Early-To-Mid Victorian Highland Wear

[Jock Scot]

[QUOTE=Woodsheal;886663]And yet numerous paintings and other images from the mid-19th C. show working men such as shepherds and drovers wearing kilts during their daily pursuits (examples below). Are these merely romantic imagery, or do they reflect the fact that the kilt was still being worn as an everyday, working garment?

I have told this true story before and perhaps you may have missed it first time around.

In the early 1950''s my father had occasion to go to Glasgow and as was always the way, spaces were made for locals to hitch a lift if it was a help as he had one of the few cars---a Bentley!So there was brother and I, father, and two elderly gentlemen(born in the 1870/80's) of the soil in Glasgow. There was an exhibition of "Landseer, Macleay, Ansdell type" paintings at the art gallery and it was arranged the we should all meet up there before we went home.

I think it had been decided from "on high" that viewing these masterpieces would be good for brother and me and an enjoyable hour or two for the adults to boot. Educated I was!

There I was staring at these wonderful paintings looking at the deer, salmon, and I thought how it all used to be and how wonderful it all must have been----------until these old gentlemen arrived.They looked politely at the pictures for perhaps 10 minutes and then they started laughing, as they moved from picture to picture the laughter turned to ridicule and swftly to anger and before long they were so angry that they were crying with anger and frustration as they stormed out------I had seen all too many adults weeping in my young life as we had just emerged from a World War, but I had never seen such deep, seething, bitter anger before.

Well that was the end of the trip to the gallery! On the way home these wonderful men were explaining to my father,who understood what was being said all too well, and to us boys how those pictures bore no relation whatsoever to the real, harsh,hard life of their youth. My education! They were realists, they had to be from an early age, but as far as they were concerned and many more that I spoke to afterwards the "Landseer, Ansdell type" pictures were an insult to the Highlands in general and the Highlanders in particular.

Its a dream and in fact that dream is still perpetuated in a small way today---by us Scots! If you came to shoot or fish here you would be met by the Keeper, stalker or ghillie all togged up in estate tweeds---very smart too, they will be. You may even take a heap of pictures and you will show the world how "THEY" do it in Scotland when out and about and you will be right-------but-----BUT what your pictures will not show, is the minute you left the gates and assuming no further guests were expected, off would come the tweeds and on would go, the jeans, realtree, and general working gear!

It would be a mistake to rely too much on any picture, even digital ones.