Yellow and blue tartan

[Benning Boy]

At the Scottish Tartan Authority website http://www.tartansauthority.com/ in the upper right corner of the page appear a series of changing images of men and women wearing tartan. One of these, it looks like a 19th century portrait, depicts a yellow and blue tartan. I see no other colors in it. Can anyone identify it, does anyone know what the name of this tartan is?


I once saw in an old book a 19th Century image of Indian native troops, I've long forgotten the unit designation, wearing a yellowish and blue tartan. Anyone have an idea of what it might have been?


A yellow and blue tartan seems appropriate for wear here in Kansas, where there is so much golden wheat and blue sky. Can anyone suggest a tartan in colors that might seem Kansas-ish? I've toyed with the idea of designing my own. Any thoughts?

[Downunder Kilt]

If you mean this photo, gentlemen on the left as we look at it


This is MacLachlan dress, I believe, but I am not sure if the blue colours as seen in the print are actually blue or in fact black. Someone may know more about the tartan and chime in. Cheers

[Benning Boy]

Correct. It's the guy on the left. Thanks for the full picture. I was getting awfully frustrated trying to pick out the details in the changing images at at the Tartan Authority site.

What is the yellow and blue tartan?

[Downunder Kilt]

It is MacLachlan dress, If you punch that into Google and go to images you will find some have it as black and yellow, and one from a site that shows a blue and yellow from Lochcarron but I could not get it up on the Lochcarron site. See here http://lochcarronweavers.co.uk/tarta...s_ancient.html
I think it is an old link.

[Benning Boy]

Thanks again Downunder. The pic you posted, even when enlarged is very low-rez on my screen. It took me a while but I finally figured out it's MacLachlan. I searched the Tartan Authority site for it, and found examples in yellow and black and yellow and purplish blue. Both sample had sort of a dirty look to them, the yellow being more of a tan. Perhaps that's just my monitor, but it is a very good monitor. I didn't check for on-line images in general, but will give it a try. The Locharran link is helpful. None of the images I've seen so far show the tartan as vibrant as it is in the old portrait. I've long thought a tartan in maize yellow and sky blue would well symbolize Kansas, where so much wheat and other grains are grown, and where you don't have to look up to see brilliant blue skies. Perhaps when the time comes to have the Kansas kilt I want made, I can just order MacLachlan woven in brighter shades, more like in the portrait. For all the basketball fans out there, maize and sky blue were the original school colors of Kansas University, before Harvard and Princeton decided KU should be more like them.

[Domehead]

MacLachlan: Y & P/B c1870-72; K. MacLeay's The Highlanders of Scotland

MacLachlan: Y & K 1842; John & Charles Sobieski Stuart Vestiarium Scoticum

Likely, the VS version was purported "historic", as many from this MS were. Thus, the purple / blue alternative is a "Chiefly" or weavers choice.
Currently, Y & K is regarded as "Dress".

However...
1. William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn 1819 KPB includes a "chequy" of scarlet and green, attributed "MacLachlan" & "No.99 or Small MacLachlan", which is indicative of "MacGregor K & S" & "Robin Hood", et al.

2. T. Smibert, 1850 The Clans of the Highlands illustrates a MacLachlan as a color variation on the Govrn't Sett and asserts antiquity from a female progeny.

3. D.W. Stewart, 1893 in Old and Rare claimed a "fancy" sett MacLachlan from the elusive Craignish Collection - something Peter E. MacDonald would know considerably more about.

[figheadair]

D.W. Stewart, 1893 in Old and Rare claimed a "fancy" sett MacLachlan from the elusive Craignish Collection - something Peter E. MacDonald would know considerably more about.

The reference to the Craignish Collection comes from D. W. Stewart's Old & Rare published in 1893. In over 30 years of research I have been unable to find this collection or any earlier reference to it. In all likelihood Stewart misidentified a Wilsons' specimen as an earlier one which he assumed was from the pre-Culloden era. Here's a Wilsons' sample from c1830.

[Domehead]

Thank you very much for your response, Figheadair.

Slainte,
Domehead

[joek]

For the Kansas tartan you have blues in both the KU and Royals uniforms, although different shades. You have some flexability with the wheat as you could go with a gold, yellow - soft, or tan. I was surprised to find out that some years back the PA legislature had designated an official tartan. You could check to see if yours has done the same.

[Hopper250]

Don't forget to check if there is an official state tartan, a quick seach and Wikipedia check brought me nothing but there might have been one designed but never approved you could find in state records as well.