History of the kilt

The kilt is today, along with the bagpipes, one of the great symbols of Scotland. Yet it was not always so, and in fact it was not until the "Highland revival" of the early 19th century that the kilt (and, indeed, all things Highland (or thought to be so) began to occupy that position of preeminent tradition which it does today.

Although some fanciful accounts of the history of the kilt date its origins back to the era of Braveheart, or even the Roman toga, the Scottish kilt actually originated with the belted plaid in the late 16th Century.

Irish leine

The people who eventually became the Highlanders of Scotland came to the Highlands from Ireland in the 5th century C.E. They brought with them their Irish cusoms, traditions, and dress. Throughout the centuries after that, they remained principally connected with their Irish roots rather than with the Anglo Lowlanders of present-day Scotland.

Prior to the late 16th century, the Scottish Highlanders dressed in the Irish style. This consisted primarily, first, of a long "shirt" called a leine (simply the Gaelic word for shirt). This was an upper body garment which extended well below the waist to about mid-thigh or lower. Secondly, there was a mantle or blanket (called in Gaelic a plaide) which was just a rectangle of woven material cast about the shoulders.

Great kilt

The mantle which was worn with the leine developed into the large blanket which was then wrapped around the body and eventually secured at the waist with a belt. This was the belted plaid, perhaps more commonly referred to as the Great kilt.

Philabeg

The story of the "invention" of the modern form of the kilt is mired in controversy. In 1785, the Edinburgh Review published a letter, written some years earlier (in 1768) from a gentleman who claimed that an Englishman named Thomas Rawlinson had invented the kilt by detaching the lower portion of the great kilt (or belted plaid) and having his iron foundry workers wear that, gathered and wrapped around the waist, secured with a belt. This was, it is alleged, the beginnings of the little kilt (feilidh beag, or philabeg, with numerous variant spellings). This, according to the letter, happened about 1725.

The origins of the modern kilt

Prior to the turn of the 18th century, the form of the kilt typically worn in the Scottish Highlands was what is now known as the belted plaid or great kilt, which consisted of a large tartan or multi-colored blanket or wrap (Gaelic felie, with various spellings) which was gathered into loose pleating and drawn about the body and secured by a belt at the waist, the lower part hanging down covering the legs to about the knee.

Sometime in the late 17th century or, at the latest, the early part of the 18th century, a new form of this garment was introduced and became popular. This new form consisted essentially of the lower portion only of the great kilt, at first untailored, but many years later with the pleats or belt loops sewn in to better secure the garment about the waist.

After the repeal of the Act of Proscription, interest attached as to the origins of this new garment, called the little kilt' (Gaelic: felie-beg, Anglicized to philabeg, again with various spellings). In a letter published in Edinburgh Magazine for March of 1785, but written some years earlier, in 1768, Ivan Baillie of Aberiachan, Esq. asserted that the new form of the kilt was the creation of Thomas Rawlinson, an entrepreneur who had established an iron works in the Highlands (specifically, in Glengarie and Lochaber).

According to Baillie, Rawlinson, observing how the great kilt was "a cumbersome unwieldy habit to men at work. . ." decided to "abridge the dress, and make it handy and convenient for his workmen". This he did by directing the usage of the lower, pleated portion only, the upper portion being detached and set aside.

Controversy

The full text of the letter of Ivan Baillie is reproduced in John Telfer Dunbar's History of Highland Dress. Dunbar quotes the letter approvingly, at the same time citing McClintock's Old Irish and Highland Dress in support of the story, stating that "many attempts have been made to produce proof of the little kilt (Gaelic feilidh beag) before that date (i.e., before about 1725 - ed.) but nothing so far published can substantiate such claims." He goes on to say that "some of the most popular 'evidence' has been examined and refuted in McClintock . .".

However, since the publication of Dunbar's book, numerous reputable authors, including Matthew Newsome, the curator of the Scottish Tartans Museum in North Carolina, have again disputed the Baillie version of events. To quote Newsome: ". . . we have numerous illustrations of Highlanders wearing only the bottom part of the belted plaid that date long before Rawlinson ever set foot in Scotland" going on to assert that "there is some suggestion of its use in the late seventeenth century, and it was definitely being worn in the early eighteenth century".

Proscription

In 1745, following the defeat of the Jacobite rebellion, the British Parliament, as part of an aggressive policy of cultural repression against the Highland clans, passed the Act of Proscription �which, among other things, banned the wearing of tartan, including the kilt, by civilians in Scotland. This measure, which took effect the following year, was not repealed until 1782. Meanwhile, only Highland regiments, such as the Black Watch, enlisted in the service of Great Britain, were allowed to wear the kilt or practice certain of the other traditons of Highland culture.

Romantic revival

In the late 18th century, perhaps as part of the Romantic notion of the Noble Savage, there began a revival of interest in, and admiration for, the Highlanders of Scotland. Following the repeal of the Act of Proscription, several Highland Societies were founded, principally by lowland gentry whose connection with the Highlands was, in many cases, tenuous at best. These Highland Societies sponsored "Highland gatherings" at which some of the traditions of Highland culture were revived, even if in a somewhat fanciful form.

King George IV's visit to Edinburgh 1822

In 1822, King George IV became the first British monarch in over 150 years to visit Scotland. The event was the occasion for an extravaganza, stage managed by Sir Walter Scott, which featured the tartan, the kilt, and the whole of what was supposed to be "Highland culture". It fueled the rage for anything tartan and proved to be the catalyst for the adoption of the tartan and anything "Highland" by all of Scotland.

Introduction of the knife pleats

In the 1850s, the Gordon Highlanders Pipe Band adopted the use of knife pleats in their kilt uniforms. Prior to this, the kilt had always been box pleated. Within 50 years, the knife pleats had replaced box pleats virtually everywhere until, today, the box pleated kilt is virtually extinct.

References

• John Telfer Dunbar, History of Highland Dress
• Hugh Trevor-Roper
• Matthew A. C. Newsome, Early Highland Dress