The Shanghai Scottish: Volunteers with Scottish, Imperial and Local Identities, 1914–41

Abstract

The Shanghai International Settlement’s British community included many Scots. In 1914 the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, which existed to defend foreign lives and property, addressed a wartime shortage of volunteers by establishing a Scottish Company. Local Scots volunteered enthusiastically for the new Company, which encompassed their Scottish and imperial identities, and saw active service in the defence of the Settlement. The Shanghai Municipal Council was concerned that such national companies as the Shanghai Scottish undermined the Settlement’s internationalism, but the British authorities and residents revelled in the visual spectacle afforded by the kilted Company in celebrations and military parades. For them, drawing on perceptions of Highlanders as a martial race, the Shanghai Scottish represented British prestige in an imperial outpost beyond the formal reaches of empire.