A hackle is a clipped feather plume worn behind the cap badge. Only certain regiments wear one, the colour is specific, and in several cases it commemorates something particular.
The Black Watch red hackle
The most storied of them. Tradition holds that the Black Watch were awarded the red hackle for recovering guns abandoned by other units at Geldermalsen in 1795 — the red said to represent the blood of the enemy.
It passed to 3 SCOTS when the Royal Regiment of Scotland was formed, and is still worn.
The Royal Regiment of Scotland
Since 2006 the hackle is how you tell the battalions apart, because they all share one cap badge and one tartan:
- 1 SCOTS — black
- 2 SCOTS — white
- 3 SCOTS — red
- 4 SCOTS — blue
- 5 SCOTS — green
- 6 SCOTS — grey
6 Scots Royal Regiment of Scotland RRS Grey Plume Feather Hackle - NEW
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The Fusiliers
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers wear a red-over-white hackle, combining the traditions of the regiments they were formed from in 1968. It is worn in the beret behind the flaming grenade badge.
Guards plumes
Strictly a plume rather than a hackle, and worn in the bearskin cap rather than a beret — but it works the same way. Each Foot Guards regiment has its own colour and its own side of the cap to wear it on.
Army Issue Hackle Coldstream Guards Dress Horse Hair Red Plume British Army
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Welsh Guards Other Ranks Horse Hair White & Green Plume / Hackle British Arm
Buying one
Hackles vary in height and in how they are cut, and a Tam o' Shanter hackle is not the same as a beret hackle. Feather plumes and horsehair plumes are also different things entirely — check which you need.
Plumes Army Issue White Hackles For Balmoral Glengarry & Various Headwear
Feather or horsehair?
The two get called the same thing and are quite different objects. A hackle is clipped feather — light, fine, and worn in a beret or Tam o' Shanter. A plume is usually horsehair, much heavier, and worn in a bearskin, busby or helmet.
If you are buying for a specific headdress, this is the thing to get right. A horsehair plume will not sit correctly in a beret and a feather hackle will vanish in a bearskin.
The Guards, colour by colour
Foot Guards plumes are worn in the bearskin, and both the colour and the side identify the regiment:
- Grenadier Guards — white, left side
- Coldstream Guards — red, right side
- Scots Guards — none at all
- Irish Guards — St Patrick's blue, right side
- Welsh Guards — white-green-white, left side
The Scots Guards having no plume is the giveaway that catches people out — it is not missing, it is correct.
The Fusiliers' hackle
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers' red-over-white hackle comes from the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who wore a red-over-white feather said to commemorate St Lucia in 1778 — the white plumes taken from French casualties, dipped in red.
Whether the story is literally true is debated. That it has been worn ever since is not.
Fitting and care
A hackle mounts behind the cap badge and is held by the badge itself, so it needs to sit flat against the material without bulking under the badge. Feather hackles crush easily in storage and recover badly — keep them upright, not flat under something.
Horsehair plumes attract moths exactly like wool does. If you are storing ceremonial kit for any length of time, treat the plume as carefully as the uniform.
Fitting a hackle without ruining the beret
A hackle mounts behind the cap badge, and the mistake people make is cutting a second hole for it. Do not. The hackle's own stem goes through the same fitting as the badge, held between the badge and the backing, so the beret takes one hole rather than two.
Get it wrong and you have a beret with an extra hole in it, which cannot be undone and which halves the value of an otherwise good one.
Storing and reviving one
Hackles are feather and they crush. Two practical points:
- Never store a beret with the hackle fitted, flat under other things. The plume takes a permanent bend.
- Steam revives a crushed hackle. Held briefly over steam, the feathers relax and can be smoothed back into shape with the fingers. Do it gently, and let it dry fully before fitting.
Colour fade is the one thing you cannot fix. A red hackle that has been in sunlight goes pink and stays pink, which is why a good, deep colour is worth paying for.