On 12th December 1899 the 16th Lord Lovat & 22nd chief of the clan Fraser, Simon Joseph Fraser approached the War office to raise two companies of Scouts, one mounted the other on foot, each company would be formed 236 men, eighty men were to be selected for stalking and spotting, the remainder were to specialist marksmen, good riders signallers etc.. these proposals were accepted and by January 1900 1,500 men volunteered. these volunteers were split into three contingents the first arriving into South Africa January 1900 and remained until August 1901, the second and Third Contingents May 1901 - August 1902, suffering many hardships and proving their skills by playing the Boers at their own game.
August 1914 the Lovat Scouts were mobilsed again and went to Huntingdon for training when on the 15th November sent to Sutton - on -sea and Skegness to prevent an invasion, remaining until 15th April 1915 when they travelled to Hunstanton on the Wash and billeted at Hunstanton, Houghton, Harplay and Great Massingham, On the 21st August they had orders to sail to the Mediterranean, landing at Gallipoli on 26/27 September, again were the Scouts skills in tracking and spotting, and skills in patrolling and sniping began to take a heavy toll on the Turks, however sickness took a heavy toll on the Scouts, dysentery almost killing Lord Lovat himself, who was returned to Scotland after recovering in Malta. The Scouts remained at Gallipoli until final evacuation with Major Campbell of the Lovat Scouts being the last soldier to leave Suvla bay at 0310 on 20th December 1915, from Gallipoli the Scouts were to remain in the Mediterranean fighting in Egypt and Macedonia until June 1918 then onto the Western Front in July 1918, were they joined the Lovat Scouts (sharpshooters).
When Lord Lovat returned to Scotland he began to raise the Lovat Scouts (sharpshooters) by November 1916 they were at the Western front, these being most unusual as they were all in advanced years the youngest being 42 through to the oldest a 2nd Liet CB MacPherson at 62! The Scouts also began the tradition of supplying instructors to the Army school of Observation and Sniping (this tradition was carried out until 1948), were they introduced the now famous Ghillie suit. 481 Scouts lost their lives in WW1 their names can be found at Edinburgh Castle .
Second World War
The Lovat Scouts remained a TA unit 1st September 1939 were they were again mobilised and in March 1940 sent to Sutton - on – Trent being the last Horse reconnaissance troop in the British Army . In May 1940 the Lovat Scouts arrived on the Faroe islands there they remained until June 1942 whilst on the islands they were attacked several times by the Luftwaffe, on one such attack on the Harbour the Lovat Scouts managed to shoot down a Heinkel 111 with a Bren gun! When the crew were picked up they were convinced they had been hit by accurate flak.
They re turned to the UK and began training for mobile Infantry and were made part of 52nd lowland Division, in August 42 the Lovat Scouts guarded the Royal Family at Balmoral. They would complete more training and using their skills in training against some elite units also teaching in the skills of tracking and stalking one being the SAS. One detachment of SAS became so confident in their own skills that they were brought down to earth by a Scout, after where they thought they had the perfect lie up point when one felt a prod with a bayonet, turning round a Scout was looking at him, asked how he had been spotted them the Scout replied" ach I’ve been tracking you for miles" he was in fact an old game keeper who had joined the Scouts using his skills found and tracked them with ease.
June 1943 the Lovat Scouts became the Mountain recce regiment for the 52nd Lowland Division, where training in the Grampians, Snowdonia and Brecon began, on 28th December 1943 the Lovat Scouts left for Jasper in Canada arriving 10th January and remained until 22nd April 1944, during the time at Jasper the Lovat Scouts they managed to Climb the second highest peak Mount Columbia (12,294ft) in the depth of Winter which had never been attempted before, led by lieutenant William Sydney Scroggie who unfortunately lost his sight in Italy, but kept on Mountain climbing after the war even managing to climb to Mount Everest peak, The Lovat Scouts would be the only British army unit to do training in Jasper, returning to the UK on 9th June 1944 managing to keep a hold of Much of the Mountain equipment supplied to them by the US, which included the US Mountain packs and the prized arctic sleeping bags.
Instead of joining the 52nd Division they were sent to Italy arriving on 29th July 1944 in Naples, attached to 10th Indian Division as the recce regiment the Scouts again became well Known for their fearsome reputation for their skills in Patrolling, stalking and Sniping, one such attack caught the Germans by surprise on the Highest peak on the mountain ranges outside Florence, they opened the route for the 10th to take Florence. The Scouts would remain in Italy until Armistace in May 1945 , leaving 48 in the soil of Italy, From the Armistace to July 1945 the Scouts Skills in Mountain Warfare and Stalking skills were used to good effect in Austria whilst hunting down high ranking Nazi Party Members trying to escape into Germany.
In July 1945 they were sent to Greece to keep law and order; the regiment was stood down returning to its tradition of a TA regiment on returning to the UK in October 1946.
The Lovat Scouts were also again found in NW Europe again as instructors for the British army Sniping school commanded by Major Underhill a Lovat Scout himself, teaching every 21st Army sniper the skills required for sniping and observing giving the British snipers a fearsome reputation and supplying instructors at the Army Sniping Schools at Bisley, Llanberis, Northern France and finally Holland.
Many former Lovat Scouts were found in many elite units, Commandos the most famous being Lord Lovat himself commander of No4 Commando who landed at Sword beach, relieving the Paratroopers at Pegasus Bridge, who also lead the only successful Commando attack on the ill fated attack at Dieppe in 1942. Several were found in the GHQ Liaison Regiment "Phantom”, One Cpl Cameroon was found in a small unit called "Popski’s Private Army being “Popskis personal Driver and Body Guard, others served in the ranks of the SAS.
