Quote Originally Posted by James
A word of warning about British military uniforms, and the various printed sources.

A British regiment from any part of the British Isles was and is the parent/depot source that unified and supported the various battalions of the regiment. So whilst a battalion could be a fighting unit, the regiment it not.

The regiment could support untold numbers of battalions-ranging from those occupied on home defence, home guard, pioneer, and training, besides those with the potential to be used on active service as a part of the field army.

To confuse things further, there could be all sorts of organisations such as cadet units which would also wear the regimental badge. Besides in the days of Empire, local units which might wear the most exotic attire, yet be badged to a British regiment.

This leads to a situation where an apparently kilted regiment will have trousered battalions and other offshoots--or for all sorts of reasons the converse.

Too the whims of individual commanding officers can influence dress within a regiment: so whilst a regiment will have a set down uniform, this or that battalion could deviate and be doing it's own thing.

There was and is too the fickle war office-which at a whim might change uniforms, so kilted regiments became trousered or again vice versa.

So anyone who is looking to British army uniforms must first look to the Regiment at a particular time in history, then a specific battalion at that time-repeating the process for other times and other battalions. Therefore it is essential to realise that any reference book can only offer a snapshot of a particular unit at a certain moment in time.

A kilted English regiment-well not the regiment: but for historical reasons it was accepted that officers of one of the battalions could wear their own kilt with battle dress for walking out-leisure activites: find that in the book!

Sorry to be so unhelpful.

James
Exactly, James -- that was my point for bringing up "The Dandy Ninth" of the Royal Scots -- this Battalion was not the "norm" for the Royal Scots, since it was a Lowland Regiment that normally wore trews. Same with the 6th HLI and the Anglo-Scottish regiments such as the London Scottish.

"Scottish Units in the World Wars", the aforementioned Osprey Book by ex-serviceman and military artist Mike Chappell does a very credible job at looking at all of the variations you mentioned for 1900-1945. Chappell examines a number of the Territorial Battalions and the variances in dress from the parent regiment.

T.