IT was a special occasion for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and a
''rather personal'' one for their host, Tam Dalyell, MP, at The Binns,
Linlithgow, yesterday.
The Royal Scots, Scotland's only regular cavalry regiment, were
starting a march from their birthplace, because the regiment, as the
Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, was founded at The Binns in 1678 by Mr
Dalyell's direct ancestor, General Tam Dalyell, the noted
seventeenth-century soldier.
The 28 troopers and 16 grey horses who provided a colourful spectacle
yesterday will cover key recruiting areas of Scotland in the next
fortnight and commemorate the last similar march in 1934 when more than
60 men and horses from the Scots Greys covered 500 miles in 22 days.
Several of the Royal Scots in the march have not ridden before,
because their military careers are spent manning tanks. The troopers
have been given training in riding recently and and have gained
experience in this year's Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Lieut. Col. Simon Allen, the Commanding Officer, said the regiment was
normally stationed in Germany and was taking the opportunity of a short
stay in Britain to hold the march.
After an exchange of gifts between the regiment and the Dalyells, the
Linlithgow MP said his ancestor, who has often been accused of cruelty,
was ''a man of some mercy'' and ''something of a healer''.
He said General Dalyell resigned as the Royalist commander-in-chief in
Scotland because he was not allowed by Lord Lauderdale to give quarter
at the Battle of Rullion Green.
But old animosities linger, and Mr Dalyell said that as recently as
1969, when he campaigned for Mr Jim Sillars in a South Ayrshire
by-election, he was warned not to appear in ''certain villages
associated with the Covenanters''.
General Dalyell was ''one of very few people'' ever to escape from
imprisonment in the Tower of London.
But when Mr Dalyell visited there with other MPs, the Keeper, having
anticipated his arrival, produced a record of escapers and made the
point that General Dalyell was ''not one of our maximum security
prisoners''.
In the commemorative march, the Royal Scots will visit the Braemar
Gathering, Blairgowrie Highland Games, Perth, Glenalmond College,
Gleneagles, Dunblane, Stirling, Glasgow, Peebles, Lauder and Ayr.
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