The Royal Magazine cover (1910) shows Queen Victoria (1819-1901) being sheltered by her Scottish manservant John Brown (1826-83) who worked on the royal estate at Balmoral. Brown proved a great consolation to Virtoria after the death of her husband Albert (1819-61) but her reliance on him created gossip, scandal and jealousy at court.
Neither tartans nor men's skirts are exclusively Scottish, but they have been enthusiastically promoted as national emblems of Scotland for nearly tv'o centuries.
Although the British government lifted restrictions on Highland dress in the 1780s, Scottish culture was not totally rehabilitated until the visit of George IV (1762-1830) in 1822. George chose to mark the cKcasion - the first visit to Scotland by a British monarch - by wearing 'authentic' Highland dress, and was accompanied by the Lord Mayor of London, who wore his 'own' tartan. Since then, successive British monarchs have similarly transformed themselves when visiting Scotland, and today even the Prince of Wales wears a kilt when north of the border.
During the long reign (1837-1901) of Queen Victoria, Scotland became the favourite royal 'playground'. Scottish estates offered peaceful sanctuary from the rigours of the London court, which became increasingly frenetic after the inventions of the telegraph and telephone. Dressing up in tartan clothes became one of the rituals of royal relaxation, and one faithfully copied by aspiratory visitors.
In the Victorian period, which coincided almost exactly with the 'Railway Age', Scotland became a fashionable holiday destination with the public. The massive enthusiasm for souvenirs meant that generically 'Scottish' images, such as tartans and reproductions of Highland landscape paintings, soon became commonplace in all parts of Britain. In the sentimental Victorian imagination, Scotland loomed mistily as one of the last remaining 'wild' places - the realm of the Monarch of the Glen, a much-reproduced painting of a Highland stag.
Kilts and clan tartans
The first officially recognised Scottish tartan seems to have been that of the Black Watch regiment, which subsequently became the basis for the first individual clan tartans; with each of the participating clans, the Sutherlands or Campbells for example, adding an identifying coloured stripe to the drab Black Watch sett. During the middle part of the 18th century, when members of Highland regiments were the only people allowed to wear traditional dress, several other 'official' clan tartans were established.
Although the government permitted the Scottish public to wear tartan after 1782, the cloth remained a minority taste until George IV endorsed it. Subsequently, under Victoria, almost every family in Scotland acquired a tartan. Numerous bright 'dress' tartans, and their more muted 'hunting' equivalents, were invented to meet demand, which was ultimately driven by the dictates of royal fashion. There is a cruel irony in the fact that some of the wool used to manufacture the tartan souvenirs for 19th-century visitors came from sheep introduced during the Highland clearances.
Not even that most potent of Scottish symbols, the kilt, has an authentically Scottish origin. Clan historians generally accept that an Englishman, Thomas Rawlinson, who owned an ironworks in the Western
(c.1877) by Sir William Quiller Orchardson(1832-1910).The scene here is taken from Sir Walter Scott's description of the Shetland sword dance in his novel r/jeP/rate (1822). The 'Queen' is his heroine, Minna Troil, whose courageous character is exemplified by her bold reaction to the arch of sword blades from which her friends recoil in alarm. Many Highland dances originated from martial pageants.
Highlands, invented the modem stitch-pleated kilt in the 1720s. Rawlinson hit upon the idea of dividing the traditional plaid worn by his workers into two garments, so that they could wear just the lower half. Even the word 'kilt' appears to be a derivation of a medieval Scandinavian expression meaning 'tucked-up' - a reference to the way men wore the traditional plaid for ease of movement.
Tartan empire
Traditions are often revered most by those furthest from the source, and this was especially the case with expatriate Scots, especially those in Canada. During the latter part of Victoria's reign, before the horrors of World War I (1914-18), there was a craze for amateur, 'volunteer' regiments. In Canada, many of these 'volunteer' units were strongly clan-based and individual members did little more than commission 'authentic' items of Scottish military regalia.
The 19th-century imperial administration encouraged this distillation of the essence of Scotland into a few easily transmitted symbols. Just as Britain had appropriated Scottish martial prowess, the Empire now sought to confer it piecemeal upon others, and kilted pipe-and-drum bands became a feature of the best 'native' regiments. In some countries, this new military 'tradition' persisted into the postcolonial era.
Outside the military, other subsidiary 'tartan traditions' were promoted through a combination of expatriate enthusiasm and imperial propaganda. Scottish dancing and the Highland Games provided safe, cheerful, 'chocolate-box' reflections of a life style that had been hard and often dangerous. The famous Highland Fling was originally danced with the fierce exultation that flows from victory in battle, and the holding of games has long been a sign of peace.
< Harris Highlanders engraved (1868) by Vincent Brooks after Kenneth McLeay (1808-78). The original watercolours were commissioned by Queen Victoria, and depia the staff of Balmoral in their clan attire. This engraving shows Kenneth Ma6wyde and Donald MacAulay, born on the Earl of Dunmore's estate at Harris. Rum.
T Highlander soldiers (c. 1910).
The mounted soldier is a Gordon Highlander. The infantrymen are (from left to right) a Cameronian, King's Own Scottish Highlander. Black Watch and 1st Royal Scots.
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