THE Scots Guards have accepted an offer to march through Wantage in recognition of a historic connection.

The town council decided to offer the regiment the honorary freedom of the town last August to mark a link which dates back to the Crimean War, and in December the regiment accepted.

Town mayor Jim Sibbald suggested the gesture to honour soldiers still fighting in Afghanistan and to celebrate the life of the first Lord Wantage – Robert Lindsay.

Lord Wantage won a Victoria Cross fighting with the Scots Guards in the Crimea War against the Russian Empire in 1854.

The Scots Guards, based in Catterick, hope to march through the town, with swords drawn, bayonets fixed, the band playing, and the regimental colours flying, in May or June.

Mr Sibbald, a former major in the Royal Artillery and chairman of the Wantage branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “I am delighted the Scots Guards have accepted with the enthusiasm they have shown.”

He said Regimental Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Mathewson wrote in the letter that the regiment was “universally enthusiastic” about the gesture.

He added: “This should be a great celebration in Wantage. The day will be a town celebration mixed in with a parade.”

Robert Lindsay moved to the Lockinge estate near the town after the war, when it was given to him as a wedding present.

He was made Baron Wantage of Lockinge in 1885, and presented the Market Place statue of King Alfred to the town. He died in 1901 and was buried in Ardington churchyard.