It was invented in 1941 by Reverend Peter Marshall, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington DC and and a member of the St. Andrew's Society of Washington DC. Reverend Marshall held services to raise funds for British War Relief. At one of these services in the Spring of 1941 he gave a sermon entitled "The Kirkin' o' the Tartans", which started the tradition, which has become quite popular in some Presbyterian churches in America.