Pakistani Kilts, Sporrans and other Kilt related Stuff

[Raphael]

Jimmy Carbomb's recent praise on Stillwater got me thinking why Pakistan?

Well, I am not at all surprised that Pakistan is making lots of inexpensive Kilts and sporrans.

Pakistan was ruled by the British Empire until the Muslims took control and gained Independence in 1946. During the Bristish Colonisation, I am sure the British Government hired the locals to tailor kilts, sporrans and Bagpipes for their regiments. ALthough I don't have hard data to back me up, but it makes bsiness sense for some of these companies/craftsman continued to exsit for years. they just simply pass on the skill to the next generation.

They may not like to be ruled by the British Empire, but I am sure that they had no problem in making money off them.

The Pandora's Box is once again open. May be some of the in house Historians can fill in some of the blanks tha I left out or correct me.

[Geoduck]

I spoke about this with a local kiltmaker last weekend. She basically said that with the textiles that are so readily availible and the labor that is inevitably cheap, it makes it very easy to try to hop onto a growing market. I would shy away from any of these myself, they don't exactly look like they know exactly what they were doing. They had the sporrans lying on top of the pleats in the pictures I saw!

I don't have an overly strong background on Southern Asian History, but I'm sure Totdd will have something to offer.

George

[macwilkin]

You are quite correct in the whole British Empire connection, Raph. The influences of the British Army on both the Indian Army & the Pakistani Army are still very much present, from insigina, uniforms, custom & tradition, and even bagpipes and tartans. Of course, the most famous example are the pipes & drums of the Ghurkas, the hillmen from Nepal who served (and still serve) in the British Army, as well as the Indian Army and for the Sultan of Brunei, but other units also adopted them, including the Sikhs and the Frontier Force, raised to guard the Northwest Frontier between India (today part of Parkistan) and the hostile tribes of Afganistan.

The pipers of the 3rd Battalion of the Sikh Regiment, for example, still wear the Rattray tartan in honour of the Scottish officer who raised the regiment, Thomas Rattray. The Frontier Force of the Pakistani Army is still "twinned" as a sister unit with the Argylls, and the Scots & the Gurkhas have had a long connection, hence the adoption of Scottish totems like the pipes and tartan by the Gurkhas. The Gurkhas, amalgamted from 11 regiments plus support corps (Engineers, signals, military police, etc.) into one, still wear the Douglas tartan (The Gurkhas are riflemen, and Douglas was chosen in honour of the Cameronian Regiment/Scottish Rifles), and the old 10th Princess Mary's Gurkha Rifles wore the Stewart Hunting as a patch on their distinctive slouch hats. There is a company of Gurkhas that are serving with the Royal Scots and the Highlanders.

And, you also have "volunteer" units in India, China and Burma made up of Scots, civil servants and businessmen, such as the Calcutta Scottish, the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force that had a Scottish company, and the Shanghai Volunteer Force. And, I shouldn't forget the police forces of South Asia, in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. that all still have pipe bands and still have some Scots expats serving in them.

Check out this article on the Scottish Military Historical Society's web site:

http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/commonwr.htm

I can also recommend several good books about the Indian Army & the Gurkhas if anyone is interested.

Cheers,

Todd

[GMan]

Hadn't thought about Raphael, but that does see why we have those kilts coming from Pakistan.