Royal Scots exhibition pulls in the public

A recent exhibition mounted by an historic infantry regiment in Dalkeith to help connect with the local community more than achieved its basic aim.

The event attracted more than 800 visitors and visits from eight schools.

Organisers of the temporary exhibition, staged at Dalkeith Palace earlier this month, said that the event had attracted a lot of interest and attracted many local people, helping to re-establish old relationships and forge new ones with a new generation.

Running from November 4-8, it helped to illustrate the importance of Remembrance, especially of Royal Scots fallen, and covered specifically the period from the Boer War up to 2006. The exhibition also cover the role of Dalkeith Palace in two World Wars and the role of Lord Henry Scott, a son of the 6th Duke of Buccleuch, who served in the 3rd Militia Battalion The Royal Scots during the Boer War. He was also instrumental in the founding of The Royal Scots War Memorial Club.

Featuring photographs and artefacts from the Royal Scots Museum in Edinburgh Castle, the exhibition’s aim was also to help maintain the name of the regiment with the communities that have supported it over the years and attendees were greeted and shown round by the Pontius Pilates’ Bodyguard Volunteer Guides.

It also offered an ideal opportunity for members of the regimental family to research their relatives’ military history, with a research hub manned by experts from the National Records of Scotland, Lothian Family History Society (LHS), Royal Scots researchers and a medal expert.

David Nisbet, one of the museum’s trustees, said: “That it succeeded is demonstrated by the more than 800 adult visitors and eight school parties who viewed the exhibition, and the testimonies recorded in the visitors’ book.

“Very many of the visitors contributed information and a large number of Old Royals visited, sometimes with their families, occasionally of three generations.”

Having been first raised in 1633, the regiment was the oldest and most senior regiment in the British Army up until amalgamation with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers in 2006, earning them the nickname Pontius Pilates’ Bodybuards. The exhibition was also supported by SCOTS, the Royal Scots Club, Dalkeith Museum, Poppy Scotland and Scotland at War re-enactors.