Historians, Is This True?

[Chris Webb]

In my quest to find more proof of kilts being worn by Americans during the American Revolution I came across this ... sometimes history is actually just propoganda. What do you fellas who know way more than I about the origins of the kilt make of a statement like this one:

"The Scottish Highland tradition embodies other retrospective inventions. After 1745, the Highlanders were stereotypically transformed from idle predatory barbarians into romantic primitives with the added charm, in Trevor-Roper's phrase, of being an endangered species. A pedigree showing the kilt to be a relic of once universal medieval dress formed part of the 'Sobieski' Stuarts' romantic scheme, similar to Pugin's revival of Gothic architecture, to restore Catholic Celtic culture; but the kilt was in fact invented by an English Quaker industrialist in the eighteenth century, not to preserve the traditional Highland way of life but to replace the old belted plaid with a garment better suited to factory work."

No way.

Chris Webb

[ronstew]

My money is on "Yes way," while I await the historians.

[bubba]

It's far more likely Rawlinson actually adapted what was already being done to his own purposes, highly unlikely he actually invented the little kilt.

[James]

Whilst not being drawn in to the kilt debate-certainly the lowlanders who regarded themselves as North Britons, regarded the highlands as the abode of savages.

James

[smaughazard]

You might read Matt Newsome's article here.

[Chris Webb]

You might read Matt Newsome's article here.

Man, did I enjoy that!! Well worth the time to carefully read. I must say that I was suprised in the end ... I thought the whole 'what is a kilt' thing would be nicely and neatly resolved. Instead it seems like the kilt, from the beginning, was personalized and practical and ever changing.

Given its' history it is no wonder that even today noone can completely agree on just what is the right way to wear a kilt, who can wear what tartan, what's the right length ... it's all left up to the wearer. Even the oldest 'modern' kilt we've got has box pleats!

If the kilt itself has a Spirit it seems to me that it would have to be the Spirit of Freedom. But that's just my perspective, I'm a Freedom lover so, no doubt, my perceptions here are coloured by that.

After reading and pondering this article I suppose that I will be much less inclined to argue about what is right or wrong where kilts are concerned. It's up to the wearer, has been from the beginning and despite efforts to formalize it the kilt has managed to make fools of us all ... the kilt has always evolved and, no doubt, it will always continue to.

What is a modern kilt? At best we can only define it for that very moment that we write that definition down. I do believe I've come to love them all, modern, traditional, formal, cheap and durable and I think I've come to respect any man who wears it any way. So, to you all I say ...

Kilt On!

Chris Webb

[MacWage]

Especially this part:

Just a few quick notes on how this large wrap became the kilt of today. I will only touch on this briefly since this takes us well out of the early period. One story commonly repeated is that an Englishman named Thomas Rawlinson opened an iron-smelting factory in the Highlands around the year 1730. His workers all dressed in the belted plaids, which proved too hot and cumbersome for close work in his factory. He solved the problem by cutting the garment in half. The lower part could now be worn separately and the upper part discarded when coming indoors. This is considered proof that an Englishman invented the Scottish national dress.
The problem with this story is that we know of numerous illustrations of Highlanders wearing the only the bottom part of the belted plaid that date long before Rawlinson ever set foot in Scotland. Remember that the belted plaid consisted of two widths of material stitched together. If one neglects to stitch the two together, and only the bottom 4 yards are worn, pleated and belted around the waist, the resulting garment is called the feilidh-beag (little wrap). The word is often spelled in English “phillabeg.” I will not go into detailed evidence of the wearing of the phillabeg here, but I will say that there is some suggestion of its use in the late 17th century, and it was definitely being worn in the early 18th century. It most likely came about as a natural evolution of the belted plaid and Rawlinson probably observed it and quickly deduced its usefulness in his situation and introduced it among his workers.

-Matt Newsome

"Recognized Kilt Expert"

Matt, hope you don't mind the cut and paste!

[GlassMan]

That little article is not true in the least. The evidence for the kilt does not go back to the early middle ages, but it definitely predates Rawlinson. It is true that during the Victorian period kilts were romanticized and lots of things were added to them that no one would have even considered during the days of the Bonnie Prince Charlie or earlier.

It's just another one of those silly Englishmen trying to claim to have "invented" something that others used before.

I know many of you don't like smoking or pipes, but I once even read an article in which the claim was made that it was the English who invented the smoking pipe because they "discovered it" in the New World among the savages, and changed the material to clay to allow for easier production. Just a bunch of blather, since it was the Native Americans who invented the darn thing and the first examples of it were pipes traded to the English explorers but made by Native Americans.

But the Rawlinson "myth" has been repeated so many times that it is often taken as true. Don't believe everything you read.

[cavscout]

This is the part that really jumps out at me:

"but to replace the old belted plaid with a garment better suited to factory work."

Perhaps I'm assuming "factory" means location with things to catch and burn a kilt or exposed skin but this doesn't sound logical.

[Frank]

Ah - you must remember that a lot of dangerous work took place in those factories. When the internal combustion engine became popular in Scotland, it soon became clear that the traditional kilts worn for everyday assembly line stuff such as the manufacture of cathode ray tubes, whisky, and the celebrated eight track cartridge player would have to make way for more practical garments less likely to call into question Health and Safety at Work issues !

The 'manufactories' didn't arrive until the Industrial revolution was well underway. In the U.K. this mainly involved the making of heavy machinery and linen.

Whilst much of the machinery, it's true to say was made in Scotland, most of the linen was made in Lancashire (North England). Queen Victoria may have popularized the garment as dress wear among the nobility - but surely not among the mass of working folk ?

I still can't see how the timeline for this theory fits.