Aberdeen District Tartan

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I had been told that Aberdeen tartan was the personal tartan of Lord Aberdeen-- any knowledgeable comments?

Never heard that one, and it did not come up in any research I have done on the tartan. It's an old Wilsons of Bannockburn tartan. In their 1819 pattern book, they say the tartan was named for "the city of Aberdeen." The earliest record of it is from an order they filled for it in 1794, however their notes indicate they believe the tartan to have been designed by them sometime prior to the repeal of Proscription.