THE FAMILY of an officer who served in The Black Watch with a brother of the Queen Mother yesterday appealed to defence chiefs not to consign its proud traditions and history to the scrapheap.

Patrick Anderson said too many had given their lives fighting for their country, over many years, while wearing the Red Hackle for the powers-that-be to turn their backs on it.

Mr Anderson, a retired police sergeant of Letham, Angus, said his family and many others, including the royal family, have proud connections with the regiment now fighting for its very existence.

His uncle Patrick Wright Anderson, from Arbroath, was a lieutenant in The Black Watch during the first world war, joining in 1914.

He initially served as a second-lieutenant with the 8th Battalion, The Black Watch, in training at Aldershot, where he met Captain Fergus Bowes- Lyon, one of the Queen Mother’s brothers.

Mr Anderson treasures a photograph of his uncle, pictured with Captain Bowes-Lyon as they undertook a pistol refresher course in 1915.

Their paths then separated when Lt Anderson moved to join the 10th Battalion, training in Bristol.

Mr Anderson said that by September 1915 the battalion had been combined with other Scottish and English regiments to form the 26th Division which was then sent to France.

“It was held in reserve for the Battle of Loos, where Fergus Bowes-Lyon was killed,” he continued.

“The Black Watch is a family regiment, that’s why people join it, and families of all walks of life have suffered as these fine fighting men carried out their duties through countless conflicts.

“My uncle would be horrified to see the threat hanging over his old regiment.

“I’m sure the late Queen Mother would too have been up in arms at the thought of her family regiment facing the axe by the men from London after centuries of service to the UK.”

Mr Anderson’s uncle left The Black Watch to join the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, but his old regiment was never forgotten.

“My uncle was a Black Watch man through and through and even wore his Black Watch tunic at the time he was in the air force,” said Mr Anderson.

In June 1918, Lt Anderson was badly injured when his DH4 aircraft was attacked over Flanders, suffering wounds to his stomach and thigh.

Despite treatment in hospitals in France and in the UK, his health deteriorated and he died in November 1921, shortly after his 29th birthday.

Mr Anderson has written to his MP and MSP pressing the case for the retention of The Black Watch, in honour of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice under the Red Hackle.