From and after the first day of August one thousand seven hundred
and forty-seven, no man or boy within that part of Great Britain
called Scotland, other than such as shall be employed as officers and
soldiers in his Majesty’s forces, shall, on any pretence whatsoever,
wear or put on the clothes commonly called Highland Clothes (that is
to say) the Plaid, Philibeg, or little Kilt, Trowse, Shoulder belts,
or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the Highland
garb; and that no Tartan or party-coloured plaid or stuff shall be
used for great coats, or for upper coats; and if any such person
shall presume, after the said first day of August, to wear or put
on the aforesaid garments, or any part of them, every such person
so offending, being thereof convicted by the oath of one or more
credible witness or witnesses before any court of justiciary, or any
one or more justices of the peace for the shire or stewartry, or judge
ordinary of the place where such offence shall be committed, shall
suffer imprisonment, without bail, during the space of six months, and
no longer; and being convicted for a second offence before a court of
justiciary, or at the circuits, shall be liable to be transported to
any of his Majesty’s plantations beyond the seas, there to remain for
the space of seven years.
“It is impossible,” writes General Stewart of Garth, “to read this
latter Act without considering it rather as an ignorant wantonness of
power than the proceeding of a wise and a beneficent Legislature. To
be compelled to wear a new dress has always been found painful. So the
Highlanders found; and it certainly was not consistent with the boasted
freedom of our country to inflict on a whole people the severest
punishment short of death for wearing a particular dress. Had the
whole race been decimated, more violent grief, indignation, and shame
could not have been excited among them than by being deprived of this
long-inherited costume. This was an encroachment on the feelings of a
people whose ancient and manly garb had been worn from a period remote
beyond all history or even tradition.”[70] The spirit in which the Act
was carried out may be gathered from the following extract from the
_General Orders to the Army in Scotland in 1748_:—
By the act passed last session of Parliament, the time for the general
abolishing the Highland dress is enlarged to the 1st day of August
1749.
But that the wearing and use of such parts thereof as are called
the plaid, philibeg, or little kilt, is absolutely prohibited and
abolished from and after the 25th day of this instant December, and as
to these particulars the law takes place from that day.
His grace the Duke of Newcastle has therefore signified to me his
majesty’s commands, that the same be punctually observed throughout
the Highlands, and that I should give orders to all the troops
quartered in those parts to be particularly attentive to this service,
and to take all due care that the act be punctually executed and
observed, and the offenders brought to punishment according to law.
In obedience to these his majesty’s commands, you are to seize all
such persons as shall be found offending herein, by wearing the plaid,
philibeg, or little kilt, and carry them before a civil magistrate,
in the same dress, that he may be convinced with his own eyes of
their having offended, in order to their being punished for the same
according to law; in the performance of which, let no insult or abuse
be offered to the person or persons of those who shall be so taken
up and carried before the civil power, who are solely authorised to
inflict the punishment as the act directs; but in case the magistrate
before whom such offenders are carried shall refuse or neglect putting
the law in execution, in that case let me know immediately the name
of such magistrate, with the reason of his not doing it, that I
may acquaint the Duke of Newcastle with it, who will no doubt send
immediately orders to the lord advocate of this country to prosecute
him to the utmost for his contempt of the said act, by not putting it
in execution.
That the people in the Highlands might have no excuse by pleading
ignorance, the lord chief justice clerk wrote to the sheriffs depute
of the Highland counties, ordering them to give notice at every parish
church, that they must quit the plaid, philibeg, or little kilt on
Christmas-day, as the act directs, otherwise they would be carried
before the civil magistrate and punished for it accordingly.
I must likewise desire you will let me know from time to time what
obedience the people pay to this act, for they must and shall obey it,
with the names of those magistrates who are industrious in putting the
laws in execution, that I may take an opportunity of thanking them for
performing their duty, and acquainting the Duke of Newcastle with it.
You may acquaint the magistrates and justices of the peace in your
neighbourhood with the contents of this letter, since it may be the
means of inciting them the more readily to perform their duty.
_P.S._—Let a copy of this letter be sent to the officers commanding
the general detachments of your regiment respectively.[71]
All manner of ingenious evasions were thought of and practised to
defeat the law. “The tight breeches,” observes General Stewart, “were
particularly obnoxious. Some who were fearful of offending, or wished
to render obedience to the law, which had not specified on what part of
the body the breeches were to be worn, satisfied themselves with having
in their possession this article of legal and loyal dress, which,
either as the signal of their submission, or more probably to suit
their own convenience when on journeys, they often suspended over their
shoulders upon their sticks; others, who were either more wary or less
submissive, sewed up the centre of the kilt with a few stitches between
the thighs, which gave it something of the form of the trowsers worn by
Dutch skippers. At first these evasions of the Act were visited with
considerable severity.”[72] It was most probably for conniving at some
such breach of the law that a young grenadier of the 20th Foot narrowly
escaped a tremendous punishment.
The court-martial has judged the crime of Rigby, the grenadier, to
be of so pernicious a nature that they have sentenced him to receive
six hundred lashes. His youth and former good behaviour are the only
considerations that could induce the lieutenant-colonel to pardon
him: but if hereafter any sergeant or corporal is known to receive a
bribe from a Highlander, or from any person whatever, found or known
to transgress the laws, and does not seize the person or report such
transgression, he, the non-commissioned officer guilty of so heinous
a crime, will be instantly broke and severely punished: and if any
private soldier ever takes money, or a reward of any kind, that may
lead him to betray his trust, such soldier will be whipped without
mercy.[73]
The harsh and bitter administration of the law continued for many
years—for a long enough period, indeed, to stamp out the use of the
dress, at least among the lower orders. In the south the wear of tartan
does not seem to have been interfered with. For instance, we read:—
There is to be sold by roup in the shop of William Watson in the front
of the New Exchange of Edinburgh upon Monday 3rd day of March next
the whole goods which belonged to the said William Watson consisting
of Tartans of all kinds poplins durants calicoes thick-sets hollands
lawns broadcloths stockings handkerchiefs ribbons worsteds and a great
variety of other goods too tedious to mention. The goods are all fresh
and in good condition and fashionable.[74]
James Baillie Merchant in Edinburgh has removed his warehouse to the
Exchange fronting the Tron where Tartans or Plaids with other goods
are sold as formerly.[75]
At length the enactment was repealed. The Marquis of Graham, afterwards
Duke of Montrose, when a Member of the House of Commons in 1782,
having brought in a Bill for the purpose, it was, according to General
Stewart, passed without a dissentient voice.[76]