WWII Scottish Slouch Hats

[BlackWatch]

Greetings fellow forum members. I am "new" to this forum on this account, but I have been on in the past on a previous account which I forgot it's details and only had one of two posts on it anyway, so I have made this new account. I tend to focus on Victorian uniforms, but a recent interest of mine has been WWII slouch hats, specifically Scottish regiments slouches that were used in the far east campaigns such as Burma in WWII. I just purchased a WWII Royal Scots Slouch Hat as used in the far east campaigns. I've already posted this in a WWII forum, but I wanted to start a topic here to get back onto this forum. Were Slouch Hats worn in battle in campaigns like Burma, used to when not in battle for the heat, or both? Other than this example that I just purchased, the only other Scottish regiment slouch I've seen is to the Royal Scots Greys, however I've seen many, many English examples and a couple of Welsh examples before. Are these Scottish regiment slouches somewhat rare?  I would like my fellow forum members to post examples of their either Scottish Regiment or British in general examples in their collections. Here is my Royal Scots Slouch hat that I just purchased today, photos from the sellers store. Thank you all for reading. 

Edited January 27, 2017 by BlackWatch

[peter monahan]

BlackWatch

Welcome back to the GMIC!  Thansk for sharing this lovely example of a bush hat.

The only thing I can offer in answer to your questions is to paraphrase comments by George MacDonald Fraser, author of the 'Flashman' series.  In his Private McAuslan stories, young Lt. 'Dand' - Fraser himself - describes joining a battalion of the Seaforths in N Africa in late '45/early '46 still wearing his Burma slouch, which he refers to as being used as a 'Hotel' [ie, slept under] and ubiquitous dress item.  I would assume that helmets were worn as rarely as one could get away with in the Far East and that would have meant that some combat included men in slouches, but presumably a look for period photos at the IWM of the campaign would confirm that.

I don't recall seeing many examples of British slouches on the market over the years but as I don'd collect them, I may have missed them.  I'd guess, however, that they are fairly rare: attractive but not 'typical' and hard to transport and store.

Edited January 28, 2017 by peter monahan

[Jerry B]

I have a few WWII British Slouch Hats (as well as Aussie examples) and also post war versions so always try and find a date on them if you can.

 

Many you see have had their badges removed, which is a real shame but sometimes the owner kept the badges before parting with the hat, though others will have been stripped by badge collectors.  The British also sometimes used Aussie or South African made examples, one of the former of which I have which has sadly had its badges removed.

 

 

[BlackWatch]

Jerry, Peter many thanks. Though you can't see it in the pictures provided from the seller, the date is hard to read and apparently 1939 dated. It is a little early because the 1st Battalion (which fought in Burma) of the Royal Scots was sent to British India in 1942, but they could've been made prior and then sent with the soldier once the Burma Campaign had begun. This is an other ranks example, correct? Officer examples would've been more "nice", correct?  I am very lucky to still have the badge on mine, or I would've never known it was Royal Scots. Those are some very nice examples, Jerry, I really like your Welch Regiment one with the flash. Here is another example I've seen on a militaria website to the Welsh Regiment (previously sold, I was keeping my eye on it when it was still for sale, though) and as you can see it looks a bit different than your example. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by BlackWatch

[Jerry B]

I was tempted to buy the other Welch example for a couple of years but never did.  I have not looked at it for a while as it was still for sale last time I looked. I think it was an officers example because of the badge.  Other than that I think they would be the same as OR's versions, from what I have seen.

[BlackWatch]

It is a beautiful hat, I was also tempted to buy it as well, however I was still thinking if I wanted to get a slouch or not, and I came across the Royal Scots slouch and I knew I probably wouldn't see another Royal Scots slouch, nor a Scottish slouch in general for quite a while. After that I actually went to check on the Welsh Slouch and noticed it had been sold, recently too. I do really like your collection of Slouches, Jerry, and it's nice to meet another Slouch collector. Well, I only have one, but I look forward to getting more in the future, most slouches look very nice and display well. 

[Jerry B]

I have a few more slouch hats and also a Gurkha bush hat and a NZ Forces Lemon Squeezer.

 

I ummed and ahed over that Welch slouch hat for a long times and almost hit the buy button...

[jf42]

Black Watch - you should be able to  find numerous images of the 2nd Bn Black Watch wearing  bush hats/slouch hats in the  field when involved in  the Chindit expeditions into Burma.

Edited February 18, 2017 by jf42

[peter monahan]

Lovely collection!  Thanks for sharing.