Pretoria Highlanders

[Francois]

Good day.

Once again thank you for the accepting me.

I have a few questions with regards to my father's Pretoria Highlanders Regiment Uniform. Hope someone could steer me in the right directions.

Background:
The Pretoria Highlanders Regiment is a regiment of the South African Army. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.

Whilst the Pretoria Highlanders Regiment had been found at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, an early band was established wearing the Royal Stewart tartan. A post war pipe band was formed during 1979. The Officer Commanding at this stage, Cmdt Brahm Botes with Dick Webb as 2IC, tasked Pipe Major Alan Watters, who had distinguished himself during the Second World War and was a member of the Black Watch Regiment in Scotland, to establish a local pipe band.

From my knowledge the Pretoria Highlanders Regiment has been either disbanded, merged with either 1st Pretoria Regiment or into some light artillery regiment but there is no information about this. This was all the information I could find about the regiment. The only part of the name that still active is the Pretoria Highlanders Pipe Band which is private and wears a different uniform.

Uniform:
Headdress: khaki Tam O'Shanter, black glengarry; Tourie (on both): bottle green.
Tartan: Hunting Stewart (kilt); Sporran: brown leather as working dress and silver/grey haired for mess dress .
Hose: khaki with tops of regimental tartan, green garter flashes.
Nickname: "Jacaranda Jocks" (Pretoria is known as "the Jacaranda City")

I have attached a photo of my father in the uniform, this was around the mid 1980' (think 1983/4).
PTAHIGHLANERS_zps09087fca.jpg

My Questions:
1.When I asked one of the Kilt Makers in South Africa to help me, he said to me that the uniform is outdated. How is it outdated?
2. I managed to find all the items I need to complete the look in attached photo. The last Item is the Hose Tops. My father said the Hose Tops (Footless), is brown/khaki and the top is the same as the Tartan. But I cannot find any hose tops that match the description. Where would one find these hose tops?

[Dixiecat]

#1 can't help you there!

#2 start browsing in thrift/charity shops, commission a knitter or try a frankensock operation combining the leg of one with the cuff of another to match.

btw, if that's you in your avatar, I have to say that the two of you lookk amazingly alike!

[macwilkin]

From what I recall, the "Jacaranda Jocks" are still around and are a reserve artillery battery in the SANDF. I'll message a friend of mine who is a member of the Transvaal Scottish and see what light he can shed on the subject.

I don't know if there is a regimental association for the PH; I know the Transvaal Scottish, the Witwatersrand Rifles, and the South African Irish all have fairly active ones. To my knowledge, only the First City, the Cape Town Highlanders and the Transvaal Scottish are the only kilted regiments in the SANDF; others such as the Wits, the SA Irish, the Dukes, etc. maintain pipe bands.

T.

[Francois]

Thank you for the replies... Macwilkin it will be much appreciated if I can get mor information on the unit please.