Origin of the MacKenzie tartan ?

[figheadair]

Right. The notes from the Scottish Register come right out of the STA notes on this tartan, and they do reflect the earliest known date of this particular MacDonald tartan: 1845.

Now, if we could find any evidence of this tartan being used at all in the region in question in the eighteenth century, then your theory might be plausible. But so far as we know, the Seaforth tartan pre-dates the MacDonald of the Isles Hunting tartan by a good 70 years. So to suggest that the MacDonald tartan (whatever it may have been called) not only predates the Seaforth/MacKenzie tartan, but was in fact the basis of it, goes contrary to the known evidence that is available to us.

I don't mean to sound like I'm being dismissive of your theory. I'm just saying that it's going to need some evidence to back it up.

Matt,

As ever, you've summed up things well. There is absolutely no evidence that the MacDonald of the Isles sett existed pre-1829 and the Cromarty Mss version of the VS. Structurally this sett does not conform with what we know of early C18th tartans and from a technical perspective has little to recommend it. One point of clarification, the sett was adopted/designed in 1778 for the 78th Ross-shire Regt. It was re-numbered the 72nd in 1786 and a separate (new) 78th raised in 1793. The two regiments were amalgamated in 1881 to form the Seaforth Highlanders.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Matt,

As ever, you've summed up things well. There is absolutely no evidence that the MacDonald of the Isles sett existed pre-1829 and the Cromarty Mss version of the VS. Structurally this sett does not conform with what we know of early C18th tartans and from a technical perspective has little to recommend it. One point of clarification, the sett was adopted/designed in 1778 for the 78th Ross-shire Regt. It was re-numbered the 72nd in 1786 and a separate (new) 78th raised in 1793. The two regiments were amalgamated in 1881 to form the Seaforth Highlanders.

Thanks for that bit of information, Peter. Was hoping you'd chime in on this thread.

[freddie]

How about the Sobieski Stewarts used the Seaforth Highlanders tartan as the model for their 'MacDonald of The Isles' ? I'm sure the colourings are linked in some way, just as the Gunn and Morrison tartans are very similar to Mackay (which I'm sure I read somewhere is believed to have been an old 'district' tartan).

[figheadair]

How about the Sobieski Stewarts used the Seaforth Highlanders tartan as the model for their 'MacDonald of The Isles' ? I'm sure the colourings are linked in some way, just as the Gunn and Morrison tartans are very similar to Mackay (which I'm sure I read somewhere is believed to have been an old 'district' tartan).

As I said previously, the Seaforth Highlanders, and thus the Seaforth tartan by that name, did not exist until 1881, some 50 years after the first description of the MacDonald of the Isles. It's possible that the Sobieskis used the 78th Regtl sett as the basis for their Lord of the Isles, we'll never know. However, given the fact that a good number of the VS setts appear to be simply based on the 42nd (government) sett which various additions, there is no reason to suppose that the Lord of the Isles is any different along with their Armstrong, Chisholm, Lauder & Ogilvie to name but four.

On a similar vein, there is no evidence that standard MacKay was ever a district sett. It first appears c1800 in the records of Messrs Wm Wilson & sons of Bannockburn, as does the Gunn. The Morrision is a much later sett.