Irish kilt pics, 1905

[Moosehead]

which is regarded as Irish

Not entirely true. Only the London Irish wear the caubeen pulled to the left. All others, to the right.

Maybe the reversed pleats are on the same plan - to be the reverse of the British.

Unless there was simply no "standard" at the time. Any of you historians (Todd, Matt), know whether in Scotland the pleat direction was standardized at the time, around 1900? Or was it simply at the makers' discretion?

[macwilkin]

I have some brass buttons of the Leinster Regiment. Did the Connaught Rangers have a pipe band before their disbandment in India?

I could not find any reference to "The Devil's Own" having a pipe band, either in Harris or in a history of the Connaughts I have in my library.

As an aside, the Connaughts, as well as a number of other Irish regiments, had a particular tradition associated with a popular marching song, "Killaloe":

http://www.iol.ie/~ipba/killaloe.html

I have heard the "Connaught Yell" before on recordings -- basically a loud "Yo", similar to what the Jocks do in "The Black Bear".

You can hear "Killaloe" and the "Connaught Yell" here:

http://www.royalirishrangers.co.uk/

Cheers,

Todd

[macwilkin]

I had a look tonight in two books in my library about the Irish Republic's Army (not the IRA), and found pipers mentioned a couple of times:

In Donal MacCarron's "Step Together: Ireland's Emergency Army 1939-1946", It is noted that each Infantry Battalion had its own pipe band, but no real reference to uniforms. McCarron's other work, "The Irish Defence Forces since 1922", does have a picture of an Irish Army band in 1946 wearing "saffron" kilts and cloaks. Today, the Irish Air Corps Pipe Band wears the "saffron" kilt:



In this photo, taken on O'Connell Street in Dublin on Easter Monday, you will see some of the Irish pipers wearing a bonnet with saffron trim; MacCarron refers to this piece of headgear in his books as a "Glengarry", which is peculiar to the Irish forces. It was worn during WWII (The Emergency, as it was known in the Free State) by pipers and by Cavalry units in armored cars and on motorcycles.

Cheers,

Todd