3-071-072 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meeting at Stafford House to protest against the change in the tartans of Highland Regiments, 1881. 'A large and enthusiastic meeting was held...to protest against the changes...contemplated by the War Office...[Illustration shows the moment] in which Lord Archibald Campbell, with earnest action and voice quivering with emotion, swore upon his drawn dirk to preserve the tartan. As the weapon was passed round to be kissed by the Mac Intosh, who occupied the chair, the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Athole, Lord Elcho, Donald Currie, and others, the audience...burst into an irrepressible shout of heartiest approbation...The following petition, which was very numerously signed, will...[clarify] the position: "May it please your Majesty, We, the undersigned, believing that we represent the national feeling of Scotland, humbly petition that the tartan dress hitherto worn by the various Highland regiments as distinctive of the districts in which they were raised, and in which dress they have fought with honour and glory in every part of the globe, be not changed, believing that such distinctive tartans add to the esprit de corps, and that such changes as are contemplated are contrary to the instincts of the true Highlander".' From "Illustrated London News", 1881.