Clan Skene
Skene is a territorial name, taken from the lands of Skene in Aberdeenshire. The earliest hard record of the family there is a charter of Robert I dated 1 June 1317, granting “our lands of Skene and the loch of the same” to Robert Skene in feu and heritage, witnessed by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and James Douglas. The place itself appears earlier, in records of 1247–1256 concerning teinds owed from Skene land, but those attest the place and not the family. The familiar origin story — that a kinsman of Robertson of Struan killed a wolf with his sgian and was rewarded with the lands — is tradition, and the references that carry it label it as such.
Patrick de Skene submitted to Edward I on the Ragman Rolls in 1296. Adam de Skene was killed at Harlaw on 24 July 1411, Alexander Skene of Skene at Flodden on 9 September 1513, and the laird of Skene at Pinkie Cleugh on 10 September 1547. John Skene, Lord Curriehill, was appointed to the Supreme Court bench in 1594. The direct line of the chiefs died out in 1827 after 510 years of charter possession, and the estates passed by inheritance to James Duff, 4th Earl Fife — no forfeiture was involved. The chiefship then lay dormant for 167 years, until the Lord Lyon recognised Danus George Moncrieff Skene as Chief of the Name and Arms of Skene on 17 February 1994. He died on 19 August 2016 and was succeeded by his son Dugald.
The Skene tartan
The earliest documented Skene cloth is a sample in the pattern books of Wilsons of Bannockburn of about 1830 — the commercial weaver whose output lies behind a great many clan setts. The sett now worn as the standard Skene tartan, dark blue and green with black, red and light-orange lines, is recorded at 1886. Two branch patterns are separately recorded and are genuinely different threadcounts rather than recolourings: Skene of that Ilk (1856) and Skene of Cromar (1885, with a second recording in 1950). Skene does not appear among the seventy-five plates of the Vestiarium Scoticum, so the occasional claim that the Skene tartan derives from that book is unsupported.
A note on honesty: Skene Modern, Ancient, Weathered and Muted are colourways of the single 1886 sett, not four separate tartans — only Skene of that Ilk and Skene of Cromar are distinct setts. No Skene sett predates the commercial era: the earliest documented cloth is the Wilsons sample of about 1830, and nothing connects any of these patterns to the medieval lairds above. We should also say that our dating here comes from threadcount records rather than from our own reading of the register’s entries, which we could not retrieve; the register’s own search page is linked below so you can check it yourself.
Clan facts
| Chief | Dugald Skene of Skene. The chiefship was restored to his father, Danus Skene, by the Lord Lyon on 17 February 1994 after 167 years dormant |
|---|---|
| Motto | Virtutis regia merces — Latin, “a palace the reward of valour” |
| Plant badge | Not recorded. Neither the Clan Skene Association nor the standard references give one, and we would rather leave it blank than supply one |
| Lands | Skene, Aberdeenshire — Skene House and the Loch of Skene, held by charter from 1317 to 1827. Not in family hands today |