Part 10
There is every reason to esteem this tartan of early date. Possessing many characteristics of old design, it figures as Strathallan Drummond in most of the trustworthy collections, including those of The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, the Campbells of Craignish, and Messrs Romanes & Paterson, Edinburgh. An example of undoubted antiquity is held by the Editor. In 1812 David, sixth Earl of Airlie, head of the house of Ogilvy, married Clementina, only child of Gavin Drummond, Esq., the third son of James Drummond of Keltie by Clementina, sister and co-heiress of Alexander Graham of Duntrune, who was heir male of John, Viscount of Dundee. On this event the tartan here represented, up to that time known as Strathallan, appears to have been adopted by the Earl and some other branches of the family, and in the course of time the design came to be styled the Ogilvy, which is now its customary designation; the ground has sometimes been made blue instead of green. The appropriation is somewhat extraordinary, because the Ogilvys possess a fine tartan of their own (Plate XXX.), which can be traced at least as far back as last century. Mr and Mrs Nisbet-Hamilton-Ogilvy have an interesting portrait (ascribed to Allan Ramsay) of David, Lord Ogilvy, afterwards sixth Earl of Airlie (attainted), who raised a body of cavalry for Prince Charles Edward and fought at Culloden. The coat displays a simple check in red and blue, and the plaid an effective tartan scheme in these colours. Indeed, the picture is supposed to represent the uniform of Ogilvy’s Horse of 1745-46.
FRASER.
The accompanying reproduction is taken from a specimen in a collection formed about 1790, where the pattern is first recorded. Different Fraser families appear originally to have had each their special designs, but for a long time every important section (save that of Lovat, whose tartan forms the next plate) has recognised this as the _Breacan Friosalach_. Collections following one another at brief intervals from 1790 to 1850, comprising those of the Highland Society of London, the Campbells of Craignish, the late Dr. W. F. Skene, and The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, present it unvaryingly as the clan tartan. Paintings, both early and important, of branch representatives disclose variations which seem to indicate that certain families were wont to have the details slightly altered for their own uses. The pattern usually offered as Fraser, while bearing some resemblance to that illustrated in Plate IX. as Fraser of Lovat, is most likely an old tartan of Clan Grant (see the Grant, Plate X.), and its association with the Clan Fraser is based on its occurrence in the _Vestiarium Scoticum_. Some account of the Fraser and other family portraits showing Highland costume was contributed by the Editor to _The Scottish Antiquary_, Vol. VIII. See also the notes on the Fraser of Lovat tartan.
FRASER OF LOVAT.
Confirmation of the supposition that various branches of Clan Fraser wore tartans similar in scheme but different in detail is furnished by the family portraits. In a fine presentment of Major James Fraser of Castle Leather (whereof a replica hangs in Inverness Town Hall), painted about 1723, a red pattern is shown in the plaid, while the rest of the dress is a simple check in red, green, and blue. Portraits of the Hon. Sybella Fraser of Lovat and the Hon. Mrs Archibald Fraser of Lovat, executed after the middle of last century, in the collection of Sir William Augustus Fraser of Ledclune, have different red setts in the plaids. Miss Fraser of Abertarff possesses an interesting likeness of her father, dated 1808, that supplies yet another arrangement in red. The present illustration depicts the earliest authenticated Lovat pattern, which is accepted, moreover, by the leading collectors. In 1849 Lord Lovat wrote of the tartan generally styled Fraser (though, as already mentioned, it is most probably Grant—Plate X.), that he had ascertained it to be that of his clan prior to 1745. It is difficult to accept the statement, since no trace of the design appears in the Fraser paintings either at or before that period. On the other hand, the pattern was undoubtedly in use then by a prominent member of Clan Grant, of whom it is said that he continued to wear the Highland dress for almost a century, as stated in the notes on the Grant tartan.
GRANT.
Reproduced from a portrait of Robert Grant of Lurg (1678-1777), in the collection at Troup House. This example, as mentioned in the note to Plate VIII., is identical with that now commonly styled the Fraser. It was accepted by some only of the Fraser families in 1842, because it was illustrated under their name in the _Vestiarium Scoticum_. Of the Laird of Lurg there is another likeness, in the possession of Lady Seafield at Castle Grant, which represents him in the Black Watch tartan. The explanation offered is that he was an officer in the Clan Grant Company of the Black Watch; that since his clan supported the Government the prohibition against the national dress would not be enforced in his case; and that it is but reasonable to suppose he wore the tartan of his clan when not in military uniform. In connection with the Grants occurs one of the earliest descriptions of a distinctive clan design. It is dated 1704. It has been partially, though inaccurately, quoted in Sir William Fraser’s _Chiefs of Grant_ (Edinburgh, 1883), and on account of its interest it is given in the Introduction to this work. The illustration is not in absolute harmony with the description, and appears, indeed, to be a modification of it. Attention may again be directed to the resemblance between the Grant and the Fraser tartans. The wide dissimilarity in the tartans depicted in the Grant family portraits preserved at Castle Grant and elsewhere is referred to in the Introduction.
HUNTLY.
The present example is designated Huntly and Brodie in certain early collections, and, like those of Dunblane, Strathearn, and Atholl, it appears to belong to a district rather than to a family. Tradition shows it to have been in use during a considerable portion of last century by such families as Gordon, Brodie, and Forbes, or at least by members of these touched with Jacobitism, who appear to have assumed this tartan in common, just as many families of different name adopted a uniform wear in various localities. On the raising of the Gordon Highlanders in 1794 a yellow stripe was introduced into the Black Watch pattern for their regimental use; and since then the Gordons have discontinued the use of the Huntly except on full-dress occasions. In a beautiful painting of Miss Rebecca Forbes, daughter of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, married in 1802 to Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell, fifteenth of Glengarry, there is a dress of this tartan which is known to have been used by her family in Aberdeenshire. From information supplied by the late Dr. William Forbes Skene to Mr Elphinstone Dalrymple, it is ascertained that the present Forbes tartan was designed for the Pitsligo family in 1822 by another Miss Forbes of Pitsligo. It was done by merely adding a white line to the Forty-second; the Gordon was similarly obtained by the addition of a yellow one, and this is now the sole difference between the wear of the two principal families, Forbes and Gordon, who formerly wore the Huntly.
KEITH AND AUSTIN.
Despite the uncertainty concerning the origin of this design, it is included in every complete early collection, like that of the Highland Society of London, of the late Dr. Skene, of Messrs Ogilvie & Co., and of Messrs Romanes & Paterson. The last-mentioned firm has supplied it from the early years of the present century to various families of Keiths and Austins, including the house of Keith-Falconer, Earls of Kintore. The Austins appear first on record as allies and supporters of the Keiths. The name was variously spelt, though in ancient records it was generally begun with Ou or Ow. Of curious interest as showing an early connection between the families is the occurrence in 1587 of the name of Alexander Ousteane, burgess of Edinburgh, as one of the cautioners for George Keith, Earl Marshall, in an action raised against him by Margaret Erskine, Lady Pitcarie. In the same year Alexander Oisteane, no doubt the same person, was a Parliamentary representative of the Burgh of Edinburgh. In 1589, Walter Oustene, a tenant in Lochquhan (a possession of the Keith family), was one of the subscribers to a Bond of Caution imposed on a number of the landed men in the shires of Aberdeen and Kincardine, binding them to keep the peace in the struggles with the Catholic party headed by Huntly.
KENNEDY.
The tartan seems to have been first worn by Kennedy families in the Lochaber district. Tradition avers that some centuries back Ulric Kennedy, a scion of the Ayrshire Kennedys who came originally from Ireland, settled in Lochaber, and that all bearing the name in this locality are descended from him. In the Highlands they are known as Mac Ulrics or Clan Ulric, and are said to have once mustered considerable force. The design has been accepted by the Kennedys in Carrick, many of whom adopted it last century as an emblem of their Jacobite sympathies. Several early examples of the pattern are in existence, and one of these is here reproduced in the exact tints of the original. As will be seen in the plate, the single red stripe is scarlet and the two fine red lines are crimson; but manufacturers, to save themselves trouble, have been accustomed to vitiate the design by failing to mark this distinction. It is noteworthy that the tartan bears little resemblance to any other Lochaber design of ancient date, and that the Kennedys, while generally allied with the Camerons, have ever maintained their own colours. They regard as their chief the Marquis of Ailsa, who is head of the Kennedys of Ayrshire.
LOGAN.
The pattern here given is included in the collection formed by the Highland Society of London, and it occurs in numerous others, including that at Moy Hall, while it has borne this name for many years. Great confusion has somehow arisen concerning the tartan of the family. James Logan’s table in _The Scottish Gaël_ furnishes a design totally unlike the one afterwards illustrated in his joint work with Mac Ian, _The Clans of the Scottish Highlands_. Messrs Smith, in their usually trustworthy _Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland_, present the Logan designated as the Skene, with the comment: “It appears in Mr Logan’s book, but we must confess it is a pattern about the antiquity of which we entertain some doubts.” In point of fact, Logan gives no Skene tartan in _The Scottish Gaël_, while the pattern of Clan Donchadh of Mar or Skene supplied in the Logan-Mac Ian collaboration is entirely different. That it is not Skene tartan is attested by the fact that an example which belonged to the late Dr. W. F. Skene (now in the possession of the Editor) is described as “Logan” in his own handwriting. Its early and general use under that name clearly justifies its inclusion in this collection.
MAC CALLUM.
Well-nigh forgotten and rarely encountered, save in the old pattern-book or in the tartan collector’s museum, this design is early, though its origin cannot be fixed with any certainty. It has been supplanted by a comparatively modern pattern, known commonly as the Malcolm but occasionally as the Mac Callum, which is the ancient form of the name. The new scheme has existed some forty or fifty years at least, as the Editor has received from a lady in Skye a specimen in a portion of a silk dress her family has owned for about that period without knowing the name of the tartan. In the collection of the Highland Society of London (1822), in that at Moy Hall, and in every other important repository of the kind, the Mac Callum as here illustrated is ranked, and the Malcolm is wanting. It its believed that the family, having lost trace of the old sett fifty or sixty years ago, had the modern design prepared from the recollection of old people in Argyllshire; but, as has frequently happened in similar circumstances, the recovery of the original design shows that considerable deviation had been made.
MACDONALD.
One of the most romantic stories associated with tartans is attached to the fragment now reproduced. In the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, is a collection of MSS. in ten black-edged volumes bearing the title of _The Lyon in Mourning_, the reference being to the misfortunes of the House of Stuart. Fastened to the inner sides of the boards are many relics of the pathetic experiences of Prince Charles during the interval between his defeat at Culloden and his escape to France. The documents were written and the mementoes gathered by Bishop Robert Forbes, an enthusiastic Jacobite. Under a scrap of tartan with a bit of red lining he has noted:—
The above are pieces of the outside and inside of that identical waistcoat which Macdonald of Kingsburgh gave to the Prince when he laid aside the woman’s clothes. The said waistcoat being too fine for a servant the Prince exchanged it with Malcolm Macleod. Malcolm, after parting with the Prince, and finding himself in danger of being seized, did hide the waistcoat in a cleft of a rock, where, upon his returning home in the beginning of September 1747, he found it all rotten to bits, except only as much as would serve to cover little more than one’s loof, and two buttons, all of which he was pleased to send to me. The waistcoat had lain more than a full year in the cleft of the rock, for Malcolm Macleod was made prisoner sometime in July 1746.
In the MSS. a copy of Macleod’s letter is given, and it runs thus:—
Reverend Dr. Sir,
You’l received from the bearer all that was to the for of the weast Coat that the P. gave to me, because no Body cou’d get it where I put it till I came home my self likwise tow of the Buttons that wor in it. I cou’d get that from Kingsborrow you desired me ——. However he has it. I have more to tell you when I see ——. Writ to me by the Bearer mind me most kindly to Lady Bruce & all aquantance Especiall Lady Balmirina & her sister.
I’m your very humble servant, MAL MACLEOD.
Rasay, October 13, 1747.
The MSS., sold by the bishop’s widow to Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton, were acquired by Robert Chambers, who presented them to the Library. An account of the MSS. appears in _Chambers’s Jacobite Memoirs_. Edinburgh, 1834.
MACDONALD OF KEPPOCH.
The Macdonalds boast more tartans than any other clan, in consequence of many branches having adopted setts differing from the clan pattern. The Macdonalds of Keppoch, or Siol Mac Mhic Raonuill, did so. This sept was not numerically strong as compared with others, for in 1745 its fighting men were estimated at three hundred. The illustration represents a portion of the plaid the Keppoch of ’45 gave Prince Charles Edward, long preserved at Moy Hall, but many years back divided among various families. Of this chief it is recorded that, when the Macdonalds refused to charge the Hanoverian army at Culloden, and stood irresolute, slashing the turf with their claymores, he exclaimed, “My God! Have the children of my tribe deserted me?” and dashed forward on the enemy, to be immediately shot down. Recently the pattern has fallen into desuetude, many entitled to wear it preferring the quieter colours of the pattern now commonly known as Clan Macdonald. Several variations of the Keppoch scheme exist, and old specimens differing from the illustration are held by some to be authentic setts; but this has always been admitted by leading authorities to be the Keppoch, since the plaid presented to the Prince was presumably in the chief’s pattern.
MACKINTOSH.
The extensive variations in the tartans styled Mackintosh are attributable to the fact that Clan Chattan embraced many septs, more or less nearly allied, who changed the pattern at will. But the chief’s and the clan designs are now accepted as authoritative examples of the early scheme. To the example here illustrated peculiar interest attaches, since it is the sett worn by Prince Charles Edward in the Mackintosh country. The Rev. A. Thomson Grant, of the Rectory, Leven, from whom the specimen was obtained, writes: “The piece of tartan I sent you was given me in September 1860 by Mrs Christina Mackintosh or Grant, widow of the Rev. James Grant, minister of Cromdale. I was at the time on a visit to Coulnakyle House, some miles above Grantown, where Mrs Grant and her family then resided. Mrs Grant produced a piece of tartan, which she confidently assured me was a piece of the kilt worn by Prince Charlie while in the Mackintosh country. The kilt, she added, was religiously divided among the then members of the chief’s family and near relations, and the piece she possessed had come down to her by regular descent from her ancestors of that time. When I was bidding good-bye, Mrs Grant halved the piece of tartan, and gave me that which is now in your possession.” The illustration reproduces the colours and the dimensions in the original, which, though a small, is yet a fine specimen of old hard tartan.
MAC INTYRE AND GLENORCHY.
Wherever authentic records of tartans are preserved this design appears, generally as Mac Intyre and Glenorchy, though occasionally as Glenorchy alone. It seems to have partaken of the nature of a district tartan, for the locality whence the title is taken was only partly occupied by the Mac Intyres, who appear never to have attained the strength of a clan. No Mac Intyre arms are matriculated in the Lyon Register. They are found, however, in Burke’s _General Armoury_, and the individual contributing them evidently regarded his family as a sept of the Mac Donalds. The pattern in the illustration occurs in the collection of the Highland Society of London (1822), and in reproductions made in Edinburgh about 1820 from examples of ancient designs procured in the Highlands near that time. In a collection formed in 1790 there is a scheme differing very slightly from the present illustration. Of the antiquity of the name Mac Intyre in Lorn evidence is furnished by the traditions of a family who “possessed the farm of Glenoe, in Nether Lorn, from about the year 1300 down to 1810. They were originally foresters of Stewart, Lord Lorn, and were continued in their possession and employment after the succession of the Glenorchy and Breadalbane families to this estate, by a marriage with a co-heiress of the last Lord Lorn of the Stewart family in the year 1435” (Stewart’s _Highlanders_, third edition, Vol. I. p. 82). General Stewart, writing in 1822, observes: “In like manner the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colours of different districts were easily distinguishable.” Doubtless this statement refers to the example here given, because it is shown in all collections of importance gathered at that date, when what is now commonly known as the Mac Intyre appears to have been non-existent.
MAC LACHLAN.
The accompanying tartan is one of two ancient designs bearing the same name. It figures in all the collections formed in the early years of the century, and an excellent example (the precise date of which, however, is unknown) has been procured from Messrs Romanes & Paterson. The other design, to be found in a collection made in 1790, is shown in an ancient piece of hard tartan with a simple check in red and green about five-eighths of an inch square in the Editor’s possession. In the _Vestiarium Scoticum_ the Mac Lachlan is depicted as a brilliant combination of yellow and black, being the sett in use by the present Mac Lachlan of Mac Lachlan. The clan generally use a red and dark blue design, which cannot be traced further back than 1850 to the Smiths’ and Smibert’s works. The existence of the tartan illustrated appears to have been generally overlooked by the clan, a fact greatly to be regretted, as it is one of the finest of the old clan setts. That the illustration represents an early and authentic clan pattern of the Mac Lachlan cannot be doubted, for it is the only example occurring under that name in the collections of the Highland Society, the Campbells of Craignish, The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and many others. Several members of a minor sept of the Mac Lachlans, followers of the Stewarts of Appin, were slain in the campaign of 1745-46 while fighting in the Appin Regiment. (See note under Stewart of Appin.)
MAC LAINE OF LOCHBUIE.
One of the few tartans concerning whose antiquity no doubt appears ever to have been suggested, the Mac Laine of Lochbuie ranks in every extensive collection of old patterns, though till recently it was not represented in any published work. Particularly fine examples are preserved in the Willis collection and in that of The Mackintosh. The design is generally woven in an open sett, which produces an admirable effect. It is unique among old patterns, by reason of the quantity of pale blue in its composition, that colour being usually reserved for narrow lines. The date of its introduction is unknown, but its use in the Western Isles last century is authenticated, and tradition points to its early origin. Despite the fact that the clan followed the Marquis of Montrose and joined the rising of ’15, it took no share in the ’45; and it may consequently be presumed that the members, like others in similar cases, continued to wear their tartan and dress after these had been formally proscribed. The present Mac Laine of Lochbuie wears also the hunting Mac Laine of Lochbuie, which, as he himself points out, is of modern invention.
MACKEANE (MAC IAN).
The _Vestiarium Scoticum_, already acknowledged as the earliest and the most elaborate illustrated publication on tartan designs, was edited by the late John Sobieski Stuart from a MS. stated to belong to the sixteenth century. The MS. was printed and published in 1842, with plates executed from drawings by Charles Edward Stuart, the editor’s brother. Of course the drawings are but a development of the descriptions in the MS. It need scarcely be added that the volume is now rare and costly. The MS. was transcribed and illuminated in 1829 by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, for whom Charles Edward Stuart prepared a series of drawings which included several tartans not illustrated in the published work. One of these is here reproduced, and Sir Richard Urquhart, Knycht, the reputed author of the MS., thus describes it: “Mackeane hethe four stryppes of Blak upon ain scarlett feilde, and upon the scarlett sett ain spraig (sprainge) of yellowe of saxteen threidis, havand thereto ain bordure of Blak of twa threidis.” The Mac Ians, whose name is variously spelt in the early clan rolls and elsewhere as M’Kane, Mac Coin, Mac Eoin, Clanayioun, &c., were a branch of the Clan Macdonald. That the use of the design was not confined to this branch is evidenced by a contemporary portrait of Alastair Ruadh of Glengarry (who was prominent in the ’45), in which he is depicted in this tartan. The painting is in the possession of John Alastair Erskine Cuninghame, Esq. of Balgownie, Perthshire, the last lineal descendant and heir-general of Alastair Ronaldson Macdonell of Glengarry.
MAC LEAN: HUNTING.