USEFUL LINKS
Handmade Kilts
Handmade Scottish Bears
Tartan Ties
Tartan RibbonKilts Worn in Battle
There is no documentation for ”kilts” before 1575. There are many kilt like clothing that is worn with armour, like that of the Roman soldier would wear. Or The Leine Croich or belted saffron shirt, but these are not strictly kilts.
All over Scotland and Ireland in ancient times people relied on a simple shirt over which they would wear a blanket for outdoor activities in cold weather. The shirt was a ’Léine’ in Gaelic, or ’Sark’ in Lallans. The blanket (or ’Brat’) could be used also as a cover against the elements if sleeping outdoors, or while taking shelter from a storm. The weather-keeping qualities of wool are still known in modern Scottish knitwear.
The Leine worn by warriors is shown to be shorter than the ankle length tunic worn normally. A belt was used to make the tunic shorter giving the soldier the ability to move quickly and easily.
The Great Kilt or Belted Plaid
As weaving progressed, people could manufacture larger pieces of cloth, as well as stitch pieces together. Fastenings such as belts and buckles, together with more complicated plaid patterns, allowed development of dress. The belted plaid, or great kilt, worked as an all purpose cloth with many uses.
One of the first references to a ‘Great Kilt’ worn as a military garment was in 1594.
in ‘The Life of Red Hugh O’Donnell’ in a description of a corps of Hebrideans who had come to The O’Donnell’s assistance:
”They were recognised among the Irish soldiers by the distinction of their arms and clothing, their habits and language, for their exterior dress was mottled cloaks of many colours with a fringe to their shins and calves, their belts were over their loins outside their cloaks.”
The Small Kilt
In the 1700’s there were two distinct societies in Scotland. The Lowlanders wore uniform of English line infantry, while the Highlanders wore kilts. The only exceptions were: 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th and 75th, they were no kilts. The 42nd is the oldest and the most famous of units of Scotland. The regimental motto is ’No one attacks me with impunity’. The first companies of the Black Watch were raised as a militia in 1725 . The regiment's name, Black watch, comes from the very dark tartan (a cloth having a crisscross design, tartan that they wear). ’Black Watch’ was originally just a nickname for the 42nd (Royal Highland) but was used more and more so that in 1881 when the 42nd amalgamated with the 73rd the new regiment was named ’The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). In World War One the kilted Highlanders were known as 'The Ladies from Hell’.
Small Kilt or Philabeg
The Kilt as we see today worn as the wrap around pleated garment was known as the ’Small kilt’ or ’Philabeg’. This evolved from the ’Great Kilt’ , the need for a lighter version of the kilt was required, the Great Kilt was no longer practical, especially as a military uniform.
The question of how the great kilt evolved into the or small kilt is a matter of some controversy (there are some that say it was even invented by an English man!) The other school of thought is that the small kilt had already been invented, there is evidence that highlanders attached to the Scottish Army had separated the kilt and the plaid worn over the shoulder wearing them as two separate articles making them easier to wear.
The ”little” kilt was adopted for use by the military as soon as the expense and cumbersomeness of the 'great" kilt was seen (i.e. by 1800). When the army dispensed with the great kilt and opted for the small kilt box-pleating was introduced to economize on the amount of material being used. When the pattern was matched, the style was to centre the same line on every pleat (”pleating to the line”).
Glengarry caps are a military invention of about the 1820’s, not adopted for regulation use until the 1850’s. Sgian Dubhs (or some such knife) were normally carried under the jacket until officers of the Black Watch started sticking them in their kilt hose in the 1840’s, then it caught on with everyone else.
The Act for the Abolition and Proscription of Highland Dress provided that from 1st August 1747 that ”... no man or boy within that part of Great Britain called Scotland, other than such as shall be employed as Officers and soldiers in His Majesty’s Forces, shall, ... wear or put on the clothes commonly called Highland Clothes ...” ... the plaid, philabeg, or little kilt, trews, shoulder-belt, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the Highland Garb. ...” ” ... every such person so offending ... shall suffer imprisonment ... and being convicted on the second offence shall be liable to be transported ... beyond the seas, there to remain for the space of seven years.”
Some historians record that orders to the troops immediately after the passing of this Act were to ”kill upon the spot any person whom they met dressed in the Highland Garb.” That Act was repealed in 1782. It was then little kilt or philabeg (the feileadh beag) which grew in popularity rather than Great Plaid (the breacan feile or feileadh mor).
The reputation of the Highland regiments, especially during the Napoleonic Wars, lent a new prestige and glamour to the wearing of tartan. These battalions had been specifically exempted from the ban on Highland dress in the Disarming Act Of 1746 and thereafter the kilt came to be forever associated with the heroic deeds of the Scottish soldier. By the end of 1803, more than 52,000 Scots were serving in local and militia forces, in addition to the greater numbers enlisted in the regular army. The military tradition had long been an important part of the Scottish identity; now that was being decked out in Highland colours and the kilted battalions of MacKenzies under the Earl of Seaforth, Camerons under their Chieftains, Locheil and Erracht, were depicted as the direct descendants of the clans. Crucially, however, they now represented the martial spirit of the Scottish nation as a whole rather than a formerly despised part of it. And they fought for a Britain dominated by English needs as they forged an Empire worldwide.
In 1868 Queen Victoria exclaimed: 'I think the Highlanders are the finest race in the World'
The Kilt worn by Scottish Regiments in the Great War 1914 -1918
The Scottish infantry during the Great War were, arguably, the most distinctive of the British Expeditionary Force.
Scottish regimental uniform details can also be split into ’highland’ and ’lowland’ styles. The highland regiments were, perhaps, the most distinctive and instantly recognisable as they wore the kilt, for the most part, on active service. This was frequently worn with a protective khaki kilt apron, which had a pocket on the front to replace the sporran. Sometimes, as an alternative, the gas helmet haversack was worn at the front of the kilt instead. Despite its greatest drawback (namely extreme vulnerability to gas attacks), some suggest that in the damp conditions of trench warfare, the kilt became a useful piece of clothing. It saw widespread use and, although highland service dress was modified due to the practicalities of war, by and large, the kilt was worn in all weathers and campaigns. For example, the London Scottish served in their grey hodder kilts in Salonika, whilst the 1st Seaforths fought in theirs throughout Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).
Some lowland Territorial units adopted the kilt too, notably the 6th (City of Glasgow), the 9th (Glasgow Highland) H.L.I. and the ’Dandy 9th’ or 9th (Highlanders) Royal Scots, who were raised in Edinburgh from highlanders who lived there. They wore Hunting Stewart kilts and were famed for their bravery at High Wood at Beaumont Hamel, during the Somme in 1916. However, the majority of lowland units wore standard British issue khaki uniform with the adoption of Scottish regimental headgear. Types of headgear were dependent on the regiment in question and changed between the Glengarry and Balmoral, or Tam O’Shanter, bonnet. In late 1915, the Glengarry was officially replaced by the less conspicuous khaki 'Balmoral', although it was still being worn long after this date. There seems to have also been an understandable practice in the trenches among troops to wear whatever type was available. During the winter of 1914-15, the 2nd Scots Fusiliers, at La Boutillerie, are shown wearing an assortment of both types. There is also much photographic evidence to suggest the wearing of woolly ’cap-comforter’/balaclava types amongst both highland and lowland troops in the early winters of the war.
