Top Row: Centre – Cap Badge (also worn on hair sporran); left and right – collar badges

Bottom Row: Centre – Badge worn on Leather sporran; left and right – shoulder flashes

In May 1904, the 48th Highlanders became allied with the Gordon Highlanders. General the Earl of Dundonald proposed this alliance, the first officially sanctioned regimental alliance in the British Empire, when he was General Officer Commanding the Canadian Militia in 1903. His goal was to create advantages such as instruction and friendships when away from home. The Gordon Highlanders were an old and renowned regiment raised in 1794 by the 4th Duke of Gordon. They first saw action during the French Revolutionary War at Egmont-op-Zee in Holland in 1799. During the Napoleonic Wars they served in Egypt, Spain and Belgium and were prominent in the final defeat of Napoleon at Quatre Bras and Waterloo in 1815.With the expansion of the British Empire, the Gordons played their part. On 20 October1897, at Dargai in Peshawar, India’s North West Frontier, the regiment won a stunning victory, charging and taking the mountain heights under heavy fire. The Gordons and the 2nd Battalion RCRI, in which were 48th Highlander volunteers, landed in South Africa on the same day in December 1899. They trained and served together through 1900, fighting side by side in battles at Paardeberg Drift and Doornkop. The Gordons and the 48th both received battle honours for South Africa. Their first exchange as allied regiments occurred in September 1907 when a detachment of the 48th, under Lieutenant-Colonel D.M. Robertson, travelled to Aldershot to train with the Gordons, taking part in British Army manoeuvres. While there they were received by His Majesty Edward VII at Buckingham Palace. On 14 March 1911, General Sir Ian Hamilton GCB, GCMG, DSO, Colonel of the Regiment, The Gordon Highlanders, accepted the appointment as Honorary Colonel of the 48th Highlanders, visiting Canada to inspect the regiment in 1913. In 1939, the regiments were stationed together in Aldershot during the winter and the next year were brigaded for a parade in honour of Major General Sir James Burnett, Colonel of the Gordons, and Lady Burnett. Sir Ian Hamilton inspected the 48th at Redhill on its 50th Anniversary.

Since World War II, the regiments have continued their exchanges. The first occurred in 1975 when the 48th cadets went to Scotland. In 1980, a contingent of Gordons arrived in Canada for winter indoctrination training with the 48th at Camp Borden.  In 1991, a contingent of Gordons attended the 100th anniversary of the 48th Highlanders and in 1994 the 48th returned the honour in Scotland for the 200th anniversary of the Gordons and their last Trooping the Colours before becoming The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons). During the summer of 1996-1997, each regiment sent a platoon to train with the other and in 2000 a platoon of The Highlanders joined the 48th at summer concentration at Petawawa, Ontario as the alliance continues.