted it had been ‘Presented to Sergeant Joseph Br???? by Colonel Napier commanding The Carabiniers Feb 1876.’ Unfortunately some of the name and the decoration had been polished away over time.

But who was the mysterious soldier it was present to? Well looking closely at the surname it was clearly quite long and it looked as though there were two t’s and it ended with a k. With this information and a bit of name guesswork we worked out that it could be Joseph Brittlebank.

Once we had a name we could dig further into our records and those available online. A Joseph Brittlebank did exist. He had joined as a boy in 1864 and rose impressively quickly to become Regimental Quartermaster from 1881 until 1899 and retire with the rank of Major.

The next question was why was he presented with this pocket watch? Doing a bit of further research shows that a Sergeant Joseph Brittlebank was married in late December 1875 in Norfolk to Sarah Jane Forster. This was when the 6th Dragoon Guards were stationed in Norwich. Perhaps the pocket watch was presented shortly after his marriage as a wedding gift from the Commanding Officer. Interestingly we now discovered his father, also Joseph Brittlebank had been a Sergeant with the Carbiniers, serving from 1843 to 1868. The fact he left 8 years before the pocket watch was presented means we could still be confident it belonged to the junior Brittlebank.

We are very lucky to have among our archives some wonderful photos of the officers of the 6th Dragoon Guards in the late nineteenth century – including the time when Joseph was a Lieutenant. In one of these photos we have the wives of the officers as well. It gives us our chance to see both Joseph and Sarah Brittlebank.

We also have a much later photo of Joseph from 1895. After he left the Regiment in 1899 we can track from the 1901 census he was Quartermaster at York Cavalry Barracks which also shows he was born around 1851.

Joseph had left the army by the time of the 1911 census and moved to Lancashire. Sadly in the summer of 1913 he passed away aged 62. An article in The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer from July of that year gave a detailed account of his career. Sarah Jane Brittlebank continued to live in Lancashire until her death in 1942.

14/01/2025

New Year, new installation!

Now on display we have the Camp Bagnold sign that The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards brought back from Mali.

From 2022 to 2023 Squadrons of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards deployed to Mali as part of Operation NEWCOMBE. The Regiment provided the Long Range Reconnaissance Group (LRRG) Task Force for the United Nations peace support mission. The LRRG conducted reconnaissance for the UN in Gao province and were based out of Camp Bagnold (named after the founder of the World War II Long Range Desert Group).

In 2025 we will be refreshing some of our gallery cases so that there are more objects telling the Regiment's history in the 21st century.

20/12/2024

Thank you to everyone who has visited and continued to support us this year. We hope everyone will have a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year!

The image is a draft Christmas card sketch that is held in the archive. We have very little information about it so if anyone received one of these cards or knows when they were produced, please let us know!

Over the next couple weeks the Museum will be closed 24th-26th December and 1st-2nd January.

11/11/2024

'Monday Nov 11th. Peace. Thank God for it. And thank God that the war has left me with a whole skin except for about 6 inches. We heard the rumour first at Amiens and here we arrived at 6.30am and then for certain at Rouen at 2pm. The Kaiser has abdicated with the Crown Prince but it is not necessary to put down remarks on peace, I shall probably remember the drive through the streets of Rouen amidst flags and shouting. The whole population had turned out and it was with difficulty we could get along. On arriving at No 8 Hospital I went to D2 ward. The bed was as hard as iron being laid on wooden boards. I was told it was a fracture bed and I should think it will if I spend many night in it. I asked for another pillow and was told that there probably wasn't one. A couple of bricks then will do I returned. I hope the devil they don't dress my leg. I have never known such agony as when it was done yesterday. I hope I may get away tonight but I fear it is very doubtful. Thank heavens thats another war over.' - extract from diary of Lt J P E Walker, wounded 7th November 1918 near Avesenes

25/10/2024

The 25th October is Balaklava Day for The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

In September 1854 the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons had disembarked in Crimea. Sevastopol was under siege from the British, French and Turkish armies and the port of Balaklava was captured to provide a supply line. The Russians regrouped to cut off this vital route from the surrounding heights.

At the battle on 25 October the British Heavy Brigade advanced through the valley to reinforce the 93rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot, the ‘Thin Red Line’ defending Balaklava from a vast Russian force. The Heavy Brigade was at a tactical disadvantage when it encountered the Russian cavalry who held the high ground. Along with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, the 2nd Dragoons were at the front of what would become known as the 'Charge of the Heavy Brigade' uphill. Russian attempts to outflank the British cavalry failed and after fierce fighting, mainly with sabres, the enemy weakened and retreated. Despite the intensity of the clash, the 2nd Dragoons suffered few casualties during the charge, but many suffered later covering the retreat of the Light Brigade, which was decimated charging the Russian guns through the ‘Valley of Death’.

One of the men in the battle was Captain Samuel Toosey Williams. An 1878 watercolour by Orlando Norie depicting him in action is held by the Regiment. He had been in bed with fever until the 23rd October when against the advice of the doctors he went on duty. On the 25th he led his Squadron into battle. Williams made it through the battle unscathed and was said to have saved the lives of two Privates in the Squadron. Once the battle was over his fever returned. Initially he refused to be sent to Constantinople but by mid-November he had to be carried to the steamer that took him away from the Crimea and to Constantinople. He passed away on the 23rd November, aged 32.

09/10/2024

30/09/2024

13/09/2024

04/09/2024

A really interesting listen to Jack Bowsher explaining the role of tanks in Burma. And from 30 minutes on there are plenty of references to 3rd Carabiniers and 25th Dragoons.

When we think of the fighting in the Far East between Britain, her allies, and the Japanese, we often picture thick jungles, impossibly steep hills, and dense terrain. This has led to the common perception of it being an infantryman's war. However, armour played a crucial and often overlooked role i...

28/08/2024

On the 28th August 1914 the first officer of the 2nd Dragoons (The Royal Scots Greys) was killed in action. Born 1876, Major Foster Swetenham was commissioned into the Regiment in 1896. He served in the South African War and was Adjutant for the Ayrshire Yeomanry from 1906-1911.

Only 24 hours earlier he had saved the life of Paul Maze who at the time was acting as an unofficial interpreter for the Regiment. Maze had been mistaken for an enemy spy and was in danger of being executed when 'Major Swetenham appeared leading the next squadron. I didn't have to shout to him. He had seen and recognised me. His arm was raised and the squadron had halted. He asked in a puzzled way what I was doing under arrest. In a few words I told him. 'Sergeant, where is the Provost-Marshal?' He had gone on. 'Lead me to him' said the Major... In a few moments both the Major and the Provost-Marshal were walking towards me with a smile on their faces. 'Come along quickly,' said the Major, 'they were going to shot you.'

Later Maze writes, 'As from my limber I looked around I saw Major Swetenham's trumpeter coming towards us leading a horse with an empty saddle. I guessed at once what had happened - Major Swetenham had been killed. I felt his death deeply.' He had been killed directing fire near St. Quentin.

After the war Paul Maze became a renowned artist, particularly of English sporting and ceremonial scenes. He never forgot the impression the Royal Scots Greys had on him and his gratitude to Major Swetenham. His 1934 book 'A Frenchman in Khaki' (where the quotes are taken from) is dedicated to the memory of the Major.

16/08/2024

One of the really interesting items in our collection is this hood and black cloak that would be worn by a charger leading a funeral procession. This one has the markings of the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales's) but was still being used after amalgamation in the late 1930s. How do we know?

In our archive we have a photo album that belonged to Corporal D Thompson when the 3rd Carabiniers were in India. He photographed the funeral procession of Sergeant Temple with the hood and cloak being used. In his notes he says that the man's horse would lead the procession. On the horse's flank is a rosette to signify a death has taken place.

Thompson writes 'This is the funeral of the late Sgt Temple - killed as a result of a lorry smash when three other men were injured. This occured in November '38 on the Lahore Road, the second death as a result of mechanisation.'

Sergeant W. 'Tim' Temple's obituary appeared in the 1939 Feather and Carbine. He had joined the Regiment in 1925 and was described as a well respected soldier with a forceful character and bulldog qualities.

This is a really good example of how we can use the archive and the museum collections to learn more about the objects we hold and piece together stories about the people who have served.

04/07/2024

Its been a privilege this week to have The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Mount Guard at Edinburgh Castle, our Home Headquarters, a role taken up for the duration of Their Majesties The King and Queen to Scotland.

21/06/2024

Back in March our original piper sculpture was retired after many years stood at the Museum entrance. It has felt strange not to have him welcoming everyone through the door.

No longer…

We are delighted to say that we have been able to bring in a fresh new recruit who is following in the footsteps of his relative!

We are excited to see everyone having their photo taken with our new piper.