Colonel J.A. Currie's "The Red Watch"

[Bugbear]

Currie doesn't really give anymore descriptions of tartan in his narrative that I can find, but he does bring kilts up here and there. For example, somewhere between getting off the ships at Plymouth, and getting to their camp at Salisbury Plains, he and his men have to make an eleven-mile nighttime march.

In spite of the darkness it was an ideal night for marching, neither too hot nor too cold. The men were standing up to the marching well. After about another quarter of an hour Sergeant Hermitage, my Orderly Room Sergeant, ran up from the rear to tell me to halt the column, as a man had slipped into a culvert and was stuck in the mud. In fishing him out the Sergeant had got stung with nettles. This made him hot. It did not mend matters when I suggested that his country was getting even with him for wearing kilts. However, we slowed up. This going was splendid practice as we would no doubt have plenty of night marching of this kind in Flanders. The men stood up to the march with their heavy loads splendidly, thanks to the excellent physical training they
had undergone on board ship. [...] (67-69)

This is difficult to put in context, but it is during the trench warfare in Flanders.

Shortly after eleven o'clock the artillery started in again. Most of the Canadian guns seemed to be firing at Aubers, and if there were any Germans in that town they must have suffered. For nearly an hour the bombardment of the third line continued. Then followed a longer interval of rifle fire and then the bombs; shouting and rifle fire died away shortly after one o'clock. At about half past one I could see khaki figures in kilts in the outskirts of Aubers. They seemed to be strolling around looking for something to do. When I went to the telephone I learned that the third and last line of the
German trenches had been taken and the battle had been won. [...] (170)

[figheadair]

Given that the author was writing near 200 years after the Black Watch (43rd) was formed it's unsurprising that his knowledge and understanding of the tartan worn by the original regiment and some others during the C18th is somewhat scant.

His comments on the tartan are based on myth and tradition rather than historical fact.

[Orvis]

Interesting information from Colonel Currie's 1916 book about the 48th Highlanders of Canada and how it acquired the nickname of "Red Watch." I spent some time in Canada back in the early 70's and never picked up on the 48th's alternate "title." But they are a Toronto regiment and I was in Ottawa, where the local Highland militia regiment was the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (the Sergeants Mess of which treated a young Marine NCO very well indeed), so that information didn't make it to my ears.

Thinking of "Red Watch" brought to mind the original band or musician tartan of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment as woven by Wilsons of Bannockburn, and quoted by Figheadair in his book "The 1819 Key Pattern Book - One Hundred Original Tartans", Jamieson & Munro, 1996. Essentially, the music tartan was a "reversed" sett of the blue/black/green Black Watch (or Government) tartan, made by replacing the black with scarlet in the sett. James Scarlett illustrates it in color in his "The Origins and Development of Military Tartans - A Re-Appraisal", Partizan Press, 2003. Eventually the 42nd's red musicians tartan was replaced by mid-19th century by the Royal Stuart tartan for its pipers, and the Band and Drummers then wore the Black Watch tartan. Wearing uniforms of reversed colors was common practice for regimental musicians in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including those of the UK, so it is not surprising to me that the 42nd decided to create a musicians tartan by reversing the colors in it. The tartan appears similar to the MacNab, but it would be an interesting tartan to have woven for making into kilts to be worn by those who are looking for generic (and historic) tartans. I'm thinking about it myself (also thinking about what bank to rob to get the funds...)

[Bugbear]

Given that the author was writing near 200 years after the Black Watch (43rd) was formed it's unsurprising that his knowledge and understanding of the tartan worn by the original regiment and some others during the C18th is somewhat scant.

His comments on the tartan are based on myth and tradition rather than historical fact.

Thanks, figheadair.

Seems like I come across a lot of beliefs, some even taught to me as history, that are based in, as you say, "myth and tradition," rather than historical fact. I'm not a historian, so it usually feels like crawling through a mine field in discussions and reading.

[figheadair]

Thinking of "Red Watch" brought to mind the original band or musician tartan of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment as woven by Wilsons of Bannockburn, and quoted by Figheadair in his book "The 1819 Key Pattern Book - One Hundred Original Tartans", Jamieson & Munro, 1996. Essentially, the music tartan was a "reversed" sett of the blue/black/green Black Watch (or Government) tartan, made by replacing the black with scarlet in the sett. James Scarlett illustrates it in color in his "The Origins and Development of Military Tartans - A Re-Appraisal", Partizan Press, 2003. Eventually the 42nd's red musicians tartan was replaced by mid-19th century by the Royal Stuart tartan for its pipers, and the Band and Drummers then wore the Black Watch tartan. Wearing uniforms of reversed colors was common practice for regimental musicians in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including those of the UK, so it is not surprising to me that the 42nd decided to create a musicians tartan by reversing the colors in it. The tartan appears similar to the MacNab, but it would be an interesting tartan to have woven for making into kilts to be worn by those who are looking for generic (and historic) tartans. I'm thinking about it myself (also thinking about what bank to rob to get the funds...)

I've posted this before but here again is the comparision in Wilsons' colours...