link to this article at http://www.albanach.org/register.html
published in the Scottish Banner, September 2007
It’s not often that the goings on in the world of tartan make it into the main stream press, even in Scotland, but this July was an exception. On 10 July, 2007, the Scotsman newspaper ran an article by John Ross on the proposed National Tartan Register that MSP Jamie McGrigor has been promoting for some time. It looks like it may actually come to pass in the near future, as was also reported in the Banner last month.
Ross’s article quoted extensively from Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA), and it looks like the new Register will be making ample use of the STA’s own International Tartan Index. Ross describes it as the “register in waiting” and with over 4,500 unique tartan designs (and growing) it is certainly the industry standard.
The Scottish Executive (the administrative branch of the Scottish Government) has proposed that the National Tartan Register be in place by the spring of 2008. According to Wilton, the STA has been asked to provide a copy of its Index as the basis for the National Register. The new Register will be supervised by the Lord Lyon and administered by the National Archives of Scotland who will use the STA on a consultancy basis.
As of this writing, a committee is set to meet on August 14th in Edinburgh to begin sorting out the details of exactly how this will all work in practice. I communicated with Brian Wilton, who will serve as the STA’s representative on that committee. “There are very many details to discuss,” he stated, “and I will be working, not only to secure an efficient administrative routine for the new register, but also to safeguard the long term investment that we have put into these valuable records and, just as importantly, to safeguard the interests of our worldwide membership.”
People across the globe can currently view the tartans that make up the International Tartan Index on the STA’s web site, www.tartansauthority.com. Basic information is available free to the public, with more detailed information reserved for STA members. Membership is open not only to those in the tartan business, but also to any interested individual.
As I read the Scotsman article on the internet, I was intrigued by the various on-line comments that other readers had added. It seems that many, even in Scotland, were under the assumption that some kind of national register of tartan was already in place. “Doesn’t the Lord Lyon already handle this?” seemed to be the common reaction.
In fact, the Lord Lyon has never had any jurisdiction over tartan. The Lyon Court deals in matters of heraldry, and (as has been discussed in a previous column), tartan is not heraldic. As is stated on the Lord Lyon’s own web site, “The Lord Lyon has no jurisdiction over tartan but if a clan chief wishes, the Lord Lyon will record details of specific clan tartan in the Lyon Records.”
The Scottish Tartans Authority itself has only been in existence since 1996. It was formed by former members of the Scottish Tartans Society (no longer active), which began itself in 1963 with the goal of maintaining a Register of Publicly Known Tartans. Having reached over 2600 tartans by its closing in the year 2000, the Society register was the most complete at the time.
Prior to the formation of that register, there was no central index for tartans, and one had to seek out private collections or look to books for information on specific tartan designs. One such book that is still a standard reference for many is D. C. Stewart’s The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, originally published in 1950 with 266 tartans included. D. C. was himself building on his father, D. W. Stewart’s, work. The elder Stewart had published the landmark Old and Rare Scottish Tartans in 1893, containing 45 designs specially selected for the rarity or age.
Private collections also existed, many of which were utilized in researching books such as the ones mentioned above. One of the largest was that of John McGregor Hastie, who between 1930 and 1950 amassed a monumental collection of over 960 tartans. This would later form the bulk of the Scottish Tartans Society’s archives. Perhaps the earliest private collection was that of Gen. Sir William Cockburn of Cockburn, who collected tartans from 1810 to 1815. His collection provides us with the oldest samples that we have for many tartans.
The first corporate attempt at creating a “master database” of tartans came about in 1815 by the Highland Society of London (of which Cockburn was a member). The Highland Society was an early Scots ex-patriat club (similar to St. Andrews Societies and Caledonia Clubs that are found in various countries today). Col. Alisdair MacDonnell of Glengarry, on behalf of the Highland Society, simply urged all of the Scottish clan chiefs to submit to them a sample of what they accepted as their clan tartan.
This set a very important precedent. For what makes a tartan “official” is not whether it is recorded in some database somewhere. That merely provides a record of the tartan. It is the chief of the clan who has the jurisdiction over his or her tartan. Only the chief can say what is and is not an official tartan for the clan.
The problem today is that the number of tartans has grown tremendously. In 1819, Wilsons of Bannockburn, the major producer of tartan cloth, had about 100 named tartans in their pattern book. That’s a far cry from the thousands that are to be found in the STA’s International Tartan Index today! There are clan tartans, district tartans, family tartans, private tartans, corporate tartans, commemorative tartans – you name it!
The need is clear. The number and popularity of tartans has grown beyond what can conceivably be maintained in private collections. As the details of the National Register are worked out, look for updated information in this space.
It’s not often that the goings on in the world of tartan make it into the main stream press, even in Scotland, but this July was an exception. On 10 July, 2007, the Scotsman newspaper ran an article by John Ross on the proposed National Tartan Register that MSP Jamie McGrigor has been promoting for some time. It looks like it may actually come to pass in the near future, as was also reported in the Banner last month.
Ross’s article quoted extensively from Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA), and it looks like the new Register will be making ample use of the STA’s own International Tartan Index. Ross describes it as the “register in waiting” and with over 4,500 unique tartan designs (and growing) it is certainly the industry standard.
The Scottish Executive (the administrative branch of the Scottish Government) has proposed that the National Tartan Register be in place by the spring of 2008. According to Wilton, the STA has been asked to provide a copy of its Index as the basis for the National Register. The new Register will be supervised by the Lord Lyon and administered by the National Archives of Scotland who will use the STA on a consultancy basis.
As of this writing, a committee is set to meet on August 14th in Edinburgh to begin sorting out the details of exactly how this will all work in practice. I communicated with Brian Wilton, who will serve as the STA’s representative on that committee. “There are very many details to discuss,” he stated, “and I will be working, not only to secure an efficient administrative routine for the new register, but also to safeguard the long term investment that we have put into these valuable records and, just as importantly, to safeguard the interests of our worldwide membership.”
People across the globe can currently view the tartans that make up the International Tartan Index on the STA’s web site, www.tartansauthority.com. Basic information is available free to the public, with more detailed information reserved for STA members. Membership is open not only to those in the tartan business, but also to any interested individual.
As I read the Scotsman article on the internet, I was intrigued by the various on-line comments that other readers had added. It seems that many, even in Scotland, were under the assumption that some kind of national register of tartan was already in place. “Doesn’t the Lord Lyon already handle this?” seemed to be the common reaction.
In fact, the Lord Lyon has never had any jurisdiction over tartan. The Lyon Court deals in matters of heraldry, and (as has been discussed in a previous column), tartan is not heraldic. As is stated on the Lord Lyon’s own web site, “The Lord Lyon has no jurisdiction over tartan but if a clan chief wishes, the Lord Lyon will record details of specific clan tartan in the Lyon Records.”
The Scottish Tartans Authority itself has only been in existence since 1996. It was formed by former members of the Scottish Tartans Society (no longer active), which began itself in 1963 with the goal of maintaining a Register of Publicly Known Tartans. Having reached over 2600 tartans by its closing in the year 2000, the Society register was the most complete at the time.
Prior to the formation of that register, there was no central index for tartans, and one had to seek out private collections or look to books for information on specific tartan designs. One such book that is still a standard reference for many is D. C. Stewart’s The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, originally published in 1950 with 266 tartans included. D. C. was himself building on his father, D. W. Stewart’s, work. The elder Stewart had published the landmark Old and Rare Scottish Tartans in 1893, containing 45 designs specially selected for the rarity or age.
Private collections also existed, many of which were utilized in researching books such as the ones mentioned above. One of the largest was that of John McGregor Hastie, who between 1930 and 1950 amassed a monumental collection of over 960 tartans. This would later form the bulk of the Scottish Tartans Society’s archives. Perhaps the earliest private collection was that of Gen. Sir William Cockburn of Cockburn, who collected tartans from 1810 to 1815. His collection provides us with the oldest samples that we have for many tartans.
The first corporate attempt at creating a “master database” of tartans came about in 1815 by the Highland Society of London (of which Cockburn was a member). The Highland Society was an early Scots ex-patriat club (similar to St. Andrews Societies and Caledonia Clubs that are found in various countries today). Col. Alisdair MacDonnell of Glengarry, on behalf of the Highland Society, simply urged all of the Scottish clan chiefs to submit to them a sample of what they accepted as their clan tartan.
This set a very important precedent. For what makes a tartan “official” is not whether it is recorded in some database somewhere. That merely provides a record of the tartan. It is the chief of the clan who has the jurisdiction over his or her tartan. Only the chief can say what is and is not an official tartan for the clan.
The problem today is that the number of tartans has grown tremendously. In 1819, Wilsons of Bannockburn, the major producer of tartan cloth, had about 100 named tartans in their pattern book. That’s a far cry from the thousands that are to be found in the STA’s International Tartan Index today! There are clan tartans, district tartans, family tartans, private tartans, corporate tartans, commemorative tartans – you name it!
The need is clear. The number and popularity of tartans has grown beyond what can conceivably be maintained in private collections. As the details of the National Register are worked out, look for updated information in this space.
by Matthew Newsome ©2007