The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve".
The Black Watch fielded 25 battalions and lost 8,390 officers and other ranks during the course of the war.[9] The regiment's territorial components formed duplicate second and third line battalions. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 5th Black Watch were numbered as the 1/5th, 2/5th, and 3/5th respectively. Many battalions of the regiment were formed as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener's appeal for an initial 100,000 men volunteers in 1914. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army. The Volunteer Training Corps were raised with overage or reserved occupation men early in the war, and were initially self-organised into many small corps, with a wide variety of names. Recognition of the corps by the authorities brought regulation and as the war continued the small corps were formed into battalion sized units of the county Volunteer Regiment. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.[10]
1/1st Battalion City of Dundee Volunteer Regiment later the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Dundee
Disbanded post war
2/1st Battalion City of Dundee Volunteer Regiment later the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Dundee
Disbanded post war
1/1st Battalion Forfarshire Volunteer Regiment later the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Forfar
Disbanded post war
2/1st Battalion Forfarshire Volunteer Regiment later the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Arbroath
Disbanded post war
1st Battalion Perthshire Volunteer Regiment later the 5th Volunteer Battalion
Perth
Disbanded post war
2nd Battalion Perthshire Volunteer Regiment later the 6th Volunteer Battalion
Crieff
Disbanded post war
1/1st Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regiment later the 7th Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Kirkcaldy
Disbanded post war
2/1st Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regiment later the 8th Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
Dunfermline
Disbanded post war
2nd Battalion Fifeshire Volunteer Regiment later the 9th Volunteer Battalion, Black Watch
St. Andrew's
Disbanded post war
Inter-War
By 1920, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The Black Watch did not, however, return to its original peacetime size; half of its territorial battalions were lost to amalgamation shortly after the war ended. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to the Supplementary Reserve in 1924; however, its battalions were effectively placed in 'suspended animation'. As World War II approached, the Territorial Army was reorganised in the mid-1930s, many of its infantry battalions were converted to other roles, especially anti-aircraft.
Battalion
Fate
4th (City of Dundee)
Amalgamated with the 5th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion on 31 December 1921[14]
5th (Angus and Dundee)
Amalgamated with the 4th (City of Dundee) Battalion, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion on 31 December 1921[15]
6th (Perthshire)
Amalgamated with the 7th (Fife) Battalion, to form the 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion on 31 December 1921[16]
7th (Fife)
Amalgamated with the 6th (Perthshire) Battalion, to form the 6th/7th (Perth and Fife) Battalion on 31 December 1921[17]
Second World War
The Black Watch's expansion during the Second World War was modest compared to 1914–1918. National Defence Companies were combined to create a new "Home Defence" battalion. In addition to this, 22 battalions of the Home Guard across Perthshire, Fife, Angus, Dundee and Kinross-shire were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge, and also by 1944 one rocket battery (Z Battery).[18] Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of these men, the batteries required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular battery.[19] A number of Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troops were formed from the local battalions to defend specific points, such as factories.[20]
218th Battery, 20th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard) (Z battery)
F 5
Burntisland, (British Aluminium Co. Ltd)
A Troop LAA
F 9
Lathalmond, (Royal Navy Stores Depot)
A Troop LAA
Post-World War II
In the immediate post-war period, the army was significantly reduced: nearly all infantry regiments had their first and second battalions amalgamated and the Supplementary Reserve disbanded.
Battalion
Fate
1st
Amalgamated with 2nd Battalion on the 13 July 1948, without a change in title[31]
2nd
Amalgamated with 1st Battalion on the 13 July 1948[32]
4th (City of Dundee)
Amalgamated with 5th (Angus and Dundee) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion[14]
5th (Angus and Dundee)
Amalgamated with 4th (City of Dundee) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 4th/5th (Dundee and Angus) Battalion[15]
6th (Perthshire)
Amalgamated with 7th (Fife) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 6th/7th (Perthshire and Fife) Battalion[16]
7th (Fife)
Amalgamated with 6th (Perthshire) Battalion on the 1 January 1947, to form the 6th/7th (Perthshire and Fife) Battalion[17]
Amalgamation
The 2003 Defence White Paper, titled Delivering Security in a Changing World, set out the future structure of the British military, one of the points being that the single-battalion regiments would be amalgamated into large, multi-battalion regiments. All of the Scottish regiments were amalgamated to form the 7 battalion strong Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Battalion
Fate
1st
Became the 3rd Battalion (Black Watch), Royal Regiment of Scotland
3rd (V), a battalion formed through the amalgamation of the 4th/5th and 6th/7th Battalions, in 1967
Became A (Black Watch) Company of the 7th Battalion (51st Highland), Royal Regiment of Scotland