Yellow tourie preferred?

[Harold Cannon]

After reading The Kilt and How To Wear It, and then reading a post by Bugbear, I noticed that in both texts they talked about using a gold/yellow tourie on top of the bonnet. I found this to be interesting and have included the information below.

The first from Bugbear's post.

"He (Mr. Malcolm Macleod, the boat pilot) was now sixty-two years of age, hale, and well proportioned,--with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part of which his rough beard extended.--His eye was quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce, but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues,--Tartan hose which came up only near to his knees, and left them bare,--a purple camblet kilt,--a black waistcoat,-- a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord,--a yellowish bushy wig,--a large blue bonnet with a gold thread button. I never saw a figure that gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite,in the true sense of the word. (229-30)"

The from The Kilt and How To Wear It. Here he is refering to the idea that the red tourie is a symbol of loyalty to England. He also states the same with red waistcoats, that it might be better to use a yellow one.

"In any case, it might be well to avoid the mental friction arising from the possibility of countenancing or seeming to countenance notions of "English supremacy" by making ones "tourie" yellow instead of red wool, the former as everyone knows, the favourite colour of the Gael."

Just some food for thought.

[Peter Crowe]

After reading The Kilt and How To Wear It, and then reading a post by Bugbear, I noticed that in both texts they talked about using a gold/yellow tourie on top of the bonnet. I found this to be interesting and have included the information below.

The first from Bugbear's post.

"He (Mr. Malcolm Macleod, the boat pilot) was now sixty-two years of age, hale, and well proportioned,--with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part of which his rough beard extended.--His eye was quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce, but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues,--Tartan hose which came up only near to his knees, and left them bare,--a purple camblet kilt,--a black waistcoat,-- a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord,--a yellowish bushy wig,--a large blue bonnet with a gold thread button. I never saw a figure that gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite,in the true sense of the word. (229-30)"

The from The Kilt and How To Wear It. Here he is refering to the idea that the red tourie is a symbol of loyalty to England. He also states the same with red waistcoats, that it might be better to use a yellow one.

"In any case, it might be well to avoid the mental friction arising from the possibility of countenancing or seeming to countenance notions of "English supremacy" by making ones "tourie" yellow instead of red wool, the former as everyone knows, the favourite colour of the Gael."

Just some food for thought.

A red tourie symbolic of "loyalty to England"? Surely you mean loyalty to the House of Hanover, or loyalty to the Kingdom of Great Britain (currently the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) which was not and is not the same thing as loyalty to England. I always thought a black cockade implied loyalty to Hanover and/or the Kingdom of Great Britain.

[Harold Cannon]

Peter you may be quite correct I was just going by the quote from The Kilt and How To Wear It.

A pink tourie? Now there is a fashion statment Jock!

[Peter Crowe]

Peter you may be quite correct I was just going by the quote from The Kilt and How To Wear It.

No worries Harold , and as to the yellow colour you like, I agree with Jock, wear what you personally prefer. I just get a little irked by the suggestion that Scotland (a country never successfully invaded and held in it's history) is subjugated by England.

[Jock Scot]

No worries Harold , and as to the yellow colour you like, I agree with Jock, wear what you personally prefer. I just get a little irked by the suggestion that Scotland (a country never successfully invaded and held in it's history) is subjugated by England.

I too get irked by that . To put the record straight, it was a Scots King that united the English and Scots Crowns and the Scots parliament(100 years later) that voted to join with the English one. I think it is rather overstating the facts to say that Scotland was subjugated by England.

[Peter Crowe]

Post deleted

[creagdhubh]

No worries Harold , and as to the yellow colour you like, I agree with Jock, wear what you personally prefer. I just get a little irked by the suggestion that Scotland (a country never successfully invaded and held in it's history) is subjugated by England.

I agree. Harold, wear a yellow tourie if you like, the choice is yours my good man. There is also a certain Scottish Duke who wears a Balmoral bonnet of lovat green (diced) with a reddish tourie - quite smashing I must say (he also wears fabulous, dusty pink kilt hose...hint, hint!) I am sure many of the rabble know who I am speaking of, and will upload various photos no doubt.

Cheers,

[Harold Cannon]

Cajunscot, Do you have a source of pictures of these groups?

I would like to see pictures of that as well Kyle.

[Bugbear]

No worries Harold , and as to the yellow colour you like, I agree with Jock, wear what you personally prefer. I just get a little irked by the suggestion that Scotland (a country never successfully invaded and held in it's history) is subjugated by England.

I'm not an historian. How does what Cromwell did to Scotland not count as being invaded and held?

Just wondering, not trying to argue.

And from my post that is being quoted, I also notice the man being described has a beard. I wonder how common that might have been in the Highlands and Islands? The date for that quote is 1773, James Boswell.

[Dale Seago]

I'm not an historian. How does what Cromwell did to Scotland not count as being invaded and held?

Just wondering, not trying to argue.

I'm guessing that would be a result of the Union of the Crowns in 1603. It's difficult to "invade" what is, at least semantically, one's own country.