Kilties in the Great War

[freddie]

Here is a good example of thel engh of the kilt during the great war period
These men are the South African Scottish

As these soldiers are in a state of undress could the guy on the left be wearing underpants - and if so did this mean that they weren't 'regimental' ?

[SergeantFirstClass]

In response to a previous post, most were not issued a sporran and the ones that were issued them were Sr. Officers. The sporrans from that era that I have seen had no pocket anyway as with the current hair sporrans that are issued to the enlisted. I have seen an officer's sporran that did have a pocket but it was quite small and of little use. They were, however, issued a grey canvas cover for their kilt with a large pocket on the front. It wrapped around front to back and connected on the side.

[macwilkin]

In response to a previous post, most were not issued a sporran and the ones that were issued them were Sr. Officers. The sporrans from that era that I have seen had no pocket anyway as with the current hair sporrans that are issued to the enlisted. I have seen an officer's sporran that did have a pocket but it was quite small and of little use. They were, however, issued a grey canvas cover for their kilt with a large pocket on the front. It wrapped around front to back and connected on the side.

I've seen a picture in Chappel's Scottish Units of the World Wars of some Seaforths wearing gas mask bags as "field-expedient" sporrans.

T.

[SergeantFirstClass]

Brilliantint:

[emolas]

Re how colors show up in old photographs...

...there is the possibility that some of the photos were taken with films that were orthochromatic rather than the panchromatic emulsion black and white films that we are familiar with today. Ortho renders the grey scale equivalent of certain colors lighter than we're usually used to seeing. Blues, for example, are renderred lighter in color...that's one of the reasons why skies in older photos look blank instead of cloudy. There was, at one time, some discussion of whether or not clouds actually could be photographed.

So maybe the relationships between colors in some of the tartans that we're seeing look different because of the different sensitivity of the film used.

I knew that that History of Photography class was going to pay off some day!

Best

AA

As an example and completely off topic: Mr. Ed was a zebra. The film they used back then couldn't display the stripes.

Back to the topic. Thanks for all the photos and commentary. It's all very interesting.

[ccga3359]

As an example and completely off topic: Mr. Ed was a zebra. The film they used back then couldn't display the stripes.

Back to the topic. Thanks for all the photos and commentary. It's all very interesting.

I can't believe you made me look this up!

"Mister Ed was a zebra" hoax
In the 1990s, a parody of typical urban legends, created on purpose by the specialized site Snopes.com, said Mr. Ed was actually a zebra, not a horse, and was either painted a solid color for the series or else looked like a horse because of shortcomings of early black-and-white television.[3] The story frequently pops up as a "little-known fact," but is not true. Snopes had created the story as part of an exercise meant to encourage skepticism of "respected" sources.[4] Mister Ed was a breed of horse called Palomino.

[CEF]

Many of the photos from this period show soldiers NOT wearing a sporran. I wonder why ?

Sporran,s were not worn in Franch, because of their impracticality in the trenches its almost certain that even Officers and N.C.O would not wear their sporrans at the front as these had to be bought privately.
Private's were issued with Sporrans but if they were damaged or lost they would have to pay for replacement.
Sporrans and other dress items would be left at the depot when the Battalion sailed for France.
Khaki Kilt aprons were worn over the kilt tied at the side, with a small pocket at the front.




Regards
Cef

[pdcorlis]

Amazing series of photos - even more amazing is the collective wisdom of the group. Please continue...

[CEF]

Todd.
I've never seen the photograph of Basil Rathbone in uniform before, what great picture.
The Liverpool Scottish wore the Forbes tartan, example




Regards
Cef

[CEF]

These are the Khaki chums, a group who dedicate themselves to getting detail right ie uniforms weapons etc from the Great War, they are a well respected organisation and have consolted and played parts on quite a number of British T.V programme's.
Here are a small number of them representing various Scottish Regiments at Beaumont Hamal (Somme) Nov 2006.
Note Kilt aprons

Regards
Cef