38. Breacan and Plaid: A Search for Authenticity in Highland Dress

by Rupert Willoughby

Synopsis

Is the Scottish national dress, so proudly sported by Low-Countrymen and other Sasannaich, any more than a travesty of the authentic Highland costume? Its natural development was arrested by the ban of 1746, when Scottish hillmen, even those loyal to King George, were forced into the tight and unmanly breeches of the Englishman. Yet the kilt, plaid and tartan all survived as military attire, ensuring genuine continuity into the post-ban period. A key event was King George IV’s ‘jaunt’ to Edinburgh in 1822, when Sir Walter Scott encouraged all Scotsmen to turn out in their ‘clan’ tartan, even if, in most cases, it had to be invented for the occasion. In his quest for authenticity, Rupert has combed unpublished sources and iconography for evidence of the use of the kilt, plaid and other accessories in the ‘before’ and ‘after’ periods. A particular ‘thread’ is the experience of the men of Breadalbane as fencibles and militiamen, and as participants in the events of 1822, his own ancestors among them; and he has his own suggestions about how Highland dress should be worn today.

Image caption: portrait of a young Murray(?) at Blair Castle

About the speaker

Rupert Willoughby is a writer, researcher, obituarist, lecturer and itinerant Classics master. His books include Mountain Gunner: The Wartime Adventures of Tony Fowle, M.C., 1939 – 1951, and the scholarly-yet-whimsical Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture; while Clan Somerled: A Genealogical Account of the MacDougalls of Lorn and their Descendants, the MacEwens of Lochtayside, is the fruit of his exhaustive (and exhausting) researches into his grandmother’s family. He lives in London and Berkshire, but visits Scotland whenever possible.

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