Vestiarium Scoticum
In the late 1700s it's said that rumours were rife in Scotland
regarding the exiled Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie - now
no longer so young! It was alleged that in 1773 a son was born to
him and his wife Princess Louisa of Stolberg Guedern.* It was
feared that the baby might suffer harm at the hands of the
Hanoverian government in Britain that was still apprehensive about
another possible Jacobite uprising and to avoid such persecution
the baby was immediately spirited out of Italy and brought up in
England by a naval officer identified as John Carter Allen, later
to become an Admiral.
His supposedly 'Royal' foster son "Lieutenant Thomas Allen of His
Majesty's Navy" married in Egham in 1792. That union produced two
sons, John Hay Allen and Charles Stuart Hay Allen who settled in
Scotland around 1820 and changed the spelling of their surnames to
'Allan,' the accepted Scottish version of the name.
Whilst neither of these stylish and charming young men ever openly
made claims to their royal lineage, neither did they deny the
excited rumours in Scottish society. Indeed, poetry by the elder
brother John, tended to give even greater credibility to the
whispers that they were the legitimate grandsons of Bonnie Prince
Charlie. The thought that they might still have a Jacobite 'king'
amongst them, opened many influential hearts, doors and no doubt
purses.
In 1822 they also let it be known that in their possession they
had some ancient manuscripts giving details of many old Clan
tartans, not just for the Highlanders but also for those in the
Lowlands and Scottish Borders - hitherto regarded as tartan
deserts! One was the Cromarty MS, another the Douay MS (from the
Scots College in Douay, France) and the third was from the
Monastery of St. Augustine in Cadiz, Spain. The only one that was
ever seen by outsiders was the Cromarty and photographs were taken
of that around 1894. Modern inspection of that throws up countless
clumsy alterations and inconsistencies that tend to confirm its
highly dubious provenance.
After the enthusiasm for tartan that was rekindled and fanned by
George IV's 1822 visit to Edinburgh, the brothers' claims fell on
even more receptive ears and in 1842 they published a compilation
of the relevant tartans called the Vestiarium
Scoticum, a magnificent leather-bound tome measuring 15
inches by 11 and made available then at 10 guineas. Its editor was
John Sobieski Stuart - the newly adopted 'Sobieski' being a Polish
family name of the brothers' alleged grandmother, Princess Louisa.
Another unspoken but unmistakable confirmation of their supposed
royal lineage! He also styled himself Count d'Albanie, a title that
had belonged to his alleged grandfather. He used that until his
death in 1872 when it was then assumed by brother Charles.
The book's illustrator was Charles and the publication was the
first to effectively illustrate tartans by using an ingenious
pantograph system developed by the Smith brothers of Mauchline.
That used ranks of pens to scribe coloured parallel lines onto
black paper and the Smiths went on in later years to use their
invention to illustrate their own much-valued book 'The
Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of
Scotland.'
The Vestiarium was seized upon by Clan Chiefs and the weaving
industry with equal fervour. Very few thought seriously to question
the claims and it wasn't until almost 140 years later that an
analytical study of the book was undertaken. The conclusion was
that talented and ingenious though they were, the Sobieskis had
perpetrated a fascinating and monumental hoax upon a gullible
society and the vast majority of 'old' clan tartans came only from
the fertile imagination of Charles the illustrator. The book jacket
for that analytical study by D C Stewart and J C Thompson entitled
Scotland's Forged Tartans says: "Despite the misgivings of
a few, but potent, authorities, these tartans were eagerly accepted
by a public desperate to wear its "authentic" clan tartans and a
trade equally desperate to sell them and they have remained with
us, highly respected and totally unauthenticated. . . . beyond all
doubt, the Vestiarium and its background material are complete
forgeries."
"Complete forgeries" may be a little strong because it's
possible that some of the 75 tartans may have been based on
historical samples that the Sobieskis came across. Modern
historians tend not to judge them too harshly; they didn't seem to
embark on the project for financial gain; perhaps it was to further
their social position but was there any need? The rumours of their
birthright had already attracted that in abundance. Another theory
suggests that they themselves were the unwitting dupes of a shadowy
puppet master . . .but who?
Sir Walter Scott, an ardent skeptic, apparently suspected that
the origin of the Vestiarium Scoticum might be " .
. even behind the counter of one of the great clan-tartan
warehouses which used to illuminate the principal thoroughfares of
Edinburgh. The whole composition betrays a desire to multiply, the
utmost, new and splendid patterns. The visible anxiety has even led
the author to the singular and original expedient of assigning
tartans to the great homes and tribes of the border, as well as to
those of the Highlands."
Calculating imposters . . . social poseurs . . . gullible
innocents . . . well-meaning dupes . . whatever they were, the
impetus they imparted to the clan tartan culture came just as the
new Queen and her Consort paid their first visit to Scotland. The
enthusiasm of Victoria and Albert, set the Royal seal of approval
on everything to do with the Highlands - including all of
Scotland's 'forged tartans.'
* A possibly more factual historical note related that the
marriage was by proxy on 28th March 1772, Charles was 51, his bride
18 and it is thought that he married her to qualify for a small
pension. The childless marriage ended in 1780 when she left him,
and Charles recognised his illegitimate daughter Clementina as his
heir.