the highland cutaway tunic

[Tim P]

was there a specifically made tunic for OR's in the highland units or was it, as I overheard someone saying, simply a tailoring alteration to the standard tunic skirt?

Or was it the case that shortfalls in the issue pattern led to local re-tailoring of the standard?

many thanks

Tim.

[4thGordons]

was there a specifically made tunic for OR's in the highland units or was it, as I overheard someone saying, simply a tailoring alteration to the standard tunic skirt?

Or was it the case that shortfalls in the issue pattern led to local re-tailoring of the standard?

many thanks

Tim.

They were modified from standard pattern Service Dress Jackets.

It was not until the 1922 pattern (IIRC) that a separate cutaway pattern was introduced.

In wartime photos you will see a mix of modified and unmodified jackets in use by kilted soldiers. Sometimes in photos you can see they have folded the skirts back to resemble the cutaway for the photo. I believe there may actually have been an order to stop modifying jackets (Joe Sweeney would be the man to ask) but the practice clearly continued throughout the war.

Chris

[tocemma]

Tim,

As Chris has pointed out there were several General Routine Orders issued which dealt with the aleration of service dress for highland units. One of the most common ways of circumventing the prohibition was to tack back the skirts of the jacket without actually altering them, so as to give the impression of a doublet front. The quality of these depended of course on the skill of the person responsible.

I have had four or five jackets done this way in my collection over the years. Most units conformed to the orders some did not. A study of period photos show the majority wearing unaltered jackets especially later in the war.

Regards

Tocemma

[Tim P]

As I suspected then. Thank you for the replies...