Cap Badge on a Clan Balmoral?

[dotplaid]

Hi all,

First post; in fact I joined so that I could ask this very question:

Does one wear a clan cap badge on a balmoral bonnet made from a clan tartan?

Our family is planning to attend a Highlands Festival at the end of the summer. I've been thinking it's about time I start showing off my pride. I'd like to buy a bonnet with the Ancient Gunn tartan, but I'm not sure if the Gunn cap badge is overkill or if it's quite appropriate. (The badge seems a bit redundant in light of that tartan, thus my question.)

If there is leeway in this matter, I was thinking that I might attach the crossed cannons and rocket of the U.S. Army's Air Defense Artillery, the branch in which I served.

AirDefenseArtillery.jpg

Any advice would be most appreciated, and tapadh leibh,
dot

[ShaunMaxwell]

I would forego a tartan bonnet and instead purchase something like this:

http://www.jhiggins.net/balmorals/

Then your clan badge would be appropriate.

[Geoff Withnell]

You will find a significant number of folks wear branch of service pins as cap badges. I wear an Eagle, Globe and Anchor fairly frequently myself. I figure if I'm already in a clan tartan the clan badge is a little over the top. Conversely, if I'm in a USMC tartan, I most likely wear the clan badge.

[Tarheel]

Well met dot. My view is this, a solid colored balmoral or glengarry begs for a clan badge. For a tartan cap, I like the crossed cannons and rocket you posted. I would wear my US Army cap badge (or another pendant that meant something to me) if I owned a tartan cap.

But, you just can't tell an old "pickle-head grunt" like me anything except what I learned from drill sergeants and my grandmothers. Welcome from Oxford, MS.

[macwilkin]

Unless you come across a professional tartan spotter or a fellow clansman/woman, chances are very good that the member of the general public will not know your tartan OR your clansman's badge. Personally, a clansman's badge on a non-tartan balmoral is just right for me -- it's when it's combined with the branded shirt, horse, kilt pin, etc. that it becomes too much for yours truly -- much the same as the plethora of masonic accessories at lodge night or more than one lapel pin. Less is more.

I have worn my clansman's badge with my Iowa state tartan because my Scottish ancestors settled there. I'm not so sure I would wear anything Coast Guard Auxiliary related with either of my kilts, but would instead save that for a possible Coast Guard tartan kilt should I order on in the future.

[Mel1721L]

539137_10151892982675977_1090416313_n.jpg

This is my cap "Motto." Due to defence cuts, the regiment was amalgamated in the 90's and that regiment was amalgamated again just a few days ago. There is now only one Lancer regiment left in the British Army.

The regiment was English and I have never considered wearing it with a kilt. I don't wear Scots headdress, as my kilts are Welsh or fashion tartans, but I do wear it on a beret for poppy selling and remembrance day.

[Tarheel]

I checked (after seeing knouse's cap badge) what my badge would look like on the glengarry. Here's a photo. I'll leave it on my kilt as a pin. The antiqued finish just doesn't work on black.

[Drum Major]

Hi all,

First post; in fact I joined so that I could ask this very question:

Does one wear a clan cap badge on a balmoral bonnet made from a clan tartan?

Our family is planning to attend a Highlands Festival at the end of the summer. I've been thinking it's about time I start showing off my pride. I'd like to buy a bonnet with the Ancient Gunn tartan, but I'm not sure if the Gunn cap badge is overkill or if it's quite appropriate. (The badge seems a bit redundant in light of that tartan, thus my question.)

If there is leeway in this matter, I was thinking that I might attach the crossed cannons and rocket of the U.S. Army's Air Defense Artillery, the branch in which I served.

AirDefenseArtillery.jpg

Any advice would be most appreciated, and tapadh leibh,
dot

A clan badge will be fine, alternatively try the clan plant badge which is juniper. Military badges are best worn with military kilts.

[Bluescelt]

I've seen military tams with a swatch of tartan and a badge pinned over it. If you wanted tartan on the bonnet this would be an alternative to a full tartan bonnet.

[OC Richard]

It's tricky in the British military because each regiment has its own unique very specific way that the square of tartan is cut: straight or on the bias, and the specific portion of the tartan that's displayed.

Here's the patches that appear on Battledress jackets, with a Seaforth Highlanders tam at the bottom