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Hodden grey
Pipe band clad in Hodden grey

Hodden or wadmel is a coarse kind of cloth made of undyed wool, formerly much worn by the peasantry of Scotland. It was usually made on small hand-looms by the peasants. Hodden grey was made by mixing black and white fleeces together in the proportion of one to twelve when weaving.[1]

In his poem "A Man's a Man for a' That", Robert Burns wrote

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that."

Hodden Grey was adopted by the London Scottish Regiment, and the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Canada). It was chosen because, as Lord Elcho said, "A soldier is a man hunter. As a deer stalker chooses the least visible of colours, so ought a soldier to be clad."

See also

References

  1. ↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hodden". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 556.
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