Yes I had long been aware of the Government tartan jackets of the Black Watch pipers, and the full Rob Roy outfits. Interesting how when you start looking for hard evidence, though, how little is to be found.
Certainly pipers had long worn a strange variety of dress, some dressed in ornate livery having little to do with current military uniform, others dressed the same as the other soldiers, others dressed the same as the other regimental musicians (reversed colours, or white jackets, or what have you).
So nothing would surprise me!
What I would like to know more about is the relationship, if any, between the Black Watch pipers wearing Royal Stewart tartan, and early Black Watch musicians wearing the "music tartan".
At some early point did Black Watch pipers wear the music tartan, or did they always wear Royal Stewart? If the pipers did wear the same tartan as the other musicians, at what point was it switched to Royal Stewart?
To me it's interesting how many features of Highland military dress were first worn only by pipers, and later spread to the other soldiers, namely doublets, gauntlet cuffs, Inverness skirts, Glengarry bonnets, and dark green jackets. Today the entire Scottish infantry wears the Glengarries and dark green doublets of the Cameron Highlanders pipers of the 1840s.
Last edited by OC Richard; 12th September 15 at 06:01 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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