British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trubia26 (Post 546702)

Thanks a lot! Definetively I think that is so simple as look for the regiments who wear diced glengarries with rosette to know wich regiment could wore this balmoral...so Royal Scots, Gordon, highland fusiliers, and HLI are good options I think

Just to put some flesh on this subject the Balmoral
The Balmoral is a traditional Scottish hat that can be worn as part of formal or informal Highland dress. Developed from the earlier blue bonnet, dating to at least the 16th century, it takes the form of a knitted, soft wool cap with a flat crown. It is an alternative to the similar and related Tam o' Shanter cap and the Glengarry bonnet. In my regiment the King's Own Scottish Borderers we wore the the Lowland Bonnet, see below an extract from my new book

17. The Blue Lowland Bonnet cocked. Worn 1914 until 1961.
The Blue Lowland Bonnet was also known affectionately in the regiment as the ‘Blue Bonnet’ in association to the regimental march, ‘Blue Bonnets over the Border’, it was made of a soft, tight wool weave, coloured dark blue, with a diced red, white, and dark green diced band, similar to a chessboard, a red woollen toorie. The regimental cap badge was worn on the black silk ribbed rosette, slightly forward of the left ear, and in full ceremonial dress the blackcock feather was worn and fixed in the same manner as the previous headdress. The headband was of black silk ending with two ribbon tails at the back, hanging down. A memorable and significant historical even happened during the service of this regimental headdress.
A new era was thrust upon the regiments of the Scottish Infantry Division in 1959 when, because of a Government defence review, we were to lose our uniquely individual regimental cap badges. The Scottish Division was split into two brigades: the Lowland Brigade and the Highland Brigade. Each brigade was issued with a brigade cap badge, to be worn by all regiments within the brigade. These badges were disliked as they held no correlation to the regiments who were forced to wear them, also it became quite obvious that these badges had been designed by a committee in London. The Lowland Brigade Cap badge pictured number…… was worn by all ranks from January 1959 until 17th June 1969, when we were once again reunited with our much-loved cap badge, on a rebadging parade held at Belfast Barracks, Osnabruck, West Germany.

18. Glengarry Cap cocked. Worn 1961 until 2006.
The Glengarry described in section 14 of this appendix is the same headdress, but now it replaced the lowland bonnet. The Glengarry had now been elevated to the formal headdress worn by all rank in the regiment. In No1 Dress Ceremonial Glengarry cocked, the only dress when the glengarry was cocked, No2 Dress Glengarry uncocked, and certain other forms of dress as laid down in regimental dress regulation, for example all Brigade guards and duties carried out in Berlin the glengarry was worn; as an example, the Berlin Train Guard, Spandau Prison Guard and Berlin Brigade Headquarters Guard all soldiers were dressed in combats.
Or on certain occasions at the Commanding officers direction; A prime example was when the battalion deployed on its first tour of duty to Northern Ireland in May 1970, dressed in combats and wearing the Glengarry uncocked with regimental cap badge, this would be the first time, the glengarry was worn in the modern era as the formal headdress of the regiment, and the only time it would be worn on active service in this era.

The Balmoral is soft, fawn in colour, with a tight wool weave, with a soft wool headband, a small silk bow at the rear and a khaki toorie, the body and toorie can vary in shades with age.
Stitched on the left side is a Leslie tartan patch, on it a regimental cap badge fixed with two lugs and back pin. Worn by officers and warrant officers only.

I hope this sheds some light on the subject.

Kind regards
Hiram