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►Service Dress 1903-Unification

►Khaki Drill
1899-1963

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1939-Unification

►Combat Uniform
1963-2000+

►CF Uniform Unification-1986

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1986-2000+

Headdress

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►Glengarries

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Glengarries

The traditional headdress of Highland and Scottish Regiments in the Canadian Army was the glengarry, a boat shaped hat with two silk tails and a toorie on top. Metal cap badges were worn on the left hand side of the glengarry, usually backed by a silk rosette. Information on cap badges are presented elsewhere on this site.

1900 - 1914

The glengarry had been worn throughout the British Army in the previous century, and that practice had extended to units of the Canadian Militia as well, though by the early years of the 20th Century, non-Scottish units had replaced the glengarry with other forms of headdress.

First World War and the Interwar Period (1914 - 1939)

As the Canadian Expeditionary Force was formed for overseas deployment, the various CEF battalions often adopted the dress regulations of the pre-war Militia Regiments from whom they were raised. In due course, distinctive metal cap badges were minted, though some battalions continued the use of the prewar Milita badges to the end of the war. Khaki glengarries were adopted by some units, whether due to shortages of the coloured caps, or due for a desire for camouflage.

At right, two glengarry photos. Above, a khaki glengarry courtesy of Bill Ellis. This badge is not original to this glengarry, in fact, the 15th Battalion is not known to have worn khaki glengarries at any time in their history. It is presumed that these are both period pieces that were mated at some time after the war by a collector.

Below right is a photo of a coloured glengarry also courtesy of Bill Ellis. The cap badge of the 241st Battalion CEF on this glengarry is reportedly the original badge worn on this hat. The red, white and black dicing are the most common pattern worn by Canadian regiments.

The following is a schedule of CEF battalions, and the parent regiment from whom they likely drew their dress distinctions from. Where known, specific headdress information is given.

CEF
Battalion

Parent Regiment

Headdress

1st Canadian Division

13th Battalion

5th Royal Highlanders of Canada

15th Battalion

48th Regiment (Highlanders)

16th Battalion

Formed from four seperate Highland Regiments in 1914 (1st Company from the 50th Regiment, Gordon Highlanders of Canada, 2nd Company from the 72nd Regiment, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, 3rd Company from the 79th Regiment, Cameron Highlanders of Canada, and the 4th Company from the 91st Regiment, Canadian Highlanders. As the war progressed, the unit adopted one single set of dress distinctions, and became known as simply "Canadian Scottish".
	Soldier of the 16th Battalion, wearing a plain blue glengarry with the battalion cap badge, apparently unbacked.		RSM James Kay, MC, DCM, MM. The regimental cap badge is being worn on a silk rosette on a plain blue glengarry.

2nd Canadian Division

19th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

91st Regiment Canadian Highlanders

21st Battalion (Pipe Band only)

14th Regiment The Princess of Wales' Own Rifles

25th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

26th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

62nd Regiment
St. John Fusiliers

29th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

6th Regiment
The Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles

3rd Canadian Division

42nd Battalion

5th Royal Highlanders of Canada

Lieutenant Colonel G.S. Cantlie, DSO -
Commanding Officer from Feb 1915 to Nov 1916 - shown wearing a fine example of the plain blue glengarry, worn with cap badge and no silk backing.

42hat1.jpg (8860 bytes)

43rd Battalion

79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada

Lieutenant Robert Shankland, VC, DCM, wearing a plain blue glengarry; note the silk rosette behind the badge.

49th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

101st Regiment (Edmonton Fusiliers)

4th Canadian Division

46th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

60th Rifles of Canada

50th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

103rd Regiment
Calgary Rifles

72nd Battalion

72nd Regiment Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

85th Battalion

94th Victoria Regiment "Argyll Highlanders"

102nd Battalion (Pipe Band only)

68th Regiment
Earl Grey's Own Rifles

Reinforcement Battalions

35th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

12th Regiment
York Rangers

63rd Battalion (Pipe Band only)

101st Regiment (Edmonton Fusiliers)

17th Battalion

78th Pictou Regiment "Highlanders"

93rd Cumberland Regiment

94th Victoria Regiment "Argyll Highlanders"

67th Battalion (Pipe Band and Brass Band only)

50th Regiment

73rd Battalion

5th Royal Highlanders of Canada

77th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

The Governor General's Foot Guards

82nd Battalion (Pipe Band only)

103rd Regiment
Calgary Rifles

92nd Battalion (Brass Band, Bugle Band, and Pipe Band only)

48th Regiment (Highlanders)

96th Battalion (Pipe Band)

107th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

113th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

134th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

48th Regiment (Highlanders)

154th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

168th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

173rd Battalion (Brass Band, Bugle Band and Pipe Band only)

91st Regiment Canadian Highlanders

174th Battalion

79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada

See photo below table.

179th Battalion

79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada

185th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

94th Victoria Regiment "Argyll Highlanders"

193rd Battalion

78th Pictou Regiment "Highlanders"

194th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

219th Battalion

224th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

228th Battalion (Pipe Band only)

97th Regiment
Algonquin Rifles

231st Battalion (Pipe Band only)

72nd Regiment Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

236th Battalion

62nd Regiment
St. John Fusiliers

241st Battalion

Photo and artifact courtesy of Bill Ellis. The cap badge on this glengarry is reportedly the original badge worn on this hat.

246th Battalion

78th Pictou Regiment "Highlanders"

253rd Battalion (Pipe Band only)

14th Regiment The Princess of Wales' Own Rifles

PPCLI (Pipe Band only)

PPCLI

1st Pioneer Battalion

Group photo of the 174th Battalion taken in Winnipeg at Minto Armoury on 12 April 1917. All ranks are wearing plain blue glengarries, including the pipe band assembled at the rear of the battalion. Only a select few officers, as well as pipers and drummers, wear the kilt, though most tunics appear to be of the "cutaway" style.

1939 - 1945

Highland and Scottish Regiments generally wore glengarries as headdress in the interwar years. For wear with battle dress beginning in 1939, tam o'shanters and balmorals were designated as field dress. Glengarries were permitted, but the government would not pay for them with public funds; officers had to purchase their own, and units had to purchase them for their Other Ranks. They were worn mainly for walking out, or by pipe band musicians.

A popular affectation among pipe bands has been the addition of feathers to their cap badges when wearing the glengarry.

At right, drummers of the 48th Highlanders in Italy are wearing the glengarry with a blackcock feather. In the Calgary Highlanders, blackcock feathers were only worn with full ceremonial dress or with Service Dress, and only by pipers. In the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, pipers wore an eagle feather instead with full ceremonial dress.

The regulations have varied from time period to time period, and from regiment to regiment.

48bugl.jpg (43153 bytes)
Photo courtesy Art Johnson, 48th Highlanders Museum

Regiment

Regimental Glengarry

Piper's Glengarry

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)

argylls.gif (2396 bytes)
.All ranks - red and white dice with red toorie

piper.gif (2032 bytes)
Pipers - black with red toorie
In Full and Service Dress, pipers added a blackcock feather

The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
All ranks - dark blue with red toorie

The Calgary Highlanders

argylls.gif (2396 bytes)
All ranks - red and white dice with red toorie

Pipers - black with red toorie
In Full and Service Dress, pipers added a blackcock feather.

The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
All ranks - dark blue with red toorie

The Canadian Scottish Regiment

cscotgle.gif (2520 bytes)
All ranks - red and blue dice with red toorie

piper.gif (2032 bytes)
Pipers - black with red toorie

The Cape Breton Highlanders

argylls.gif (2396 bytes)
All ranks - red and white dice with red toorie

The Essex Scottish Regiment

The 48th Highlanders of Canada

blakdie.gif (2507 bytes)
All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie

piper.gif (2032 bytes)
Pipers - black with red toorie toorie

The Highland Light Infantry of Canada

hliglen.gif (2024 bytes)
All ranks - rifle green with rifle green toorie

The Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
All ranks - dark blue with red toorie

The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment)

blakdie.gif (2507 bytes)
All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
Pipers - dark blue with red toorie

The North Nova Scotia Highlanders

blakdie.gif (2507 bytes)
All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
Pipers - dark blue with red toorie

The Pictou Highlanders

The Prince Edward Island Highlanders

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
All ranks - dark blue with red toorie

The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada

blueglen.gif (2045 bytes)
All ranks - dark blue with red toorie
In Full and Service Dress, pipers added an eagle feather.

The Scots Fusiliers of Canada

The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

blakdie.gif (2507 bytes)
All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie

piper.gif (2032 bytes)
Pipers - black with red toorie

The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders

blakdie.gif (2507 bytes)
All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie

piper.gif (2032 bytes)
Pipers - black with red toorie

The Toronto Scottish Regiment


Private D. Tillick wearing the glen while being photographed at 18th Field Ambulance after being wounded on 1 Nov 1944 during the Battle of Walcheren Causeway. Public Archives of Canada photo 141727	Toronto Scottish pipers in the United Kingdom, 1940, wearing plain dark blue glengarries.

torgle.gif (2618 bytes)
Dark blue with elcho blue and tan dice and elcho blue toorie.

blueglentor.gif (1324 bytes)
Pipers - dark blue with red toorie

1945 - 1999

The glengarry has not changed appreciably in the years since 1945. Leather sweatbands have fallen from disuse in favour of silk, nor were khaki glengarries seen after 1940. Perhaps the largest change had been in the way glengarries were worn. In the 1940s, the style was to wear them steeply angled, resting on the wearer's right ear; by the last quarter of the century, the style had firmly changed to being worn square on the head. By the end of the century, the following units remained on the Order of Battle of the Canadian Army:

Regiment	Regimental Glengarry	Piper's Glengarry
2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (Pipes and Drums only)	All ranks - dark blue with red toorie
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)	.All ranks - red and white dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie In Full and Service Dress, pipers added a blackcock feather
Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada	All ranks - dark blue with red toorie
The Calgary Highlanders	All ranks - red and white dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie In Full and Service Dress, pipers added a blackcock feather.
The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa	All ranks - dark blue with red toorie
The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)	All ranks - red and blue dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie
The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment
The 48th Highlanders of Canada	All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie toorie
The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada (Granted the Royal Prefix in Nov 1998)	All ranks - rifle green with rifle green toorie
The Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment	All ranks - dark blue with red toorie
The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment)	All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie	Pipers - dark blue with red toorie
The Nova Scotia Highlanders	All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie	Pipers - dark blue with red toorie
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada	All ranks - dark blue with red toorie In Full and Service Dress, pipers added an eagle feather.
The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada	All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie
The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders	All ranks - red and black dice with red toorie	Pipers - black with red toorie
The Toronto Scottish Regiment (in 2000, the Regiment received the suffix "(Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's Own)")	Dark blue with elcho blue and tan dice and elcho blue toorie.	Pipers - dark blue with red toorie