Tartans and Clan Tartans
Bob Jewett
by my wife madeleine Anne Campbell-Jewett. The article was originally
written for publication in the society newsletter of lace wars,the UK
society for the reenactment of jacobite wars. The article cannot then
be projected into even the late 18th century let alone modern times.
Tartans and Clan Tartans.
------------------------------
I have used the above title in order to separate two distinct
concepts.
Tartan, in one form or another, has existed for centuries; there is an
example of chequered woollen material, (The Falkirk Tartan), in the
Tartan Museum, Scotch House, Edinburgh dated to 325A.D.
There are many references to the existence of tartan and plaids
throughout Scottish history - too many, in fact, to list here.
However, Clan Tartans, as distinguished in exact setts signifying
belonging to a particular Clan, is of more recent invention and owes a
great deal to the ingenuity of textile manufacturers and romantic
notions of Scotland’s past which are not supported by historical
evidence.
The weight of evidence against the existence of specific clan tartans
( as we know them today ) in 1745 is immense. It has been a
considerable problem to decide which references to include, and which
to omit - lest this article should assume saga proportions.
In order to achieve ease of reference I have divided the evidence into
five main sections:
1) examination of surviving paintings and costume;
2) examination of contemporary records and literature;
3) the considered opinions of eminent historians, curators and
collectors of folklore and tartan;
4) examination of dyeing techniques;
5) published works supported by The Lyon Court.
1. Examination of surviving paintings and costume.
The earliest surviving portrait of a Highland Chieftain, (as far as I
know), is of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, the founder of the
Campbells of Glenorchy. It was painted by George Jameson and is dated
1635. He wears a loose cloak fastened with a brooch and belted at the
waist. This loose cloak is not tartan. (This portrait is reproduced in
“Tartan” by Hugh Cheape, Curator of Modern Scottish History at the
National Museum of Scotland).
The next oldest portrait is the painting by Michael Wright, (dated
between 1660 and 1700). This painting has been known as “Highland
Chieftain” and “Lord Mungo Murray”. It has also been claimed to
represent, among others, Lord Breadalbane. J Telfer Dunbar believes
the painting was of an actor by the name of Lacy. The pattern of this
plaid has been examined closely by J. Telfer Dunbar and by Dr Haswell
Miller, (one-time keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery ,
artist and student of costume). It is highly complex . In his work,
“The Costume of Scotland”, Dunbar writes,
“ Unlike modern clan tartans, however, some of the early tartans did
not have a repeat in the sett and I have specimens in my own
collection showing this”.
(The collection in the Tartan Museum in Scotch House, Edinburgh, owes
a great debt to Dunbar - and this is acknowledged in a little plaque
at the entrance to the Museum - after all his collection is on
display there.)
The Grants have conveniently left a number of portraits. The Lady of
Grant (1658) shows a fashionable woman in ringlets and lace, dressed
in the Lowland/English fashion. The Grant portraits by Richard Waitt
in the early 18th century consists of members of the family and
retainers. Referring to pictures of the family, Dunbar tells us, “The
tartans all differ from each other and none of them are of the sett
worn today as a “Clan Grant” tartan. “ However, an examination of the
retainers proves interesting. Curiously the Hen-Wife (Nic Ciarain) the
only portrait, as far as I know, of an ordinary Highland woman,
doesn’t appear to wear any tartan at all. I.F.Grant says she is
wearing ‘a dress of dark checked stuff’ but having examined a good
print, in good lighting and with a magnifiying glass, if there is a
chequered material it’s dammed faint. The Piper and the Champion,
however, wear tartans which do look alike. Apparently, in 1704, “the
son of the chief ordered the whole of the tenantry to wear Grant
tartan when they attended him.” (I.F.Grant). Having checked I.F.
Grant’s source on this ( The Chiefs of Grant by William Fraser 1883) “
Grant Tartan” is not actually specified. The source merely states ‘
made all the gentlemen and commons of his name wear whiskers, and make
all their plaids and tartans of red and green,...’. There is also some
confusion as to the date, it could be 1707 or 1710 after a trip to
London.
From the evidence of the portraits Hesketh writes, “One conclusion
that could be drawn from this is the idea of a standardised tartan had
so little appeal that the Grant Chiefs found it easier to impose on
their own personal attendants than on the gentlemen of the clan.”
However, there is another issue to be considered here - the question
of everyone on clan lands being a member of that clan and being
related to the chief.
An examination of the history of ownership of Grant lands in
Strathspey throws up some interesting information. I am indebted to
I.F.Grant for her examination of the development of the clan system in
her book,”The Social and Economic Development of Scotland before
1603.” These lands had previously been owned by Huntly, Comyn and
others. Grant has referred extensively to William Fraser’s “Chiefs of
Grant” and from this has ascertained that, in 1516, Grant was feuing
lands in Strathspey from Moray; by 1539 he was renting the greater
part of Strathspey; in 1583-87 Grant bought the lands outright from
other claimants.
Grant states, “Many families of the stock of the laird or chief were
thus established, but these did not amount to the bulk of the clan,
and it must be remembered that the fertile Strath of the Spey was not
empty when they came there.” She goes on to state, “There is evidence
that the custom of taking their landlord’s name, which was fairly
common in the Highlands was adopted by the other inhabitants.” Grant
goes on to refer to documents concerning surnames and patronymics in
the Parish of Duthil in 1537 and 1569. She comments on the discrepancy
and consequent influx of Grant names thus, “...as he had a good deal
of other property, to have established so many descendants in this one
parish would premise a more than rodent-like fecundity.”
Not everyone ordered to wear “Grant” tartan , therefore, was actually
a Grant. If this should be doubted, one has only to remember that
Grant’s Piper in the portrait was named William Cumming. His wearing
of tartan was not a badge of clan identity, but a livery denoting
political allegiance.
Dunbar has also examined the portrait of Kenneth, 3rd Lord Duffus
(d.1734). He writes, “Once again, despite careful examination of the
original painting, it is impossible to find a satisfactory repeat in
the sett of the tartan which consists of black, red, yellow and white
stripes arranged in the typical complicated pattern to be found in the
early specimens of the pre-clan tartan era”.
“The Macdonald Boys” (1749/50), is described by Dunbar as follows;
“The four garments consisting of two jackets, a long waistcoat and a
kilt are of four different red, black and green tartans”.
Lady Hesketh’s book, “Tartans” also notices this portrait and she
writes,” This is a particularly interesting picture because none of
the four tartans in it resemble any modern Macdonald set.”
Lady Hesketh and Dunbar both note the striking similarity between the
tartan worn in the portrait of the 5th Earl of Wemyss and that of
Norman, 22nd Chief of MacLeod, both of whom were painted by Allan
Ramsay. Both paintings belong to the Proscription period and the only
difference is in the shoulder plaids.
Not all tartan was worn by Scotsmen. A tartan suit of jacket and trews
was commissioned from an Edinburgh tailor by English Jacobite, Sir
John Hynde Cotton of Madingley during his visit in 1744.
Hugh Cheape notes, “the sett of his tartan is complicated, differing
considerably between warp and weft, and is unknown today.”
It is often forgotten that Lowlanders also wore plaids. There are
references to this in the writings of Sir William Brereton (1636) and
Thomas Morer (1689). These references are easily accessible in P.Hume
Brown’s “Early Travellers in Scotand.” In this same volume, the
writings of Thomas Tucker (1655) and Richard Franck (1656) mention
plaiding/tartan being exported to the continent.
2.Examination of contemporary records and surviving literature.
Dunbar inherited Alexander Carmichael’s (of Carmina Gadelica fame),
collection of early pre-clan tartans. The collection came to him via
William Skeoch Cumming.
“To his vast collection of notes, drawings and pictures he added a
great treasure - the manuscript business correspondence, ( literally
hundreds of the firm’s letters), and records of the firm of William
Wilson and Sons, Bannockburn. From the 1780’s until the early
twentieth century they supplied the bulk of the civilian tartans made
in Scotland and also most of the Highland dress worn by the Highland
regiments from the 1790’s until the time of the Boer War.” He
continues,” The earliest document which I have discovered is dated
1763”. ( The Costume of Scotland).
Hugh Cheape also makes reference to the Wilsons. “In the weaving
pattern books of Wilsons and in their orders of the late eighteenth
century the tartans are described by numbers only. The setts and
shades were assembled according to changing demand and not to a set of
rules as they now are.” Cheape continues as follows:
“Wilsons of Bannockburn made, (19th century, presumably as 18th
century tartans are described by numbers), for example, a tartan
called “New Bruce” which subsequently became the Grant tartan. We do
not know anything of the pedigree of this sett beyong this expedient
of name change”.
The surviving literature is somewhat vague and does not appear to
prove anything. Cheape refers to the Grameid, the 1689 campaign of
Viscount Dundee; “Glengarry’s men were in scarlet hose and plaids
crossed with purple stripe; Lochiel was in a coat of three colours;
the plaid worn by MacNeil of Barra, “rivalled the rainbow”. All this
proves is the Highland love of personal display.
Martin Martin’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland is often
quoted as a proof that Clan Tartans existed. My facsimile copy of the
second edition, (1716) reads as follows:
“Every Isle differs from each other in their Fancy of making Plads,
as to the stripes in Breadth, and colours. This Humour is as different
through the Main Land of the Highlands in-so-far that they who have
seen those places, are able, at the first view of a Man’s Plad, to
guess the Place of his residence”.
Note the words “Fancy “ and “Humour”. On the previoius page, the
start of the above quotation runs as follows:
“ a great deal of ingenuity requir’d in sorting the colours, so as to
be agreeable to the nicest fancy.”
and, “But Persons of Distinction wear the Garb in fashion in the South
of Scotland.”
Alastair Campbell of Airds, Unicorn Pusuivant and Chairman , Advisory
Committee on Tartans to the Lord Lyon has written for the Collins
Pocket Reference : Clans and Tartans. He comments on the above
quotation concerning distinguishing a man’s residence by the pattern
of his tartan. He writes,” His claim is not corroborated by other
contemporary writers and may mean no more than that certain patterns
had gained popularity in certain areas - which is entirely possible.”
3. The research of eminent historians, curators and collectors of
folklore and tartan.
I am indebted to a number of eminent figures for their research into
clan tartans, folklore and the history of Scotland in general and the
Highlands in particular.
Dunbar quotes J.F.Campbell of Islay who collected Gaelic texts and
preserved much Higland folklore.
Much of this material was published in “Popular Tales of the West
Highlands.” In October 1882, he wrote to Lord Archibald Campbell as
follows:
“I am nearly certain that there is no mention of any tartan at all in
any story orally collected by me or for me.”
Dunbar continues with, “ Having examined Campbell’s vast collection of
original material, I can find no mention of clan tartans, and, if such
a system existed, find it difficult to understand why none of the many
poets and story-tellers describe it.”
Dunbar also refers to Alexander Carmichael’s collection of Gaelic
poetry. “But I consider it significant that neither there, or in his
unpublished collection is there any reference to such a system. One
must also wonder why the great poets of the Jacobite era such as
Duncan Ban McIntyre, John MacCodrum and Alexander Macdonald (Alasdair
Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair) make no mention of the Highlanders being
dressed in clan tartans.”
Dunbar also refers to the writing of Dr A.E. Haswell Miller, Keeper of
the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, who had “ unique opportunities
to study the pictorial evidence regarding Highland dress,...”.
“In an authoritative publication by the Historical Association in
1956, entitled Common Errors in Scottish History, he wrote:
“... the ‘Scottish Clan Tartans’ as we know them from numerous books,
post-cards and other productions were never systematised before the
appearance of such publications in the nineteenth century. Authentic
documentation of the tartan previous to the nineteenth century is
limited to a comparatively small number of contemporary portraits, and
is negative so far as it provides any suggestion of heraldic
significance or ‘clan badge’ intention...’
Dunbar makes reference to Major I.H.Mackay Scobie who spent a lifetime
collecting information on Higland dress. “His family lived in the clan
country for close on two centuries and he was a Gaelic scholar: his
opinion, therefore, is authoritative.” In Chamber’s Journal ,June 1942
, he wrote,
“The antiquity of Highland Breacan (tartan, of course, was not unknown
in other countries), is beyond dispute. On the other hand, “clan”
tartans - as defined and known at the present day - cannot be shown to
have existed as such prior to the 1745 period, and, indeed, are even
later.”
Dunbar himself collected tartans for almost fifty years. He states,”I
do not have a single example of a clan tartan dating before the very
late eighteenth century. Of the specimens dating before that time, a
great many show a difference between the pattern of warp and weft.
Such an arrangement could not possibly produce the modern clan tartan,
the sett of which depends on the exact duplication of colour and
pattern between warp and weft. I have collected several hundred
documentary references to Highland dress between 1600 and 1800 but
they contain no mention of clan tartans before the late eighteenth
century.” He continues with, “The recording of modern clan tartans is
not difficult but the setts of the old pre-clan tartans are more
demanding. Apart from the fact that the warp and the weft
frequently differ, very often the sett does not repeat or pivot as it
does in the modern clan tartan”.
Hugh Cheape writes that tartan was not originally an expression of
identity and that other emblems such as plants, were used by the
Highlanders to serve this purpose. He also comments on the Sobieski
Stuarts’ Vestiarum Scoticum published in 1842 and The Costume of the
Clans in 1845.
“These books established and consolidated the clan associations of
tartan and ascribed specific clan identity to nearly all setts or
designs. The authors....rested their case on sixteenth century
manuscripts which they claimed to have discovered. These documents
have since been discredited.”
Professor Emeritus Gordon Donaldson, CBE,HM Historiographer in
Scotland, in his foreward to Kathleen B. Cory’s book, “Tracing Your
Scottish Ancestry” comments as follows:
“Experience shows that the only qualification for the acquisition of a
“clan tartan” (nearly always a nineteenth century invention) is the
same qualification as for the acquisition of any other piece of cloth,
namely ability to pay for it...... the whole tartan cult is a
commercial enterprise - it is business, big business, for the tartan
makers,...”
4.Dyes.
Mrs Annette Kok’s Appendix to Dunbar’s “ History of Highland Dress” is
entitled “ Early Scottish Highland Dyes.” Her essay is based on
extensive practical research and ‘underlines the difficulties in
neatly tabulating plant and mineral dyes involving the nature of the
fibre to be dyed, the “hand”, or individual temperament of the dyer
and even the material of the dye vessel. The variety of shades which
emerge, and the impossibility of producing large quantities of wool
dyed to the same shade, make nonsense of the idea that there was
strict uniformity of colours in the eighteenth century.”
To this I would add that much depends on the quantity ,quality and
type of plants available due to the vagaries of the weather. Also, we
must consider the effects of mordants - iron and especially urine.
People’s eating and drinking habits before giving a “sample”, and
perhaps their state of health might influence the shades obtained.
It should also be understood that “The brown colour of the Soay sheep
would have considerable bearing on the clothing made from undyed wool
and would also affect the shades obtained from the use of organic
dyes. But up to the eighteenth century sheep throughout the Highlands
and Islands had fleeces of a variety of colours. This must be borne in
mind when we examine early textiles...”
5. The Court of The Lord Lyon.
At this point it will be necessary to explain the nature of the Lyon
Court. I refer to Charles MacKinnon of Dunedin in “The Observer’s
Book of Heraldry”.
“In Scotland the control of heraldry is fully legal, as the court of
the Lord Lyon is part of Scotland’s judicature...”
“The Lord Lyon King of Arms is the chief Officer of Arm in Scotland,
and in fact holds the oldest heraldic office in Great Britain,....”
“The Lord Lyon is a Great Officer of State and of the Crown, a judge
of the realm, and it is high treason to strike or deforce him. His
office is pre-heraldic and it combines the very ancient office of
Royal Sennachie or Bard,...”
“His office is unique and he has powers, such as those of imprisonment
and fine, which no English officer has and which , even now, he does
not hesitate to use.”
In 1995 Harper Collins published its pocket reference, “Clans &
Tartans”. The section entitled “Tartan and the Highland Dress” is
written by Alastair Campbell of Airds - also known as “Unicorn
Pusuivant” and Chairman, Advisory Committee on Tartans to the Lord
Lyon. He writes as follows;
“...hardly any setts or patterns,among those in use today can be
traced to early times, and there is no indication that they then had
any sort of clan identity attached to them. Indeed, the evidence is
very much the other way, as instanced by the patterns of such old
plaids and scraps of tartan that have come down to us from before the
closing years of the eighteenth century; these are very different
from today’s clan patterns, as are the tartans shown in those
portraits of chiefs and lairds which have survived from the late 17th
and 18th centuries. Indeed, few were painted in tartan, as their best
clothes were seldom of this material, but of those that show the
tartan it is evident that a number of different setts was often worn
at the same time by the picture’s subject and that none of them equate
to the respective clan patterns of today.”
“It has also been claimed that, rather than clan tartans, those setts
classed as district tartans represent an ancient general system of
identification. The theory rests heavily on the statement by Martin
Martin in 1703 that it was possible to tell a man’s residence by the
pattern of his tartan.” (This item has been discussed earlier in this
article). He continues as follows: “ A recent work on the subject
lists just under a hundred tartans with a geographical name. 22 are to
be found on record prior to 1820 - Of these 22, the vast majority
appear to be ‘trade names’, found in Wilson’s Pattern Book alongside
such fanciful titles as ‘Robin Hood’, ‘Rob Roy’... A mere handfull
show any sign of having possibly been used as true district tartans
and the evidence for any general system as such remains unimpressive
-”
In conclusion there would seem to be no evidence for clan tartans as
we know them today prior to the ‘45. The nearest we get to this is a
livery tartan for the chief’s retainers, but even chiefs found this
difficult to enforce, and was more a badge of political allegiance
than actual clan identity. Under these circumstances, it may not be
popular to state that clan tartans, as we know them today, did not
exist at the time of the ‘45; people get very emotional about it and
will often disagree violently. However, re-enactors should be in the
business of debunking myths and presenting history as accurately as
possible.
Given the weight of evidence against there being any general system of
clan tartans it is up to the pro-clan tartan theorists to present a
body of evidence to the Scottish Tartans Society at Pitlochry and to
the Lyon Court’s Advisory Committee on Tartans.
I can understand and sympathise with those who believe in the
antiquity of the clan tartan system. Even after all my research I
still find it odd that Lord Campbell of Ardmaddie (Lord Campbell of
the Bank -1749) and Charles Campbell of Lochlane (1760) should have
been painted in a red tartan; a prestigious colour at the time, but
not one I would have associated with my own clan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Art of Jewellery in Scotland - Ed. by R.K.Marshall and George
R.Dalgleish
HMSO Scottish National Portrait
Gallery
Tartans - C.Hesketh. (Octopus Books)
The Costume of Scotland - J.Telfer Dunbar.
The Observer’s Book of Heraldry - Charles McKinnon of Dunedin
Tartan - Hugh Cheape - National Museums of Scotland
Early Travellers in Scotland - Hume Brown
A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland - Martin Martin -
Facsimile of the 2nd Ed. 1716
Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry - Kathleen B.Corey
Clans and Tartans - Collins Pocket Reference
Social and Economic Development of Scotland before 1603 - I.F.Grant.
Scottish Art 1460 -1990 - Duncan MacMillan
Costume in Scottish Portaits 1560 -1830 - Scottish National Portrait
Gallery - Rosalind K. Marshall.
Highland Folk Ways. I.F.Grant
Bob Jewett
from word to txt. had converted qoutation marks to big black marks. I
hope this doesn't irritate you too much.