The Highland Subaltern

[ThistleDown]

Yes, the sawing of the selvedge at the back of the legs has long been a problem

I've no experience in warfare conditions, obviously, but our problem, as children, was at the top of the knee cap, where the wet edge made frequent contact with the skin.

[Recon1342]

Once endured, never forgotten! Which is why most country sportsmen wear plus 4’s out on the hill. Well, that and the ticks, midgies and horse flies too.

I apologize, but “plus 4”? What does that mean?

[Recon1342]

I've no experience in warfare conditions, obviously, but our problem, as children, was at the top of the knee cap, where the wet edge made frequent contact with the skin.

Modern fabrics have done wonders for the lowly, foot-slogging infantryman. That being said, soaking wet or knee deep in mud is miserable no matter what new wonder fabric your uniform is made of. In the summer of 2004, I was in the lovely little hamlet of Fallujah, Iraq. I’d have beaten someone black and blue to wear a kilt. 120*F is too hot for trousers…

[Pleater]

I apologize, but “plus 4”? What does that mean?

Basically, britches - short trousers which are gathered into a cuff at the knee.
The plus 4 means that they are 4 inches longer than the actual measurement to the knee and they are a fairly loose fit which makes them the ideal choice for activities where there is a lot of bending, stooping, leaping or creeping about.
Other options were plus 2, 6 or even 8s, but the plus 4 seems to have stood the test of time.

Anne the Pleater

[jf42]

Modern fabrics have done wonders for the lowly, foot-slogging infantryman. That being said, soaking wet or knee deep in mud is miserable no matter what new wonder fabric your uniform is made of. In the summer of 2004, I was in the lovely little hamlet of Fallujah, Iraq. I’d have beaten someone black and blue to wear a kilt. 120*F is too hot for trousers…

120*F is too hot for anything

[Jock Scot]

I apologize, but “plus 4”? What does that mean?

No need to apologise my dear chap. If you don't know, then you do what any sensible person does and asks.

Anne the Pleater has answered your question perfectly.

Plus 4's being worn, left of centre and by the people leading the ponies.

click to enlarge.

[jf42]

Colonel David Stewart of Garth, renowned compiler of Highland lore,
recounted in his 1822 magnum opus Sketches of the Highlanders that during the miserable campaign on the Waal in the winter of 1794-95- "the 42nd were remarkably healthy; for, from the landing at Ostend in June, till the embarcation in April, the deaths in battle and by sickness had been only twenty-five- a small number, considering the length of the service, the fatigue they underwent, and the severity of the weather to which they had been exposed." (Sketches I, Part III, Section VIII).

This was, according to Col. Stewart, the healthy effects of wearing the philabeg.

"Indeed, where sickness has prevailed among Highland soldiers, it has in general been occasioned less by fatigue, privations, or exposure to cold, than from the nature of the provisions, particular animal food, and from clothing unnecessarily warm. In the march through Holland and Westphalia in 1794 and 1795, when the cold was so intense that brandy froze in bottles, the Highlanders, consisting of the the 78th, 79th, and the new recruits of the 42d, (very young soldiers), wore their kilts, and yet the loss was by all comparison less than that sustained by some other corps." (Sketches II, 246)

Painful it is to record, however, that Stewart might have been gilding the lily, somewhat since from the journal of an anonymous officer with the army in 1794-95 we learn that:
"14th December....The highlanders, at this time, from the severity of the weather, were under the necessity of leaving off wearing their kelts, or short petticoats, and were furnished with pantaloons or close trousers which were much more comfortable for them; The French had distinguished them by the name of “Vrai Sans-Culottes."