The 25th (King's Own Borderers)
The 25th (King's Own Borderers) was raised on 19 March 1689 to defend the city of Edinburgh, hence its name the Edinburgh Regiment. In 1751 it was numbered 25th (Edinburgh) Regiment.
The name Sussex was added in 1782, but in 1805 the regiment was renamed The 25th (King's Own Borderers).
Its motto In Veritate Religionis Confido, (In Time Religion is my Trust), was granted by George III in 1805.
On 22 March 1832, it was allowed to bear on its Colours the arms of Edinburgh with the motto Nisi Dominus Frustra, (Unless the Lord be with me all is in vain).
In 1881, the 25th Regiment of Foot became The 1st Battalion The King's Own Borderers.
In 1887, it became the county regiment for four south-eastern Scottish counties and added Scottish to its name to become The King's Own Scottish Borderers.
In 2006 it was merged into The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The 1st/The 25th (King's Own Borderers) Regiment
1862 1st/25th (King's Own Borderers)
9 June 1862 The 1st/25th Regiment arrived in Gibraltar on 1 January 1859.
It embarked for Malta on 3 June 1862, disembarking there on 9 June. It relieved the 2nd/3rd (East Kent-The Buffs) Regiment of Foot.
In 1862, the regiment had an average strength of 445 men, 444 hospital admissions (998 admissions per 1000 of mean strength) with 3 deaths in hospital. The 1st/25th and the 1st/22nd Regiments had the greatest number of admissions for continued fevers.
Burials in 1862:
- 9 June 1862 Pte James Ashwall 1st/25th Regiment aged 28 years 9 months was buried at Floriana Cemetery.
1863 1st/25th (King's Own Borderers)
In 1863, the regiment had an average strength of 761 men, 399 hospital admissions (524.3 admissions per 1000 of mean strength) with 7 deaths in hospital and 2 out of hospital (11.83 deaths per 1000 of mean strength).
1864 1st/25th (King's Own Borderers)
In 1864, the regiment had an average strength of 306 men, 161 hospital admissions (526 admissions per 1000 of mean strength).
8 June 1864 The 1st/25th embarked for Canada where it arrived on 28 June 1864. The regiment had only 16 admissions by fever during the five months preceding its departure.
The 1st/The King's Own Scottish Borderers
1915 – 1st/King's Own Scottish Borderers
The 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers formed part of 87th Brigade 29th Division. On 25 April 1915, it landed at Y Beach, south west of Krithia on the Gallipoli Peninsula, with one company of the South Wales Borderers and the Plymouth Battalion of Marines Royal Naval Division. They faced little resistance but were later attacked by the Turkish 3rd/25th Regiment.
Burials in Pietà Military Cemetery in 1915:
- 30 May CSM Brown J E aged 35 yrs,.
- 20 June Lt Deighton Frederick Hamilton aged 22 years.
- 9 July Pte Mottram F aged 21 years.
- 20 JulyL/Cpl Imeson J aged 23 years.
1935 1st/King's Own Scottish Borderers
28 Sep 1935 The 1st/King's Own Scottish Borderers was one of three regiments (The 2nd/Lincolnshire Regiment, The 2nd/The South Wales Borderers, The 1st/The King's Own Scottish Borderers) which arrived as Reinforcements during the crisis in Abyssinia.
1936 1st/King's Own Scottish Borderers
14 July 1936 The reinforcements which were at Malta during the Abyssinia Crisis left in July 1936 for Palestine.
Bibliography
- Farmer J. S., 1984. The regimental records of the British Army Reprint Edition, Trowbridge, Wiltshire: Crecy Books.
- Edwards T. J., 1980. Regimental Badges First Edition, Tonbridge, Kent: Ernest Benn Ltd.
- TNA:WO 379/11. Stations of Regiments 1859–1900.
- Record of the 25th Regiment. United Service Journal 1832 Part I. pp 137-140.