Black Watch Tartan

**Luke MacGillie** · 22nd November 05, 05:15 AM

Thanks Matt, that book is on my to get list! I had seen it quoted a couple of other places and have not got around to getting it.

Dont suppose you could quote what he says, if anything, regarding Fraser's tartan?

Edited to say: Thats the tartan of Fraser's Highlanders ca 1757, not the Fraser tartan in general

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 22nd November 05, 09:11 AM

The book is at home and I'm at work, so for the moment, no I can't! :-) But he does have some information about that tartan. I've got a hot date tonight so it might be tomorrow before I can get you any information.

Aye,
Matt

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 23rd November 05, 04:49 AM

Jamie Scarlett's main focus of this little book is the origin of the Black Watch tartan, as we know it, so he doesn't include a lot of information on other military tartans, except where they relate to the Black Watch. He does make a brief mention of Fraser, though.

The Fraser tartan he is talking about is the same sett as the Black Watch, only with some major color changes. He treats it, MacLachlan, and MacNab together, as tartans he calls "Red Watch" setts, and as clan tartans that would seem to have a military origins, because of their relation to the Black Watch. He writes:

"Our Fraser tartan is seemingly* well grounded as having been worn by the 71st (Fraser's) Highlanders in North America... Clearly, for those who were sufficiently determined and far enough away from Whitehall, there were ways of circumventing the regulations, so should we perhaps look for the origins of these MacLachlan and MacNab tartans during the wars on the North American continent?"

He leaves that question unanswered. Maybe his speculation will lead to further research by eighteenth century military historians.

*His use of the word "seemingly" here is qualified in a footnote. He does not intend to imply disbelief with this term, but rather the opposite. In most tartan matters, he writes, "seemingly" is about the nearest we can get to certainty.

Aye,
Matt

**Luke MacGillie** · 23rd November 05, 05:36 AM

Thanks Matt, Ive got to get that book!

**Luke MacGillie** · 24th November 05, 05:31 AM

So Amazon does not have The Origins and Development of Military Tartans: A Re-Appraisal, so any clues as to where I can find a copy? Matt do you keep it in stock at the museum?

Luke