The Brigade Headquarters (HQ) was at Hamilton, later at 2 West Regent Street, Glasgow. Initially the brigade commander was the Officer Commanding the 26th and 71st Regimental Districts (the HLI districts), later it was Colonel R.C. MacKenzie, former commanding officer of the 1st VB, HLI.[2]
Upon the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Lowland Division was mobilised immediately for full-time war service. In May 1915 the brigade became the 157th (1/1st Highland Light Infantry) Brigade and the division the 52nd (Lowland) Division. The battalions were also redesignated with the '1/' prefix, 1/4th HLI. This was to avoid confusion with the 2nd Line duplicates which were also forming up and training as the 196th (2/1st Highland Light Infantry) Brigade of 65th (2nd Lowland) Division. The 2nd Line units consisted mainly of those few men who did not volunteer for overseas service when asked at the outbreak of war, together with the many recruits, and were intended to act as a reserve for the 1st Line units being sent overseas. During the war the brigade and division served in the Middle East and later on the Western Front.
Order of battle
The composition of the brigade was as follows:[6][9][10][11]
157th Machine Gun Company (formed 14 March 1916, joined 52nd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 28 April 1918)
157th Trench Mortar Battery (formed 11 June 1917)[12]
Inter-war period
After the First World War both the brigade and division were disbanded, as was the rest of the Territorial Force. With the creation of the Territorial Army in 1921, the brigade was reconstituted within the 52nd Division as the 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Infantry Brigade, again composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th battalions of the Highland Light Infantry, and remained this until 1938.[13]
On 12 August 1944 the brigade was organised as a Brigade Group to be the sea echelon for 52nd (L) Division's projected airlanding operations. 157 Brigade Group moved to NW Europe independently with the following additional units under command:[16]
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN1-847347-39-8.
Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
James, E. A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited. ISBN0-906304-03-2.
Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press. ISBN978-1-84342-474-1.
Edward M. Spiers, The Army and Society 1815–1914, London: Longmans, 1980, ISBN0-582-48565-7.
Lt-Col R.R. Thompson, The Fifty-Second (Lowland) Division 1914–1918, Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson 1923/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, ISBN978-1-84342993-7.
The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers which later merged with the Royal Scots Borderers, the Black Watch, the Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, becoming the 2nd Battalion of the new regiment.
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