The 1/5th Battalion was the successor of the old 1st Lanarkshire Volunteers. the senior Glasgow and Lanarkshire Volunteer Battalion, which in turn sprung from a number of volunteer companies formed in 1852. They included the 1st Glasgow and also companies from districts in the west end of the city such as Partick, and composed of professional men. The late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was one of the original members while another Prime Minister -the late Mr. Bonar Law – was also at one time in the Battalion.
On the formation of the Territorial Force the 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers – known in Glasgow as “The Greys,” from the colour of their uniform—became the 5th Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
The Battalion was mobilised on the outbreak of the Great War and proceeded to France in November, 1914, being one of the three first Scottish Territorial battalions to land in that country; its commanding officer was Colonel A. A. Kennedy, D.S.O., O.B.E., T.D., who had seen service in South Africa, and he was killed in action on the eve of his promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General.
On arrival in France the 5th Battalion joined the 19th Infantry Brigade in which the 1st Battalion of the Regiment was then serving.
In 1915 the Battalion fought at Loos, and throughout the winter months that followed it was in the neighbourhood of Givenchy; near to this place in the early summer of 1916 Sergeant Erskine of the Battalion won the Victoria Cross for saving an officer’s life at the imminent risk of his own.
Later that year, on July 20th, the Battalion attacked at High Wood, where it lost all the officers who went into action except one, and ninety per cent of the other ranks; but after receiving drafts from home, and having had included in it all that was then left of the 6th Battalion of the Regiment, it fought again on the Somme near Les Boeufs and at Le Transloy. On April 14th and 23rd, 1917, it was again engaged near Henin and also at Croiselles on May 20th and 27th, when the casualties were heavy, ground being gained in April were wholly successful.
After a very strenuous time on the coast near Nieuport when the General Officer Commanding the19th Brigade especially complimented the Battalion on the labours of its working parties, it took part in the battle of the Menin Road at Ypres on September 25th, 26th and 27th, and although ordered to attack without due preparation, all the objectives were taken after hard fighting.
In this action “D” Company was in support of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and captured three pill-boxes, 6 machine guns, and 35 prisoners, coming finally out of action only 25 strong.
Later the Battalion was moved to Passchendaele, where it held the salient throughout the winter.
In April, 1918, the Battalion, now very weak, filled a gap at Meteren. fighting continuously for five days, when nearly all the seniors in officers and
non-commissioned officers were casualties, holding on gamely, losing no ground, and inflicting very severe losses on the enemy; while on May 8th it delivered an especially brilliant counter-attack on Ridge Wood near Dickebusch, involving a march of several miles over open country to the north of Dickebusch Lake, then moving under heavy fire to the east side of the lake, turning left and attacking uphill ; the whole of the old front line was carried and held against repeated counter-attacks, the Battalion suffering severe casualties until relieved. After a summer spent at Ypres, the Battalion took part in the final advance, capturing Meath Post near Villers Guislain on September 26th by a surprise attack after other attacks had failed. Early in October the 5th Battalion crossed the Scheldt Canal and took La Terriere ; on the 9th it advanced nine miles and captured the village of Clary – where the main square has now been renamed ” La Place des Ecossais”; on the 23rd and 24th it advanced beyond the Selle River, taking Vendegies Wood and the Pont du Nord ; finally, early in November the Battalion pushed through the Foret de Mormal, crossed the Sambre and captured Aulnoy.
The 5th Battalion returned to Scotland in November, 1919. The Battalion was one of the few Territorial battalions to be awarded the 1914 Star. This distinction implies that the Battalion served within range of the enemy field artillery before the 28th of November, 1914. Both Regular battalions also earned this Star. The Regiment, therefore, has three battalions thus honoured, a record shared by the Black Watch, but by no other regiment that had then only two Regular battalions.