Royal Tank Regiment Sporran Hanger

[Bruce Scott]

I spotted this on the Royal Tank Regiment Facebook site and wondered if it's something peculiar to the RTR Pipes & Drums or also used in other regiments.



https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...90094623281249

[OC Richard]

Except of course for the badge, it appears to be the same dark brown leather sporran worn by the Royal Regiment of Scotland in No2 Dress.



The RRS sporran is bottom right.

The others show Black Watch sporrans from various periods.

At some point (1970s??) the soldiers began colouring their sporrans black, and the MOD responded by issuing those quite nasty black vinyl ones (1980s?)

Happily when the RRS was formed they went back to the original dark brown leather.



I read that the Pipes & Drums of 1RTR wear the Hunting Rose/Rose of Kilravock tartan.

[YOJiMBO20]

That doesn’t look like a sporran hanger. I’m pretty sure it’s just the kilt showing above the sporran in the opening of the jacket.

[Bruce Scott]

That doesn’t look like a sporran hanger. I’m pretty sure it’s just the kilt showing above the sporran in the opening of the jacket.

Ah yes, I can see that now.

[OC Richard]

Ha! I answered the question in the original post, not the one in the thread title!

Yes "sporran hangers" are a recent American invention and there is no way that a British military unit would have such a thing.

[MacKenzie]

I'll agree wit the first comment [visible to me] on the faceplant page, "...he needs to pull his kilt down and his socks up."

::: I'll see myself out :::

[OC Richard]

The army until fairly recently has generally maintained the older way of having the kilt end around the top of the kneecap, perhaps with around 1/4 to 1/3 of the kneecap covered.

About the hose, at least when they're wearing diced hosetops with spats each regiment has a certain number and orientation of the diamonds which sometimes means low hose on a tall man.

Here's the Queens Own Highlanders on parade c1970 showing the low diced hosetops and near-the-top-of-the-knee kilts.

[Tobus]

Perhaps a bit off topic, but both the OP's photo and OC Richard's photo illustrate, to me, the awkwardness of how people position their hands for posed photos like this. I have never understood this phenomenon of grasping one's hands together behind the sporran. It looks like the way a small child stands when he really needs to go to the toilet and he's doing all he can to hold it in. Is this something they are taught to do in the military while wearing kilts? It doesn't seem universal, but it's common enough that someone must be telling them this is the way to do it.

Not that I'm a fan of arms hanging limply by one's sides either, but it's better than behind the sporran. Are they not allowed to clasp their hands behind their backs?

[OC Richard]

Agreed it looks odd to me.

But what do I know? I'm an American.

They do that it the army, but it's also a popular pose for the men at weddings in Scotland.

The soldiers have their hands flat, the civilians mostly are grasping the sporran chains.

[Tomo]

Dunno - I suspect it's more likely the photographer suggesting this