Footwear in Highlanders of Scotland

[OC Richard]

Thanks!

The third most-common shoes in Highlanders of Scotland are ordinary brogues



Next come what I call "buckle loafers" which are sometimes low-cut and appear to be slip-on, sometimes higher cut so the buckles might be functional. These were the shoes worn by Army officers in Levee Dress in Victorian times (late replaced by the Mary Jane style).







And also the popular Victorian ankle boots. Only three men in HOS are seen wearing these, but they're quite common in Victorian photos of kilted men.

[Orvis]

An interesting survey of 19th c. Highland footwear. I can see how it evolved into the footwear kilted men wear today. I suspect such footwear was for the well-to-do, with the lower classes going barefoot or with homemade shoes. As an 18th c. Highland reenactor, I am mostly interested in the types of footwear worn then, which I classify as barefoot (with or without footless hose), cuarans (sometimes called pampooties - made from raw cow or deer hides with the hair on and held on with thongs around the ankles), turn shoes (a town-made shoe for the gentry), and town-made welted buckle shoes (for the gentry for wearing in town). I was interested to see that the 18th c. style buckle shoes survived into the 19th c.

[OC Richard]

As an 18th c. Highland reenactor, I am mostly interested in the types of footwear worn then...cuarans (sometimes called pampooties - made from raw cow or deer hides with the hair on and held on with thongs around the ankles)

I've read the well-known reference to what seems to be a Highland version of pamputai, but I can't recall seeing an image of anything like that being worn. What evidence is there for these? Surviving artifacts? Appearance in iconography?

The Ghillies that appear in The Highlanders Of Scotland, roughout tan leather, do appear rustic and perhaps evolved from earlier Highland shoes.

turn shoes (a town-made shoe for the gentry), and town-made welted buckle shoes (for the gentry for wearing in town).

In many Highland portraits and in Episode Of The Rebellion the Highlanders appear to be wearing ordinary shoes. Are those the shoes you're referring to? I'm not familiar with the term "turn shoes".

I was interested to see that the 18th c. style buckle shoes survived into the 19th c.

I do wonder whether or not the 19th century Highland buckled shoes functioned like 18th century shoes.

For sure the ones that appear in The Highlanders Of Scotland come high enough on the foot that it's hard to imagine that they're slip-on. But in many Victorian photos the shoes are quite low-cut and appear to be slip-on loafers with nonfunctional buckles.

So low-cut that they appear to be, more or less, Mary Janes lacking the top strap

[Orvis]

I've read the well-known reference to what seems to be a Highland version of pamputai, but I can't recall seeing an image of anything like that being worn. What evidence is there for these? Surviving artifacts? Appearance in iconography?

The Ghillies that appear in The Highlanders Of Scotland, roughout tan leather, do appear rustic and perhaps evolved from earlier Highland shoes.



In many Highland portraits and in Episode Of The Rebellion the Highlanders appear to be wearing ordinary shoes. Are those the shoes you're referring to? I'm not familiar with the term "turn shoes".



I do wonder whether or not the 19th century Highland buckled shoes functioned like 18th century shoes.

For sure the ones that appear in The Highlanders Of Scotland come high enough on the foot that it's hard to imagine that they're slip-on. But in many Victorian photos the shoes are quite low-cut and appear to be slip-on loafers with nonfunctional buckles.

So low-cut that they appear to be, more or less, Mary Janes lacking the top strap

With regard to cuarans/pampooties, the primary source of information I have is Burt's "Letters from A Gentleman in the North of Scotland", in which he describes them as "Highland moccasins" cut from raw cow or deer hides (making them smelly after a period of time) and laced to the ankles with the hair grain running toward the rear. With regard to turn shoes, they were a late-medieval/renaissance style of shoe that remained in used in the Highlands a bit later after they were dropped elsewhere in Europe. They were made by assembling the shoe inside-out, then "turning" them right-side out. They had thin soles and no heels and generally laced up. Because they were town-made, I have always attributed them to Highland gentry, especially in the remote places in the Highlands, and probably not much after the 1750s. With regard to buckle shoes, those from the early 18th c. were cut higher and had smaller buckles - by the 1750s, they were cut low enough to slip on (based on finds at Ft. Ligonier, PA). As far as Highanders going barefoot, there is the story of the mid-18th c. gentry woman who was walking to church barefoot one Sunday with her servant woman. When they got within sight of the church, the gentry woman stopped, took her shoes and hose from her servant, put them on and continued to church. After, she took off her shoes and socks, handed them to her servant and continued the rest of the way barefoot.

[McCracken140]

OC Richard,

Could you post the photo of the ‘stags head motif’ hose you mentioned? This is quite interesting sounding of an idea and I don’t think I had noticed it before.

[OC Richard]

There's a photo of them in the original post.

Somebody here on XMarks had a pair knit like that, very cool.

[OC Richard]

Now let's look at the hose!

Of the 56 kilted gents, 30 are wearing diced hose.

Some have the dicing on the turnover cuffs just like modern diced hose do:



But others have plain (probably marl) cuffs, something that used to be common, but is rarely seen today.



Here are marl cuffs with elaborate garters tied over them.



One sees the same thing in the 1858-1861 pre-war uniform of the 79th New York State Militia:



Next in popularity are tartan hose, very much like those made today. 13 men are wearing them.

Note the lack of garter flashes; the vast majority of the men have no visible flashes.



Next in popularity- worn by 11 men- are selfcoloured/plain/solid hose. We see much less variety in colour than we have today; the selfcoloured hose range from brown to grey.

I would call these "taupe".



There are three selfcoloured pair with contrasting cuffs, here grey with white



grey with red



taupe with olive



Two pair of hose stand out as unique in Highlanders Of Scotland, this grey pair with blue and red over-check



and this amazing pair of hose knit with a stag's-head motif



Over-check hose appear often in Victorian photos. I've not come across another pair of stag's-head hose, but I have seen Victorian photos of hose with thistle motif



And these with a fleur-de-lis motif

[figheadair]

The third most-common shoes in Highlanders of Scotland are ordinary brogues



And also the popular Victorian ankle boots. Only three men in HOS are seen wearing these, but they're quite common in Victorian photos of kilted men.

Some practical examples of both styles. Balmoral Estate Gillies, 1858.

[OC Richard]

Yes! The ankle-boots and ordinary brogues are very common in Victorian kilted photos.

Which brings me to the subject of a certain amount of variance in some items of dress between Victorian photos and the Highlanders Of Scotland portraits.

For sure there are factors to be taken into account, such as the HOS portraits being painted over a four-year period (1865-1869) while my collection of Victorian spans a half-century, and each collection being a small sample-size.

In many ways the two bodies of images fit hand-in-glove: the wide variety of bonnet shapes and jacket cuts, and the sorts of sporrans seen.

But in the matter of footwear the two bodies of images differ it two ways:

1) many more different shoe styles are seen in THOS than in my photos.

2) many more different hose styles are seen in the photos than in THOS.

With shoes, in THOS nearly all the Ghillies seen are tan roughout leather, but I've only come across one photo showing such, and it's an odd one, an obvious attempt at a historical look. Yet, there the shoes are, and somebody had to be making them.



With hose, numerous Victorian photos show hose with diagonal stripe patterns. I wouldn't consider them tartan hose. Only one such pair are seen in THOS.





There are types of hose absent from THOS altogether, which are commonly seen in Victorian photos.

One such are the overall diamond pattern





Another thing not seen in THOS are hose like these, with a small intricate pattern



And last but not least, the absence in THOS of hoop-pattern hose which are fairly common in Victorian photos

[OC Richard]

As mentioned above, one question that arises from looking at the Ghillies in THOS is "why do all modern Ghillies have eight tabs?" because in THOS we see Ghillies with six, and four, tabs.

Here are six-tab Ghillies in THOS





Imagine my surprise when I saw for sale on Ebay not one, but two pair of Ghillies made in just that way.

Mind you, both pair have tongues which would have to be removed to be like traditional Ghillies.

And both are by high-end designer brands, not by Scottish firms that ordinarily make Ghillies.

Yet here they are!