Guthrie Tartan

Clan Guthrie

Guthrie is a place in Angus before it is a surname, and the earliest records concern the place rather than the family: a gift of the church of Guthrie between 1196 and 1199, a charter of William I granting the succession of Guthrie to Walter de la Carneille between March 1205 and 1207, and Robert I’s confirmation of a quitclaim within the barony of Guthrie on 1 May 1322. In these the lordship belongs to the de la Carneille family, and no one surnamed Guthrie appears in the medieval charter record at all. The often-repeated tale that the lands were granted to Arbroath Abbey about 1178 and bought back by Guthries who were royal falconers is uncited, as is the story of the Laird of Guthrie fetching William Wallace home from France, which is dated 1299 by some retellings and 1303 by others.

The family is firmly documented from the fifteenth century in the person of Sir David Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie of Kincaldrum, who was Sheriff of Forfar in 1457, Lord Treasurer in 1461, Comptroller of the household from October 1466, Clerk Register from August 1468 and Lord Chief Justice in 1473. He built the tower of Guthrie Castle in 1468 and founded a collegiate church at Guthrie, confirmed by a papal bull of 14 June 1479. The castle stayed with the family until Colonel Ivan Guthrie, 20th of Guthrie, died in 1983; it was sold the following year. His daughter Moyra was recognised as 21st chief, and on her death in June 1984 the chiefship stood vacant until her grandson Alexander was recognised as 22nd chief on 10 July 2000, an entry recorded in the Edinburgh Gazette. He died in March 2020, unmarried, and the recognition of a successor has not been confirmed.

The Guthrie tartan

There is one Guthrie sett. It was designed by Jack R. Dalgety of Forfar for Ivan Guthrie of Guthrie, began life as a personal tartan and came to be accepted for everyone of the name; a sample survives in the Dalgety collection held by the Scottish Tartans Authority. Colonel Guthrie lived from 1886 to 1983, so the design belongs to the twentieth century, although the year it was drawn is not recorded and the dates quoted in tartan databases are dates of recording rather than of design.

Entries elsewhere showing a slightly different count under names such as Guthrie Family appear to be transcriptions of the same design rather than a second tartan.

A note on honesty: Guthrie Modern, Ancient, Weathered and Reproduction are colourways of one threadcount, not four tartans. No Guthrie sett comes from Wilsons of Bannockburn, the Vestiarium Scoticum or the Clans Originaux, and there is no Guthrie tartan of any antiquity whatever: the pattern is younger than the twentieth-century chief it was made for.

Clan facts

References

1. Guthrie tartans — The Scottish Register of Tartans
2. Court of the Lord Lyon, Roll of the Chiefs — Edinburgh Gazette, 16 July 2002
3. Clan Chief Dies — Clan Guthrie
4. Succession of Guthrie (RRS, ii, no. 473) — People of Medieval Scotland