Saving the Scottish Highland Tartan

The Scottish tartan was a symbol of family pride, and also national pride. Clans wore their tartans in various forms. In order to maintain the making of the tartan, samples of cloth were likely tied to sticks. After all, when tartans originally came to be the main way of recording events was through music and story, not through the written word. Pictures were unavailable, and written descriptions frowned upon.

For the most part, in early times, the tartan was really only worn by the clans of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It was not considered fashionable, but it was a symbol of pride, and it was a cultural heritage. However, the tartan was so Scottish in nature that it was outlawed for a time in order to prevent uprisings.

After the 1745 Jacobite rebellion of Charles Edward Stuart and his allies was put down, tartans were outlawed. Highland expression in general elicited severe penalties, but the tartan took an especially heavy blow. Only the military (the Highland Regiments notably) and Hanovarian government supporters were allowed to use the tartan, and the patterns were often altered so as not to be true expressions of Scottish independence and pride. Many of the new designs were derived from the Blackwatch patterns (and many modern tartan designs like Hunting and Dress have a base in the Blackwatch as well).

By 1782, however, sentiment had changed. People began recognizing that important Highland heritage was being lost, and an era of romantic authors, notably Sir Walter Scott, began to popularize tartans. The proscription was lifted and families began trying to find their tartans and also to find older tartan designs (the basis of what we term Ancient today). Because commercial weaving had become popular in response to military supply, some of the older designs were actually in sample books at Wilson’s of Bannockburn, which basically held the monopoly on commercial tartan weaving.

In the Victorian era the fashion became tartan-friendly, and the classifications of tartan were pushed by manufacturers who pushed the idea of Dress Tartans so as to encourage the fashionable to buy two sets of tartan (one for formal occasions). It was the patronage of Queen Victoria that brought the tartan into wide societal acceptance, and even today it is considered proper formalwear at black tie events such as weddings, funerals, banquets, and official state events. In fact, my brother wore a kilt made from our MacLachlan tartan at my wedding reception.