To Black Watch or not to Black Watch?

[macwilkin]

Very intriguing! What did James Scarlett have to say about its origins, and if his conclusions are different than Stewart's, is it because new evidence has come to light in the intervening years, or is it simply a different interpretation of the same evidence Stewart mentions?

Basically, Scarlett (who was a research partner of Stewart until the latter's death in the 1970s) believed that it was the military tartans that gave "birth" to concept of clan tartans, and not the other way around. His theory & findings may be found in his "The Origins and Development of Military Tartans: a re-appraisal", which was published in 2003, and is available through the STA. Matt has an article on his web site which summarizes Scarlett's theory, but I can't quite figure out how to link to the specific article.

T.