Clan Moffat
Moffat is a Border name from Upper Annandale, recorded as de Moffet by the twelfth century. Nicholas de Moffat was bishop-elect of Glasgow in the later thirteenth century, though sources differ on the year. In 1300 Robert the Bruce, then Lord of Annandale, granted four land charters in the barony of Westerkirk, one of them to Adam Moffat of Knock; Adam and his brother are said to have fought at Bannockburn in 1314. William de Moffete had a safe conduct as ambassador to David II in 1336, and Walter de Moffat, Archdeacon of Lothian, was appointed ambassador to France in 1337.
The clan was effectively decapitated in 1557, when Robert Moffat was murdered and the clan leadership massacred by the Johnstones; pardons were afterwards granted to three Johnstons. The principal lands passed to the Johnstones through debt in 1628 and the chiefship lay vacant for more than four centuries. In 1983 the Lord Lyon recognised Major Francis Moffat as hereditary chief and granted him the undifferenced arms of Moffat of that Ilk. He died in April 1992 and was succeeded by his daughter. The descent from a tenth-century “William de Movat Alto” that circulates widely is family tradition with no documentary basis.
The Moffat tartan
There is one Moffat sett, of 288 threads, recorded in 1983 and formally registered on 1 January 1984 under Scottish Register of Tartans reference 2975. It is a modern design, created at or just after the restoration of the chiefship, and is based on the Clan Douglas tartan, using the black, silver and red of the ancient Moffat arms — a black lion rampant on silver, with red teeth and claws. No professional designer is named in the record.
A note on honesty: there is no pre-1983 Moffat clan tartan of any kind. Moffat does not appear in the Vestiarium Scoticum, and nothing in the record connects the name to a sett before the late twentieth century. Moffat Ancient, Modern, Weathered and Muted are all the same 288-thread sett in different dye shades — colourways, not separate tartans.
Clan facts
| Chief | Madam Jean Moffat of that Ilk, Chief of the Name and Arms of Moffat |
|---|---|
| Gaelic patronymic | Not recorded — a Lowland Border family |
| Motto | Spero Meliora — “I hope for better things” |
| Plant badge | Not recorded. Retailers commonly assign one; no source supports it |
| Lands | Upper Annandale and Moffatdale, Dumfriesshire; seat at Craigbeck |