No matter how much The British Army tried to model itself after continental armies, something remained unique to England. This was the regimental system. As mentioned before, the army had no units larger than the regiment. When larger units were needed they were formed on the spot by combining regiments into larger groups. The British regiment has no set size. There have been ones as small as a weak battalion and others as large as 25 battalions. The Royal Regiment of Artillery is an entire arm of the army. Each regiment is like a small army in itself. It has its own uniforms, regulations, and even its own marching pace. Members of a single family often follow each other into the regiment. When there have been other family members in the regiment then the young men are �born� into the unit. The regiments have ties or friendships with other units, These often come about due to one regiment coming to the aid of the other regiment in battle and close ties are born of these friendships. Often members of one regiment are considered honorary members of the other. Sometimes battalions are removed from the regiment to form other regiments and other times small regiments are combined to form one regiment.

Over 150 years ago the regiment numbers were removed and replaced with place names. This is usually the home county of the regiment. This was done to help recruiting and also to form ties among the men in the regiment. Most of the recruits came from the home county of the regiment. The numbers are still remembered, as this is the designation of when the regiment was entered in the army lists and forms the basis of the order that the units march in parades; the oldest unit get the right side of the line and the youngest gets he left. There is some friction between the Royal Scots and the Coldstrean Guards as to who is the older unit and they arc not allowed to march in the same line. Some units are better known by their names, for example, The Black Watch, than their numbers. The Black Watch and the Green Howards are the two units that have never been known by a number, always by their name, But the Somerset Light Infantry still prefers to be known as the 13th Regiment of the Line. Regiments also get nicknames. The 17th Lancers are known as the �Death or Glory Boys.� The 29th Foot, who were the ones at the Boston Massacre, are known as �The Vein Openers.� When temporary native units were formed they were known by the name of their commanding officers. From this practice we get: Woods Regiment and Hodson�s Horse. Sometimes these units last only a short time, others get entered into the army list. Thus, Wilde�s Rifles became the 4th Punjab Infantry.

Certain regiments got special privileges that they guard with a fierce pride. The Northumberland Fusiliers, the Buffs, and the 3rd Grenadier Guards are the only units that can march through London with fixed bayonets, colors flying and drums beating without first getting permission from the Mayor and the Aldermen. The units that fought at Minden get to wear roses in their headgear on the anniversary of that battle. All Welsh regiments have a goat as a mascot, usually given by the monarch, which marches in all parades with them,

When an officer of a regiment is detached for other duty, he retains all badges, uniforms and customs of his home unit, All officers also have at least two ranks. One is the rank he holds in his regiment and the other is the one he holds in the British Army. In some cases it was possible to hold three ranks. In 1854 Neville Chamberlain held the rank of captain in his regiment, but was a brevet lieutenant-colonel in the army and was brigadier in The North-West Frontier. The rank of Brigadier General was never a rank in the army but was held temporarily in a local area. Officers in Guard units held a rank in the army at least two grades higher than they did in their regiment. Officers seconded to other armies usually were given ranks at least two grades higher than their regimental rank. When an officer served outside his regiment, or when two units were brigaded with another unit, he reverted to his army rank. This can sometimes cause problems, as when in the First World War the second-in-command of the Gordon Highlanders, who was a brevet colonel in the army, during the retreat from the Mons decided that he didn�t like the orders from the commander of the Gordons and changed them and caused the entire unit to he killed or be taken prisoner.

Some units have a certain snob appeal that causes the upper members of society to want to be members of that regiment. But not always is that the way to gain higher rank in the army. The Guards regiments are considered to be the most prestigious units to join. In 1899 the Royal Horse Guards contained 25 officers, not counting the Prince of Wales who is Colonel-in-Chief and Lord Wolseley who was Colonel, as these were honorary ranks. Of these, seven were peers and six were sons of peers. None had ever attended the Staff College. On the other hand, the Northamptonshires had 62 officers and none were peers or sons, yet one held the Victoria Cross and three had passed the Staff College. But the Northamptonshires were a fighting unit and the Guards very seldom left the country and only at the end of the 19th Century did they even see limited action.

The regiment as set up in the British Army was unique in the world. But in a time when superiority in firepower was not as crucial as it is now, it served to make the British Army one of the best in the world. It was a little world and for many a tie to the home country for the other ranks. The Scots took a little bit of Scotland with them no matter where they traveled in the world. Customs, religion and clan, tied them together to meld them into one of the finest fighting units in the world. The regiment gave the solder a home for himself and his family. In exchange they only asked that he give his all for the honor of the regiment. And these regiments took the scum of English society and molded them into the British Army which at one time controlled one-quarter of the world.