Cap Badge Etiquette

[CalBlaylock]

I have two fairly basic questions about cap badges:

First, I remember reading somewhere that it was gauche to wear your clan crest badge when you're wearing your clan tartan. Is this true?

Second, since the amalgamation of the highland regiments, what is the status of their traditional cap badges? I don't want to spend money on a badge that I shouldn't be wearing as a civilian, though I think the badge of the Gordon Highlanders is very sharp and if I wouldn't be committing a faux pas I'd like to get one.

Thank you for any and all advice, here.

[FossilHunter]

I have two fairly basic questions about cap badges:

First, I remember reading somewhere that it was gauche to wear your clan crest badge when you're wearing your clan tartan. Is this true?

Second, since the amalgamation of the highland regiments, what is the status of their traditional cap badges? I don't want to spend money on a badge that I shouldn't be wearing as a civilian, though I think the badge of the Gordon Highlanders is very sharp and if I wouldn't be committing a faux pas I'd like to get one.

Thank you for any and all advice, here.

Since the Gordon’s existed until 1994 I wouldn’t wear the badge. Still lots of men around who wore it who could ask when you were in or why you are wearing it.

[Jock Scot]

I have two fairly basic questions about cap badges:

First, I remember reading somewhere that it was gauche to wear your clan crest badge when you're wearing your clan tartan. Is this true?

Second, since the amalgamation of the highland regiments, what is the status of their traditional cap badges? I don't want to spend money on a badge that I shouldn't be wearing as a civilian, though I think the badge of the Gordon Highlanders is very sharp and if I wouldn't be committing a faux pas I'd like to get one.

Thank you for any and all advice, here.

1. It is perfectly proper to wear your Clan badge with your Clan tartan(same Clan) kilt. Whoever it was who said that you shouldn't is leading you astray. Please do not mix, for example,a Clan MacKarrott badge with a Clan MacOnion tartan though. Generally, all you will be doing is potentially upsetting two Clans in one go. For example,wearing a MacDonald bonnet badge whilst wearing a Campbell tartan could cause real upset ! Even in this day and age.

2. It might be best if you did not wear a military cap badge with your civilian kilt attire. Yes, I know, there are some fantastic military cap badges about but it's best if you let those who have earned the right to wear them, wear them.

[Dollander]

Please do not mix, for example,a Clan MacKarrott badge with a Clan MacOnion tartan though. Generally, all you will be doing is potentially upsetting two Clans in one go. For example,wearing a MacDonald bonnet badge whilst wearing a Campbell tartan could cause real upset ! Even in this day and age.

What if it's a case of the only sporran I own (aside from a very casual "Rob Roy" type) having the no-longer-official Murray badge on it, while my MacCallum kilt is standing in as my designated dress kilt until my Murray of Tullibardine is completed? I haven't been able to find mention of any rivalries between Clan Murray and Clan MacCallum/Malcolm, and even if there were, I doubt whatever may have happened back in Scotland would've prevented a Murray from marrying a MacCallum on this side of the pond...especially since said Murray is also descended from MacDonald of Sleat, who were indeed rivals of the MacCallums.

Besides, I doubt my Italian relatives at the funeral I'm attending tomorrow will know the difference, or think anything untoward of my outfit beyond "Yeah, Ida's youngest daughter's kids were always a bit eccentric."

[Jock Scot]

What if it's a case of the only sporran I own (aside from a very casual "Rob Roy" type) having the no-longer-official Murray badge on it, while my MacCallum kilt is standing in as my designated dress kilt until my Murray of Tullibardine is completed? I haven't been able to find mention of any rivalries between Clan Murray and Clan MacCallum/Malcolm, and even if there were, I doubt whatever may have happened back in Scotland would've prevented a Murray from marrying a MacCallum on this side of the pond...especially since said Murray is also descended from MacDonald of Sleat, who were indeed rivals of the MacCallums.

Besides, I doubt my Italian relatives at the funeral I'm attending tomorrow will know the difference, or think anything untoward of my outfit beyond "Yeah, Ida's youngest daughter's kids were always a bit eccentric."

In that case, wear a suit.

[Tarheel]

Another direction to consider would be wearing a plant sprig associated with your clan. My clan (Colquhoun) accept and wear Hazel saplings in their caps without clan badges. I do not intend to distract from the topic, but felt this a good time to offer an alternative line of thought for the OP.

We XMark rabble recognize the Dandelion as our association to a group.

[LKM]

In my opinion I would not wear a military emblem, cap-badge or otherwise, unless I had a connection to that specific military unit. Although there are many that look great, to me it is more part of a uniform then every day dress. There are pipe bands that have military styled badges and a few that wear actual military uniforms and badges, yet this is still a uniform and it seems to be accepted for a pipe band. Having a badge for a unit your father or grandfather was in in WWI or WWII has more family history association and wearing these seems to be a gray area and is likely to start conversations.

Side note:

Another direction to consider would be wearing a plant sprig associated with your clan. My clan (Colquhoun) accept and wear Hazel saplings in their caps without clan badges. I do not intend to distract from the topic, but felt this a good time to offer an alternative line of thought for the OP.

For my family that would be a leek as my surname is Welsh. It's harder to wear a leek behind the cap badge then it is a flower of sprig of an herb. Then the thought crossed my mind of someone wearing a tree on their cap, I can see why some people go with the green branches and new leaves.

[OC Richard]

First, I remember reading somewhere that it was gauche to wear your clan crest badge when you're wearing your clan tartan.

Never heard of such a thing.

Going back in time, in the Victorian period there was a fad for wearing Clan Crest badges all over: cap-badge, plaid brooch, waistbelt buckle, engraved on dirk and sgian, and wearing a miniature round Clan Crest cap-badge as a kilt pin (20th century sword and sword-like kilt pins aren't seen much then, kilt pins were round).

Then around 1900 all this Clan Crestery fell from favour, only to come roaring back in the 1980s or thereabouts. It's often overdone, for sure.

Second, since the amalgamation of the highland regiments, what is the status of their traditional cap badges?

Not just Highland, but Lowland too, the entire Scottish infantry has been amalgamated into a single uber-Regiment, the Royal Regiment Of Scotland, the entirety wearing the RRS cap-badge.

Therefore all the former individual cap-badges, of the Gordons, Black Watch, Royal Scots, and so forth represent historical, rather than current, military cap-badges.

About the wearing of military cap-badges, tartans, etc by civilians I have often pointed out the photos of the Braemar Games in Scotland, with the Queen, Philip, and Charles in attendance (being the Colonels-in-Chief of several regiments in question) showing civilian pipe bands wearing military tartans and military cap-badges and no-one seems to care. (One band wears Gordon Highlanders kilts, cap-badges, and black spat-buttons, but oddly with Argyll-diced feather bonnets which sport red hackles!)

In the civilian pipe band world, in Scotland and the rest of the world alike, it has been standard operating procedure for a century for bands to adopt military tartans and badges. No umbrage was ever taken as far as I can see.

Starting around the 1970s pipe bands the world over moved away from the military look and the new civilian pipe band kit emerged. Usually round civilian Clan Crest cap-badges are worn, but even now one sees the occasional band, a civilian band, wearing regimental cap-badges.

[FossilHunter]

Richard, while the regimental badges post-amalgamation could be considered historical, I still think one should at least consider the fact that there are still many alive today who would have served in those regiments and that it could come up if the wearer ran into them.

A badge from a regiment disbanded in 1890? That’s a little easier to ignore but I think it’s still worth considering.

I wonder if pipe bands are given a pass since they are uniformed?

[48HofC]

OC Richard is incorrect when it comes to the historical aspect of cap badges when it comes to the SCOTS. All the badges worn by the antecedent regiments are still 100% under the control of the MOD and are still being used in various capacities within the individual battalions. Men today are still serving under the umbrella of the old regiments. If you talk to a jock in 2 SCOTS and ask him what he is, he will tell you he is a Royal Highland Fusilier before he says he’s part of the SCOTS. If somebody hasn’t served in a regiment, or has no direct association with it, it is poor form to wear their badges. A lot of blood has been spilled in previous centuries by men under the colours of these regiments and that deserves respect, not having their badges worn as fashionable. I would never consider wearing the USMC’s globe and anchor, or the badge of the Green Berets because I was never a part of them, they earned that right, I did not.
The majority of Scottish pipebands who wear regimental badges have a direct association with the regiment and have obtained permission in the past, that isn’t quite the same as just wearing one because they like it.
I have friends who are Gordons, then Highlanders,then 4 SCOTS who have no issue at all with cornering someone wearing their badges who has never served, they find it insulting. The tribalism in the British Army is not a thing to underestimate.