Is there a Coulter tartan?

I got asked this question by an American (by which I mean USA citizen) visitor. My off the cuff answer was - these days there is a tartan for just about anyone who wants one! Continuing with my cynical response I went on to point out (no to rant) that tartan was a comparatively modern day invention by 19th and 20th century weavers and city merchants designed to make a profit from the gullible - that it is the stuff of the imaginings of a romantic writer (Sir Walter Scott), an English King of German descent (King George IV) of shortbread tins and garishly clothed dolls.

When George IV visited Scotland in 1822 Scott persuaded him to take part in a plaided pageantry in which he would star as a Stuart Prince and Jacobite Highlander - and so in July 1822 the bloated monarch placed an order with George Hunter & Co of London & Edinburgh for £1,354 and 18 shillings worth of highland outfit in garish red tartan (later known as Royal Stuart), complete with gold chains and assorted weaponry including a dirk, sword and pistols.

I can say this with certainty - if you are a Coulter, your ancestors were Lowlands Scots or Ulster Scots. They were not of the highland clans (Celts) with whom plaid twill (tartan) is traditionally associated in Scotland. That is not to say that the weavers of the lowland Scotland did not weave simple plaids that were associated with districts - or with Jacobean protest against the Union of Parliaments.

When King George III repealed the Act of Proscription of the Highland Garb in 1782 and made it legal to were tartan again little would he have guessed that he was about to create a Scottish icon. A Scottish humourist once observed that when a Scotsman leaves his homeland his skin immediately becomes tartan. The truth is that for the many thousands of Scots who have left these shores (and there is an estimated 50 to 60 million of us around the globe), tartan represent not just home, but a notion of shared culture and values and pride in being a Scot. In my book there is nothing wrong with that! The fact that tartan, along with whisky, has not only become a great Scottish icon but is worth an estimated £350 million to the Scottish economy makes it worth setting aside my cynical tendancies.

But here is the rub - there is no such thing as a Coulter tartan!

Ok - to contradict myself - there is a Coulter tartan if you really want one - and I confess to having a kilt and all of the bits and bobs that go with it (picture to follow).

If you are a Coulter there are three district tartans you could wear:

Galloway Hunting: This was my choice - I have lived and worked  in Galloway for most of my life - and this plus the fact that it is also my mother (whose maiden name was Heron) tartan, made the choice a "no brainer". The version below with the yellow line changed to white is produced commercially by both Lochcarron and Ingles Buchan (Textiles). The designer, John Hannay, was a chiropodist living in London and said that this 'everyday tartan' was in four shades of green with a yellow and red stripe. It was woven by Cree Mills of Newton-Stewart with only two shades however and the yellow line was replaced with a white.

Galloway - Hunting (Hannay, John pre 1939) ITI No 1467

Galloway Red - Dress Tartan: One of samples in the Scottish Tartan Society's collection (the MacGregor-Hastie Collection) shows this sett with the narrow stripes of green, red, white and blue. The more usual version uses four threads for the green and the yellow (white in this version). This variation in which the yellow line changed to white is produced commercially by Lochcarron, Ingles Buchan and Moffat Woollen Mill.

Galloway - Dress. (Hannay, John 1950)  ITI No 843

County Down - Irish District Tartan: One of a series of Irish District tartans designed by Polly Wittering of the House of Edgar. These are not 'officially sanctioned' District tartans but have apparently proved popular and no doubt in time will be accepted as genuine District rather than Fashion tartans.

County Down - Irish District Tartan. ITI No 2266

It would appear that a Coulter family commissioned D C Dalgliesh of Selkirk to design two "personal" tartans. I guess they wouldn't object to other Coulters wearing these tatans.

Coulter Tartan. ITI No 3585

Coulter - Dress Tartan. ITI No 4142