MacMillan and Buchanan

[OC Richard]

From The Setts of the Scottish Tartans by Donald C Stewart:

"The scheme of the red and yellow MacMillan is the same as that of the Wemyss and similiar to that of the Hunting MacLean..."
(All three are Hay-Allan creations, part of the bogus Vestiarium Scoticum.)

"There is a tartan sometimes called the MacMillan Ancient. This resembles the Buchanan, and derives from one of McIan's drawings, but as in the McIan-Logan work the MacMillan tartan is stated to be identical with the Buchanan, the making of a distinction between the two is pointless."

If I were a MacMillan, then, I would wear the Buchanan tartan, following Logan's 1831 symmetrical design:



rather than either the artificial modern modification of the erroneous 1843 McIan assymmetrical Buchanan, or the Hay-Allan "MacMillan" creation.

[macwilkin]

From The Setts of the Scottish Tartans by Donald C Stewart:

"The scheme of the red and yellow MacMillan is the same as that of the Wemyss and similiar to that of the Hunting MacLean..."
(All three are Hay-Allan creations, part of the bogus Vestiarium Scoticum.)

"There is a tartan sometimes called the MacMillan Ancient. This resembles the Buchanan, and derives from one of McIan's drawings, but as in the McIan-Logan work the MacMillan tartan is stated to be identical with the Buchanan, the making of a distinction between the two is pointless."

If I were a MacMillan, then, I would wear the Buchanan tartan, following Logan's 1831 symmetrical design:



rather than either the artificial modern modification of the erroneous 1843 McIan assymmetrical Buchanan, or the Hay-Allan "MacMillan" creation.

If I were a MacMillan, I would see which taran was approved by chief, George Gordon MacMillan of MacMillan & Knap. That really is the bottom line.

T.

[davidlpope]

From The Setts of the Scottish Tartans by Donald C Stewart:

"The scheme of the red and yellow MacMillan is the same as that of the Wemyss and similiar to that of the Hunting MacLean..."
(All three are Hay-Allan creations, part of the bogus Vestiarium Scoticum.)

"There is a tartan sometimes called the MacMillan Ancient. This resembles the Buchanan, and derives from one of McIan's drawings, but as in the McIan-Logan work the MacMillan tartan is stated to be identical with the Buchanan, the making of a distinction between the two is pointless."

If I were a MacMillan, then, I would wear the Buchanan tartan, following Logan's 1831 symmetrical design:



rather than either the artificial modern modification of the erroneous 1843 McIan assymmetrical Buchanan, or the Hay-Allan "MacMillan" creation.

Richard,

A few points:

1. Although D.C. Stewart made the assertion that the red-yellow MacMillan tartan (now commonly called Dress MacMillan) was created by the Hay-Allans, he was wrong. This tartan (nor any other MacMillan tartan) does not show up in the VS at all, as a quick perusing of Matt's new online resource will show. The earliest known reference to it that I can find is its inclusion in Clans Originaux, c. 1880, where it is referred to as simply "MacMillan". The swatchbook also contains what is labelled as "Ancient MacMillan" (the green, yellow, and maroon one).

2. I believe you are correct in saying that the tartan now called "Ancient MacMillan" or "Old MacMillan was "created" by MacIan's print. I can find no provenance for it prior to the publication of Logan's book.

3. If you were a MacMillan you would, of course, have the same freedom that you currently enjoy to wear, or not wear, any tartan you could aquire and strap around your waist. That being said, if you were a MacMillan I would hope that you would choose to wear a tartan that is 1) approved by the Clan Chief (Old, Hunting, or Dress) and 2) easily recognizable as a MacMillan tartan (Old, Hunting, or Dress).

While I understand the argument that you're making, I think you would get quite tired of having to explain to everyone (including your chief, if you encountered him) who asks, why you, a MacMillan, were wearing a Buchanan tartan...

Since you are not a MacMillan, though, I guess it is entirely a moot point.

David