"Jacobite Clan Tartans" Topic

Did the jacobite soldiers of the same regiment all wear the tartan of their clan?

Tartans were not codified until the 19th century. In fact, if you look at Ernest Griset's depiction of the Battle of Culloden, one can count 23 different tartans among ten Jacobites.

Thanks!

The myth of the clan tartan started with Queen Victoria and her lifting of the proscription. Tartans are woven using a stick that shows the thread count of each color. Most of the sticks disappeared during the proscription. A theory arose that certain clans all wore a specific tartan. That resulted in the clans adopting a certain tartan as their own and so we have clan tartans. I seem to recall an argument that prior to the '45 clans wore "regional" tartans that represented the area they were from although this, as far as I know now, had never been proven.

One of the first paintings, done by David Morier, of the battle was done using prisoners. They are dressed in various tartans, and even in a different kilt and jacket tartan. One argument against the accuracy of the painting is that the prisoners were dressed in various tartans as they were using whatever was available as their own clothing wore out. About the only common item of clothing among the figures is the blue bonnet.

If you want to be a stickler, you should paint any individual regiment in a number of different tartans, and include trousers and kilts among them. If you aren't worried about total accuracy, paint the men of the same regiment up in the "modern" tartan.

Check out this website:

BritishBattles.com

It has several paintings and includes Prestonpans and Falkirk.

Clan tartans were a marketing ploy of Wilsons of Bannockburn a weaving firm who were supplying the Highland regiments and for a while the only people supposed to be producing tartan. Their pattern books were what became the authority on tartans.

Prior to this there is little or no evidence for any uniformity. Locally there is a number of portraits painted of gentry done in highland dress done well prior to the rebellions and they show no family consistency in the tartans.

x42

I defy anyone to paint up the Highland Officer shown in the painting in the Prestonpans section of BritishBattles.com
In 15mm. Or heck, in 28mm. Or maybe even 40mm.

Is it not possible that, during the Jacobite era, members of a clan might have bought batches of the same cloth (possibly from their laird or clan chief) and thereby presented a quasi-uniform appearance at times?

Is it not possible that, during the Jacobite era, members of a clan might have bought batches of the same cloth (possibly from their laird or clan chief) and thereby presented a quasi-uniform appearance at times?

Certainly there's room for some uniformity… there isn't enough evidense one way or the other. Painter's preference reigns here, moreso than most periods

Is it not possible that, during the Jacobite era, members of a clan might have bought batches of the same cloth (possibly from their laird or clan chief) and thereby presented a quasi-uniform appearance at times?

At the time, almost all weaving in Scotland was literally a cottage industry. The only thing approaching a commercial production of tartan was what was sold to Government forces.

The chance of encountering common tartans are limited to two possibilities. The first instance would be where a weaver might weave enough cloth of a particular sett to make multiple garments. The second would be if a weaver happened to create an attractive and desirable sett for which there was a demand. Given the economic realities of 18C. Scotland, the latter case would be rare indeed; few of those wearing Highland dress would have the funds to rush out and buy new tartan simply because it looked good.

When I paint my Front Rank Jacobites, I group them into groups of the same figure pose, then I paint each one a different sett

for example:

row one includes one each of charging with targe/sword, advancing with musket, attacking with claymore, firing musket, and advancing with sword/targe. So that is one group of five different figures. Then I create five more identical groups and line them up like this:

charging / advancing w/sword/ advancing w/musket/ firing musket/claymore
charging (ditto)
charging (ditto)
charging (ditto)
charging (ditto)

so then the first row might all be painted with green jackets and red kilts with black lines
the second road with brown jackets and green kilts with red lines
the third row with blue jackets and brown kilts with light blue lines
the fourth row with grey jackets and red kilts with dark blue lines
the fifth row with dark tan jackets and green kilts

I paint across the row with the same color. So when I'm finished, I have five poses in completely different tartans and no one pose has the same color combinations. This gives you a nice mix of colors in your clan regiment and creates a sense of individuality in the clan.

Did the jacobite soldiers of the same regiment…

Calling them a "regiment" is a bit of a stretch.

good to see John the OFM back on deck

<<The chance of encountering common tartans are limited to two possibilities. The first instance would be where a weaver might weave enough cloth of a particular sett to make multiple garments.>>

This was what I was thinking – people buying cloth from the same source would get essentially the same sett. Equally, if one person obtained a pattern, others in their village might use it, or it might "spread" as the weaver's children left home and obtained their own looms.

<<The second would be if a weaver happened to create an attractive and desirable sett for which there was a demand. Given the economic realities of 18C. Scotland, the latter case would be rare indeed; few of those wearing Highland dress would have the funds to rush out and buy new tartan simply because it looked good.>>

Agreed. In fact, I hadn't even considered the "fashion" option as the average "croftie" would be too poor, whilst the richer members of highland society would be more likely to want to look distinctive.

Given that the above is all probably true, there is some evidence of Lowland regiments being issued the so-called Rob Roy plaid in efforts to make them look Hielan'.

I have read that while a certain clan didn't wear a specific tartan, that regions might have certain colors more prevalent. So, one clan may have alot of reds with a yellow stripe, etc. With that being said, I paint my jacobites in a hodgepodge of plaids.

that regions might have certain colors more prevalent

This is probably true. All the portraits mentioned in my previous post have a lot of yellow in the tartans. There are a number of good yellow dyes available locally and red is notable from its absence. Local water is unsuitable for getting good reds from madder and dying of affordable reds had to wait for imports from the Americas.

Elsewhere may well have water suitable for madder but not our local yellows. Similar arguments might be put forward for most other dyestuffs affecting locally dyed yarn.

x42

A very good point, and worth noting that locally obtained reds would range from brownish to what we would consider a shade of orange.

Color words in Gaelic are few and, for lack of a better word, indefinite. Buidhe, for example, is usually yellow but can also mean orange. Orange is also described using dearg, which usually means red. Green is uaine (which can also describe yellow), but many green objects are described by glas (grey) or gorm (blue). Now, glas and gorm…okay, I'll stop.

I mention this because, for our purposes, it brings home the wide variance and imperfect nature of the homemade, mostly plant-based dyes of the Highlands and Isles. It also makes it damned hard to figure out what people are wearing if you're reading a contemporary song/poem.

We actually do weaving and dyeing with natural dyestuffs and would like to add the following to the discussion. A footpowered loom is warped with a limited length- 5 to 10 yards of 36 inch wide fabric would be a lot. The warp is the strings that are wound around a back beam, go through the heddles (which raise some of the strings to make a "shed", through which you throw a boat which sticks in the crosswise weft threads). The limit is how thick the thread are when wound on the back beam. The width of the loom and fabric is limited by how far you can lean over to throw the shuttle(boat) and how far you can throw it by hand. 32 to 36 inchs is about the limit. The result of these is that a single piece of cloth from a hand loom is going to be at biggest 4 foot wide and 10 yards long. The next piece of cloth need not be the same style. You can change the weft freely while weaving so the design can change even on the same piece of cloth. There is no mechanical reason to stay the same and each cottage weaver thinks that they make something prettier than their neighbor.

Secondly, natural dyes require two things. A mortant (which is a metal salt) to attach itself chemcially to the wool protein, and a dyestuff, (the stuff with the colour) to attach itself to the mortant. Yellow easily and cheaply comes from plant flowers such as Queens-Annes lace, a common weed. If you use a mortant of tin, chrome, iron, Alum, copper, sodium sulfate, or tannin you will get greatly different colours. Use impure metals or different amounts or different acidities or add traces of other mortants,and the colours will vary greatly. So a yellow from different areas or even the same cottage over time, would vary drastically. For dyestuffs, it is easy to get browns, blacks, greens,and yellow. Oranges, golds and some blues would be available locally. Reds from madder and good blues from woad are much harder and costly to make for a cottage weaver. There are the colors that people would be working from.

Expensive imported dyes from the Americas and Asia would give a lot of the deep reds and blues, but these would be way too expensive. Synthetic analine dyes came much later and these intense colours are what we are used to seeing in "tartans".

1968billsfan,

Two questions for you:-

1) Where would the "hodden grey" long associated with non-highland Scottish troops have come from? The obvious answer is "undyed cloth" but was it really that simple, as the shades usually depicted are not "natural" to any likely materials (eg wool).

2) Is it true that black usually faded to brown in cheaper cloth and a "permanent" black needed several repeats (and possibly, from what you just said, a top quality mordant)?

Supercilius,

First a few comments about sheep. Primative sheep had long guard hairs, (kelp) and a inner furry wool that was shed in the spring. They were probably black and brown with a little white in colour. Genetric mutations were saved by man to selectively provide the all white all-wool fuzzballs that are most common breeds.(see link ) More primative breeds lingered on in the celtic (and norse) fringes of Scotland, islands off Scotland, Wales and Iceland, where there was a harsher climate, substance farming and poorer land. So smaller sheep, not optimized for white wool production (e.g. southern England)that were hardy and survivors remained. We still have exisiting examples in the Soal, Icelandic and Mouflan sheep. (see: link ~ pg 38 for some references from the 1500's describing the strange Scottish sheep). These sheep would have a variety of colours, mainly natural black and white, but there would also be greys, natural brown and a "moorit" reddish brown colour.

Looking up in the dictonary, "hodden grey" has one definition as using a combination of 1 black thread and 9 white threads. This would give a grey. Although a black sheep might have the outter layer of its coat bleached by the sun at the end of the summer to a slightly brown tip, you are not going to get this change in a wolven fabric. Another factor is that it is extrememly hard to hand spin (drop spindel or spinning wheel)wool to a tight and strong enought thread to give a good warp. (A lot of hand wolven fabric using wool uses linen(flax) for warp and wool for the weft). It would have been wolven without a lot of tension and the fabric would then be fullered by pounding in water in order to felt it up and crosslink the wool. This would mix up the colours and the white and black threads would not be very distingusihable.

I'm guessing that "hodden grey" would be a colour fast grey color wolven from some combination of naturally grey, black and white wool. When I looked up pictures of hodden grey on google
such as link it actually shows a redish, pinkish colour which is known as morrit. I would be surprised if wool this colour would be used for anything other than a few aristorcrat's status clothing because it is uncommon and comes from quite small animals. (It is an expensive landspinners item now link I wonder if the government pattern, if it is a saddened reddish-brown hue, might have been produced by overdying a gray wool cloth with madder (a common red root dye used for the British scarlet uniforms)?

Sorry, not to know the answers- I hadn't heard of hodden grey before.

Sorry, not to know the answers- I hadn't heard of hodden grey before.

Can I catch this one then?

'Hodden' refers to the the name of the fabric, which was woven from unbleached and undyed homespun wool. It would therefore be self-coloured, and following what 1968 said above, would be predominately a greyish red-brown! shade due to the mix of wools in the yarn. Hence 'hodden grey'.

link

As it goes, the London Scottish Regiment wear hodden grey.

link

link

As do the Toronto Scottish Regiment

link

The color of those uniforms is a pinkish light brown more than a black-white-grey. I know from the prices for the primative-breed sheep and fleeces and roving that that shade is very expensive and rare. The basic genetics is either a brown or white and only about 1/7th of the combinations give that pinkish brown colour. It has to be a dyed colour.

link

Hodden grey can be any colour that wool comes in. The brown shade we know today is modern. " Hodden" just means plain.

And Queen Victoria did NOT lift the proscription on wearing tartan. It was lifted in 1782, long before she was born!

Blame Sir Walter Scott oh and Mel Gibson for the mythical traditions of Modern Scotland.

Its always the evil English fault, no matter that the Scots were and are, happy to kill each other at the drop of a bonnet :)

You may want to check out a certain clever Englishman who invented the short kilt worn today .

Here is couple of paragraphs from the BBC Rieth 1999 Lecture
mentioning the noble tradition :)

When Scots get together to celebrate their national identity, they do so in ways steeped in tradition. Men wear the kilt, with each clan having its own tartan – and their ceremonials are accompanied by the wail of the bagpipes. By means of these symbols, they show their loyalty to ancient rituals – rituals whose origins go far back into antiquity.
Except for the fact that they don't. Along with most other symbols of Scottishness, all these are quite recent creations. The short kilt seems to have been invented by an English industrialist from Lancashire, Thomas Rawlinson, in the early 18th Century. He set out to alter the existing dress of highlanders to make it convenient for workmen.

Kilts were a product of the industrial revolution. The aim was not to preserve time-honoured customs, but the opposite – to bring the highlanders out of the heather and into the factory. The kilt didn't start life as the national dress of Scotland. The lowlanders, who made up the large majority of Scots, saw highland dress as a barbaric form of clothing, which most looked on with some contempt. Similarly, many of the clan tartans worn now were devised during the Victorian period, by enterprising tailors who correctly saw a market in them.

Much of what we think of as traditional, and steeped in the mists of time, is actually a product at most of the last couple of centuries, and is often much more recent than that. The case of the Scottish kilt comes from a celebrated volume by the historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, called The Invention of Tradition. They give examples of invented traditions from a variety of different countries, including colonial India.

So make up whatever colour tartans you want, after all it is a tradition to invent tartans,cry when the pipes are played and shout when drunk or sober about how evil the English are.

No lowlanders were hurt or injured in the writing of this post :)

<<No lowlanders were hurt or injured in the writing of this post :)>>

That's not to say they won't be at some point in the future, though……

Is it not the new fashion to wear something under the kilt that dates from the reign of Queen Victoria?

The bagpipes, on the other hand, are traditional -as in most of western Europe.

I have been putting this together for a few days. I believe defiantly clan regional tartans were in use in the period, but more of a plaid form than a kilt as we know it today.

Lots of references are available long before Walter Scott made the tartans popular due to his writings in the late 18th/ early 19th century along with King George IVs visit to Scotland in 1820.

The earliest documented tartan in Britain, known as the Falkirk tartan, dates from the 3rd century AD. It was uncovered at Falkirk in Stirlingshire, Scotland, about 400 metres north-west of the Antonine Wall. The fragment was stuffed into the mouth of the earthenware pot containing almost 2, 000 Roman coins. The Falkirk tartan is simple check design, of natural light and dark brown wool from native Soay Sheep wool.

In 1538 we find in the Lord High Treasurer's accounts record of some material ordered for King James V to be made into a Highland outfit. Among these materials were 15 ells of "Holland claith to be syde Heland Sarkis." This would be translated as long Highland shirts. Also listed were quantities of silk for sewing the shirts and ribbons for decoration. We can tell from this that the shirts were most likely not pleated or else more material would have been needed. Also it is interesting to note that the shirts were to be sewn with silk.

In 1547 James V went on a voyage around the north of Scotland and the Orkneys, and back down to Galloway. An account of this voyage was published in 1583 by Nicolay D'Arfeville, cosmographer to the King of France. He writes of the ‘Wild Scots' found in the north, "They wear like the Irish a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron . . ."

In 1556 a French writer named Jean de Beaugue wrote an account of the siege of Haddington in 1549 in which he describes the Scottish Highlanders who were present as wearing "no clothes except their dyed shirts and a sort of light woolen rug of several colours." This again confirms the léine and brat combination common in Gaelic dress.

"Their clothing was made for use (being chiefly suited for war) and not for ornament. All, both nobles and common people, wore mantles of one sort (excert that the nobles preferred those of several colours). These were long and flowing, but capable of being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds. I am inclined to believe that they were the same as this to which the ancients gave the name of brachae. Wrapped up in these for their only covering, they would sleep comfortably. They had also shaggy rugs, such as the Irish use at the present day, some fitted for a journey, others to be placed on a bed. The rest of their garments consisted of a short wollen jacket, with sleeves open below for the convenience of throwing darts, and a covering for the thighs of the simplest kind, more for decency than for show, or defence against cold.They also made of linen very full tunics with many folds and wide sleeves, flowing loose to their knees. The wealthy dyed these with saffron, and others oiled them, to keep them longer clean among the exertion and exercise of a camp… In making these, grace and ornament were not lacking, and the different pieces were seemed together with silk, commonly green, or red."-Bishop Lesley, 1578

"The Scots today do not differ in manners and customs from the Irish, from whom they originated, as we have said above: for when the sky is clear one can see Ireland from Scotland. Further, their language, their customs and their dress are alike. . . They are dressed in such a manner and in such shirts dyed with saffron as the Irish and go with bare legs to the knee." -1575, Sebastian Munster, Cosmographia.

In 1573 Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote of the Highlanders that "they be cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt saffroned after the Irish manner, going barelegged to the knee."

The highlanders take pleasure in clothing of various colours, especially striped, and their favorite colours are purple and blue. Their forbears wore plaids of many colours, and numbers still in keeping with this custom, but most now prefer to wear a dark brown, matching the leaves of the heather, so that, while lying among it in the day-time, they may not be revealed by a sight of their clothing. In these, wrapped, rather than covered, they face the worst storms of the open, and at times will lie down and sleep, even in snow." -Nicholas d'Afreville, Cosmographer to the King of France, circa 1583

A 1587 charter granted to Hector Maclean of Duart requires feu duty on land paid as 60 ells of cloth of white, black and green colours

"Those who inhabit the North are more rude, homely and unruly, and for this reason are called "wild". They wear like the Irish a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron, and over this a garment hanging to the knee, of coarse wool, after the fashion of a cassock."-1583, Nicolay d'Arfeville.

"A speckled garment of many colours, hanging in folds to the calf, with a girdle round the loins over the garment." -O'Clery describing Islemen fighting the English in Ulster, 1590's.

Lady Montgomery, wife of Sir Hugh Montgomery, 'set up and encouraged linen and woollen manufactory (in Ulster), which soon brougt down the prices of the breakens (tartans) and narrow cloths of both sorts.' The beginning of such (manu-)factories might be part of the reason the kilt became more common during the 17th century. -1613

1594
Lughaid O'Cleirigh wrote (originally in Irish Gaelic)
"[the Scottish mercenaries] were recognised among the Irish soldiers by the distinction of their arms and clothing, their habits and language, for their exterior dress was mottled cloaks of many colours with a fringe to their shins and calves, their belts were over their loins outside their cloaks."

1596
Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy granted his son John some lands in return for ₤10 Scots, a gallon of aquavitae, and "ane fyned hewd brakan" (breachan=plaid). I.e. plaids were known and used by the aristocracy

1596
In an exchange of gifts Angus MacDonald of Islay gave "plaids and sculls [skull-cap helmets]" to Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. In return he received "seven of the best horses in the country". (Grant and Cheape, Periods in Highland History, p. 126) The Earl was the most powerful warlord in Ireland. Allied with Red Hugh O'Donnell, he was leading the last and most dangerous of all the Irish revolts against Queen Elizabeth. Thus we see plaids being used as high value diplomatic gifts in time of war, and hence respected by the great nobles of the Gaelic world.
1603
Anonymous, Oran Cath Ghlinn Freòin ("The Song of the Battle of Glen Fruin")

B' ann ded fhasan air uairibh
Crùn datht' thoirt do Ruairidh
Agus aodach ùr uasal mar ròs.

Nuair a dhìrich sibh 'm bruthach
S a ghlaodh sibh ‘Bad Giuthais!',
Bha luchd nan ad dubha fo leòn.

Bha mi 'n làthair an latha
'N robh do bhràithrean is d' athair
Far an d' fhàg sibh nan laighe luch-chleóc.

It was your custom from time to time
To give a bright crown to Ruairi,
Along with noble, fresh, rose-like clothing.

When you climbed the embankment
And you cried out Bad Giuthais!,
The folk of black hats were dealt damage.

I was present at the battle,
At which were your father and brother,
Where you felled the cloaked folk.

Bho Cluaidh gu Calasraid: From the Clyde to Callander, pp.212-213.

1600-1610
The "Earliest illustration of a belted plaid" can be seen at The Early History of the Kilt and in Dunbar's History of Highland Dress, p. 53. It is from a travel book by Hieronymous Tielssch that probably dates from the first decade of the 17th century. He is carrying a large sword. As discussed above, only someone from the upper classes would have such a weapon. Furthermore, the hose and shoes clearly show we are not looking at someone from the bottom of society.

1618
John Taylor described a visit to a hunting lodge in the Highlands.

"For once in the yeer …. many of the nobility and gentry of the Kingdome for their pleasure doe come into these Highland countries to hunt, where they conforme themselves to the habit of the Highland men….[The Highlanders] habit is shoes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuff of divers colours which they call tartane. As for breeches many of them, nor their forefathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuff their hose is of …, with a plaid about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and light stuffe than their hose….Now their weapons are long bowes and forked arrows, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, durks, and Loquhabor-axes….As for their (the Highlanders') attire, any man of whatsoever degree that comes among them must not disdaine to wear it; for if they doe then they will disdaine to hunt, or to bring in their dogges; but if men be kinde to them, and be in their habit, then are they conquered by kindness and sport will be plentifull….This was the reason that I found so many noblemen and gentlemen in those shapes". Dunbar, History of Highland Dress, p. 34.

It appears that the desire for uniformity in the colors of tartan used by a clan was beginning in the early 1600's:"remove the red and white lines from the plaides of his men so as to bring their dress into harmony with that of other septs". -1618, Letter from Sir Rbt. Gordon of Gordonstoun to Murray of Pulrossie

1620
Letter from Sir Robert Gordon, "conteyning certane precepts and adwertisments to his nephue Jhon, Earle of Sutherland."

"Use your diligence to take away the reliques of the Irishe barbaritie which as yet remains in your countrey, to wit, the Irishe language and the habit, Purge your countrey peice and peice from that unciwill kynd of cloithes, such as plaids, mantles, truses and blew bonnets. Mak sewere acts against those that shall weare them. Cause the inhabitants of the countrey to cloith them selves as the most ciwill prowinces of the Kingdome do, with doublet, cloiks and hats, which they may do with less chargs then the other. It is no excuse which some wold pretend alledgeing that unciwill habit to be lightest among the montanes. They may cloith them selfs (if they list) with coats and breiches of one color, as light and handsome as plaid and truses."
Quoted in Dunbar, pp. 36-37.
Dunbar describes Sir Robert as "an eminent Highlander", but this is not correct in a cultural sense. He was from a Lowland family, which was extending its power over the neighboring Highlanders. See Chief of Mackay.

Note especially "they may do with less chargs then the other." Highlanders did not wear the plaid because they were too poor to afford tailored clothing. As Kass McGann wrote, "Labour was cheap and fabric was expensive." The cost of the fabric, not the sewing, was the basic factor. A plaid could be more expensive than a lower class lowland outfit, simply because the amount of fabric involved.

1620-25
Mòr NicPhàidein (Mòr MacFadyen), Cumha do Niall Og ("Lament for Niall Og")

Gura math thighead èileadh
Air an easgaid nach b'èidich
Nuair sgioblaichead m'eudail gu folbh
"A kilt would look most handsome
on the thigh not misshapen
when my treasure made ready to depart."
See The Harps' Cry, pp. 74-77.
Niall Og was a nephew of Eachann mac Iain Abraich, 5th Maclean of Coll, i.e. very high in the Clan. Apparently the author was Niall's sweetheart.

In 1631 the Scotish mercenaries in service with Gustavus Adolphus wore kilts and plaid.

1635
"Many Highlanders were obvserved in this town (Leith), in their plaids, many without doublets, and those who have doublets have a kind of loose flap garment about their breech, their knees bare. The inure themselves to cold, hardship, and will not diswont themselves. Proper personable well-complected men, and of able men: the very gentlemen in their blue caps and plaids." – 1635, Sir William Brereton.

1641 (possibly reflecting an earlier period)
Robert Gordon of Straloch reports that the Highlanders' "uppermost Garment is a loose Cloke of several Ells, striped and party colour'd, which they gird breadth-wise with a leather Belt, so as it scarce covers the knees…."

The context (see McClintock, p. 117) shows that this is a general description of what Highland men wore. There is no distinction of wealth or class. Straloch was a noted cartographer who lived near Aberdeen. His family was connected with the Earls of Huntly, who were very involved in Highland affairs. He must have been well informed about the Highlanders and their dress.

A witness of the 1689 Battle of Killiecrankie describes "McDonnell's men in their triple stripes". From 1725 the government force of the Highland Independent Companies introduced a standardised tartan chosen to avoid association with any particular clan, and this was formalised when they became the Black Watch regiment in 1739.

1644
James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, wore Highland or Irish dress frequently in his famous 1644-45 campaign for the Royalist cause. Stevenson, Highland Warrior, p. 120, 135.

According to a Covenanter, at the sack of Aberdeen Montrose was "cled in cot and trewis as the Irishes was cled". Like the plaid, trews (as opposed to breeches) were a symbol of barbarism to Lowlanders. Montrose (a Lowlander) dressed to gain respect from his army of Highlanders and Irishmen. It had the opposite effect among Lowlanders, for both him and his cause. Stevenson, Highland Warrior , p. 135.

1663
Iain Lom, Murt na Ceapaich("The Keppoch Murder")

‘S paca Thurcach gun tioma
A bhith pinneadh ar cléibh,
Bhith ‘nar breacain ‘gar filleadh
Measg ar cinneach mór féin

"…a pack of ruthless Turks are pinioning our chests and winding us in our plaids in the midst of our own great clan."

Orain Iain Luim, pp. 84-85.
Iain Lom was the Bard of Keppoch, and a close cousin of the clan chief. As such he moved in the highest circles of Gaelic society. He was one of the greatest Gaelic poets of the seventeenth century.

Note that the Gaelic word breacan (plural breacain) is used here, and in the other quotations from Iain Lom, rather plaid. John MacInnes notes that

"When the breacan 'tartan' is mentioned it is clearly the warrior's dress of battle: In the bardic depiction of this loyal, closely organized fighting unit, dress and weapons alike both function as symbols that commanded the society's highest respect and approval."
See "The Panegyric Code in Gaelic Poetry", p. 282. Iain Lom was an outstanding practitioner of this code.

1665
Iain Lom, Oran do mhorair Chlann Dòmhnaill("A Song to Lord MacDonnell")

Gur fada kean an Sasann thu,
‘S a bhith ‘gad chreach le spòrs

B'fheàrr leam còt' is breacan ort
Na pasbhin chur air cleòc;

Is tu bhith falbh gu h-aigeannach
An triubhas chadaidh clò
"You seem to me to be a long time in England, being ruined by gaming.

I would prefer you in coat and plaid than in a cloak which fastens;

And that you should walk in a sprightly manner in trews made of tartan cloth,…"

Orain Iain Luim, pp. 124-125.

1671
Marbhrainn do Mhac Gille Chaluim Ratharsaidh ("Elegy for Mac Gille Chaluim of Raasay" [Iain Garbh, 6th MacLeod of Raasay])

O is maith thig dhuit breacan
Air a lasadh le càrnaid,

"It is well you suit tartan
lit up with scarlet,"
…

'S maith thig sud os cionn t'fhèile ort,
Claidheamh geur nan lann Spàinneach,

"Over your kilt these suit you:
a sharp sword, Spanish-bladed,"
See The Harps' Cry, pp. 156-161.

1660-1680
Lord Mungo Murray chose to have a portrait painted while wearing a belted plaid, as well as a fancy slashed doublet

1680
Iain Lom, Blàr Tom a' Phubaill ("The Battle of Tom a' Phubaill")

Chuala mise mar sheanchas
‘S mi am sheanghiulan gòrach,
Mun do chuireadh crios-féile
Suas léine no còt orm
"I have heard the story told when I was but a foolish grown lad, before I had put the plaid-belt over a shirt or coat…"

1681
Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy defeated the Sinclairs (who were not wearing Highland dress) at the Battle of Allt nam Meirlach. Afterwards his piper, Finlay MacIvor, mocked the clothes of the enemy:

Tha bodaich nam briogais … A nise retreuta
The peasants in trousers…are now flying before us.
(Cheape, Tartan, p. 19)
The tune is still popular among bagpipers.

1685
Luinneag Mhic Neachdainn ("Mac Neachdainn's Song")

'S math thig lùireach dhuit is gòirseid
Agus lèine 'n anart Hòlaind,
Còta goirid air a òradh
'S boineid bhreac nan caitein gorma
'S breacan nan triuchana bòidheach.

…well do you suit a cuirass and gorget
with a shirt made of linen from Holland,
a short coat with gold braiding,
the tartan bonnet with blue tail ribands
and the tartan plaid of stripes most handsome.
See The Harps' Cry, pp. 166-173.

1689
Iain Lom, Oran air Feachd Rìgh Seumas ("A Song to the Army of King James")

Bu fluich a' mhadainn a thog sinn are breacain
‘S a chaid sinn air astar gus an taigh ‘gan robh chairt;
‘N uair rinn sinn éirigh gun d'rinn sinn ar éideadh
Is chaidh sinn ‘nar leum fo na cnapanna-saic;
"Wet was the morning we picked up our plaids, and set out on the journey to the house where our plan lay. When we arose we belted our plaids and hastily shouldered our knapsacks."
Orain Iain Luim, pp. 154-155.

Dr Martin Martin, a doctor on Skye around 1700, gives the first descriptions of Tartan which imply their significance as regional and the importance to weavers of ensuring that their cloth always has precise local patterns.

Martin Martin states that it is possible to tell from a man's plaid where he came from. There is no implication from any of this that specific families or Clans wore their 'own' Tartans – the patterns appeared to be regional.

The battle of Culloden in 1746 saw the end of Jacobite claims to the throne. Many Highlanders, but by no means all, had backed the losing side of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. The great importance of Tartan and associated dress to Highland Culture at this time can be deduced from the fact that the government banned it from 1746-82. This proscription however applied only to common Highland men – not the upper echelons of Highland society, not to Lowland Scots and not to women. But most importantly, it did not apply to the Highland regiments that were being formed in the Government army. The Tartans that were worn at Sheriffmuir or Culloden have been lost forever.

I blame the 'new Tartan' industry to William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn who became the foremost weaving manufacturer around 1770(a Lowland wool company). He met the growing demand for Tartan by inventing new patterns and copying existing patterns.

He supplied the Army and the flourishing demand for cloth in the Lowlands. All his patterns were initially simply given numbers but some quickly became popular in certain areas and became known by that regions name – thus were born the regional Tartans. Wilson invented new tartan patterns each year for Wilson's salesmen to market. There is no evidence that Wilson's Tartans had anything whatsoever to do with any ancient regional or pre-1746 patterns.

In 1816 an attempt was made to match Clan to true Tartan, Tartans were gathered but these had more to do with regimental uniforms and Wilson's successful marketing than any older patterns. But the idea that Tartan and Clan be paired had become firmly established.

Cloth manufacturing was at a local level using a spinning wheel and a loom using wool. Tartan is made with alternating bands of coloured (pre-dyed) threads woven as both warp and weft at right angles to each other. The weft is woven in a simple twill, two over – two under the warp, advancing one thread each pass. This forms visible diagonal lines where different colours cross, which give the appearance of new colours blended from the original ones. The resulting blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines known as a sett.

my two cents

cheers
Matt

An antidote.

link

A sort of academic Mythbusters. Deals with tartan quite nicely.

Well, by now the tartans of the early 19th. century are " historic" in their own right. I use them and variations on them for my wargaming armies if for no other reason than to keep the numbers and bodies of figures distinct.