November 25th 1681 General Tam Dalyell raised a regiment to suppress Covenanters which later became the Royal Scots Greys.
The Greys are now part of the amalgamated regiments so let's take a look at Dalyell himself.
Also known as Bluidy Tam, General Dalyell,became notorious for his suppression of the Covenanters at the Battle of Rullion Green, in the Pentland Hills, in 1666. Little more than a thousand Protestant 'rebels' had marched from Dumfries towards Edinburgh, armed only with scyhes, pitchforks and staves. Tam is said to have been disgusted with his soldiers after they killed men women and children, and resigned his commision.
Earlier in his life, while fighting for Charles I in the civil war he had been imprisoned after Oliver Cromwell won the Battle of Worcester. He managed to escape from the Tower of London and fled to Russia where he achieved high rank in the army of
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great in Russia and is said to have brought back a rather nasty invention back to Scotland with him, the dreaded thumbscrews. It was his time there that gained him the other unenviable nickname "Muscovite De'il", where he also noted while in Russia that it was much more difficult to spot Russian soldiers than traditional "British Red Coats".
Therefore the Scots Greys wore grey uniforms as camouflage, which was successfully used against the Covenanters. He had also raised a regiment of infantry in 1666, but no records of the foot regiment exist today.
Another interesting legend about the man is connected with a Marble topped card table that it is said during a particularly fraught card match played between the General and the devil was thrown at Dalyell , but missed and ended going out the window, landing in a nearby pond, a marble table was indeed found when the pond dried up 200 years later. The cards, goblet and spoon, supposedly used in the game are displayed in the house. The General is said to have told the Devil, who threatened to blow down his house and its walls, that "I will build me a turret at every corner to pin down my walls".
In August 1685 Lieutenant-General Tam Dalyell died at his town house just off John Street in the burgh of the Canongate where he lived with his fourth wife Marion Abercrombie. But the story didn't end there.......
Following military tradition his boots were hung in reverse from the saddle of his horse while his martial baton was carried on the top of the coffin. Troopers of the Royal Scots Dragoons, the red-coated Scots Guards and six field guns escorted his funeral procession. Watched by hundreds of citizens, who lined the route, the sombre military procession with muffled drums beating wound its way slowly up the hill through Portsburgh leaving the city by the west gate.
"Old Tom of Muscovy" as he had been nick named by King Charles II was buried beside his parents in the family vault at Abercorn Church not far from The Binns. Tam's third son John took his father's cavalry boots back to his home at Lingo in Fife but he was forced to return them to The Binns. Every night when he took them off they awakened the sleeping household as they marched around the house. It was said that if cold water was poured into them, it would quickly come to a boil.
Although he was gone, Tam's legend continued to grow. On pitch black nights the General mounted on a white charger could be seen entering his estate by the Black Lodge situated on the road between Bo' ness and Queensferry. Clattering across the ruined bridge over the Errack Burn, the ghostly horse and rider would gallop up the old road to the Binns.