Highland Cyclist Battalion

[argyll]

Good evening

I want to know when this button is dated :



Thank you in advance.

Kind regards

michel

[Hoot]

Worn from 1909 to 1920.

[argyll]

good morning,

thank's a lot for your answer.

I have another question :

- Which Scottish unit used this button?
- It is possible that this unit came to France during the First World War?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kind regards



Michel

[Cribyn]

Hello Michel

The button was used by the Highland Cyclist Battalion, that was their correct unit title from 1909 to 1920.

In 1908 they were known as the 8th (Cyclist) Battalion, The Black Watch and prior to that (from 1887 to 1908) they were titled the 5th (Perthshire Highland) Volunteer Battalion, the Black Watch.

As a unit I believe they seem to have remained in the UK throughout the First World War. This link will provide a little more information - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highla...list_Battalion

Roger

[argyll]

good morning,

thank's a lot for your answer &c research with the link.

it's possible that some men are sending in France in another units or Head Quarter?

regards

michel

[Tawhiri]

Michel

My apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but the answer to your question is yes, although the Highland Cyclist Battalion never served outside of the UK during WW1, a significant number of men from the battalion were remustered into regiments serving in France over the course of the war. I have a list of 735 individual names extracted from the Medal Index cards held at the National Archives of men who had been in the battalion at some point, but ended up serving overseas in one or more other regiments during WW1.

As for your question about the possibility of a man serving in France while wearing a uniform with Highland Cyclist Battalion buttons, although one might expect the buttons on a uniform to reflect the regiment a man was serving in, my understanding is that many of the men from the Territorial Force cyclist battalions who ended up in one of the Divisional Cyclist Companies tended to keep their own Territorial Force unit badges. I'm not sure if this continued after the Army Cyclist Corps was formed in the summer of 1916, but that could also be a possibility.

Craig

[argyll]

good morning,

thank you very much for these clarifications.

regards

michel