Kilts and Braces

[Piper42nd]

Were kilt wearing regiments issued with braces for the kilt or were they added at the unit level or sometimes never used at all?  If used were they the type that were separate all the way to the waist in the rear (image 1) or a single strap in the rear (image 2)?  The second question applies to trousers as well.  Thanks in advance. 

Harvey 

 

[FROGSMILE]

I can’t comment on whether braces (aka suspenders) were commonly used with kilts, which were fitted very high to just below the rib cage, but the type issued were made from off-white cotton (which yellowed over time) and introduced circa 1900.  See images below.  They remained in use throughout until replaced by a grey elasticated type with a single vertical extension at centre rear in the 1950s.

 

Edited 21 August , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Andrew Upton]

1 hour ago, Piper42nd said:

Were kilt wearing regiments issued with braces for the kilt or were they added at the unit level or sometimes never used at all?  If used were they the type that were separate all the way to the waist in the rear (image 1) or a single strap in the rear (image 2)?  The second question applies to trousers as well.  Thanks in advance. 

Harvey 

Officially the various different types of issue kilts were supposed to be held in place by various combinations of strapping and/or pins. The reality was this is not the most effective retaining method and it was quite common to unofficially augment this with belt and/or braces. The issue type were as in image 1 so most likely to be seen on both kilts and trousers.  An old thread that might be of interest:

 

 

[Piper42nd]

Thank you gentlemen that answers my questions.  Frogsmile what are they wearing around their waists in your last photo particularly the fellow in the foreground 2nd from the right?  Are they braces that have been dropped off the shoulders?

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Piper42nd said:

Thank you gentlemen that answers my questions.  Frogsmile what are they wearing around their waists in your last photo particularly the fellow in the foreground 2nd from the right?  Are they braces that have been dropped off the shoulders?

Yes, indeed they are.  This was extremely common for any activity requiring free movement of the upper body, not least because the braces had no elastication and so impeded vigorous movement.  Mounted duties troops would invariably do the same during stables parades when horses were fed, groomed and eventually bedded down, and hold up their breeches with either, leather, or canvas waist belts.  However, I’ve also seen photos of farriers working, bent over a hoof, with braces on.

 

Edited 22 August , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[6RRF]

Speaking here as the son of a time-served kiltmaker [and as a result having made and altered one or two myself] I have to say that a properly made and fitted kilt does not need galluses or braces.

That said, as illustrated above they were obviously occasionally worn and that to me suggests that the kilt wasn't properly fitted. There are two likely reasons for this. The first is that the battalion was newly recruited/organised, when there simply may not have been the time to fit kilts as they would be in a peacetime battalion, and secondly, for similar reasons, we see all the time that Private X enlisted in a particular regiment, was wounded and then when pronounced fit for duty found himself assigned to an entirely different regiment. If an ordinary regiment this will normally have involved little more than a new cap-badge, but a Highland one obviously required a kilt of the appropriate tartan and fitting it properly will have required time and opportunity. In the meantime galluses would have been a temporary solution.

Edited 23 August , 2023 by 6RRF