26295: Lovat Scouts

The Lovat Scouts was a British Army unit, formed by the 14th Lord Lovat during the Second Boer War. Its soldiers were recruited from ghillies, shepherds and stalkers in the Highlands of Scotland, whose skills in stalking in rough ground made them excellent intelligence gatherers.

In 1902 the unit was reformed into two regiments, the 1st and 2nd Lovat Scouts, including a sharpshooter unit. The regiments were extensively involved during the Great War. In 1922 one regiment was disbanded, with the Lovat Scouts reformed as a territorial unit. Between then and the outbreak of the Second World War, they held regular summer camps in the Scottish Highlands. B squadron, consisting primarily of men from Uist, would take their own horses to the camps, equipping their horses with bridles woven of marram grass.

The unit was re-mobilised in 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War. Between 1940 and 1942 it was garrisoned in the Faroe Islands, following which the Lovat Scouts were sent to Canada for specialist training. On their return to Europe they served in Italy.