Officer and Colour Sergeant c1890

The dress uniform of the Gordon Highlanders consisted of the scarlet doublet with yellow facings, and the kilt. The headdress in review order was the feather bonnet which was worn at an angle, with the white plume on the left side and the 'foxtails' hanging on the right. Officers of the Gordons had 5 foxtails, other ranks of all Highland regiments had 4, the only peculiarity was that the 2nd Gordons had the 4 foxtails of different lengths, shortest at the front and longest at the back. The hat-band was diced red, white and green. The officer is a captain, having two stars on his shoulder cords. The yellow collar has gold lace around the top and front with white piping along the edge. The Tiger collar badge is in gold embroidery. The skirts of the doublet are called Inverness skirts, four large and two small ones at the back. There are false pocket flaps with 3 gilt buttons and gold braid loops. Field officers had gold lace around the edge of both the skirt and the pocket flap. The yellow cuffs are edged with one row of gold lace and, for the rank of captain, a line of gold braid on the inside. The 3 gilt buttons also had braid loops. The kilt is in the regimental pattern of government tartan with a yellow line. Both officer and Colour Sergeant have a 'fly' plaid attached to their left shoulder with a paid brooch. The other end of this plaid is attached to the wearer's waist. Ranks below sergeant had a fly that attached to the button on the shoulder and could not be seen from the front. It was only worn in review order. The Officer's sporran, or purse, is the full dress version. The Colour sergeant has a sporran with a silver cantle while lower ranks had a different pattern. On the lower legs the hose was black and red with red garter ribbons arranged as a pair with a loop on each. The white spats had black buttons, a distinction in the Gordon Highlanders that was in memory of Sir John Moore who died at Corunna. The black also appeared on the gold shoulder cords of the officer's doublet.

Uniforms | Regimental Details