Quote Originally Posted by freddie View Post
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.