Piper42nd Posted 30 November , 2019 Share Posted 30 November , 2019 I see in the Clothing Regulations 1914 that kilted highland regiments were issued one pair of tartan trews per man. Does anyone have photos of them being worn in the trenches or were they left behind? Does anyone have photos of the highlanders wearing any trousers for that matter? Thanks, Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 30 November , 2019 Share Posted 30 November , 2019 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Piper42nd said: I see in the Clothing Regulations 1914 that kilted highland regiments were issued one pair of tartan trews per man. Does anyone have photos of them being worn in the trenches or were they left behind? Does anyone have photos of the highlanders wearing any trousers for that matter? Thanks, Harvey For highland regiments plaid trews were in-barracks wear for certain orders of ‘undress’ and were not worn by them in the field. Enclosed are photos of highlanders wearing trousers at home in Britain. Gordon Highlanders in service dress pantaloons and Black Watch in government No2 trews. Also see: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/152739-sgt-major-john-madden-gorden-highlanders/ Edited 30 November , 2019 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper42nd Posted 30 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 30 November , 2019 Thank you. I'm still wondering if any of the kilted regiments switched to trousers at any point in the war while occupying the trenches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 1 December , 2019 Share Posted 1 December , 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Piper42nd said: Thank you. I'm still wondering if any of the kilted regiments switched to trousers at any point in the war while occupying the trenches. Yes - see: And: Edited 1 December , 2019 by Andrew Upton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 1 December , 2019 Share Posted 1 December , 2019 (edited) As Andrew has said, by the end of the war many battalions had started wearing SD trousers. Wet and muddy kilts had encumbered soldiers and infamously cut into soft skin behind the knees so that softer plaid cloth had to be introduced. Nevertheless, they were not wholly removed from store and you can still see photographs of units wearing kilts right through into 1918. See enclosed photos, all taken in that year. Edited 1 December , 2019 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper42nd Posted 1 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 1 December , 2019 Thank you gentlemen. The information has been a great help. I am now motivated to read the 1st Black Watch war diaries for reference to issue of trousers. Being retired helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Black Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 You'll be very lucky to see such detail referred to in their diary. It's basic stuff for the most part, locations and casualty info mostly. A newspaper with a letter published by a soldier from the front, or interview with them on leave, more likely has things like this mentioned. Cheers, Derek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 2 December , 2019 Share Posted 2 December , 2019 It might be worth looking in battalion histories. It's the kind of thing that might get a mention (with the reason) in passing. Having said that the only mention I can remember is actually the opposite (the beginning of wearing kilts) in the history of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (and I think, the equivalent section of Wauchope on 14 Black Watch). On a different tack - wasn't there a problem with the wearing of kilts and gas (particularly mustard gas)? RM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovetown Posted 4 December , 2019 Share Posted 4 December , 2019 As an aside, Tartan was also a class of plain cloth - and there are examples of Frocks and serge Service Dress trousers (with labels identifying them as such) made of the same. Indeed, the original pattern for the SD trousers described them as "Made of drab-mixture tartan, weighing about 22 ounces per yard, 54 inches wide, in 18 sizes... etc etc". Yet not to be mistaken for trews, of course. Cheers, GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 4 December , 2019 Share Posted 4 December , 2019 (edited) GT makes an important point that has been lost in the decades since WW1, and is the reason I used the word ‘plaid’. Edited 4 December , 2019 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neill Gilhooley Posted 5 December , 2019 Share Posted 5 December , 2019 As far as 9th Royal Scots were concerned, pre-war they wore trews at the rifle range. During the war they were put in trousers twice, first in May 1916 to disguise the fact that one division held the corps front at the Labyrinth north of Arras, second in the morass that was Courcelette in the winter of 16/17. Reconnaissance parties prior to Cambrai were also trousered, if that is a word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepoy Posted 5 December , 2019 Share Posted 5 December , 2019 (edited) Here are a couple of Cameronian (Scottish Rifles) Second Lieutenants wearing tartan trews in the UK. Later photographs, from the same album, (sorry I am currently away from my scanner) show them wearing ordinary service dress trousers. Sepoy Edited 5 December , 2019 by Sepoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper42nd Posted 8 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 8 December , 2019 Thanks for the additional information. I'm still looking for photos of a kilted regiment wearing trousers in the trenches if anyone has any or knows of a source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Black Posted 8 December , 2019 Share Posted 8 December , 2019 If you have access to the BNA or other site with old newspaper access, then the 15th of February, 1915 Dundee Courier has a photo of men from the 5th Black Watch, in France wearing trousers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 9 December , 2019 Share Posted 9 December , 2019 On 02/12/2019 at 13:41, rolt968 said: On a different tack - wasn't there a problem with the wearing of kilts and gas (particularly mustard gas)? I don't know of any specific orders relating to this topic, but given the properties of certain gases on exposed skin, I would be very surprised if this wasn't a contributing factor in the move to trousers. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neill Gilhooley Posted 10 December , 2019 Share Posted 10 December , 2019 According to Edward Spiers ‘Finally, mustard gas with its propensity to burn the sweatier parts of the anatomy, signalled the death knell of the kilt’ , though I think they were still service issue to the brink of the next war. Cecil, Hugh and Liddle, Peter H (editors), ‘Facing Armageddon’, 2003; Chapter 24 Spiers, Edward, ‘The Scottish Soldier at War’, p.317 Douglas Wimberley was of the view that the kilt allowed ‘unnecessary exposure of naked flesh to burns’. Quoted by French, Craig, 'Friends Are Good On the Day of Battle', 2016; Mustard gas was first used in July 1917 at Third Ypres. Soldiers were told that diluted bicarbonate of soda was to be applied externally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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