What would the Victorians think?

[The Guy in the Kilt at UC]

Oh no! the trans-Atlantic thing again! Hunting in UK terms is with a pack of hounds and the followers are usually mounted and no firearms are seen(well not until very recent law amendments). BH you are showing a fox shoot! Not the same thing at all! Just to make it clear, in the UK we have shooting and we have hunting ,which are two distinct and very different pastimes. As we are talking UK here with tartan, then British terminology, I think, would be appropriate and that is precisely why I posted my picture to illustrate my point.

The term "foxhunter" in your picture title is correct in a literal sense, but in terminology, quite incorrect! In Uk terms. Confusing, what?

In the US we call it fox chasing as the purpose is not to actually kill the animal but to enjoy the thrill of the chase.

[JSFMACLJR]

In the US we call it fox chasing as the purpose is not to actually kill the animal but to enjoy the thrill of the chase.

Where in the US is it called "fox chasing", or is that said with tongue in cheek?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Where in the US is it called "fox chasing", or is that said with tongue in cheek?

Not here in Virginia... not even with tongue in cheek!

I've never ridden to hounds in the Borders, but I have it on good authority that those who follow the hunt often do so with tartan rugs in the back of their Rover cars. These are sometimes spread on the ground and used as a sort of cover upon which is set a small picnic. (This is a weak attempt to get this back on topic) Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to which tartan is most often used for this purpose? And, more importantly, do you feel that the tartan lining of a Barbour Jacket is a pukka tartan, or is it merely a waterproof fashion statement? And are Barbour Jackets really traditional Highland attire?

Okay, I give up. I don't see how any of this ties in with traditional Highland attire. So please, can we call off the hounds and give the fox a rest?

[Jock Scot]

Not here in Virginia... not even with tongue in cheek!

I've never ridden to hounds in the Borders, but I have it on good authority that those who follow the hunt often do so with tartan rugs in the back of their Rover cars. These are sometimes spread on the ground and used as a sort of cover upon which is set a small picnic. (This is a weak attempt to get this back on topic) Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to which tartan is most often used for this purpose?

I have two of these blankets, or rugs as MoR states, canvas backed to keep out the damp, one is Black Watch the other is Lindsey.They were never on parade on the hunting(UK definition) field though. I was too busy keeping up with hounds, or trying to meet up with my second horse!

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

And the votes are pouring in thick and fast. So far it's a dead heat with Black Watch and Lindsay neck and neck... (By the third jump I was usually trying to FIND my first horse, never mind a second!-- Gawd how I used to envy the way Stephen Hastings sat a horse... the man was a centaur.)

[Stratherrick]

I reckon the most common tartan rug is a Dress Fraser!

Back to the original idea for the this thread, here's a picture of my great-grandfather in the 1890s:



Here's hoping the picture loads as it's my very first effort! Nope. Darn! I followed these instructions, http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/c...013/index.html . It's from my Facebook albums. I tried putting the img bit both above and below the URL (I write as if I know anything about computers! I know nothing!) AND at the beginning and end of the URL with no spaces. Any suggestions, folks? I'd really rather not give open access to my Facebook details, and I don't know how to block that until my wife gets home as I'm a dunce re computers.

Anyway, Thomas Fraser was factor to the Farraline estate in Stratherrick in the hills to the south shore of Loch Ness, a post which he held until he died in 1915. He's stood outside his tied cottage, Errogie House. This burnt down in the ?1950s?

As others have said, it'd be inconceivable to see him without a cap. I think the clothes look heavy duty, perhaps a tweed? The gold Hunter watch he's wearing across his waistcoat is in my possession and is engraved from 1894, our only family heirloom. My eldest son, Dominic, will be given it on his 21st birthday next year.

I've photos of him in his limited spare time in much more formal dress, as might be expected from the laird's right-hand man! Unfortunately, his wife died in 1900, just after giving birth to their fourteenth child in sixteen years of marriage aged just 40! Not a lot to do up in the glens!

Slainte

Bruce

[HarborSpringsPiper]

Dare I say, not one is wearing ghillie brogues..

Not to say they did not wear them . . .



I'm never sure which forums consider it poor form to link to another forum, however, I ran across this old thread elswhere entitled "The well dressed Edwardian Scot" http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/...d.php?t=113490that contains a lot of great pics and discussion about this topic. There are several of these MacLeay paintings from The Highlanders Of Scotland (painted 1865-1869), apparently the source of some of the pics posted earlier in this thread.

A apologize if linking elsewhere is frowned upon, but there's some good info there.

[HarborSpringsPiper]

I was disappointed to find that the collection of Kenneth MacLeay's prints, The Highlanders Of Scotland was out of print, however I did find a website that displays all 30 of them and the text from the book is available there as well. My interest was piqued by those displayed earlier in this thread. If you have not seen all of them previously, I hope you enjoy these as much I have enjoyed them!

http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProf...adf0879287&P=1

[Kilted Rogue]

I have been looking at all these pictures, but i cant seem to work out what kind of flashes and garters they have on. Can someone please enlighten me?

[HarborSpringsPiper]

I have been looking at all these pictures, but i cant seem to work out what kind of flashes and garters they have on. Can someone please enlighten me?

I cannot but think you ask an excellent question. I see a combination of no visible garter or flashes in some, what appear to be woven ties in others and some that I can only assume represent elastic garters with or without flashes. If somebody can enlighten us, that would be helpful.

I had thought (assumed) that elastic garters/flashes with kilt hose were more of a recent innovation, possibly military related over the last century but now I don't know. I ran across this:

Thomas Hancock was an English inventor who founded the British rubber industry. He invented the masticator, a machine that shredded rubber scraps, allowing rubber to be recycled after being formed into blocks or rolled into sheets. In 1820, Hancock patented elastic fastenings for gloves, suspenders, shoes and stockings.

So clearly the technology was available going back almost two hundred years ago for elastic kilt hose garters. My question is, when did they start using it as such?

My related question in regards to these Victorian prints is if we don't see a garter/flash, does that mean they were using simple elastic garters under the fold or what? Similary, did they ever use woven ties without the ends being visible? Were they ever wearing hose without any type of garter?

Anybody else with any kilt hose garter history or links?