About
The King's Own Scottish Borderers Regimental Museum preserves the history of one of Scotland's most storied infantry regiments — a regiment raised in Edinburgh Castle on 18 March 1689 and serving the Crown for over 300 years until its amalgamation into the Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006. The museum is housed in the Berwick Barracks, alongside Berwick Museum and Art Gallery (MUK-NEE-90016), in the historic Hawksmoor-designed Clock Block that has been the regiment's home base for much of its existence. Few museums occupy a setting so directly connected to the history they interpret.
The regiment was raised by David Leslie, 3rd Earl of Leven, during the upheaval of the Glorious Revolution, specifically to defend Edinburgh against Jacobite forces loyal to the deposed James VII. It was one of a number of new regiments raised in haste during the revolutionary crisis of 1688–1689, and from its very first days it was a fighting regiment — deployed in the field within weeks of its formation. Over the next three centuries, the KOSB served in virtually every major theatre of British military operations: Flanders, Gibraltar, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Years War, the Peninsular War, India, the Crimea, the Boer War, the Western Front in both World Wars, and operations from Palestine to Korea and Borneo.
The collection covers the full sweep of this 300-year history through a rich assembly of material culture: uniforms from every period of the regiment's existence, from the red-coated infantry of the late 17th century to the khaki of both World Wars; medals including a number of Victoria Crosses, the highest decoration for valour in the British armed forces; regimental silver accumulated over three centuries of formal dining and ceremonial life; weapons and equipment; campaign records, maps, and operational documents; and a substantial photographic archive documenting the regiment's service from the late 19th century onwards.
The museum also provides context for the KOSB's deep connection to the Scottish Borders — the region from which the regiment traditionally drew the majority of its recruits. The human stories of the officers and men who served in the regiment, drawn from the farms and towns of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Peeblesshire, and Selkirkshire, are woven throughout the collections, giving the museum a strong community and family history dimension alongside its military narrative.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Combine with Berwick Museum and Art Gallery in the same building for a full morning or afternoon visit to the barracks complex
Highlights
The Founding of the Regiment — Edinburgh Castle, 1689
The King's Own Scottish Borderers were raised in Edinburgh Castle on 18 March 1689 — one of the most turbulent days in Scottish history — by David Leslie, 3rd Earl of Leven, at the command of the newly installed William III during the Glorious Revolution. The regiment was formed in haste to defend Edinburgh against Jacobite forces loyal to James VII, and within weeks of its formation it was in action.
The museum tells this founding story — the political crisis of the revolution, the urgency of the raising, and the character of the first soldiers recruited from the towns and farms of the Scottish Borders — with the depth and detail it deserves as one of the most significant moments in the regiment's identity.
Victoria Crosses and the Medal Collection
The medal collection is one of the museum's most compelling holdings — a roll of honour in metal and ribbon that spans three centuries of military service. Among the collection are Victoria Crosses, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy in the British armed forces, awarded to KOSB soldiers for acts of exceptional courage in the conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Each medal tells a specific human story of courage under the most extreme conditions, and the collection as a whole reflects the regiment's service across almost every significant British military campaign from the mid-19th century onwards.
Campaign medals, gallantry medals, and long service awards from Waterloo to Korea are represented.
Uniforms Through Three Centuries — From Red Coats to Khaki
The uniform collection traces the evolution of British military dress from the red-coated infantry of the late 17th century through the increasingly functional khaki of the two World Wars and beyond, providing a visual narrative of the changing character of warfare and the British army over 300 years.
The KOSB's distinctive uniform details — the tartan trews, the regimental hackle, the cap badges and shoulder titles through their various iterations — are all represented, alongside formal mess dress, campaign clothing, and equipment. The collection is particularly strong on the Victorian and Edwardian periods, when the regiment served extensively in India and South Africa.
The Western Front — The First World War
The museum's First World War collections reflect the catastrophic experience of a border regiment that committed its men to the trenches of the Western Front between 1914 and 1918.
The KOSB formed multiple battalions during the war, serving at major engagements including the Somme and Passchendaele. The collections include personal artefacts, letters and diaries, photographs, and operational records that bring the human dimension of the war close — the experiences of ordinary Scottish Border men in conditions of previously unimaginable violence.
The names on the roll of honour — drawn from villages across Berwickshire, Selkirkshire, and Roxburghshire — give the collection immediate community meaning.
Collections
The KOSB Regimental Museum holds one of the most complete collections of any Scottish infantry regiment, spanning the regiment's founding in 1689 to its amalgamation into the Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006. The collections fall into several principal categories. The uniform collection covers dress from every period of the regiment's existence — early red coats, Victorian tropical kit, First World War service dress, Second World War battledress, and later periods — making it one of the most chronologically comprehensive regimental uniform collections in Scotland or the North of England.
The medal collection includes Victoria Crosses and campaign medals from virtually every major British military theatre of the 19th and 20th centuries. The regimental silver, accumulated over three centuries, documents the ceremonial life of the officers' mess. Campaign records, maps, and operational documents are complemented by a substantial photographic archive. Personal collections from individual officers and other ranks — diaries, letters, personal effects, and mementoes — provide the human texture that transforms regimental history from institutional chronicle into individual experience.
Explore the diverse collections housed in this museum.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.