"Saffron" colour of Irish kilts?

[macwilkin]

As of 1900, the discussion seems to have centred on adopting something for Irish national dress that would actually get worn, not on accurately reproducing something ancient.

Nevertheless, there are some reports of the British Army adopting the saffron kilt for Irish pipers at some point during the previous century. Whether the British Army thought that the ancient Irish had worn kilts is not something we know or are likely to find out. What we do know for sure, though, is that the kilt could be combined with standard military uniform on the upper half of the body, whereas that isn't true of the leine.

Did you ever find a source for this claim of a mid 19th century adoption of the kilt by Irish regiments of the British Army? The earliest I have found comes from the raising of the Irish Guards during the Boer War at the turn of the century, about the same time that the myth of the kilt as an ancient Irish garment was coming into fashion.

T.