Careful and extended examination of the various authorities establishes that the example here represented illustrates the earliest tartan worn by members of the Clan Donnachie having red as the dominant colour. The qualifying clause as to colour is introduced because, since the plates for this work were prepared, the author has been indebted to Mr Charles Robertson of Kindeace for a specimen of the recognised sett worn by his family and other Robertsons in the North, wherein the colours are mainly green and blue, with red and white lines. Familiar enough to connoisseurs, this design was not generally esteemed ancient; but Kindeace mentions that his family and others have long regarded it as their oldest clan pattern, and he adds: “The late Strowan told me the red was made in Atholl, and presented to his father, who never used it. In those days it had a white line, which is never seen now.” And this confirms the view that the illustration given is the earliest form of the red tartan. That it is an early clan pattern there can be no doubt, for it is duly recorded as such in the Craignish and Moy Hall collections, and in others formed from ninety to one hundred years ago by manufacturers and dealers in high repute.
XXXII. ROBERTSON