Are kilts getting longer?

[OC Richard]

The colour photo at Edinburgh Castle, what regiments ? To me it looks like the PM of the Black Watch, PM of the Gordons, DM of the Gordons, PM of the Royal Scots, PM of the Argylls, PM of the QOH.

Yes indeed!

By the way, that PM of the Black Watch was a huge man, nicknamed the Big Ugg. I can't think of his name at the moment. A very fine player!

In Christian Hesketh's Tartans you can see him before his promotion....

BTW kilt length has, in general, been fairly stable since the beginning of the 19th century.

Here's a rather short kilt in 1714, followed by a top-of-the-knee kilt c1780, followed by kilts of about the same length in the early, mid, and late 19th century. Last are recent photos of pipe bands...

[Lachlan09]

Big Ugg ! Yes, that's right - you've reminded me after all those years !!

The David Cunliffe painting of the 79th in 1852 is a magnificent picture. He also painted other regiments like the 93rd and the 74th. If you look at my profile, you'll see one of my albums about the A&SH has a photo of the 93rds at Scutari 1854 during the Crimean War. It bears great comparison with the 79th Cunliffe portrait. You'll note that both regiments wore the Glengarry at this time, contrary to other Highland regiments, including the 42nd, which wore the round Kilmarnock / pork pie. Interestingly, the 79th's officer wears a Glengarry too, whereas officers in the 93rd (as my photo) wore a round scarlet/white diced peak cap with fixed narrow chinstrap in undress and the 42nd's officers wore a round peak cap with BW tartan band and chinstrap (as per Fenton photos).

Also note that the 79th's private on sentry-go is wearing a fly-plaid but the soldier with knapsack etc does not. Note what looks to me like box-pleats, the normal military pleating at that time. You can't see the OR's sporran, but I think in 1852 it was still the dark grey horsehair with 5 white bell tassels. You can see the senior NCO etc wear their version also with 5 tassels. I think the dark grey/black sporrans with 2 white plume tassels were adopted in 1854. The OR's are wearing the recently introduced waistbelt to replace the cross-belt, though the ammo pouch is still suspended from a shoulder belt.

The Argylls pipe-major in the Edinburgh Castle photo looks like Kenneth Robson to me. Kenny Robson was their PM who piped the Argylls led by Lt Col Colin Mitchell into Crater when they re-took it in 1967. The Argylls had aready stealthily taken up key positions throughout the no-go area of Crater in Aden the night before, with mg's etc on roof-tops and OP's etc, ready to take out terrorists who showed their faces and had set up their HQ in a bank they christened Stirling Castle. Early next morning the Argylls announced their entry into Crater with Mad Mitch driving a Land Rover, accompanied by the unwilling Arab police chief (a shady character, with two Argylls' SLR's in the Land Rover, pointing at his back with orders to take him out at the first sign of trouble), with PM Kenny Robson out in front, playing them in, his pipes ringing out throughout the dawn to the sleepy inhabitants of Crater. Argyll Law had arrived ! A new pipe tune was written for the occasion.

[CMcG]

Many years ago, when my aunt was giving advice to me as a new kilt wearer, she insisted that the lasses like to see a man's knees. She cared not a whit that I was wearing a saxon tuxedo jacket or what type of sporran I donned as long as the length of the kilt was short enough.

Now, my ladyfriend is also of the opinion that a man's knees must be clearly displayed under his kilt. She was very quick to hem an off-the-rack kilt I purchased, when the only way to see my knees was to hike the waist up over my ribs.


With all matters of tradition duly noted, the opinion of the lasses is good enough reason on its own for me to not let my kilt appear too long... despite my predilection for baggy, low-riding pants, and below-the-knee shorts that are more like capris or cullottes.

[Lachlan09]

If my memory serves me well, the pictures posted were the piper called Cumming, piper to laird of Grant - I seem to recall the red cockade was significant, showing government support rather than jacobite; Hugh Montgomerie (or maybe y) of Eglinton in his regiment's uniform (Montgomerie's Highlanders); MacDonnell of Glengarry; the 79ths in 1852 by David Cunliffe - note the piper wearing the dark green doublet, this colour was used on the CO's orders at a time the pipers of all other highland regiments wore red doublets (93rd) or coatees, dark green was adopted thereafter by all highland regiments; 2 officers of the A&SH (full dress and levee dress); Simon Fraser University PB; and anonomous piper.