The Bastardising of a Tartan
It is with pride that Canadian Scots celebrate the adoption of tartan into the Canadian culture and like the others from foreign lands the Scottish people are proud to see their culture celebrated and recognised. This interweaving of cultures blend like the colours woven together into a fine plaid woven fabric to form yet another part of the culture with each province coming together to form a nation. Likewise the people of New Brunswick wanted their own identity to distinguish them in a unique way becoming yet another part in the thread of Canada cultural heritage.
Nova Scotia was the first province to have an official Provincial tartan designed originally by Bessie Murray in 1953 for the agricultural exhibition in Truro a small town known as the Hub of Nova Scotia located at the junction between the Canadian National Railway, running between Halifax and Montreal, and the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, between Truro and Sydney. The popular tartan design was adopted by the Province in 1955 through an Order in Council and later submitted for approval of the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms. It was a year later in 1956 that the tartan registered with Her Majesty's Register Office in Edinburgh, Scotland making it the first provincial tartan in Canada.
The Province of New Brunswick, formally Nova Scotia until 1785 not to be overshadowed developed a tartan of their own three years later in 1959 and was the second Canadian Provincial tartan to be registered at the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland, this provincial tartan can justifiably claim to also being one of the ‘bastardised provincial tartans’ of Canada.
Each year, Scots and their descendants celebrate their cultural identity in New Brunswick by holding a number of events to commemorate their heritage and on April 6th, were recognized by the province in the “Proclamation of Tartan Day April 6, 1993 by Hon. Frank McKenna Premier of New Brunswick for their contribution to Canadian life by celebrating Tartan Day. In the 2010 proclamation, Hon. James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage expressed similar sentiments: “On this day, all Canadians will have the opportunity to celebrate and learn about Scottish culture, traditions, and heritage, as well as their contribution to Canadian society....I encourage people all across the country to celebrate on that date [April 6th] the contributions of millions of Canadians of Scottish ancestry in building our country.”
6 April 1320 the Scottish nobility, following the Second War of Scottish Independence, issued the Declaration of Arbroath. The Declaration asserted the historical independence of Scotland and the rights of the Scottish nobles to choose their own monarch – no matter how much the King of England claimed otherwise.
Although most people recognise ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ that is the tartan worn by the staff at the provincial legislator and depicted on the provincial website along with the many gift sold in outlets to tourists as the Official New Brunswick Tartan it is in fact the ‘Beaverbrook Tartan’ that is the official provincial tartan.
The Beaverbrook Tartan was commissioned by the Royal Regiment and designed by the Loomcrofters of Gagetown, New Brunswick in January of 1959 as a rug for presentation to Lord Beaverbrook and was then adopted as the official Provincial Tartan by Order in Council on April 30, 1959 and it was registered at the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland as the Beverbrook Tartan.
The creation of the provincial tartan began on January 29th 1959 when the Premier Hugh John Flemming of New Brunswick reported to the committee of the Executive Council:
That the Province of New Brunswick has no official plaid designated as such;
That recently the Loomcrofters of Gagetown were was commissioned by the Royal New Brunswick Regiment to design and fabricate a plaid in the form of a rug, for presentation to Lord Beverbrook who is Honorary Colonel of the Regiment.[1]
Then three months later on April 30th 1959 he again reported to the Executive Counsel:
‘That by Order-in-Council 59-72 the Lieutenant-Convener in Council was pleased to adopt an Official New Brunswick Plaid with colours and proportions as hereafter set forth, namely,…’[2]
The description of ‘Beverbrook Tartan’ in the book of the Court of the Lord Lyon states that a registered tartan described as the ‘Beaverbrook Tartan’ and can be found in the Scottish Registry with notes as to its composition:
‘This asymmetric tartan was designed by Miss M Patricia Jenkins MA, founder of the Loomcrofters in Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada. Very complicated entry in Lord Lyon book for this sett which was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook and then adopted by New Brunswick as its district tartan. Its great complication has brought about various confusing simplifications as can be seen from the selection in the full copy of this database. This perfectly matches the woven sample from 1974 in the Johnston Collection. The write-up from Loomcrofters reads: “New Brunswick's three main industries are Lumbering, Agriculture and Fishing. These are represented in the design by the forest green, meadow green and blue interwoven with gold for the province's potential wealth. The red blocks surrounding the green signify the loytalty and devotion to Crown and Country of our Loyalist settlers, the New Brunswick regiments and all our peoples. The block also contains the grey and gold of the provincial Coat of Arms and the Regimental Crest. Because the first weaving of the design was commissioned for Lord Beaverbrook, the province's eminent benefactor, the red blocks are highlighted by 'beaver' brown.[3]
(Example 1) Beaverbrook (District) ITI Number: 663 | Date: pre 1959 | Category: District
Miss M Patricia Jenkins MA, was the daughter of Dr. Willard Miles Jenkins, born in Jenkins Cove, Kings Co, NB on 19 Apr 1884 and whose forefathers were some of the original Royalist settlers and one of the founding of the Lomcrofters along with Miss Inch who, in a small studio which was built in 1761 as a farm outbuilding was moved to a location on the then family property that can be credited with design. Miss Jenkins being an astute business woman recognising the value of the design should the province adopt it as the official provincial tartan could be worth a valuable source of future income. In doing so she intended to capitalise on the design she was commissioned to create by registering the design herself.
Prior to the order of the Committee of Council being sent to Scotland for registration Miss Patricia Jenkins of Loomcrofters in April 27th 1959 attempted to upstaged the Provincial Government by registering a simpler version of the Beaverbrook tartan with the Court of the Lord Lyon naming it ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ (Example 2.) thus causing confusion when being referenced.
‘This asymmetric. This IS the correct version of this tartan - regardless of any other threadcounts or samples that may be quoted. The thread count has been checked against the original application dated April 1959. Registered to Patricia Jenkins of Loomcrofters on 27th April 1959. The complicated threadcount of this tartan has brought about various erroneous records (including that of the Tartans Society) but this graphic matches the woven sample in the STA Collection AND the new threadcount in the errata slip in 'District Tartans' by Teal/Smith. Named in honour of King George III who was from the House of Brunswick, this Atlantic seaboard province acquired its own official tartan in 1959.’[4]
When comparing both of these tartans side-by-side we can see the difference, not only in colouring but in also the weave structure, in the ‘Beaverbrook tartan the gold block appears outside of the blue and gold strip, while in the ‘New Brunswick the gold strip intersects the blue and gold stripes.
The Beaverbrook which was commissioned and intended as a Rug or Blanket also used a 380 thread count following the suggested thread count for a plaid which James Scarlett in his book ‘The Tartan Weaver’s Guide’ when notes his section on “Adjustment of Thread Counts’:
‘As a guide, the following sizes of sett can be regarded as suitable for the purposes indicated:- for ties, 3”, scarves 4” to 6”, Kilts and skirts 6” to 9” and plaids, 9” to 131/2” with the exception of scarves…[5]
While the New Brunswick used a reduced restructured thread count of 188 giving a 6” sett. From this information we can assume that Miss Jenkins intended the ‘New Brunswick’ tartan to be for textile garment and accessory use while the Beaverbrook being woven as a Rug for presentation was produced in a larger 12” sett.
The Loomcrofters were responsible for creating a great number of tartans for other groups, provinces, associations and business and Miss Patricia Jenkins an astute manageress, be it misinformed, apparently assumed that by creating and registering a tartan she and her company would hold all rights to the design for life, evident in letters she sent to the attention of the New Brunswick Craft Council where she states that the design of the New Brunswick Tartan and its use are covered under copyright law to the Loomcrofters. It appears that she miscalculated on this issue and that tartan designs fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of Industry and as so Industrial Designs only granting copyright rights for a period of five years.
Some time after crediting the design for the Official New Brunswick tartan the Loomcrofters created a third version (Example 5) of the ‘Beverbrook tartan’ this design was given to a textile mill in Upper Canada to create a textile fabric for use in small goods such as placemats, napkins and neckties. This third design began being retailed this textile as the ‘New Brunswick Tartan’ (Example 5) thereby further compounding the confusion.
(Example 5) Left: A woven poly cotton blend textile alongside the registered 100% wool New Brunswick Tartan on the right.[6]
In reading this third design; the gold threads are now reduced from a four thread count to a two thread count as shown in Example 6. This bastardised example is the design that the Province of New Brunswick display on their website as being the ‘Official New Brunswick Tartan’.
Did the Loomcrofters decided to name the new textile fabric ‘The Beverbrook Tartan’ or the ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ is anyone’s guess, it may have been the textile mills who renamed it to produce a cheap copy for mass production reasons or perhaps, the Loomcrofters named ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ it as an industrial design. In either case by calling the new fabric and retailing it as ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ and producing products from it we now have a further improperly named version.
But in all fairness it is the Government of New Brunswick’s civil service that can justifiably lay claim to being responsible for ‘bastardising’ the design today, through their lackadaisical attitudes and by creating a further inconsistany when they display (Example 6.) and misinform the public by provideing incorrect information on their websites. The provinces Internet website where one would think is a trusted location for Provincial, National, and International visitors to obtain information and as an official resource for educators and students use for reference, appears not to be the case, not only does the provinces civil servants not conduct any form of research on the images that are displaying on the Provinces Official Standards webpage but, they compounded the issue by displaying yet another version on the Provincial Tourisim website a fourth image (Example 7) naming it as ‘The New Brunswick Tartan,’ although this example in no way resembles the description of the provincial tartan.
When contacted about the misguided information the response from the department of Heritage and Culture Communications was:
‘I wanted to let you know that we’ve investigated your query and our web staff tell me that they have used the correct NB Tartan image on the NB Gov’t site. It may be an issue with the quality of the image and/or lighting.’[8]
(Example 7) Description: New Brunswick tartan Image No. : 595 Province of New Brunswick[9]
And when the Chief of Protocol was contacted about the discrepancy regarding the use of the incorrect image being displayed on the Provincial Governments Symbols page[10] and on the Provincial Travel Guid website[11] the response was:
‘Not sure where this image on the website came from but to the untrained eye it looks like the NB Tartan.’[12]
It is not only through the website that this laissez-faire attitude persists, the Clerk of the Legislative continues to compound the issue by ignoring the error after being advised that the fabric is being displayed in the house and wore by staff members is not ‘The New Brunswick Tartan’ but a basterdized reproduction of ‘The Beaverbrook Tartan’ the official New Brunswick Tartan. Further without checking the provinces archival records they cite a document that is in their library sent to a Mr. Percy dated January of 1991 where Enid M. Inch correctly describes the sett for ‘The Beverbrook Tartan’ but erred by naming it the Sett of now new modified ‘New Brunswick Tartan’:
‘Sett of the New Brunswick Tartan which was given by Miss M Patricia Jenkins, the design to Mr. H. Lester Smith Clerk of the Exertive Counsel, Fredericton NB, as required for submission to the Lyon King at Arms in May of 1959.’[13]
Further inconsistencies concerning the tartan and its creation were published in the 05 April 2012 Ministers Message for New Brunswick Tartan Day News Release Culture, Tourism and Healthy Living when it is describing the reason for celebrating Tartan Day when it is stated:
“New Brunswick's official Provincial Tartan was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook in 1959. It was designed by the Loomcrofters of Gagetown, and was officially adopted by an Order in Council the same year.”[14]
As noted, it was the not Lord Beverbrook who commissioned the provincial tartan, but the Royal Regiment that had the Loomcrofters of Gagetown create a design for a rug for presentation to Lord Beaverbrook in 1959 and it was Premier Hugh John Flemming who presented that tartan design to the executive council on January 29th 1959. Of course the New Brunswick Government who we expect to be a trusted as a source for information has a disclaimer stating on all of their websites:
“While every effort is made to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information, documents, legislation, data or material (the "Information") available on this site, the Province of New Brunswick assumes no liability or responsibility for the completeness, accuracy or usefulness of any of the Information. ‘[15]
In concluding it is a sad day when the province and its civil servants no longer care enough about its heritage to research their own archival information and make available to the public. Is it that they do not have any standards or that they believe the people don’t care? or are they just too smug in their belief that no one will point out their errors.
The history of a province is part of what makes its people, therefore if it is not reported correctly then how can it be expected that future generations of New Brunswick children will be educated properly when presented with incorrect information from their own Provincial Leaders.
[5] THE TARTAN WEAVER'S GUIDE [Hardcover] JAMES SCARLETT (Author) SHEPHEARD-WALWYN (PUBLISHERS) (1999)
[8] Matthews-Clark, Jane (THC/TPC) Director Tourism, Heritage and Culture Communications e-mail 2012-10-30
[12] Reynolds, Anne (IGA/MAI) Chief of Protocol, Executive Council Office, Office of the Protocol 2012-11-02
[15] http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/admin/disclaimer.html 2012-11-06
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