Clan Henderson

Clan Henderson is not one descent group but several unrelated families sharing a patronymic surname, and that is the most important fact about it. The name means son of Henry, in Gaelic MacEanruig. The best-documented line is the Lowland one in Fife: William Henryeson appears as chamberlain of Lochmaben Castle between 1373 and 1377, and James Henryson was appointed King’s Advocate around 1494 and acquired the lands of Fordell in Fife between 1510 and 1512, erected into a barony in 1511. Fordell, near Dalgety Bay, remained the family seat for roughly three centuries and gave the chiefly line its territorial designation. Separately, the Caithness Hendersons are held to branch from Clan Gunn, and the Glencoe Hendersons were hereditary pipers and bodyguards to MacIain, chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe.

Alexander Henderson, born around 1583, was the clan’s most consequential figure: a minister, a leader of the Covenanting movement, co-author of the National Covenant of 1638 and a framer of the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. Glencoe Hendersons were among those killed in the Massacre of Glencoe on 13 February 1692. The chiefship of the Name and Arms is held by Henderson of Fordell, recognised by the Lord Lyon in 2005.

The Henderson tartan

The Scottish Register of Tartans holds very few Henderson records, and the provenance of the main one is clear. The sett sold as Henderson is registered jointly as Henderson/MacKendrick, and the Register itself attributes the design to the Sobieski Stewarts — meaning it comes from the Vestiarium Scoticum of 1842, a book long since shown to be a fabrication rather than the ancient manuscript its authors claimed. Two Dress setts are also recorded, both twentieth-century commercial designs: one by Geoffrey (Tailor) Highland Crafts, and a dance tartan by the tartan scholar Dr Philip D. Smith Jnr.

A note on honesty: Henderson Modern, Ancient, Weathered and Muted are the same threadcount in different dye shades, not four tartans. There is no recorded Henderson Hunting sett, and no Henderson tartan is attributable to Wilsons of Bannockburn. No Henderson sett can be shown to predate 1842, so nothing worn at Glencoe in 1692 was a Henderson tartan in the modern sense.

One further caution, since it is repeated everywhere: the descent of the Glencoe Hendersons from Eanruig Mòr, son of a Pictish king, around 1011, is clan tradition. It has no contemporary documentary support.

Clan facts

References

1. Henderson tartans — The Scottish Register of Tartans
2. History — Clan Henderson Society
3. Leaders of Clan Henderson — Clan Henderson Society