Figure 1.--This illustration by R.R. McIan, dated mid 19th century, shows a Scottish teenager from Clan Grant coming back from hunting. Robert Ronald McIan (1803–56) was a Scottish actor and painter. He is best known for depictions of Scottish clansmen, their battles and domestic life. They have been descrived as romamtizied. They depict what we now call folk wear. We are not sure how prevalent kilts and other folkwear were. His wife, Fanny McIan, was also a painter and notable as an early teacher of art to women.

Scotland was experiencing extraordinary growth and change at mid-century. A combunation of the Scottish poets, Scottish academics, and the performance of the Scottish regimnents in America and more importantly the Napoleonic Wars changed the image of Scotland in England. And the young Princess Victoria's infatuation with Scotland cemented the new attitudes. And those new attitiudes were well, established by mid-century. Scotland itself was changing. The railroad reached Aberseen up the coast from Edinburgh (1850). James Young patented a method of distilling kersoscene (paraffin) from coal, laying the foundations for the Scottish paraffin industry. This does not sound like much today, but kersovemne at the time was the principal use of hydrocarbons other than coal. It was used for home lighting. Whale oil had begun to decline because of the depletion of whale populations. Scottish industry was flourishing. People were flocking to urban areas. Overcrowding was became a serious problem. Much has been written about urban poverty. Dicken's movels are famous. Much less has been written anout rural poverty. Obviously, rural people would not have flocked to the city if comditions has not been better than in the country. Scotland was becoming a major processor of jute. The clearances begun a century earlier were declining. The 1850s woukd be the last decade of notable clearances. Not unrelated, Ewan MacPhee died in Fort William (1850). He was Scotland's last great outlaw. We note well to do boys dressing up in fancy kilt affairs. We note Lord Elgin. his father of Parthenon fame , with his son Victor Alexander who is wearing a Highland kilt outfit with a black military jacket about 1855. They apparently had their portrait taken during a trip to Paris. Lord Elgin was Scottish, but the family spent areat deal of time in London and foreign postings. Victor was born in Montreal, Canada. While we have photographic images od well-to-do boys wearing fancy kilt outfits, photography was too expensive for poor country families, especially boys in the Highlands. Photography in the 19th century was studio photography. Now it was possible to go outside the studop to take pgotographs, but this only occrred for really important subjects like the Crimean War. Capturing the poor Higkanf families was not one of them. We do, however, have some drawings of the country folk. And they show Highland boys wearing kiits.

Background

Scotland was experiencing extraordinary growth and change at mid-century. A combunation of the Scottish poets, Scottish academics, and the performance of the Scottish regimnents in America and more importantly the Napoleonic Wars changed the image of Scotland in England. And the young Princess Victoria's infatuation with Scotjand cemented the new attitudes. And those new attitiudes were well, established by mid-century. Scotland itself was changing. The railriad reached Anereen up the coast from Edinburgh (1850). James Young patented a method of distilling kersoscene (paraffin) from coal, laying the foundations for the Scottish paraffin industry. This does not sound like much today, but kersovemne at the time was the principal use of hydrocarbons other than coal. It was used for home lighting. Whale oil had begun to decline because of the depletion of whale populations.

Urbanization

Scottish industry was flourishing. People were flocking to urban areas. Overcrowding was became a serious problem. Much has been written about urban poverty. Dicken's movels are famous. Muh less has been written anout rural pberty. Obviously, rural people would not have flocked to the city if comditions has not been better than in the country. Scotland was becoming a major processor of jute. The clearances begun a century earlier were deckining. The 1850s woukd be the last decade of notable clearances. Not unrelated, Ewan MacPhee died in Fort William (1850). He was Scotland's last great outlaw. Fort William is located in Lochaber, Clan Cameron country, Before the building of the fort, Inverlochy was the main settlement in the area. The English vuilt the fort was constructed to control the Scottish population after Oliver Cromwell's invasion during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and then to suppress the Jacobite uprisings of the 18th century.

Well-to-do families

We note well to do boys dressing up in fancy kilt affairs. This was an expression of natioanlist sentiment among well-to-do families. We note Lord Elgin. his father of Parthenon fame , with his son Victor Alexander who is wearing a Highland kilt outfit with a black military jacket about 1855. They apparently had their portrait taken during a trip to Paris. Lord Elgin was Scottish, but the family spent areat deal of time in London and foreign postings. Victor was born in Montreal, Canada.

Highland Boys

The Highland Clearances depopulated large areas of the Scittish Higklands and keacing many who remained destitute. While we have photographic images of well-to-do boys wearing fancy kilt outfits, photography was too expensive for poor country families, especially boys in the Highlands. Photography in the 19th century was studio photography. Now it was possible to go outside the studio to take photographs, but this only occurred for really important subjects like the Crimean War. Capturing the poor Higkanf families was not one of them. We do, however, have some drawings of the country folk. And they show Highland boys wearing kiits. As far as we can tell, boys in the cities did not wear klirs to ant extent. The differemce was that poor Hihjland families did not have access to much in the way of money. But they did have access to wool and looms. And the kilt is among the easiest hgarments to weave. More modeled clothing like suit jackets and pants are much more difficicult to weave, but the kilt was basically two flat pieces easily woven pieces sewn together. It was not a form of natioinalist exoression. It was simply what Highland families could easily produce. We note a 1856 painting by English genre a painter Michael Frederick Halliday of two Scottish children by a mountain stream. In this case the boy wers his kilt with a suit jacket.