A brief history of Blackwatch tartan

Our W303 Men's Wax Tartan Harrington Jacket

http://oxfordblueonline.co.uk/products/220/w303-mens-wax-tartan-harrington-

It is amazing to see just how much military has given to the world of fashion, a seemingly unsuspecting world giving so much to aesthetic appeal is just uncanny in all senses of the word.

The term "Blackwatch" does not refer to the style of pattern in a direct sense, but a Scottish military regiment, charged to watch and patrol the highlands, wore this dark pattern and has now become known as "Blackwatch tartan", or more accurately - the Black watch's tartan. It is also known as the "Universal" or "Governmental" tartan.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maehweh4bI1r84z5a.jpg

http://www.tartansauthority.com/tartan/the-growth-of-tartan/military-tartans/regimental-tartans/

The origins of The Black Watch can be traced back to 1725, when George II requested a series of 6  Independent Companies to watch and patrol areas of the Highlands. Following the Jacobite uprising in 1715, the watch was charged with carrying out the duty of:

"Employed in disarming the Highlanders, preventing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, and hindering rebels and attained persons from inhabiting that part of the kingdom."

The Regiment would at first where similar dark colours to each other but would later on have one regional uniform. The Military captains of the six companies were; Lord Lovat, Grant of Ballindalloch, Munro of Culcairn, Campbell of Lochnell, Campbell of Carrick and Campbell of Skipness. A month down the line in mid May 1725, General Wade sent out the following command:

“"Take Care to provide Plaid Clothing and Bonnets in the Highland Dress for the Non-Commission Officers and Soldiers belonging to their Companies, the Plaid of each Company to be as near as they can of the same sort and Colour."

Some have interpreted this as Wade indirectly saying he would prefer if they were all consistent in dress.

Our top selling W49 Ladies Tartan Wax Katrina on the left and W113 Quilted Biker Jacket on the right.

http://oxfordblueonline.co.uk/products/160/w49-ladies-tartan-katrina

Later on as with many other items of military dress, the Governmental Tartan saw it's way into mainstream fashion and secured its territory within the realm of the non military, Oxford Blue's range of blackwatch items branches into coats, jackets and coats which have proved to be popular choices.

A Brief History of Tweed

Tweed, an icon of British country life, nothing is perhaps more instantly recognisable as British fashion than a classic tweed woven garment.

A HW45 Thelma Hat (Biscuit) and LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket 

The story of tweed is an amusing one, many would think it is after the river tweed that flows through Scotland, however it is quite comical to learn the fact that the name owes it's inception to a simple error in misreading an invoice! Tweel was the original name as a Scottish take on the word twill - its genesis being the fabrics twilled pattern, in 1826 William Watson hailing from Hawick to a London trader James Locke, due to a legibility error or some other factor, Locke misread the name as Tweed rather than tweel and thus the name Tweed as we know it was born. 

W221 and W226 Blazer and Waistcoat respectively (C001L Harris Tweed)

However the style of tweed and its association with gentry, aristocracy came about mid 19th century with the British nobles bringing about what was called estate tweeds. It was common practise amongst the classes of nobility to purchase estates purely for hunting and game keeping, the tweed would protect the wearer from the cold and moist and is considered informal wear by the social classes who adorned it in those days and would often be worn with Wellington's (when hunting) or with tanned shoes when not in the fields. 

The hunting estates coupled with the typical wearing of tweed hence gave birth to what was known as estate tweeds, the staff that would look after the estate were also clad in estate tweed to follow Highland traditions and also to ensure their staff were appropriately shielded from the elements,  

http://pages.rapha.cc/stories/tweed-the-original-performance-fabric

The Highland tradition of specific patterns serving as a distinct identity of each clan surfaced by each twilled pattern specific to an estate as a part of staff uniform. From the 1830's onwards, tweed had become a widespread fashion throughout all estates, and aristocrats would not be seen as genuine had they not followed trend.

LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket, HW57 Helmsley Cap, LTW08 Gilet (Light Green)

In the 1840's the countess of Dunmore introduced Harris Tweed amongst her circles and promoted it heavily to the extent that tweed is now synonymous with the quality and commanding stature of Harris Tweed.

We at Oxford Blue sell a wide range of Harris Tweed garments from blazers, waistcoats, hats and many more, one can always tell a genuine Harris Tweed garment by its smooth feel even though typically tweed is characteristically coarse, visit www.oxfordblueonline.co.uk for more.