Looks like Blackwatch?

[1MUNK3]

Hello Jock Scot,
Always a pleasure to hear from you. In fact you remind me of a very dear friend of mine. I know the district of Lochaber isn't all Cameron territory. What I wrote in reference to the Lochaber lands was based on Sir Allan's writings and some other historical notes in regards to the creation of the Tartan in question. Keep in mind he was also claiming that the Cameron Clan was all his as well. He tried to take the Chiefship away. Of course that caused a wee riff among the Clan. In fact many Camerons refused to join the 79th and opted for other Regiments due to that. Like so many great figures in history, some times his head was bigger than his balmoral so tae speak . Again great to hear from you.
Yours Aye,
Sean

[ThistleDown]

Has anyone here (other than Matt, who no doubt has ) referred to James Scarlett's "Tartan, the Highland Textile", published in 1990? In particular, to his chapter on Military Tartans? In this he removes myth from the equation and documents the known evolution of the so-called government or independent companies' tartan to the mid-18C and subsequent adoption of the name "Black Watch" to describe it. He then says: "The new tartan became the basis of the majority of the tartans worn by Highland regiments, those of some of the Fencible regiments, of which the Breadalbane Fencibles and the Inverness Fencibles tartans are examples, and of countless 'clan' and family setts."

His is (perhaps?) the last scholarly word on the theories of origin for the Black Watch tartan: "It is (a) an old Campbell tartan chosen for the Regiment because the majority of the Independent Companies...were commanded by Campbells, or because the Earl of Crawford, the Regiment's first Colonel, had Campbell connections, or (b) it was specially designed...because the Earl, being a Lowlander, had no tartan of his own to give it. Some of those who support the second theory have suggested that the new design was arrived at by combining the tartans of the six companies and removing distinguishing overchecks but this idea rests upon the assertion by General David Stewart of Garth that before embodiment each Independent Company wore the tartan of its commander which we now know to be untrue...."

Other statements Jamie made in this learned treatise (and others) discount all other origins and leaves us only with option (a).

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Has anyone here (other than Matt, who no doubt has ) referred to James Scarlett's "Tartan, the Highland Textile", published in 1990?

-snip-
Other statements Jamie made in this learned treatise (and others) discount all other origins and leaves us only with option (a).

One of Jamie's final writings was his The Origin and Development of Military Tartans, which I have the fortune to own. I can tell you that Jamie most certainly did not believe the Black Watch tartan to be an older Campbell tartan that was adopted for the regiment. It was something created new at the time, through a process that he documents in the above mentioned work.

I detail somewhat his conclusions in my article here:
http://albanach.org/blackwatch.htm

Matt

[ThistleDown]

Thank you, Matt