Cock O' The North - Regimental March of the Gordon Highlanders. Shown with images of the regiment during the Napoleonic Wars and Victorian era up until WW1.
Cock o'the North is a 6/8 military march, bagpipe tune and jig. The title comes from the nickname of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, who in 1794 raised the 92nd Regiment of Foot, which later became the Gordon Highlanders.
The tune has always been a march used by the Gordon Highlanders, although it did not become the official regimental march until 1933, when it replaced Hielan' Laddie. Although strongly associated with the Gordons, it was used by other Highland regiments, too.
At the Siege of Lucknow, during the Indian Mutiny of 1857, 12-year-old Drummer Ross of the 93rd Highlanders signalled the arrival of his regiment to the besieged garrison, by climbing the spire of the Shah Najaf Mosque and playing "Cock o' the North" on his bugle, while under heavy fire from the rebel forces.
In 1897, during an attack by the Gordon Highlanders on the Dargai Heights, which were held by Afridi tribesmen during the Tirah campaign, Piper George Findlater won the Victoria Cross for continuing to play a regimental march while wounded in both feet. The official statement did not give the name of the tune he played; some accounts state that it was "Haughs of Cromdale" which was the Regimental Charge-tune, others claim it was "Cock of the North". Finlater's own account says that he did not hear an order to play "Cock of the North", and played "Cromdale" on his own initiative.
Besides the Gordons, the tune is, or has been, an official march for the following units:
48th Highlanders of Canada
85th Nova Scotia Highlanders
King's Own Scottish Borderers
Royal Canadian Regiment.
41st Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment
7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment
Gonnema Regiment
32 Service Battalion