Theid an
deagh shaighdear gu h-aoibhneach suilbjear an dail gach tuitemais a thig'na
chrannchur
The good
soldier will advance with spirit and cheerfulness to any service that comes his
way
(Highland Brigade motto in the 18th Century)
The French in Guadeloupe in 1759 believed:
"that Les Sauvages d'Ecosse
would neither take nor give quarter, and that they were so nimble that no
man could catch them, so nobody could escape them; that no man had a chance
against their broadswords and that with a ferocity natural to savages they
made no prisoners and spared neither man, woman, nor child"
The History of the Kilt
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 That Act was repealed in 1782.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 Great Kilt
The great kilt was the traditional dress of the Highland clansman from the 17th
Century but some writers believe that it was their form of dress from earlier
times - that the Scots who moved from Ireland to Scotland may have adopted this
form of dress from the Picts in order to deal with the harsh climate of our
country. It comprised about six yards of double-width material and was pleated
by him each time he dressed. So much material was necessary to keep the elements
at bay. This kilt (the great kilt also known as the great or belted plaid) is
known in Gaelic as the breacan feile or fealadh mhor. An 18th Century account describing how the Highland gentleman dressed indicates
that belt loops were used, at least by the style-conscious, to keep the kilt in
position.
Another account in the 19th century suggests a series of loops on the inside of
the plaid at intervals corresponding with the width of pleating (about 4 to 6
inches). A cord is passed through the loops, drawn tight to form the pleats,
tied around the waist - and the kilt is formed in record time!
The Little Kilt
It is believed that an Englishman's concern for his pocket, or his finer
feelings, gave rise to the development of the little kilt. That man was Thomas
Rawlinson who observed that his workers in Lochaber (who were, of course,
wearing the great kilt) were either too hot to work effectively when felling
timber, or found it necessary to strip off completely. His solution was to
dispense with the top half of the kilt (by splitting the material or un-picking
the seam which joined the two lengths of fabric) and so, about the year 1728,
was born the little kilt (also known as the feileadh beg or philabeg).
There are, however, accounts written by Englishmen in the previous century which
indicate that the little kilt may already have evolved. These men were John
Aston, who studied a detachment of Highlanders attached the Scottish army during
a campaign in 1639, and Thomas Kirk who toured Scotland in 1677. Both men were
struck by the outfits being worn and believed that the kilt and the plaid being
worn over the shoulder were separate garments. Possible graphic evidence of the
existence of the little kilt in that Century is in the Arms of Skene of that Ilk
registered about 1672 (and published in the collection of Alexander Nisbet's
collection of Heraldic Drawings in 1892).
There are two kilted figures displayed in the arms, one wearing a great kilt and
trews described as the "proper garb" and the other who is described as
in " servill habit" is clearly wearing a (rather short) kilt which has
been inscribed without the usual folds of the plaid around the waist and over
the shoulder. Whether Rawlinson was the innovator or was following a lead set by others, by
the time the Act of Proscription of Highland dress was lifted in 1782, the great
kilt had given way to the little kilt and the pleating of these kilts was
stitched in place, making them much easier to wear.
An article in `The Vienna
Gazette' of 1762 stated authoritatively
The Scotch Highlanders
are a people totally different in their dress, manners and temper from the
other inhabitants of Britain. They are caught in the mountains when young
and still run with a surprising degree of swiftness. As they are strangers
to fear, they make very good soldiers when disciplined. The men are of low
stature, and the most of them old, or very young. They discover an
extraordinary submission and love for their officers, who are all young and
handsome ... it is to be hoped that their king's laudable, though late,
endeavours to civilise and instruct them in the principles of Christianity
will meet with success ... The French held them at first in great contempt,
but they have met with them of late so often, and seen them in the front of
so many battles, that they firmly believe that there are twelve battalions
of them in the army instead of two.
When the army dispensed with the great kilt and opted for the philabeg
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").
The modern style for civilian kilts,
however, is for the pattern, or sett, of the tartan to be re-created where the
pleats are formed (i.e. the repeat of each sett is hidden within each pleat
"pleating to the sett"). Today the pleats of the kilt can be formed in two
ways: a standard continuous pleat, the knife-pleat, or the box-pleat which takes
the form of a Z joined by its base line to a mirror-image of itself.
Box-pleats are, however, more
complex to form and add more to the price of a kilt than is compensated for by
any saving in material. The length at which the kilt is worn has varied over the
years. At the present time kilts are normally made to hang at the top of the
kneecap - the edge of the kilt may cut the kneecap, but should not hang below
it. However, as we indicate below, special-purpose kilts can be made
considerably shorter.
Eight yards of fabric is the
standard for men's kilts and six yards for ladies' kilts, but this does vary
according to the size of the individual. Kilts made to this standard will hang
and 'move' noticeably better than kilts made with less material.
Kilts Today
When the threat posed by Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highland following had
become but a dim memory the dress of the revolutionary Highlander acquired a new
following, becoming popular well to the south of the Highland line - reaching
much further than the army of the revolution ever had.
From the Government's viewpoint the experiment was an
"outstanding success" (Fitzroy MacLean 1995). "It gained for the British
Army some of the best troops in the world" (ibid) at the time. Pitt declared
to Parliament in 1766:
"I sought for merit wherever it was to be found. It is
my boast that I was the first Minister who looked for it and found it in the
mountains of the north…I called it forth and drew into your service a hardy
and intrepid race of men who….had gone nigh to have overturned the state in
the war before last. These men in the last war were brought to combat on
your side; they served with fidelity as they fought with valour and
conquered for you in every part of the world"
Not only did Highland Dress become
popular in Scotland, its influence reached deep into England too - right to the
seat of government. King George IV, himself, was clad in it for his state visit
to Edinburgh in 1822 and later that century Queen Victoria fell in love with the
Highlands of Scotland.
To quote an observer in Paris
after Waterloo: The Highlanders ... are the most martial looking of the
military. They attracted the most attention, not only from the French, but
from the Allies ... their tartans, bonnets and plumes were much admired ...
the fine ladies as they eyed their short kilts through their lorgnettes,
confided their fears to each other in whispers: `My dear, if it should be
windy !'
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.
During the
late 19th and early 20th Century, a distinct Scottish
national identity became more subsumed in the Great Britain that ruled an
Empire. In spite of Whitehall's opposition to the kilt there is no doubt the
Highlanders always made a great impression in their full dress both at home and
abroad. See a letter from Cameron fighting a proposal to change kilts for trews
here.
The Widow of
Windsor, monarch of much of the globe declared her love for the Highlands and
all things Scottish; her fittest and best troops were in the main from Scottish
urban or rural areas. The lower order of administrators of Empire were mostly
Scottish supervised by English overlords and viceroys.
In 1868 Queen Victoria exclaimed: 'I think the Highlanders are
the finest race in the World'
Tartans
In 1582 George Buchanan, the historian, wrote that the Highlanders' ancestors
wore plaids of many different colours and that some still retained this custom.
However, he said, the majority now prefer a dark brown, imitating nearly the
leaves of the heather, so that when lying upon the heath in the day they may not
be discovered by the appearance of their clothes .... "in these, wrapped,
rather than covered, they brave the severest of storms in the open air and
sometimes lay themselves down to sleep even in the midst of snow." It was,
however, another two centuries before this plaid became popular south of the
Highland line. For its popularity today we have to thank a worried government
which, in the aftermath of the '45 rebellion , banned the wearing of plaid. They
sought to remove what they saw as a unifying emblem for the Highland clans.
From 1782, when the proscription was lifted, the cottage industry which served
only the Highlands of Scotland was replaced by a flourishing commercial
enterprise in which tartan was introduced to a far wider market.
Tartan Terms
The sett is the repeating pattern of a tartan, each of which is a mirror image
of its neighbour. As always, however, rules are not absolute - there are some
setts where the pattern doesn't repeat in this way. The size of each sett can
vary according to the weight of the material - getting larger as the material
gets heavier.
The term hunting is used to distinguish a sett designed
for outdoor use rather than the drawing room. The dominant colour is usually
green (but not always).
Dress has dual meaning. One version describes a tartan where the sett is
displayed on a white background: that material is generally used for dancing and
sometimes in ladies' fashion items.
The term may also be used to distinguish between a
version of the tartan in brighter colours than the hunting material and therefore
more suitable for formal wear.
An ancient or old sett pre-dates another sett for the same clan. However, this
word is also used to describe the colouring - see below.
The colours produced by the aniline dyes used from the
mid-19th Century were light fast , but darker than the earlier vegetable dyes.
The term modern colours is now used to describe these darker colours. When no such
tag is used it can be assumed that the colouring is "modern".
The terms old colours and ancient
colours are synonymous
and were introduced in the 1920's when technology allowed the use of dyes which
produced colours similar to vegetable dyes.
Then came reproduction tartans. This is a registered
trademark of the weaver D. C. Dalgleish and describes a range of tartans which,
Dalgleish say, are authentic in colour and design to those worn in 1745 and
before. They are the result of research into colours, sett and weave following
the discovery by a peat-gatherer on Culloden Moor in 1946 of a piece of material
which proved to be of MacDonald tartan some 200 years old.
And finally muted colour describe just that whereas
weathered colours describe a colouring similar to that of the reproduction
tartans. The amount of material used in a man's kilt depends upon his girth. For a hip
size up to 45" manufacturers normally recommend an eight-yard kilt.
Tartan suitable for kilts is woven in three weights:
Light-weight between 10oz and 12oz per yard
A very large number of tartans is woven at this weight, but a kilt in
light-weight material does not hang as well nor "move" as well as one
in a medium-weight weave. It also creases more easily and does not have the same
life as heavier material.
Medium-weight from 12oz to 13oz per yard
This is the most popular weight of material for kilts (and trews). It does
produce a kilt which hangs and moves.
Heavy-weight is from16oz per yard.
The ideal weight - this fabric does make a beautiful kilt, but might be too warm
in some climates.
Plaids
When the little kilt was born the fabric that had been removed above the waist
still served its original purpose as a protection against the wind and the rain,
but with the benefit that it could be discarded when inconvenient. This gave
rise to what is describe as the Laird's plaid. The Fringed Evening Plaid ties at
waist so that the plaid loops back on itself below the waist. Ties are hidden
under belt or doublet. The plaid is held in place by a Plaid Brooche. These
Brooches are generally 3 inches or more in diameter and should not be confused
with other forms of Brooche.
And then there are the Band plaids. The length should be to the top of the spats but may only come to the bottom of
your kilt if you are tall.
Belts
The kilt belt is a wide (generally two inch) belt with a large buckle. They are usually adjustable since you will need
to fit them over the kilt as well as the tunic when worn.
The Cross Belt
is a military item used to hold
the sword. When worn, the Cross Belt is put on first, over the right shoulder
and buttoned under the tunic applet. The kilt belt is worn over the top of the
cross belt. There are two hooks on the tunic for the belt to rest within. The
kilt belt should be flush with the bottom of the tunic. The Cross Belt should be
adjusted so that the Plaid fits underneath.