WW2 Sgian Dubh

[EndTheTrendNow]

I been trying to find info on military issued WW2 Sgian Dubhs, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info.

I know there were military issued ones for officers and ranking NCOs, but how about most of the other troops or was it sort of a personalized item.

Black Watch Sgian Dubh
scottish-black-watch-sgian-dubh-3.jpg

Was the Sgian Dubh just for show and parades or did troops actually carry them in theater/battle and actually use them?

[Bruce Scott]

As far as I know the sgian dubh has only been worn by officers, warrants officers and pipers as part of their ceremonial kit. There is an interesting comment on it at page 60 here: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nsHandBook.pdf

[OC Richard]

It was pointed out by an XMarker far more knowledgeable than me that that sgian you pictured is a Seaforth Highlanders one.

The Black Watch one has St Andrew behind his cross, and the badge is at the bottom of the handle. Also the Seaforth sgian has a star carved on the handle behind the badge.

This, I think, is a Black Watch sgian



About what orders of dress included the sgian, evidently it varied by regiment. Charles Grant writes in The Black Watch:

"The sgian dubh was introduced for Officers around 1840, the 42nd being one of the first regiments to adopt it; but unlike other regiments, the 42nd has always worn it only with the long hose and never on parade."

"Long hose" implies Mess Dress and Levee Dress, I do believe. "On parade" implies Full Dress (for which spats are worn), I believe.

[OC Richard]

I know there were military issued ones for officers and ranking NCOs, but how about most of the other troops or was it sort of a personalized item.

Officers weren't issued them; they had to purchase their own uniforms, I do believe.

Pipers were issued them as part of their uniform.

No-one who did not traditionally wear a sgian as part of their uniform would wear one.

Was the Sgian Dubh just for show and parades or did troops actually carry them in theater/battle and actually use them?

I suppose that as long as soldiers wore Full Dress in combat, they would wear (or at least could wear) everything associated with Full Dress. There are photos of Highland officers in the Crimea wearing their large ornate claymores in the field.

When Full Dress was no longer worn in combat, the things associated with Full Dress would no longer be worn in combat.

In other words the sgian has always been part of specific orders of dress for specific people.

As far as "use" the sgian, my understanding was that it was a utility knife rather than a weapon. My old Pipe Major would use his sgian to shave chanter reeds and cut "hemp" (the string that holds bagpipes together).

[Mike S]

British officers did indeed have to purchase their own uniforms, and the Colonels were expected to buy those among the enlisted of his regiment as well, up until the military reforms of the nineteenth century.

The Sgian was originally used primarily as an eating utensil, a period equivalent of the pocket knife, and as a sort of weapon of self defense as a very last desperate resort.