Gordon Highlanders (no kilt?)

[The Laird]

Aye Aye Gents,

I stumbled upon a photo of a Gordon Highlanders Lewis gun crew, 3 of the men are wearing kilts, but the 4th man is wearing trousers. All wear theTam o'Shanter head dress and have Gordons cap badge. Anyone one got any ideas? (I did try and attach the picture, but I don`t seem to be able to attach it, don`t know if its because I`m new to the forum).

[bigjarofwasps]

I`m by no means an authority on this, but could it be that the guy in the trousers is a replacement from another none kilt regiment, and has simpley been issued with a Tam oshanter and handed his soft cap back into the stores? The only reason why I`m coming to this conclusion is that I recently read the book `Cannon Fodder` about the London Scottish, and I remember the author making mention of them receiving a couple of batches of replacements from none kilted regiments towards the end of the war. I`m sure he said one lot was from the Durham Light Infantry, but I`d have to dig the book out in order to check. Now whether these men where issued with kilts later I couldn`t say, but this might account for why the chap in the photo hasn`t got a kilt on?