Dictionary Definition
trews n : tight-fitting trousers; usually of
tartan
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -uːz
Noun
trewsExtensive Definition
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- This article is about the item of clothing. For the musical group, see The Trews.
Trews (Gaelic Truis or older Truibhs) are men's
clothing for the legs
and lower abdomen, a traditional form of Scottish apparel.
Trews could be trimmed with leather, probably buckskin,
especially on the inner leg to prevent wear from riding on
horseback.
Trews may be the origin of the word
trousers.
Tartan trews shared
the fate of other items of Highland dress, including proscription
under the Dress Act of
1746 that banned Highlanders from wearing the truis ("Trowse"), and
resurrection during the Romantic Revival. See kilt for a full discussion.
Origins
Illustrations in the Book of Kells and on the Cross of Muiredach show soldiers wearing short truis-like garments which reached to just above or just below the knee. Those illustrated in the Book of Kells are of a single colour, tight-fitting and end below the knee while those shown on the cross panel are loose-fitting, striped and gathered just above the knee. Also illustrated in the Book of Kells are long tight-fitting truis which are secured by loops under the foot.The word is triubhas in Scottish Gaelic. Truis or
trews are anglicised spellings.
- Edward Dwelly, Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla: Illustrated Gaelic
to English Dictionary
- Colin Mark, The Gaelic-English Dictionary
Traditional trews
Traditional trews were form-fitting garments, similar to the footed hose of the Renaissance, from which they probably evolved. They could be cut as Knee-breeches or full length.These trews were cut on the cross-grain (US
bias),
which allowed the fabric to stretch sufficiently to mould to the
body, and placed the tartan "sett" on the
diagonal.
Modern trews and Military trews
Modern trews are more like trousers, with the fabric cut on the straight grain but without a side seam, and are often high-waisted, to be worn with a short jacket, as an alternative to the kilt.Colonel Sir John
Sinclair of the Caithness (see image), proved to his own
satisfaction that "the truis" was an older dress than the kilt.
http://www.btinternet.com/~james.mckay/disp_020.htm
Until the establishment of the
Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006, military trews were usually
worn by members of the lowland
Scottish regiments as part of their No 1, mess and full
dress uniforms. Members of highland
Scottish regiments were usually authorized to wear kilts with these orders of dress.
However, all Highland regiments, in more recent times, wore trews
with less formal orders of barracks and training dress. They were
also part of the uniform of the composite regiment known as
The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) formed in
1994. The new Royal Regiment of Scotland comprises all the former
Scottish infantry line infantry regiments and continues to wear
trews in certain limited orders of dress.
It is interesting to note that historically,
trews were part of the Highland cultural tradition, not Lowland. As
such, when Lowland regiments became the first of the Scottish
regiments to be formed in the mid-1660's to late 1680's, the
Lowland soldiers wore standard British military uniform and had no
desire to wear tartan items and march to the bagpipes, which they
considered to be part of a foreign and savage culture. From these
early beginnings up to 1881, the famous Lowland regiments (1st,
21st, 25th, 26th, 70th, 90th, 94th and 99th) wore standard English
uniform.
Meanwhile, from 1739 onward, the Highland
regiments which were raised insisted on the familiarity of their
native dress and Great Highland war-pipes, albeit in a modified
form to suit a British military identity, as part of their cultural
identity. They wore the complex belted plaid and latterly, to
encourage recruits unfamiliar with such garb, they adopted the
simpler kilt. However, trews were increasingly worn as off-duty
dress and even campaign dress from the late 18th Century. Highland
regiments stationed in hot or unhealthy surroundings often took to
wearing simple white cotton trousers or tartan trews. For example,
the 91st Highland Regt of Foot wore trews during the Walcheren
campaign of 1809 and more famously, the 93rd Highland Regiment of
Foot wore trews and round unfeathered Highland bonnets during the
war of 1812-1815 against the USA, when taking part in the British
campaign to capture New Orleans in January 1815 and during the
disastrous
Battle of Chalmette Plain itself (lithographs of the battle
wrongly depict them wearing kilts). The year 1809 was a disastrous
one for several Highland regiments. The 71st Highland Regiment of
Foot was converted to Light Infantry, but kept its Highland status.
But though Highland, now being part of the elite Light Infantry
corps meant they have to adhere to the Light
Infantry collective image and so they gave up their kilts (but
kept their bagpipes). They also adopted a red/white/green diced
band around their new light infantry shako caps. However, other
Highland regiments who due to:- the ongoing Highland Clearances,
competition from the Royal Navy for recruits, campaign casualties
etc, had to increasingly recruit men from the Lowlands, England,
Wales and especially Ireland to keep up their numbers. Even Germans
and Swiss were admitted. The War Office in London decided that the
recruits from South Britain found Highland dress objectionable
which affected recruitment and so several Highland regiments were
singled out to lose Highland status including Highland dress,
officers' Highland weapons and the right to have regimental pipers.
These regiments were the 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th and 91st. The
regiments keeping the kilt and pipers etc were the 42nd, 78th,
79th, 92nd and 93rd. Despite constant appeals, the ex-Highland
regiments were refused any repreive and so they soldiered on in
standard English-style uniforms.
In 1822, however, following King George IV's
successful first visit to Scotland including a separate coronation,
he ordered the resumption of Highland dress and traditions for one
de-kilted regiment. The regiment chosen was the most senior of the
de-kilted regiments, the 72nd. They adopted the Highland feather
bonnet, the Highland version of the red coatee, but in lieu of
kilts, they were ordered to wear trews for all duties etc. The
tartan chosen was a new form of red or Royal Stewart called Prince
Charles Edward Stuart, reflecting the new romantic fashion for all
things Jacobite. In 1835, after various appeals, the 71st Highland
Light Infantry was granted Highland dress, partly as per the 72nd
style, but with the old 71st's traditional large MacKenzie sett and
with their stylish Light Infantry shako instead of the feather
bonnet. In 1845, after lobbying in high circles, the 74th resumed
Highland dress in a copy of the elegant 71st HLI dress with shako,
but the 74th's now wore the Black Watch/white-striped sett called
Lamont tartan (the 74th's originally came from South Argyll and
Lamont was the main South Argyll clan having associations with the
regiment. This invented clan tartan was basically universal Black
Watch/Government sett with the regiment's white facing colour added
as a stripe and called Lamont). In 1864, after much appealing from
the regiment through the years to the War Office and finally to
Queen Victoria etc and with the Duke of Argyll's involvement, the
91st Argyllshire Regiment of Foot became the
91st Argyllshire Highlanders and adopted the latest style of
71st/74th Highland dress, with trews of Campbell of Cawdor tartan.
Indeed, the royal connection to the regiment was strengthened in
1871 when the Queen's daughter, Princess
Louise, married the Duke of
Argyll's son, the Marquis of
Lorne. The 91st furnished a guard of
honour at the wedding. Princess Louise took a great interest in
the regiment and when it merged with the
93rd Sutherland Highlanders in 1881, she became
Honorary Colonel-in-Chief
of the new regiment Princess Louise's (Argyll
& Sutherland Highlanders), a position she held until her
death in 1939.
Queen
Elizabeth II is the current Honorary C-in-C.
When the Childers reform of
1881 took place, numbered regiments were amalgamated and new county
regiments formed, the 42nd (Royal Highland Regiment - Black Watch)
and 73rd (Perthshire) combined to form the 1st and 2nd Batts Royal
Highland Regt - Black Watch, 71st (Highland Light Infantry) and
74th (Highlanders)combined to form 1st & 2nd Highland Light
Infantry, 75th (Stirlingshire) and 92nd Gordon Highlanders combined
to form 1st and 2nd Gordon Highlanders, and 91st Argyllshire
Highlanders and 93rd Sutherland Highlanders combined to form 1st
& 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, only the HLI continued
wearing trews (and diced shako). The rest of the above-mentioned
Highland regiments and converted regiments now wore the kilt. But
in 1881, the Lowland regiments were granted permission (with mixed
reception from the regiments - the Royal Scots wanted kilts while
the Royal Scots Fusiliers wanted to continue with English dress and
tall fur cap as befitted a Fusilier regiment) to wear the HLI style
of Highland dress - except instead of a diced shako, they continued
to wear their English-style police helmets with spike on top.
Having no tartan tradition, the Lowland regiments adopted the
Government tartan (Black Watch) for their trews. The combination of
26th Cameronians and 90th Perthshire Light Infantry resulted in a
conversion to a rifle regiment - the Scottish Rifles (Cameronians)
in dark-green and black uniforms instead of standard scarlet. As
the years progressed, the Lowland regiments grew into the new look
and even adopted regimental tartans. The Scottish Rifles even
adopted a dark green/black version of the HLI shako. In 1904, the
Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers adopted a new parade
headgear, a stiff form of tam-o-shanter
with black-cock's
tail feathers. By now, the Royal Scots were wearing trews of
Hunting Stewart tartan,
Royal Scots Fusiliers were still in Black Watch
tartan, King's Own Scottish Borderers were now in Leslie tartan and
the Scottish Rifles in Douglas.
This of course blurred the Highland status of the
Highland Light Infantry in the public mind. The War Office and the
regiment still considered them as Highland as the other Highland
Regiments, but despite the fact that the Black Watch, Gordon
Highlanders and Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders all had their
regimental depots/HQ's and major parts of their regimental areas
set in the Lowlands, there was growing perception of the HLI being
a Lowland regiment. This was increased when their regimental HQ was
grouped into the Lowland district for purposes of forming the
Territorial Force in 1908. From now on, territorial battalions of
the new Territorial Force would be part of the Lowland Division
(later titled 52nd
Lowland Division). In WW1, the HLI wore standard non-kilted
khaki uniforms with khaki trousers and glengarry or tam o'shanter. By
default of a hijacking of their regimental dress by the Lowland
regiments and the passage of events around them, the HLI had become
effectively Lowland. They protested their Highland status for many
years and continued after the end of WW2. Amazingly, in 1948, at a
time of government cut-backs and disbandments, their Highland
status was re-confirmed and to ensure no misunderstanding in the
light of trews now being thought of as Lowland military dress, the
HLI were given the kilted form of Highland dress as worn by the
other Highland regiments.
The kilting of the HLI was short-lived however
when, in 1959 spending cut-backs, the government ordered the loss
of one Scottish battalion by amalgamation of one Highland and one
Lowland regiment. The HLI and Royal Scots Fusiliers were chosen and
became the Royal
Highland Fusiliers - a Lowland regiment.
Interestingly, due to the continued military use
of trews by the Lowland regiments, the perception of trews as
Lowland dress spilled over into civilian wear, so that for many
years, trews began to be viewed as Lowland dress, rather than the
Highland kilt. However, in recent years, a re-surgence in Highland
history and traditions has seen trews re-enter the Highland
wardrobe, whilst interested Lowlanders have now encompassed these
traditions within a wider Scottish template.
Highland dance
Today, the sideways kicking step of Scottish
highland dancers performing the Seann Truibhas dance is said to
symbolise the kicking off of the trews or trousers in favour of the
kilt.
Considering that tartan trews were part of the
Highland wardrobe for chieftains and gentlemen whilst on horseback
(the large Highland ponies) from the early 1600's onward, it is
more likely that the 'Truibhas' in the dance represent
English-style plain trousers (breeches), adopted under duress by
Highlanders following the ban on their native Highland kilted dress
effective from 1st August 1747.