Dress Sporran

[Valencian Kilted]

My advice: WEAR THAT SPORRAN. It's a jewel by itself, even with that old aspect.

¡Salud!

T O N O

[Angus]

If it was me I'd wear it. I wouldnt care about the other stuff, like if it was proper or not. Its your grandfather's, assuming he's passed on, its an excellent way to have a little bit of him with you on your wedding day.

The cleaning idea, is a good one though, and Matts recomendation of Danny Shearer would be the best way to go.

In the end though its ultimately your decision, whichever way you go, good luck with it and Congratulations on your upcoming marriage, All the best

[mrpharr]

Here is the email i received back on the sporran.

From: Major IL Riley TD FSA Scot (retd) Hon. Secretary
Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum

Dear Mr Craig,

Thank you for your most interesting enquiry regarding your grandfather's sporran. I am passing this to our Honorary Curator, Mr Dennis Reeves, for his attention. I know that he will be most interested. As we are all volunteers working on an unpaid basis, it may be a few weeks before you receive a full reply. May I ask for no more of your excellent photographs without prior warning; the size of your e-mail was 11Mb and this gave my dial-up connection (soon to be replaced) 50 minutes of serious indigestion last night!

However, I will tell you that this is known as a 'silver-topped sporran' as worn by officers and senior NCOs (sergeant and above) of the Liverpool Scottish. It is of a pattern still worn today. The position of the badge is slightly complicated and some detail can be found on our website but essentially represents the Liverpool Scottish as the 10th (Scottish) Battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment) Territorial Force. At the start of the First World War, the King's (Liverpool Regiment) consisted of two regular battalions, two special reserve battalions to support the regular force and six territorial or reserve battalions.

The identity of its original owner is likely to be Captain Arthur Twentyman and Dennis is likely to be able to tell you a substantial amount about this significant figure. He rates a serious mention in the regimental history by Colonel McGilchrist (see below) and if you consider purchasing this, please let me know; we would have to consider some efficient way of getting payment into the UK as our banks charge almost as much to cash dollar cheques as their value! We would be most interested to know something of the sporran's journey to Austin, Texas.
As you will have gathered from our website, we are a museum run entirely on a volunteer basis without public funding and we undertake to do our best to help you at all times. The Museum Trustees are considering introducing a modest nominal charge but this policy is not yet in place. However, if you feel that the information that you have gained is of use (or you simply wish to support our project) I wonder if you would consider a donation to the Museum Trust to help towards our everyday running costs and the conservation of the collection.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Riley
Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum Trust (Reg Charity 277953)
A Fully Registered Museum (Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries Reg No 431)
Maintained Entirely by Voluntary and Regimental Donations
http://www.liverpoolscottish.org.uk/
Museum Mail to: ilriley@liverpoolscottish.org.uk
Personal mail to i.l.riley@theoffice.net
Buy the WW1 Liverpool Scottish Illustrated 400 page History 'Bravest of Hearts'
(£29.95 inc postage - hardback) or a softback reprint of the original (1930) regimental history "The Liverpool Scottish 1900-1919" by Colonel AM McGilchrist (£15 plus £3 postage and packing in the UK) from the Museum
Ordinary mail/donations should be sent to Major I.L. Riley TD FSA Scot,
The Shambles, 51a Common Lane, Culcheth,
WARRINGTON WA3 4EY
We do not receive mail at the Museum premises