MacDonald of Clanranald (1914)

[figheadair]

First - Thanks for the information!
Your comments above of its relatively young heritage of this tartan make it all the more curious that it is worn by Clanranald. I wonder if his father also wore it and so on. Then again, perhaps they would have worn Boisdale...

That I doubt. The Boisdale is a Wilsons' sett and is amongst those included in the Cockburn Collection but I think it was possibly one of their 'fancies' and I have never found a reference to the family wearing it.

Do I recall correctly you mentioning in another thread that Clanranald tries to reserve this tartan for his own personal use? When I asked him about the tartan he was wearing he deflected the question and said, "Sleat, I think".

Do you know when he made this request or proclamation?

You do. It was something I heard from my father in the the 1970s. He knew Clanranald and as far as I know got it directly from him but he may have softened his view over the years.

[Nathan]

I found the MacKay book on Electric Scotland, here. Here's what MacKay said about the tartan that he calls Clanranald full dress.

"For the pattern, which we have no hesitation in giving as the Clan Ranald full-dress, we are indebted to Mr. Allan R. MacDonald of Water- nish, Skye. It is taken from a plaid spun and dyed by an ancestress of Mr. MacDonald's, a daughter of Lachlan MacKinnon of Corry, the entertainer of Dr. Johnson and Pennant, and worn by her husband, Allan MacDonald of Baile-Fhionnlaigh, Benbecula, a cadet of the Clan Ranald family, as a captain in the Clan regiment of the 45, and who was severely wounded at Culloden, whose portrait, dressed in the tartan, is shown on page 166. The plaid is a beautiful specimen of the old Highland hard tartan, and m.ade of the wool of the aboriginal Highland sheep—the colours are still quite fresh and bright. According to John MacCodrum, the bard, c. 1715, the colours of the Clan Ranald tartan were crimson with carnation in the waft."

He also has a plate of Sleat with a different backstory and one of a very similar tartan to this called Glengarry. He calls the similar tartans we know as Clan Donald, Clanranald and Glengarry hunting variants.

Here is the portrait he references. I'm not sure how the tartan is question is demonstrated here.



Edit: How reliable a source is MacKay?

[figheadair]

I found the MacKay book on Electric Scotland, here. Here's what MacKay said about the tartan that he calls Clanranald full dress.

"For the pattern, which we have no hesitation in giving as the Clan Ranald full-dress, we are indebted to Mr. Allan R. MacDonald of Water- nish, Skye. It is taken from a plaid spun and dyed by an ancestress of Mr. MacDonald's, a daughter of Lachlan MacKinnon of Corry, the entertainer of Dr. Johnson and Pennant, and worn by her husband, Allan MacDonald of Baile-Fhionnlaigh, Benbecula, a cadet of the Clan Ranald family, as a captain in the Clan regiment of the 45, and who was severely wounded at Culloden, whose portrait, dressed in the tartan, is shown on page 166. The plaid is a beautiful specimen of the old Highland hard tartan, and m.ade of the wool of the aboriginal Highland sheep—the colours are still quite fresh and bright. According to John MacCodrum, the bard, c. 1715, the colours of the Clan Ranald tartan were crimson with carnation in the waft."

He also has a plate of Sleat with a different backstory and one of a very similar tartan to this called Glengarry. He calls the similar tartans we know as Clan Donald, Clanranald and Glengarry hunting variants.

Here is the portrait he references. I'm not sure how the tartan is question is demonstrated here.



Edit: How reliable a source is MacKay?

Looking at the differences again I discovered that Ranald of the portrait and Allan were the 4th and 6th repectively of the Balfinlay line and that MacKay obviously conflated the two which is why the tartan of the portrait does not match the Red Clanranald. None of this helps with the origins of the latter and I find myself returning to the question of the original cited by MacKay. Where is it now?

[TheOfficialBren]

Respectfully submitted, @figheadair, but might this be an example of the chief's immediate family having woven this particular version for their personal use? I may be incorrect but I believe that I've read of chiefs in the past wearing personal tartans.

Maybe I'm entirely wrong and this speculation was pure rubbish...

[figheadair]

Respectfully submitted, @figheadair, but might this be an example of the chief's immediate family having woven this particular version for their personal use? I may be incorrect but I believe that I've read of chiefs in the past wearing personal tartans.

Maybe I'm entirely wrong and this speculation was pure rubbish...

I know of no pre-19th century example of a chief's sett and therefore conclude that it's probably a Victorian or later invention that sought to equate tartan with the Regimental Tie type social restrictions.

[Nathan]

That I doubt. The Boisdale is a Wilsons' sett and is amongst those included in the Cockburn Collection but I think it was possibly one of their 'fancies' and I have never found a reference to the family wearing it.

Fair enough. I was speculating based on the fact that the Clanranald direct line died out and was passed over to the Boisdale cadet line.

[figheadair]

Well found Nathan. That brings it all back and on the face of things this is one of the few truly old tartans that can be associated with a particular clan/individual. But hang on... all is not quite right with this.

"For the pattern, which we have no hesitation in giving as the Clan Ranald full-dress, we are indebted to Mr. Allan R. MacDonald of Water- nish, Skye. It is taken from a plaid spun and dyed by an ancestress of Mr. MacDonald's, a daughter of Lachlan MacKinnon of Corry, the entertainer of Dr. Johnson and Pennant, and worn by her husband, Allan MacDonald of Baile-Fhionnlaigh, Benbecula, a cadet of the Clan Ranald family, as a captain in the Clan regiment of the 45, and who was severely wounded at Culloden, whose portrait, dressed in the tartan, is shown on page 166. The plaid is a beautiful specimen of the old Highland hard tartan, and made of the wool of the aboriginal Highland sheep—the colours are still quite fresh and bright. According to John MacCodrum, the bard, c. 1715, the colours of the Clan Ranald tartan were crimson with carnation in the waft."

Let me deal firstly with the portrait in which, as you rightly point out, the tartan differs. If it were in colour I would expect it to show the so called Rob Roy, that simple two coloured check widely worn in the early to mid18th century. Allan MacDonald may not have even had such a tartan coat and the colouration may simply have be the artist's addition to re-enforce the Highland connection. This simple tartan is shown by various artists at about the same time being worn by Pr Ch Ed, Lord Ogilvie and Norman MacLeod, 22nd Chief to name but three other non-MacGregors.

Turning to the Waternish plaid my first question is where is it now? Without seeing it it's impossible to know whether it is/was actually as old as claimed. I have come across many examples of tartan artifacts that the owners believed to be much older than they actually were. In this case we are dealing with a period of nearly 170 years which is probably 3-4 generations and facts often get conflated over such a period. I think MacKay or his correspondent did just this with individuals, dates and the portrait.

If the portrait is original then is must be c1745-6. Allan MacDonald and Jean MacKinnon were married in 1761 and so this plaid that she spun and wove must be post 1761. So, if the Culloden link for the plaid is wrong how can we be sure exactly how old it is/was or indeed that was even produced by Jean? If only MacKay had thought photograph the plaid.

Here's my sample in Wilsons' shades.

[Nathan]

I haven't been able to track down many portraits of Clanranald chiefs actually. Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry always comes up with his fine portrait but it seems the Clanranald line wasn't much for staying still for long periods to be painted.

[Nathan]

Also, any idea what the bard meant by "The colours of the Clan Ranald tartan were crimson with carnation in the waft."

I get the crimson part, but since carnations come in many colours, what the heck does he mean here?

[figheadair]

Also, any idea what the bard meant by "The colours of the Clan Ranald tartan were crimson with carnation in the waft."

I get the crimson part, but since carnations come in many colours, what the heck does he mean here?

I always think of carnations as pink but I don't think one can tell too much from this description beyond the indication that that Clanranald's tartan (individual not clan) had a different shade of red in the warp and weft (waft). However, John MacCodrum would have been a Gaelic speaker in which case he would probably have used a combination of dearg/rudh/carnaid/flane/corcair that someone has later translated as crimson (deep red) and carnation (pink). Whether that was the case or MacCodrum spoke English too (unlikely) one still has to factor in the individual's subjective use of colour terms for particular shades. Wiki describes crimson as a deep, red colour noting that it was originally produced with the insect dye Kermes Vermilio whch is where we get the colour term vermillion from. Others might call this shade the less technical 'claret' or 'wine'. Now think about the Lindsay tartan in which the red is often described as claret or wine but which is (now) quite different from crimson.

We also have no idea how familiar MacCodrum (who lived in N. Uist) was with the Clanranald plaid, what he knew about weaving (if anything) and how the warp and weft can appear to differ under certain light conditions and perhaps most importantly, the fact that MacCodrum was a peasant bard and probably illiterate so one may have to factor in an intermediary scribe and thus the translation may be even more remote that MacCodrum's original meaning.