Hay Bros. Highland Promotions Inc. are no doubt responsible for a good portion of what has become accepted as Highland style, and their illustrations of ghillie-brogued characters must help the shoe-department sales nicely.

But predating them by more than a century are the 'Letters' in which Edmund Burt noted his first-hand experiences - and had this to say on the subject:

The Highland Dress consists of... and Brogues or Pumps without Heels. By the way, they cut Holes in their Brogues, though new made, to let out the Water... this they do to preserve their Feet from galling.


I feel the use of the word pumps is significant, being a low-vamped lightweight form of shoe, as Burt makes a distinction when he sees one. Had the footwear of the Highlander been what we generally think of as 18th century shoe, he would have said so, as he does in other Letters with other similarities in dress. If only he had drawn pictures...

David Morier's well-known painting of Culloden is held in high regard for its accuracy of the regimental uniforms and the details included, so it it more than likely that the artist would have been just as accurate with the Highlanders' clothing also.

The Highlanders are said to be post-Culloden prisoners, and painted from life in their own clothes. Precise detail of what footwear can be seen sadly prevents close scrutiny, although the bent-legged casualty in the centre appears to have a low-vamped form of pump (such as would fit Burt's description) but the lacing is far from clear.

These shoes resemble modern dancers' ghillie-style lightweight pumps, and are considerably thinner-soled and simpler in construction that any kind of production shoe of the last 150 years or so, but if these pass for 'ghillie-brogues' then the style can be put precisely into the pre-Dress Act era, and onto a Jacobite to boot.

See what I did there..?

Morier - Culloden 2.jpg