Footwear in Highlanders of Scotland

[OC Richard]

without the tongue, don't the laces on traditional Gillies hurt a wee bit?

Just the opposite for me, Ghillies are more comfortable than normal shoes because the top of your foot isn't confined and can breathe.

About lacing Ghillies tight, I've never done. My Ghillies have always stayed put nicely with moderate tension on the laces. BTW there was much silliness a few years ago about pinning the laces to the socks. The laces stay put if you wrap the laces around the narrowest part of the ankle, which pretty much all experienced Ghillie wearers do. It's why you don't have to pin your wristwatch to your wrist to keep it from slipping over your hand and falling off.

There is a company making inexpensive Ghillies-with-tongues, Norwood. I have no experience with them but they're attractive because they're the only Ghillies I can find in UK14.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/J-Wood-Mens...zVKby7_OKeznkQ

I did hear from somebody that that firm didn't have the best reputation for quality. I don't know.

[The Q]

About not wearing shoes,..

I lived in the hebridies in the 1970s, a parent was brought before the authorities for sending His children to school without shoes. His attitude being, that he didn't wear shoes to school so they didn't need to..
By then all the kids were wearing trousers, but I have a book by a school master around the 1900's talking of the younger children all wearing home made kilts to school.
Not shoe wearing and wearing kilts among the crofters, seems to have lasted longer than many think..

[figheadair]

About not wearing shoes,..

I lived in the hebridies in the 1970s, a parent was brought before the authorities for sending His children to school without shoes. His attitude being, that he didn't wear shoes to school so they didn't need to..
By then all the kids were wearing trousers, but I have a book by a school master around the 1900's talking of the younger children all wearing home made kilts to school.
Not shoe wearing and wearing kilts among the crofters, seems to have lasted longer than many think..

An example of both no shoes and home made kilts. Children at Poolewe c.1920-30.

[Jock Scot]

To my certain knowledge, I was one of a minority who wore shoes-----albeit hand-me-downs----- to the local school in the Highlands in the 1940's. No one appeared to think anything about it.

[OC Richard]

We West Virginians also know about going barefoot

You develop thick soles.

It's funny, people will visit my house, see the lineup of shoes by the front door, and obediently remove their shoes, almost like in Japan.

Just yesterday I heard somebody from a Latin American country saying that they always wore shoes indoors- it's considered gauche to be seen barefoot. You only take off your shoes when you go to bed. I can't imagine.

[figheadair]

There is someone in Scotland, known to some here, who never wears shoes, even in the winter. I recall walking through the snow at Battle of Falkirk commemoration a couple years ago and he was perfectly happy in bare feet.

[gun eagal]

To my certain knowledge, I was one of a minority who wore shoes-----albeit hand-me-downs----- to the local school in the Highlands in the 1940's. No one appeared to think anything about it.

Pipe Major William Lawrie, the famous composer who died in WWI, worked at a slate quarry near Ballachulish before the war. I was told by one of his descendants that he carried his boots to the quarry so that walking to and from work wouldn't put extra wear on them. As a side note, as tunes came to him while working he would write them out on the slates in chalk.

[Tobus]

Richard, since you seem to possess some high-resolution images of MacLeay's portraits, maybe you could help me. I have been looking closely at examples of Victorian footwear, hoping someday to find a pair of nice ankle boots that would come close to some of the examples I've seen. But one thing which jumps out at me about MacLeay's portraits is that some of the wearers appear to have on shoes or boots with heavily hobnailed bottoms. Or even what appears to be a solid metal studded toe plate.

I only have two examples with resolutions decent enough to see them, as shown below. But you may have better images to look at. Do you see other examples in his portraits of these types of soles on their footwear? Have you any idea what this is?

A casual assumption would be that he's just showing a typical leather bottom with hobnails. But he seems to clearly paint them silver, where many of his other shoe examples are in a more realistic shade. He would often put a bit of glare on the fronts of their leather soles, appearing as a silver-ish hue for the glare, but nothing like these examples which seem to show bright metal bottoms. Do you think he is portraying an actual metal studded plate, or is it just an error on my part in interpreting?

I don't see any examples of soles like these in actual kilt photographs from the era.