My new Blackwatch

[ckelly327]

I wear a SWK Black Watch sometimes and in two years I have only been called out on it once. I'm Irish and was wearing it at a Hibernian golf tournament when one of my fellow golfers asked me if I knew the significance of the tartan and I told him I was and we left it at that.

One day I went over to fix my mother's computer and had on the Black Watch kilt. After taking in the fact that I was wearing a kilt her first response was that she loved her Black Watch skirt when she was in high school in the '50's. She didn't even have to ask me about the tartan. Our local Irish shop stocks the Black Watch kilts all of the time or they will order them as asked. The history is either not understood or it's just history and it's a nice tartan that goes with most anything.

My two cents.

[Mike1]

Hmmm, must be the camera.... The hose and shirt are a light grey.

Which is how I see them. Monitors can really play havoc with colors. It can often be difficult to make online tartan selections, never knowing how faithfully your monitor is reproducing them.

You are right that many will not wear the Black Watch because of what the tartan represents, but the important part is that you enjoy wearing it. If you enjoy it, who else really matters?

[Riverkilt]

Jeez Matt,

You've upset my grandfather Murdoch...he's thrashing in his grave...Gordon - a Black Watch variant???? Really?

Murdoch's maternal grandmother was a Gordon...after all those years of stories about the evil Campbells in my childhood...

Goes to show, Pogo was right. We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Ron

[Splash_4]

Wow guys.... This has turned out to be a most interesting thread. I would say I was sorry I started it, but I most certainly am not! I have learned more in this thread than in most of the reading I have done. Thanks to all of you who have contributed so far...

Although, I am still trying to get my mind empty of the phrase....

.....and I swear the Lamont's were just watching the Campbell's sheep (maybe a little too closley). All other charges are disputed.

[Skweres]

.....and I swear the Lamont's were just watching the Campbell's sheep (maybe a little too closley). All other charges are disputed.

[Mike1]

.....and I swear the Lamont's were just watching the Campbell's sheep (maybe a little too closley).

Aye, but a true Lamont would have typed it as Cam**ell.

[macwilkin]

Jeez Matt,

You've upset my grandfather Murdoch...he's thrashing in his grave...Gordon - a Black Watch variant???? Really?

Murdoch's maternal grandmother was a Gordon...after all those years of stories about the evil Campbells in my childhood...

Goes to show, Pogo was right. We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Ron

From the Scottish Military Historical Society's article on regimental tartans:

One of the best examples of how a purely regimental tartan can become accepted as a "clan tartan" is demonstrated by a study of the origin of the one worn by the Gordon Highlanders. In 1794, the 4th Duke of Gordon raised a regiment first numbered 100th, becoming 92nd in 1798. The Gordons had no family tartan of their own and when the Duke raised his first fencible regiment in 1778 they wore regulation Black Watch tartan, but when he raised his second fencible corps in 1793 a yellow line was added to the Government tartan. This was the result of a desire, it is believed, of the Duchess to see a distinctive sett instead of the universal military pattern. An application was made to William Forsyth of Huntly to carry out experiments, who in correspondence with the Duke suggests that "the yellow lines will appear very lively". This tartan was also given to the 92nd and is Gordon tartan only by reason of the military connection.

--http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/dispatch.htm

I should point out that the Campbells were not the only clan involved with the raising of the Independent Highland Companies -- the Grants and Munros also were, so any hatred based on a "Campbell connection" should extend to these two clans as well. Remember, the Black Watch Regiment and the Clan Campbell are not one and the same.

Matt's article on the Black Watch tartan:

http://www.albanach.org/blackwatch.htm

And, as Matt points out, there is much debate as to "which came first" -- the military tartan being used by a Clan, as in the case of the Gordon, Mackenzie of Seaforth, Cameron of Erracht, etc. or a "clan" tartan being used as a military one. Evidence points to the former, if you read Matt's article.

That Glencoe myth just won't die. <sigh>

Regards,

Todd

[Woodsheal]

I guess I don't quite get the animosity towards the actual Black Watch regiment that some have expressed here. This is a listing of their service in various campaigns down through the centuries:

http://www.journal74.fsnet.co.uk/bwatch42.htm

Other than opposing us rebels in the American War of Independence, it looks to me like the Black Watch has spent the majority of its existence fighting Frenchmen - and later on, Germans. I don't see that they were ever stationed in Ireland.

Personally, I think the regiment is one of the great formations in military history and I'd proudly wear their tartan. And I have! My very first kilt was a Black Watch 8 yd. tank from Lochcarron....

[Oldhiker]

Aye, but a true Lamont would have typed it as Cam**ell.

Mike point well taken, you are right!! but i have to say it is a good looking tartan.... that is why us Lamont's must have copied it. You can see we don't hold a grudge for 361 years give or take a few weeks

[Oldhiker]

From the Scottish Military Historical Society's .

That Glencoe myth just won't die. <sigh>

Regards,

Todd

Any McDonalds out there? Todd Todd