Toronto Scottish tartan?

[ronstew]

What tartan does the Toronto Scottish regiment wear?

[GMan]

Hodden Grey if I am not mistaken.

[ronstew]

That rings a bell. I knew that it is a solid colour. I have never seen it in the flesh. Thanks.

[macwilkin]

I posted this in your thread about the different Stewart tartans before I saw this thread -- so I'll post it here as well:

That is known as "Hodden Grey". The Toronto Scottish and the London Scottish are the only two regiments to wear it.

So, in 1859, sponsored by The Highland Society of London and The Caledonian Society of London, a group of individual Scots raised The London Scottish Rifle Volunteers under the command of Lt Col Lord Elcho, later The Earl of Wemyss and March. He decided to clothe the Regiment in Hodden Grey, the homespun cloth known throughout Scotland.
Lord Elcho, Earl of Wemyss and March.

This avoided all interclan feeling on the subject of tartan and, as Lord Elcho said "A soldier is a man hunter. As a deer stalker chooses the least visible of colours, so ought a soldier to be clad." The only regiments wearing Hodden Grey are The London Scottish and The Toronto Scottish.

-- http://www.londonscottishregt.org/history.cfm

Cheers,

Todd

[ronstew]

Thanks, Todd.

[macwilkin]

Thanks, Todd.

You're most welcome, Ron! I've always admired the Hodden Grey "kit" of the LS and the TS -- very sharp! I have cap badges for both in my collection, and a wee piece of Hodden Grey material behind the LS badge.

Hodden Grey is also mentioned in Robert Burns's "A Man's a Man for a' that":

"What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden grey and al' that..."

Hodden Grey, as the quote from the LS web page mentioned, was the clothing colour of the common man in Scotland. Hodden Grey is also mentioned in the song "The Star o' Rabbie Burns":

"Though he was but a plougman-lad,
and wore the hodden grey...

Cheers,

Todd