Our highland tartan

[D.W.Livingston]

Well I contacted a Peter MacDonald. He has a website at http://www.scottishtartans.co.uk/ and is the Author of the book "The 1819 Key Pattern Book: One Hundred Original Tartans". I asked him a few questions about our Tartan, the Wilson's collection and his response is below. ============================================= Dear David, You have set yourself a task as the origins of the Livingston tartans are something of a mystery. Firstly let me try and clarify what is known about the 1819 Key Pattern Book.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi DAvid, Here is some background to what I have been trying to accomplish. I received a promising lead several months ago from a reliable source that the Livingstone Tartan 1003 was contrary to what was earlier thoughtwas infact in the collection the Highland Society of London. As I have been researching and focusing upon Tartan 1003 for some time now and and number of us were interested to pursuing this possible lead. I did just that. I was aware that there are "other" early collections such as Cockburns, Wilson's etc, but there was "No" evidence that had early swatch of Tartan 1003. I regret that the lead regarding the Highland Society of London will probably not result in locating an early tartan swatch 1003 or Baron John Livingstone's seal and signature, but as previously mentioned I was always prepared for that possiblity. That being said there is little doubt from Western Argyll accounts that we wore "a tartan" long before it before Lowland manufacturers and

[D.W.Livingston]

So I went to the Museum website and I am now looking through the listings for Tartans: They only say that thwere are "39 letters with accompanying pieces of clan tartans or drawings of setts, sent to Messrs Wilson of Bannockburn as orders" For anyone else wanting to search The main information to pull from is: Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland Ref: National Museums Scotland

[Canadian Livingstone]

HI David, I think there may be some misunderstanding regarding my search for the Highland Society of London Collection. After receiving a promising lead from one of forum vistors that the Highland Society of London might have been the actual original source of Tartan 1003 I felt obliged to verify this one way or another mainly because the Robert Bain source just didnt make a whole lot sense (and still does not.) Most importantly the one main reason I could not find the collection in the first place is that I could not find it listed in the National Museum of Scotland website. The dyes in the old tartan swatches are sensitive to light and that may be why it may be not on public display. I dont know that for sure the reason, but that may be a partial explanation. In any event Brian Wilton of the Scottish Tartan Authority tells me he has seen the collection recently and that it is indeed there in Edinborough. I can only speculate at this point why I could not locate it on the Museum's website. In any event in all likelihood an original swatch of Tartan 1003 won't be likely be there or any other Livingstone tartan which is what I interested in determining a few months ago. To me it looks like in all probability another dead end in my search for elusive origins of our Tartan 1003. But just because one has a few setbacks in their search it does me cause to give up. You may recall if your familiar at all with British archaeologist Howard Carter's exploit's in Egypt that he suffered many disappointments before he was finally able to report back to Lord Carnarvon with the news that he had found King Tut's tomb filled with "wonderous things". Hope that provides some more clarity to what the original search for Tartan 1003 was all about. regards Donald (Livingstone) Clink

[D.W.Livingston]

I was just wondering, and I sent an email asking, would it be safe to "assume" that the Highland Society of London of 1815 would be the current "Highlands and Islands Society of London"? David

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi All, An update to the Tartan 1003 search. According to my source at the National Museum they have some of the Highland Society of London collection on loan at the museum and some of it is currently on tour in Glasgow. I was told interestingly enough that the museum is more interested in fabrics than tartans and they did not seem to have a staff person who had cataloged the collection for the museum or anyone on staff doing

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi David No unfortunately the Highland And Islands Society of London founded in 1976 is not the same organization. regards Donald

[D.W.Livingston]

Nevermind, in their History section it states: The history of HISL spans 30 years.

[Bachuil]

The Macleay-Livingstone tartan 1488

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi All, I would have to concur with David's contact Peter Macdonald that Tartan 1003 or for that matter 1488 will not be found in Highland Society of London Collection. My attempts to track down Tartan 1003 amongst the old swatch collection of the Highland Society of London in response to a November 18, 2006 message to the forum regarding Livingstone tartan does not appear to be successful. Oh well. It was worth a try. And we are left with a mystery unsolved as those tartan books that refer to 1938 Tartab book author Robert Bain as the source offer no clear solution as to the antiquity of our classic red green black Tartan 1003. As I earlier mentioned the correspondence of the Highland Society of London located in the National Library of Scotland might shed some light as to who was contacted and who did not submmit tartans. I would find it somewhat odd that Clan Livingstone was not contacted. We may have been a small clan, but certainly not one that would be ignored by the Highland Society I should think. regards Donald (Livingstone) Clink