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This uniform of the First Sutherland Volunteers belonged to Colour Sergeant William Bethune, born 1858 in Bonar Bridge, he enlisted in the Bonar Bridge Company of the First Sutherland Volunteers. He was an excellent shot and for many years competed at the National Rifle Association Meetings at Bisley, Initially discharged in 1910 he then re-enlisted in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders during World War I before being finally discharged in 1919.
As a civilian he was the river pilot on the Dornoch Firth. Ships approaching Portmahomack would sound their horn and he would cycle from Bonar Bridge to Newton Point boarding the ship there to guide it through the treacherous shifting sands to the wharf at Bonar Bridge. He died in 1944 aged 86.

The uniform shows the 'new' Sutherland tartan (the Black Watch or "Government" tartan) which was adopted when the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders amalgamated with the Argylls in 1881 to become the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The doublet has the yellow epaulettes of the 1st Sutherland Volunteers and the belt shows the wild cat of Sutherland and the motto 'Sans Peur' (without fear).