Khaki Aprons circa World War I

[An t-Ileach]

I was wondering whether anybody knows much about the khaki aprons that were issued to the Highland Regiments (UK and Canada) in World War I - they were worn over the regimental kilt front and back: I've seen old pix of my grandfather and greatuncles in their ASH days wearing such?

[macwilkin]

The khaki kilt apron originally came about in the Second South African (or Boer) War at the end of the 19th century, when the British Army discovered that tartan kilts were perfect targets for Boer marksmen. Unfortunately, the first kilt aprons were only for the front of the kilt, so soldiers lying in the prone position still had their "backsides" exposed to the enemy. A second version of the kilt apron came about in the First World War, which covered front & back of the kilt. The kilt apron included a "built-in sporran". They were used up until 1940, when Scottish soldiers stopped wearing the kilt in combat.

I have seen pictures of Scottish troops using gas mask bags as impromptu sporrans as well, looking a little bit like the sporrans Jeff @ Pittsburgh Kilts makes.

A good reference on this subject is Osprey Publishing's "Scottish Units in the World Wars (Elite Series No. 56), by Mike Chappell. This book has some nice photos of kilt aprons and gas-mask bag sporrans.

Before I forget, there were actually khaki-coloured kilts in World War I -- one of the militia battalions on the Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) of Canada wore a khaki-coloured kilt & matching glengarry with blue, green and red trim (the colours of the Black Watch, as seen on their regimental tie) -- Another Osprey book, "The Canadian Army at War", also by Mike Chappell, which has a colour print of this particular kilt.

And, I would be remiss in not mentioning the London & Toronto Scottish regiments, which wore kilts in "Hodden Grey", a homespun brown colour. Lord Elcho, who raised the London Scottish in the 19th century, chose the colour of Scotland's ghillies & stalkers as a practical military garment, and to prevent any "alliegance" to a particular clan.

Cheers,

Todd

[Jimmy Carbomb]

Thanks for the lesson teacher!!!;)

That was pretty darned cool! Camoflauging the "boys" with a tan apron... but leaving the rear bumper exposed kind of spoke to priorities. You would have thought that they would have just had a tan kilt with some sort of tartan flashes (or something). That's one strike about "traditional wear".

Could you imagine if they had access to a lighter material UtiliKilt back then?!!! Ooooooo.... ahhhhhhhh!

Gawd, I LOVE these kilt history lessons!!!

[Doc Hudson]

Thanks for the lesson teacher!!!;)

That was pretty darned cool! Camoflauging the "boys" with a tan apron... but leaving the rear bumper exposed kind of spoke to priorities. You would have thought that they would have just had a tan kilt with some sort of tartan flashes (or something). That's one strike about "traditional wear".

Could you imagine if they had access to a lighter material UtiliKilt back then?!!! Ooooooo.... ahhhhhhhh!

Gawd, I LOVE these kilt history lessons!!!

I think that the front only khaki aprons had less to do with "priorities" than the expectation that the enemy would never see the back of a Highlander.
i.e. no retreating and no expectation of a Highlander having to crawl in the dirt under fire.

[Doc Hudson]

Gawd, I LOVE these kilt history lessons!!!

You and me both!

[macwilkin]

I think that the front only khaki aprons had less to do with "priorities" than the expectation that the enemy would never see the back of a Highlander.
i.e. no retreating and no expectation of a Highlander having to crawl in the dirt under fire.

I think more of it had to do with spending and lack of foresight, i.e. the kilt apron was an "battlefield innovation" and probably not a lot of thought went into it at first, like many other pieces of military "kit".

The Boer War saw a lot of re-thinking of the field uniform; formation signs, regimental cap badges and rank insignia quickly disappeared, and officers tried dress like other ranks to make themselves more "invisible" from sniper fire.

The myth of the Boer War is that the Boers were all farmers in civilian clothing, but the Boers had their professional para-military forces that wore uniforms (The Transvaal Stats-Artillery) and foreign volunteers from Europe and the US (Blakes Irish Brigade) who wore uniforms as well.

I have a great photo somewhere of some Black Watch Jocks beside a block house fortification in South Africa; as well as the kilt aprons, the Jocks are wearing Australian-style slouch hats, which gives a very natty look indeed! ;)

Here endeth the lesson. :mrgreen: Jimmy, always happy to oblige!

Cheers,

Todd

[jfellrath]

The myth of the Boer War is that the Boers were all farmers in civilian clothing, but the Boers had their professional para-military forces that wore uniforms (The Transvaal Stats-Artillery) and foreign volunteers from Europe and the US (Blakes Irish Brigade) who wore uniforms as well.

I believe that many of the Boers' paramilitary forces came from the old Natal Native Contingents that were active during the 1879 Zulu War (for example). These were Boers who were serving under the British, but naturally went with their heritage when push came to shove.

[Archangel]

You're going to catch me on this, but I came across an article that referred to how much the Australian Highland troops hated the look of the hat with the kilt.
The dress uniform does look garish, I don't recall seeing any field pictures.
Further interesting note is that it was the ANZACs who changed the way WW1 was fought. The core strategy was based on the most succesful recent model, that is the US Civil War, and forced by Germany's attempt to overwhelm by numbers (I'm keeping it simplistic for time and space reasons.) Anyway, the Anzacs were a volunteer force and offered to unvolunteer if lead into anything more stupid like Gallipoli, they unvolunteered off that spit and into the trenches where they brought their attitude to Canadians, also primarily volunteer. The Canadians offered to also unvolunteer if they didn't have more control. The Canadians were given that control and won the next major battle, and the tide of war changed.

I wouldn't give much credit to the idea of camoflage, except as incidental. That was a later strategy. The wool kilts couldn't handle the type of physical labour that the troops were expected to do while wearing kilts: trench digging, barbed wire, etc. It was a cost effective measure, apron versus new kilt, and not needed on the back because they were not going to sit down. Other pictures will show the apron becoming a proto-UK.

You probably already know the last kilted highland charge of the British Army took place in WW2 during the Dunkirk evacuation by the Camerons (check me here: 4th battalion at Omers). Won the fight. lost the battle (no ammo, fuel, food, anything), won the war. For this the Camerons get to wear the blue hackle (feather) in their headgear. Official reason for discontinuing kilts in battle was fear of gas.

[macwilkin]

I believe that many of the Boers' paramilitary forces came from the old Natal Native Contingents that were active during the 1879 Zulu War (for example). These were Boers who were serving under the British, but naturally went with their heritage when push came to shove.

Yes and no. Whilst there were certainly some veterans of actions against the Zulus in the 1870's in the Boer forces, Both the Transvaal & the Orange Free State, the Boer Republics, maintained their own military & police forces, complete with modern artillery. There were also Boer irregular forces from the Cape Colony (British territory), led by Jan Christian Smuts, who later made a name for himself in the First & Second World War British Army. These were the famous Boer "Commandos", a Portuguese word. In response, the British sent colonial forces from the Dominions, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, since colonial troops were thought to be able to fight the Boers "on their own ground", a la "Breaker Morant". Besides the Australians, the Canadians gained a fierce reputation among the Boers, especially the men of Strathcona's Horse, a cavalry regiment made up of Western Canadian cowboys, lumberjacks, mounties, etc. Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, orginally from Forres, Scotland, raised the regiment with his own money. The Strathconas today have a pipe band (Mackenzie tartan; for Colin!) in his honour.

Not all South Africans fought the British; a number of South African units were raised, including among the Scottish community, the Scottish Horse, the Transvaal Scottish,the Cape Town Highlanders, Witswatersrand Rifles, etc. Most of the regiments are still serving today in the South African Defence Forces (SADF).

Sorry to go on a tangent about the Boer War, but it's one of my areas of interest! :mrgreen:

Cheers,

Todd

[An t-Ileach]

Cajunscot: Thanks, Todd, for all that (and even the Boer War stuff).