Queen's Barracks was a military installation in Perth, Scotland.

History

The barracks were established in the north west of the city as a home for cavalry regiments in 1793. It became the home to the

2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several t ...

and it was from this regiment that the barracks derived its name. The barracks were subsequently converted to take infantry regiments. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attention ...

and the barracks became the depot for the

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch. Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment and numbered 43rd in the line, in 1748, on the disband ...

and the 79th (Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. Following the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation was ...

, the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Black Watch with its depot in the barracks in 1881. The barracks were decommissioned in May 1961 and were then demolished and the site became used for the headquarters of Perth and Kinross Constabulary, then

Tayside Police Tayside Police was a territorial police force covering the Scottish council areas of Angus, City of Dundee and Perth and Kinross (the former Tayside region) until 1 April 2013, at which point it was subsumed into Police Scotland. The total ...

and, today, Police Scotland. In the 1960s the Regimental Headquarters and the Regimental Museum moved to

Balhousie Castle Balhousie Castle, located in Perth, Scotland (on Hay Street, originally a few hundred metres north of the medieval town), was built in the 17th century. History The castle was built in 1631, although its origins are believed to go back a further ...

where the Museum still remains. The Army Reserve Centre, located further up the Dunkeld Road where HQ Company

51st Highland Volunteers The 51st Highland Volunteers (51 HIGHLAND) is a battalion in the British Army's Army Reserve or reserve force in the Scottish Highlands, forming the 7th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, also known as 7 SCOTS. It is one of two Re ...

are now based, has since adopted the name of Queen's Barracks. In June 2017 the Black Watch Association unveiled a memorial in the form of a simple stone structure on the site of the former barracks.

References

Installations of the British Army Barracks in Scotland Buildings and structures in Perth, Scotland 1793 establishments in Great Britain 1961 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{Scotland-struct-stub