RG Lawrie catalogue c1940

[OC Richard]

I just bought this on Ebay. There's a site which has an early P Henderson catalogue and another which has an early RG Lawrie cataloge that can be seen online, but it's nice to have an actual thing I can hold in my hand.

Inside there's a list of the catalogues RG Lawrie issued at the time:

1. Bagpipes, Drums, and Accessories, and Pipe Band Uniforms
2. Highland Dress for Day & Evening Wear
3. Girl Dancers' Costumes
4. Ladies' Wear in Clan Tartans
5. Tartan Souvenirs and Novelties
6. Bowling Green Bowls and Accessories
7. Carpet Bowls and Accessories

Numbers 6 and 7 may seem surprising, but in the 19th century many of the Highland Bagpipe makers also made bowling bowls.

The catalogue I have is the number 2.

RG Lawrie Ltd est 1881
The Highland House
38 Renfield St Glasgow
works: North Wallace St

There are wonderful, though small, photos of the "sawing and roughing dept", "bagpipe dept", "silversmiths' and pipe bag dept", "bugle and drum repair dept", "kilt workroom", and "tartan hose hand frames".

What immediately struck me, on the page listing the available "Gentleman's Highland Dress" is the relative lack of variety.

There are only two "Evening Dress" jackets, which are called "doublet" (our Regulation Doublet) and "coatee" (our Prince Charlie) available in "black or green Evening Dress cloth".

Under "Outdoor Dress" is listed a single style of jacket, available in "Scotch homespun or Harris tweed".

Kilts are listed both in 8 yards and 6 yards.

"Under Trews, all wool tartan to match kilt" are listed with all kilts.

The shoe listings are intriguing.

Under Evening Dress:

"Brogues, Patent Leather, with Lacing Latchets or Buckles and Straps,Ballroom Weight" (Mary Jane style shoes are illustrated)

Under Day Dress:

"Brogues, Box Calf" (ordinary Oxford shoes are illustrated)

Later in the catalogue, footwear is listed as follows:

H466 Box Calf Lacing with Slashed Tongue
H467 Box Calf with Buckles and Straps or Lacing Latchets, illustrated on page 9
H468 Patent Leather with Buckles and Straps or Lacing Latchets, Ballroom Weight, illustrated on page 9
H469 Dancing Pumps, Sole and Upper of Pliable Leather, without Heels, illustrated on page 9

What's very interesting is that on page 9 are shown a pair of the sort of shoes we use for Highland dancing and Country dancing, a pair of Mary Janes; but the third pair is a sort of shoe I've only seen in The Highlanders of Scotland, not like our Ghillie Brogues, but like a pair of Mary Janes which lace up. What's strange about the non-appearance of Ghillie Brogues is that they're commonly seen both in The Highlanders of Scotland and in numerous photos from the 1880's up through today.

The sporrans listed are:
H448 White Horse Hair
H450 White Goat Hair
H455 White Buckskin, Purse Top (the sporran illustrated is an 18th century style)
H456 Seal, Otter, Musquash, etc with Back Pouch
H457 Seal, with Chased Mounts or Morocco Lined Top with Crest and Front Pouch secured by Sporran Chain based on a sporran worn by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (the sporran illustrated appears to be a normal sealskin Evening Dress sporran with three tassels and pentagonal flap with a Clan Crest badge on it)
H459 Leather, in various Designs
H460 Animal Head, in Beaver, Badger, Otter, Musquash, Fox, Polecat, etc

One of the plaid brooches illustrated is part of a matching suite of hardware which also shows up on an illustration of a piper in full military-style regalia, on his waistbelt and crossbelt hardware. I used to own this set:



The goat hair sporran illustrated seperately in the catalogue is identical to this one, sold a while back on Ebay:



though it's this cantle, seen on the piper, which matches the other hardware:



The horsehair sporran illustrated seperately is very much like this one, though only having a single knob:



From a catalogue of a different Highland Dress and Bagpipe maker, P henderson, is this illustration, in which the Highland Dress is nearly identical to that shown in this RG Lawrie catalogue.

The main difference is that the RG Lawrie man in Day Dress has an ordinary Day sporran, brown leather, with flap, and three tassels, while this figure has an 18th century style sporran (complete with heartshaped hole decoration and the two side knobs which form the hinge) :

[Jock Scot]

Of course there was not much variety in 1940! Firstly, there were not all that many people who could afford what was for sale and secondly there was a World War going on and most people in the UK were in uniform!

[Phil]

And do you notice none of them would be regarded as properly attired without the accompanying cigarette! How things have changed.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Thanks for sharing. One of the things that I've noticed is the uniformity of size of post-war sporrans. Pre-war sporrans tended to be slightly larger, while post-war they all seem to have been made up of left over bits that conform to MoD sporran specs.

[McClef]

I wonder how the clothing coupons would have worked with this catalogue!

[MartinGrenoble]

Based in the pictures, we can now more closely define the kilt.
Is must be of pure wool, tartan cloth, pleated, to wrap round a man, and its length-waist ration should be 4:3 (or even 1:1).
No self respecting Scot would have worn anything with artificial fibre or a waistline greater than 32.

Martin

[Chas]

Based in the pictures, we can now more closely define the kilt.
Is must be of pure wool, tartan cloth, pleated, to wrap round a man, and its length-waist ration should be 4:3 (or even 1:1).
No self respecting Scot would have worn anything with artificial fibre or a waistline greater than 32.

Martin

I don't understand. Are you saying that there were no man-sized Scotsmen?

Regards

Chas

[sydnie7]

A little tiny detail that I've been chasing: in the "dress" illustration, both of the jackets have what I will call gauntlet cuffs (probably another name for them, but bear with me for the purposes of this question). I note that they are sticking out, away from the body of the sleeve, at the topmost point -- implying that they are made similar to Tim's wonderful jacket, from this thread.

Most of the modern versions pictured on vendor websites feature a cuff that is sewn to the main sleeve all along the top edge of cuff. Obviously this is an easier, less expensive construction method. But it also looks a bit cleaner to me vs. having the top edge of cuff "stick out" away from the sleeve.

Opinions? Other examples of "separate" cuffs? I'm nowhere near the cuff stage on my current jacket project, but the devil's in the details

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I suspect that the illustrations slightly exaggerate the cuff to more clearly show the detail. Generally I've noticed that the cuffs on better made jackets do have a more pronounced peak, but they don't stick out like in the illustrations. That said, in a bespoke jacket like Tim's, there is room for all sorts of personal detailing.

I think the thing to keep in mind is that these "gauntlet" cuffs actually echo the turned back cuffs of the 18th century. That being the case on formal jackets they should properly match the lining of the jacket, or be of silk, rather than the suiting fabric.

[wildrover]

I recently had in hand a nearly identical sporran, except for the design on the cantle (shape and knobs were identical) and one tassel darker than the other (tassel caps were also the same)...the RG Lawrie mark and stag's head were very clear on the back. Unfortunately, it had a couple blemishes, so I let it go. I still wonder if I should've kept it...