Question about flashes...

[figheadair]

I have no clue about the University of Iowa, but I am fairly certain that the Scottish regiments in the late 1800s and early 1900s had adapted a sort of colour code for their flashes. I can't claim to know the particulars, but I remember hearing about it in a demonstration from a gentleman who always does a WWI "living history" demonstration at our local Highland Games. He goes into a lot of detail on the uniform, equipment, weaponry, etc. And I could swear he mentioned something about the colour of the flashes being related to the type of service or the role of the person wearing them. As in, riflemen wore red, others wore green or yellow (???).

Perhaps someone else here knows those rules, or could correct me if my memory is completely mistaken?

Generally the flashes of British military units are/were red which is probably a reflection of the older traditional garter ties that were striped but predominately red. The odd regiment may, I think, have worn green and the London Scottish wore blue flashes.

Flashes were never used to signify role with th possible exception that some pipers may have worn different colours in the same way that their tartan differed from the rest of the regiment.

[Mike_Oettle]

A fascinating discussion on flashes – I am taking it all in with great interest.
Regarding the Ogilvy tartan, I recall that a bit of media fuss was made about it at the time of Princess Alexandra’s wedding to Angus Ogilvy, it was worn by members of the wedding party (pages, at any rate, if not the groom himself).
Ogilvy, it might be recalled, declined offers of a title and only quite late in his life (1988) accepted a knighthood. He was the second son of the 12th Earl of Airlie.
Wikipedia has a rendition of his arms (somewhat distorted) which includes a blue crescent (mark of a second son) above the family’s red lion passant gardant (which is both crowned and gorged).
I recall mention at the time of the wedding that there was a hoodoo of sorts about the Ogilvy tartan because it had been worn by a number of clan members who were massacred at some point in history – my recollection may be wrong, but I would love to have the details from the historians among us.
I am aware that it is a very intricate tartan and has consequently cropped up in a number of different forms. There are 14 listed by the SRT under the name form Ogilvie (although these include a hunting sett, one in black and white and the Ohio state tartan), plus two for Ogilvy and two more named as Ogilvy or Drummond of Strathallan.
Regards,
Mike

[figheadair]

I recall mention at the time of the wedding that there was a hoodoo of sorts about the Ogilvy tartan because it is claimed that it had been worn by a number of clan members who were massacred at some point in history – my recollection may be wrong, but I would love to have the details from the historians among us.

Note the emphasis. This is another one of theose historical myths. There is no evidence that the Ogilvie/Drummond of Strathallan existed much before the end of the 18th century.