I was watching an old movie set in India during the British occupation. The British army men were dressed in kilts and playing bagpipes as they marched!?!?!? Is this correct?
Since when did the Brits take up following after the Scots?
- Jinx
“Since when did the Brits take up following after the Scots?”
In pre-WWII English-speaking armies, it was common to organize units geographically (the 54th Massachusetts, the 3rd New York, etc., to use American examples), so that all-Scottish, or all-Welsh, or all-Irish regiments were not only not rare but common. (With English officers, in many cases, but a single ethnicity for the troops and NCOs.) Indeed, during WWII there were units from large cities that were all the young men from a particular office, factory, or college. (A Yorkshire tramways regiment is an example I recall from history class.)
In short, the troops in the movie weren’t supposed to be Englishmen adopting Scottish dress, but instead a Scottish unit of the British Army.
The practice of geographic units was essentially terminated after the “Great War” (World War I) because it meant that if a unit was wiped out in a particular battle – not uncommon with the many futile efforts to take enemy trench lines – a city or county would lose many of its breadwinner adult male population all at once. Yes, some of these units have survived in the British Army out of tradition, but they aren’t uniformly one ethnicity or from one region any more.
Scotland has been a part of Great Britain for couple of hundred years now. There are several Scottish divisions/regiments/brigades or whatever the British army uses as an organizational system. Also, many of the English lords have estates and titles in the North as well. Even Prince Charles wears a kilt on occassion.
Many British regiments still recruit mainly from certain counties and areas. A military hisorian would be able to advise, I am not one. Try here if you want to start to research:
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/9059/BritRegt.html
It is not just the Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards Regiments which are geographical. Many of the names of regiments show a regional bias, and even regiments such as The Green Howards and Green Jackets have regional affiliations.
History has it that the wearing of the kilt and the playing of the bagpipes was so shocking to the enemy that it gained the Scots an edge over the enemy and prestige within the Army.
Note also that the Irish regiments wear the kilt and play bagpipes- as both kilts and bagpipes went IIRC from Ireland to Scotland (although Scots will probably diagree.
Just to further confuse matters, the Greeks also wear skirt like uniforms for Dress wear and IIRC, also have a bagpipe tradition.
Reminds me of the old music-hall joke:
“O’Flahrety!” “Here!”
“Kelly!” “Here!”
“Woinarowski!” “Here!”
“Right–Cameron Highlanders present and correct!”
Jinx, there could be many non-Scots in a Scottish Regiment in the British Army. During the late Victorian period anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of most line infantry regiments in the British Army were made up of Irishmen. Some were less so, particularly those that recruited in the highlands, such as the Seaforths, but city remiments, like the Highland Light Infantry (which wore trews, not the kilt) were rather more cosmopolitan (and regarded with scorn by “real” highland regiments).
The British Army still recruit partially on the basis of geography: here’s one example, the Royal Scots. This regiment, incidentally has the nick-name of “Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard,” in reference to their claim to be the oldest regiment in the British Army (a mere 368 years old).
There were fashionable “highland” regiments elsewhere too, like the London Scottish, who still exist, along with many Scottish regiments in the Canadian Army Reserve Militia, notably our local The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) (They’re hiring, by the way, if you have the legs for the kilt.)
An excellent website on Scottish military units can be found here.
More exotic still were the Scottish regiments that sprang up in the most unlikely outposts of Empire, including the Shanghai Scottish, Calcutta Scottish and the Transvaal Scottish.
Here is an excellent link, giving most (if not all)
Commonwealth Scottish regiments.
The Fijian Army also wore a skirt, called a “sulu.”