Maclaren 1819 variant

[rebelrouser]

Hello All ! In looking at Maclaren tartans, I often come across one named "1819 variant". Does anyone know the story behind this tartan ? Google has got me nowhere. I appreciate your help. Thanks

[Steve Ashton]

From The Scottish Tartans Authority

Adopted by the MacLarens at the time of the levee (1822). The MacLaren differs from The Ferguson only in having a yellow line where the latter has a white. They share the unusual feature of an unbroken band of blue. The present tartan appears under this name in Mclan's plate for Clan MacLaren. Wilsons of Bannockburn were producing it before 1820 - but only under the name of 'Regent'. The Regency ended when George IV succeeded to the throne in that year, the name of the tartan then becoming outdated, but production of the sett continued. Clans Originaux (1880) shows this sett (BW June 2004). House of Edgar produces what they call Maclaren (Ancient) Variant which is this sett but with different proportions and the blue changed to dark red/purple. This tartan is specifically mentioned by Telford Dunbar in his 1962 'History of Highland Dress' (Page149) when he included it in a list of William Wilson's tartans that were most popular in 1822. At one time Pringles produced a reproduction version of this and called it MacLarn Hunting Reproduction buty of course, there is no hunting Maclaren.

[figheadair]

Hello All ! In looking at Maclaren tartans, I often come across one named "1819 variant". Does anyone know the story behind this tartan ? Google has got me nowhere. I appreciate your help. Thanks

The term 1819 Varient is a misnomer; it refers to the original setting of Wilsons' Pattern No.232 which, by 1815 was renamed Regent. In both cases the 'varient' tag refers to the purple shade of blue specified in Wilsons' 1819 Key Pattern Book and found in specimens of the period. Looked at in isolation, this shade looks to many people to be simply a dark blue but it's not quite.

By c1840 Wilsons were selling the pattern as MacLaren and by then they'd replaced their purple with their blue, which was a mid-dark shade with no hint of red unlike the purple.

House of Edgar's Old & Rare range wove the MacLaren in sort of 1819 shades but the purple was too light and reddish compared with Wilsons' shade.

[rebelrouser]

Thanks . what was the levee ?

[figheadair]

Thanks . what was the levee ?

In this context is refers to the practise of holding a Courtly gathering. Uring the visit of George IV to Scotland the King’s levee held at the palace of Holyrood on 17 August 1822.