Feather Bonnets

[Benning Boy]

I'd like to know how the tall black feather bonnets are put together. I'd especially like to see a series of photos or something illustrating the construction of these. Can anyone help? I'm not having much luck.

Also, Wikipedia says the development of the bonnets over time may have been influenced by the exposure of Highland regiments to the Indian feather bonnets. That, to me, is way off base. Although all Indians used feathers as ornamentation, only those of the Great Plains region of North America routinely used anything remotely similar to a bonnet. Plains Indian culture as we know it began to develop in the 1700s and didn't reach full fruition until about the time the Plains tribes were finally subjugated in the 1880s. I'm unaware of any Highland units ever having seen service on the Plains, either in what is now the United States, or in Canada. And Certainly, Highland regiments departed the US immediately on conclusion of our revolution, at a time before the "war bonnet" as it's often called, had fully developed. I don't see how Highlanders could have been influenced by American Indians. Just to cover one more base, feather bonnets, war bonnets, didn't get taken up by other tribes, outside the Plains region, much before the mid-20th Century, as the Pan Indian movement began to take hold.

What are your thoughts?

[plaid preacher]

Hey David. Afraid I can't help you with how they are put together, short of saying my understanding is that they are feathers over a wire frame.

I do believe you may have the wrong Indians, however. I suspect the influence, if indeed there was any, was from the Indian subcontentent; which was part of the British Empire and saw many units posted there. The influence cuts both ways, as I believe both the Indian and Pakistani army have pipe bands, of the highland tradition.

[Benning Boy]

Thanks, Robert, I'll have to pursue that angle. There just doesn't seem to be anything online that actually provides information on the construction of a Highland father bonnet, except to say they are put together over some kind of frame. I'm just curious.

[Father Bill]

Sounds like you'll have to start bending coat hangers!

[plaid preacher]

...and perhaps eating crow. Oh wait, I think that has a different meaning.

[plaid preacher]

David, here is a picture of the inside of a bonnet that I plucked from http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/fo...owtopic=164105 . There may be more of the history in this discussion. Interestingly, the profile from the bottom looks remarkably like that of a Woolsey helmet. BTW ... pun intended.

[Benning Boy]

Yep, I might start bending coat hangers. There are ostrich farms around, maybe I can raid one for feathers. What I perceive to be a frame in the picture looks pretty simple. I have absolutely no need for a feather bonnet, don't even want one for show, but I'd really like to know how they are made. The only ones I've seen up close were on someone's head, and that was quite a while back, and I didn't think to ask to see one in hand.
re

[Mike S]

Originally, the Highland feather bonnets had wicker framework. The use of the ostrich feathers actually started in the 1700s through to the Napoleonic era, when regimental Kilmarnock bonnets were adorned with black ostrich feathers, so much so that by the 1800s, less of the bonnet was visible due to the festoon of feathers.

An example of the origins C. late 1700s/early 1800s:

[Bill]

I can't help with the construction except to suggest to forget the coat hanger and grab some chicken wire. LOL!

Slainte'
Bill & Sir Brinkley the Exubrant
Saluting the U.S. Marine Corps on their 239th birthday! Ooorah!!!

Thankyou for your service to your country!

[Chainsaw02]

I heard or read somewhere that the Queen's own or the palace guards' bonnets are made from bear skin rather than feathers. I seem to remember a large group of protesters, in the nude none the less, were photographed as they protested the use of animals for this purpose.
Yea or nay?

Larry Dirr