Old and rare Scottish tartans : $b with historical introduction and descriptive noticesStewart, Donald William
History
Old and rare Scottish tartans : $b with historical introduction and descriptive notices
Stewart, Donald William
Tartans -- Scotland
[Illustration: X. GRANT]
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.
[Illustration: XI. 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.
[Illustration: XII. KEITH AND AUSTIN]
KENNEDY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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