Highland Society of London

[MacInLaw]

I am doing a bit of amateur tartan research and I am wondering if it is possible to access the Highland Society of London collection. In a dream world it would be scanned and available online, but I expect that a visit to the National Museum of Scotland will more likely be in order.

I will also ask the reason for my question in case someone has a better understanding of this than I do (almost certainly the case). Please forgive me, and correct me, if I am using technical terms improperly.

I am looking at the information held within The Scottish Register of Tartans for the "MacDonell of Glengarry" tartan. With even my own amateur eye I can tell a difference between two different setts registered there. The difference being the presence (or ommission) of a second thin red line in the blue squares. In both examples the double red line passes within the green squares.

Example #1 is recorded as corresponding with Mackay's "The Romantic Story of the Highland Garb and Tartans".



Example #2 is recorded as corresponding with W and A Smith's "Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland".



What is confusing is that under the registration notes for Example #1 is the statement "There is a sample certified by 'Glengarry' in the collection of the Highland Society of London from the period 1815-16 but it is not known whether the threadcount corresponds to MacKays record illustrated here. "

Therefore, the question I have is: which of these two, if either, did Glengarry certify in 1815-1819?

Of course, the "Glengarry" who certified the sample was the 15th chief. Despite his flair and the abundance of surviving portraits I can't see enough detail in these artistic pieces (even from Raeburn himself) to be satisfied with the answer from them.

I am not looking for which is the 'right' tartan, or which is more correct. I am simply curious as to what form was certified, and now apparently resides in the collection of the Highland Society of London.