Feather bonnet age?

[48HofC]

To my mind "plume" conjures up a very different thing, like a big ostrich feather worn in a musketeer or pirate hat.

The Black Watch wore red hackles in their feather bonnets but also in their Tam O Shanters. The TOS hackles are of course much shorter.

I can't recall seeing any of the Scottish Highland regiments wearing hackles in their Glengarries.

Various regiments also wore hackles in their sun helmets.

With the formation of The Royal Regiment Of Scotland it became hackles in the TOS for all battalions:

1SCOTS black
2SCOTS white
3SCOTS red
4SCOTS blue
5SCOTS green
6SCOTS grey
7SCOTS purple

The pipers of the Cameron Highlanders wore eagle feathers in their Glens, while pipers of several regiments wore a blackcock's tail.

The Camerons/Queens Own Highlanders/Highlanders/ successively all wore the blue hackle on their glens. Cameronians wore black with certain orders of dress with both the glen and TOS. The RSDG pipes and drums wear white hackles with glens in certain orders of dress.

[OC Richard]

The Camerons/Queens Own Highlanders/Highlanders/ successively all wore the blue hackle on their glens. Cameronians wore black with certain orders of dress with both the glen and TOS. The RSDG pipes and drums wear white hackles with glens in certain orders of dress.

Thanks for the info!

I found this pic showing the RSDG wearing white hackles; I assume this is called No1 Dress, as opposed to their Full Dress with feather bonnets and bearskins



I can't find any images of Cameron Highlanders (of Scotland) wearing blue hackles in Glens or TOS, but I did find this pic of The Cameron Highlanders Of Ottawa wearing them



Here are various members of The Cameron Highlanders (of Scotland) in 1939 and I don't see hackles, but then again they're in Service Dress, not Full Dress (which of course calls for feather bonnets)


What strikes my eye as looking odd is when people dress up in "Black Watch" uniforms wearing red hackles in their Glengarries which I can't recall seeing the actual Black Watch doing.

[48HofC]

The blue hackle didn't come on the scene until after the BEF withdrew back to the UK at the beginning of ww2. It was given to the Camerons as a gesture because of the banning of kilts being used operationally and they had put up the biggest fight to keep them. As for plumes, I tend to fall in line with you, the Scots DG's wear a plume on their bearskins that bends over the top of the headdress rather than a hackle. As for the BW red hackle in the glen, I agree, it does look very odd, considering they didn't usually wear a badge if they had the hackle on, that was part of it's mystique.

[Jags]

Great pictures - fascinating stuff!