Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
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.
Richard, I was wondering when you would join in and add your knowledge. As you suggest, lots of snippets and references but it's only when one starts to look for the evidence that things get tricky.

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?
Stewart of Garth stated that the 42nd pipers wore a red tartan from the formation of the regiment; he assumed that that was the Royal Stewart. Logan said that they wore the tartan later adopted by the Band. In each case there is absolutely no evidence to support these claims. I can trace the Band tartan to 1780 and feel that it was probably a Wilsons' sett.

The pipers seem to have worn a variety of tartans in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, possibly including the Band sett. They were granted permission to wear the Royal Stewart by Queen Victoria in 1865 after which they only ever wore that and the Band tartan fell out of use entirely. My paper is nearly finished and discusses this and the use by the 93rd too.