Scottish Drum Major Resources
Regimental Dress

The epitome of drum major is the Regimental Drum Major. The Regiments have been realigned in past years into primarily the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Luckily, they have allowed the pipe bands to maintain some of the historical uniform parts for each battalion.

I won't try to summarize here either the history of each battalion or its distinguishing uniform parts. Instead, I just want to record some photos of the battalion Pipe Bands and highlight a few Drum Majors.

1 Scots -- formerly the Royal Scots Borderers. The Drum Major (SDM Michael "Mick" Hay in the picture, now Michael Munro) is right center and wears Hunting Stewart trews with no spats. The DM and PM wear doublets with gold piping while the pipers and drummers wear silver piping. Pipers wear the Royal Stewart tartan kilt while drummers wear Leslie tartan trews, in honor of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. All wear a black cockfeather in the glengarry.

2 Scots -- formerly the Royal Highland Fusiliers. The Drum Major (former DM Innes Common) is leading a massed band event. He wears Mackenzie tartan trews with spats, a scarlet doublet with gold piping and a feather bonnet with white hackle (note: on right side, opposite to usual placement by regiments). Note the grenade finial on the mace reflecting the Fusilier heritage.

3 Scots -- the Black Watch. The Drum Major (WO2 Allan Campbell; Campbell is the current SDM of the British Army and the Edinburgh Tattoo SDM) wears the Black Watch tartan kilt (Government No1) with green rosettes, a red doublet with gold piping (as do the drummers) and a feather bonnet with red hackle (left side). Note the pipers and PM wear the Royal Stewart tartan kilt, per the Royal Regiment regulations, but their bag covers are the Black Watch tartan. Windy days are a good reason to wear the glengarry.

4 Scots -- the Highlanders. The Drum Major (DM Callum Marr) wears the kilt and plaid of the Camerons, a red doublet with gold piping and Gordon insignia (as do the drummers), a gold baldric and a feather bonnet with white hackle (left side). Note the pipers and also wear the Cameron tartan kilt and their bag covers are green. Pipers wear the glen with an eagle feather.

5 Scots -- Baklava battalion (formerly the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). Balaklava is now an administrative group and no longer has its own pipe band. 4Scots often provides support for parades.

The Drum Major of the Argyll and Sutherland was Billy Jordan and is pictured above. The DM wore the Government 1A (Sutherland) kilt and plaid, an archer green doublet with gold piping, a claret sash but no cross belt, a gold baldric, red and white diced hose and a feather bonnet with white hackle (left side).

6 Scots pipe band disbanded in 2007 and became the civilian band Mauchline and District Caledonia Pipe Band, which last competed in 2012.

7 Scots -- formerly the 51st Highlanders and now a Reserve unit. The Drum Major (Lcpl Park) wears the Government 1A (Sutherland) tartan kilt and plaid, an archer green doublet with gold piping (drummers have white piping), a purple with gold trim baldric and a feather bonnet with red hackle (left side). Pipers wear the Royal Stewart kilt and plaid, and glens with a black cockfeather.

Scots Guards The Drum Major (Lcpl Park) wears a scarlet tunic with gold piping (drummers have silver piping) and gold chevrons on the sleeves, navy trousers, a gold baldric and a bearskin cap. Pipers wear the Royal Stewart kilt and plaid, navy doublets with white piping and feather bonnets with red hackles (left side). The PM has a blue bag cover while pipers have a green bag cover.

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards An amalgamation of cavalry units in 1971 brought in the Royal Scots Greys, which added a pipe band to the Dragoons. Because of the unit's long history, it has an interesting collection of uniforms. Because they are a Royal unit, they may wear the Royal Stewart tartan as seen in the left picture. In this full dress, the Drum Major wears a scarlet tunic with gold piping (drummers have silver piping), navy trousers with gold stripes, a black baldric, a bearskin cap and spurs, reflecting the cavalry heritage. The bass drummer wears a distinctive white bearskin cap with a red plume. Pipers wear the Royal Stewart kilt and plaid, gold flashes, navy doublets with white piping, grey horsehair sporrans and feather bonnets with white plumes (left side) and a yellow vandyke band.

In their ceremonial undress (middle picture), the DM wears a navy doublet with gold piping, Royal Stewart trewes, a white crossbelt (no baldric), and a regimental drummer's bonnet with yellow vandyke band and red toorie. Pipers wear the navy doublet, Royal Stewart kilt and plaid, Royal Stewart pipe bags, green and red diced hose and glens with a white hackle.

In their other kit (right picture), the Drum Major (Daniel Brown) wears a red tunic with gold piping, a black and gold baldric, archer green trousers with silver stripes, a gold Dragoons helmet, and spurs. In homage to their heritage of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, pipers wear saffron kilts, grey flashes, green doublets with gold piping, saffron shoulder plaids, shoes with buckles and green caubeens and green hackles.

Links to Regimental Websites and Facebook pages

1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 Scots, Royal Scots Borderers); Pipe Band disbanded Feb 2021 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 Scots, Royal Highland Fusiliers)
3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 Scots, The Black Watch)
4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 Scots, The Highlanders)
5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 Scots Balaklava Company); 4 Scots Pipe Band serves 5 Scots for ceremonies
6th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (6 Scots, 52nd Lowland Territorial Force)
7th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (7 Scots, 51st Highlanders Territorial Force)
4th Royal Tank Regiment Pipes and Drums
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The Copyrights for all images on this page reside with their owners. Text Copyright 2020 by D. Bruning
updated: June 2020