Morrison Family History

The Scottish History of the Morrison Origins

“There was, not surprisingly, a certain coolness from some who felt their illusions had been shattered and some who had vested interests in ‘clanship’”.

Gordon Donaldson (1995) p 89.

I am a Scot, but what does it mean? Scottish people have evolved from an amalgamation of Picts (northern Scotland down to the borders), Gaels (Ireland and Western Isles and coast), Britons (from the south moving north across the border country) as well as Norse Vikings and Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons. Later on in history the Romans and Normans had a significant influence. Then there were the European traders who brought further ethnic mixes into the equation. Modern Scots are therefore like the crystals in a kaleidoscope, the more you turn the viewer the more the pattern changes.

There were periods in Scottish history when Norway held suzerainty over the Orkneys and the Western Isles, including the Hebridean Isle of Lewis. Perhaps the most fluid ethnic ebb and flow came across the lowland borders where successive waves of Angles, Romans, Normans and English swept into what is now Scotland attempting to either tame the “savages” or claim sovereignty. 

So who were the Morrisons? Trying to find the definitive origin out of the blend of Scottish history and folklore is akin to playing the children’s game of apple dunking blindfolded (Apple dunking involves trying to pluck a floating apple from a tub of water with your teeth). 

Many Morrison clusters have been identified throughout Scotland including Lewis/Harris, Sutherland, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire, Fifeshire, Midlothians and Clackmannanshire. There are strong associations in Ireland and England. Today the name Morrison is recorded as about the twentieth most common name in Scotland, and is prominently seen throughout the UK via the Morrison chain of supermarkets and fuel distributers which were established in Yorkshire by an English Morrison family.

This essay attempts to dispel the myth that all Morrisons come from a single source which is often cited in a clan society fable and commercial “the origin of the name” publications. It further demonstrates that the name Morrison itself is derived from many sources, that the idea of a “clan” is a commercial artifact, the history behind the Morrrison tartans has been embellished, and the present badge is a marketing concoction.

The Fiction of the Morrison Fable

Clan societies, particularly those founded overseas, have become something akin to cult groups. Reading modern literature one is forgiven for believing the Morrison “clan” is derived from a real event in the early 13th century of the history of Scotland. Folklore surrounding the origins of the Morrisons on the Isle of Lewis include this gushing account from the Clan Morrison website:

Eight centuries ago a Norse ship struggled in heavy seas off the Scottish island of Lewis. A proud Kintyre noblewoman named Lauon stood on deck cradling her newborn infant son, Gillemorrie, in her arms while her husband, Olaf the Black, shouted orders to the crew. Despite his Herculean efforts the ship foundered. Olaf, Lauon and their son plunged into the frigid waters and clung to a piece of driftwood near their sinking vessel. Fortune smiled upon the stoic trio, and they were deposited safe but wet upon the stony Lewis shore. 

This fable is about an event that is supposed to have occurred about 1217 after Olaf’s [Olaf the Black, 1177-1237] half-brother Reginald granted him title to Lewis during the reign of Alexander 11 of Scotland. This account of the Morrisons of Lewis has fatal flaws that should be aired. The above fable has been copied relentlessly without any acknowledgement by Morrison societies and followers as though it was fact. 

Whilst it is acknowledged that there is no definitive account of the reign of Olaf the Black a number of historians have examined the available accounts, particularly some who have investigated the origins of the MacLeods. One of the disputed theories about the origins of the MacLeods was that their lineage could be traced to Leod, son of Olaf the Black. Interestingly, not one of these scholars associated Olaf as having a son named “Gillmorrie”.

As a short digression some of the history of Olaf might be useful. When Olaf’s father Godred 11 (Godred The Black) died in 1187 the Kingship was passed to his illegitimate son Reginald because Olaf was only 10 years old. According to the Chronicon Regum Manniae (1158-1223), Reginald assigned Lewis to Olaf, but Olaf found it to be unsatisfactory and complained. Reginald had him imprisoned by the Scottish King William and it wasn’t until William died in 1214 that Olaf was released. He then went on a three year pilgrimage to St James of Compostella in the North of Spain.

This takes us to about 1217 and Olaf made peace with Reginald. According to Alick Morrison (1986) Olaf seems to have been married “before he was imprisoned in Scotland, to a ‘lady of Kintyre’, a cousin of the Queen of Man and the Isles [The Chronicon Regum Manniae suggests it was “Lanon”, the Queen’s sister]. According to Canon Roderick MacLeod, Leod, progenitor of the MacLeods, was a son of this marriage, in this particular, the Canon departs from MacLeod traditions (eg, Manuscript Memorial of 1767, the Talisker Manuscript and the Bannatyne Manuscript), which claimed that Leod was a son of Olaf’s third marriage with Christina, daughter of Farquar, Earl of Ross. Some time after his return to Lodhus [Lewis], Olaf decided to marry again in 1218 to ‘Jauon’ (ie, Joan) a sister of the Queen of Man. Reginald [the son of Olaf’s sister], the Bishop of the Isles, now took action and convening the Synod, demanded that Olaf must divorce his wife on the ground that she was cousin germain to his first wife. Olaf complained that his first marriage was not confirmed: Bishop Reginald was adamant: Joan had to go. In 1222, Olaf married his third wife, Christina daughter of Farquar, Earl of Ross, with issue four sons, Harold, Reginald, Magnus and Godfrey” (Godfrey died as a child).

MacKenzie’s (1903) detailed “History of the Outer Hebrides” makes no mention of Olaf having a troubled landing with his “illicit” bride Lauon (who Reginald had arranged). MacKenzie states that Olaf died in 1237 and left three sons, Harald (the eldest), Reginald and Magnus. (W C MacKenzie, History of the Outer Hebrides, 1903, pp 29-39). Again no mention of a  “Gillemorrie”! 

There is considerable debate amongst historians about Olaf, including one suggestion he had three wives (Alick Morrison, 1986) and many children, but all agree there was no “Gillemorrie”. Note also that the MacLeods originally claimed their decent through Olaf the Black from a child by Lauon named “Leod”. The McLeod history claims that Olaf was forced to “divorce” Lauon and marry Christina. Depending on which account you subscribe to, Lauon was a relative of Reginald’s Queen (either a sister or cousin), and the Queen attempted to have Olaf murdered by her son for the treachery against Lauon.

MacLeod (The Ancestry of Leod, 2000) cites the Manx Chronicle which names the four sons of Olaf noting there was no “Leod” (or for that matter, “Gillemorrie”) and writes that “By the end of the thirteenth century, legal claims to the Isle of Mann were being pursued on behalf of daughters of the family, implying that the (legitimate) male line from Olaf the Black was then extinct”. If this is the case then it further substantiates the proposition there was no Morrison male line that could be traced to Olaf the Black because if there was then the Morrisons would have had legal claim over the Isle of Man.

As for the Morrison plant emblem being driftwood (a direct reference to the fable), given the nature of the coastline, wrecks were common, and driftwood plentiful. The antiquaries manuscript of 1876-78 (Traditions of the Morrisons [Clan Mac Ghillemhurie] by Capt FWL Thomas) states ”I am told the that the badge of the Morrisons is ‘drift-wood’ of which a great quantity is driven upon the west coast of Lewis (p14)”, but there is no mention in his account of the Morrison traditions of the above fable. Rather than supporting the shipwreck story Thomas quite rightly makes the observation that because driftwood is so plentiful on Lewis it was natural to associate driftwood with the early Morrisons on Lewis. 

One has to remember that a fable is not a fact, and stories about shipwrecks could be told about any number of similar incidents along Scotland’s rugged coastline. I have been unable to find any reference to who wrote the above fable about the shipwreck, but serious Morrison researchers would be well advised to keep to credible historical records and family documentation. 

Captain Thomas (1876-78) quotes John Morrison of Bragar (also known as the “Indweller”) writing around 1678: “The first and most ancient inhabitants of this countrie [Lewis] were three men of three several reaces, viz, Mores, the sone of Kennanus, whom the Irish historians call Makurich, whom they make to be naturall son to one of the kings of Norovay, some of whose posteritie remains in the land to this day. All the Morrisons in Scotland may challenge their decent from this man.. (p5)”. The other two “reaces” Morrison refers to were Iskair Mac Aulay from Ireland and Macnaicle [MacNicol] who decended from the king of Norway. This is a fascinating account written by a Morrison who was so to speak, on the spot, but remember this was written in 1678, some 550 years after the fable was supposed to have occurred.

Thomas points out what he considers to be a curious omission in John Morrison’s account: “Of the Morrisons, it is strange that the ‘Indweller’, himself a Morrison should have ignored what he would have called the “Irish” name of his his clan, which is from Gille-Mhuire, ie, servant of Mary; from Gille, ie, a servant, & and More, ie, Mary. A Morrison in Gaelic is Mac Ghillemhuire, sometimes shortened to Gillmore, Gilmour; or translated Morrison, Maryson; or reduced to Milmorer, Miles or Myles. The Morrisons are numerous in Lewis, where, in 1861, they numbered 1402, or one-fifteenth of the whole population; in Harris there were 530, equal to one-seventh of the inhabitants (p7)”.

So we are left the intriguing incongruity: there was no child of Olaf named “Gillemorrie” and the “Indweller” claims Norse decent from “Mores”. The name “Gillemorrie” is of Gaelic origin. Therefore the conclusion has to be that there is no definitive origin to the Morrisons of Lewis, but somewhere in the mix there is every likelihood of some Norse genetic infusion into the Gael stock. The conclusion after examining the extensive academic debate is that neither the Morrisons or the MacLeods descend from Olaf the Black, yet there is a general uncritical acceptance by many writers that claim this Morrison origin.

There is one further Norse connection that is sometimes mentioned in the origins of the Lewis Morrisons and that is the reference to the 12th Century Norse-Gaelic warrior Somerled, self styled King of the Hebrides, who is said to have a connection to the MacDonald clan. There would appear to be little detailed research on this theory to warrant examination in this discussion paper.

Bain (The Clans and Tartans of Scotland, 1938, p240) wrote the Morrisons were of Norse origin and many were forced to flee Lewis in 1597 with up to 60 families relocating to the highland area of Sutherland in MacKay territory. Note  that those Morrisons left on Lewis after the intervention of the “Fife Adventures” and Neill MacLeod’s treachery between 1598-1607 lost their entitlement to hereditary brieveship in 1613. Are we to believe that from this 1597 exodus that the Morrisons spread all over Scotland? Hardly.

After the founding of a Clan Morrison Society in 1909 it took until 1965 to elect a “Chief”. This went to a Morrison who was associated with the Harris Morrisons of Pabbay, and recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon as the rightful “clan” under John Morrison (Lord Ruchdi). What we therefore have is the acknowledgement of a family group whose geographic isolation on Lewis and Harris has made them distinctive, and quite probably sharing a common descent over a number of generations.

The Morrisons of Lewis and Harris fit the modern definition of a clan, defined as a unit “often consisting of several lineages in which common descent is assumed but cannot necessarily be demonstrated (Fox, 1967)”. However, David Moody (Scottish Family History, 1988) warns that “there is the problem that the clan system of today is primarily an invention of nineteenth-century romantics and astute businessmen bent on the exploitation of a myth (p99)”.

Moody’s cautionary warning is appropriate to the prevailing idea of a general clan Morrison. If you accept the idea of there being a clan Morrison then there is the requirement of a common descent. There is no common descent for the holders of the name Morrison. This fact is set out below as both a function of the many possible derivations of the name Morrison multiplied by the various geographical family clusters mentioned above.

This Morrison “clan” history has taken on a whole new persona since the Lord Lyon approval, embellished and decorated with all the trimmings of a Scottish tourist shop. It is backlit by the romantic vision of Scotland portrayed in the Waverley novels of Sir Walter Scott where larger than life clan chieftains stood proudly bedecked in tartan, claymore in hand, among the castle ruins and scenic lochs. More recently the filmic depiction by Mel Gibson of the heroic Sir William Wallace have given rise to a clan industry that plays on the more than 30 million people of Scottish origin living abroad. This is not to say that todays Scots themselves don’t enjoy the trappings of this romantic vision as witnessed by Highland gatherings, clan parades and Scottish national tartan fervour over international football fixtures. 

The serious side is trying to determine what if anything apart from the name can unify all Morrisons, either by origin, tartan or badge. Everything that I have read and studied about Scottish kinship has cautioned me to approach the subject with a great deal of scepticism.

The multiple origins of the Morrison surname 

The complexity of the puzzle is based on the question “can we determine where the surname Morrison came from that gives us the suggestion of a Clan Morrison”? If one looks at all the evidence then any proposition that the Morrison ”clan” came from a single source is quite erroneous. There are in fact several Morrison groupings identified above but they have somehow been subsumed under one umbrella “clan”. Setting aside all the modern day Clan Society fable, are there any factual references on which we can nail a definitive answer? Probably not for the following reasons:

David Moody sums it up this way. Quoting Donaldson (1995) on the subject of surnames Moody suggests “casual assumptions or guesses about kinship and descent based solely on surnames are no substitute for serious research into ancestry” (p86). Further, he agrees with Donaldson’s major point regarding the “unwarranted assumption ... that individuals sharing a surname have, or at some time had, blood relationship with one another (p87)” is a false assumption. 

The key here is the difference between genealogy (the study and tracing of lines of descent) and etymology (the origin and meaning of names). That is, just because your name is Morrison does not mean you are related or that your early ancestors were Morrisons. This is further distorted by the origins of the name which suggests a variety of sources based on both etymology and geographical origins of human migration (that is for example, Pict, Gael, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, Roman or Norman just to name a few!).

Moody (p87) identifies at least four classes of origin for Surnames: (1) Place Names, (2) Parents’ names or patronymics, (3) Occupation, and (4) Personal Characteristics.

In addition to people taking a name from their location such as “Sutherland” or “Argyll”, a name was sometimes adopted from land ownership, that is, a landowner may have had workers under him who took on his name even though they were not related. Thus someone who might have been one of the Morrisons from Lewis who fled to Sutherland might have taken on the name MacKay.

Patronymics (see Moody, p88) is even more convoluted: A man called John whose father’s name was Morris would rightly be called Morrison and his son James should be called Johnson. His son Andrew would be named Jameson. You can see from this it becomes a lottery as to who became a Morrison at the time surnames became fixed.

Both patronymic and occupational names (such as Weaver), or even personal characteristics such as a “strong arm” (Armstrong) “became detached from their descriptive meaning and took on a life of their own as what we call a surname, which is passed from father to son” (Moody p88).

At this point it is worth quoting the full text from The Internet Surname Database: “Recorded in several spellings including Morrison, Morrieson, Morison, and Moryson, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname, which is almost equally popular in Ireland. It is the patronymic form of the surname Maurice or Morris, deriving from the Latin "Mauritius", and meaning swarthy, from "Maurus", a Moor. The popularity of the name was due in part to the fame of St. Maurice, martyred in 286 A.D. The given name Morris was introduced into Britain by the Normans, among whom it was popular. The personal name was recorded circa 1176 when one "Mauricius de Edligtona" was mentioned in the "Social and Economic Documents of London". It first appears as a surname in England in the 14th century (see below) in England, whilst Andreas Morison, a licenciate in law at St. Andrew's in 1463, was according to the church register of Brechin, the first recorded namebearer in Scotland. Other examples of early recordings include those of Nicol Morysone of Ruchtven, Scotland, in 1501... The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Morisson. This was dated 1379, in the Poll Tax records of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward 1st, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.” (http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Morrison)

This is but one of many linguistic analyses of the Morrison name and implies it is Anglo-Scottish and the Morrisons from the Lowlands were probably the original bearers of the name in Scotland, complete with their crest of three Moor’s heads, not the Norse/Gaels from Ireland or Lewis/Harris. 

According to Moody (1988, p19) surnames only became fixed in the Highlands in the eighteenth century. Donaldson clearly makes the point that surnames are not an infallible guide to family relationship and pedigree: “The distinction between a Highland and Lowland origin has often been effaced when a Gaelic name has been translated into English... MacGille-mhoire becomes Morison which means that they are added to the host of unrelated patronymics spanning the whole country and with no affinity among them” (Gordon Donaldson quoted in “Scotland's History: Approaches and Reflections”, ed. James Kirk, Edinburgh, 1995, pp. 89-94). 

Therefore if these groups of Morrisons are so different in origin they really cannot be one clan. When discussing the clan badge below reference is made to an 1880 American work by Leonard Morrison. Given the nature and content of this work it is a reasonable assumption to suggest that it is his theory that has clouded the judgement of the Clan Morrison Society into believing all Morrisons descend from the Norse influence in Lewis. Whilst it is a fascinating account it lacks the overall sophistication of more recent academic research.

The importance of the inheritance law of primogeniture which had evolved by the thirteenth century (Fiona Watson, 1998, p116) became vital for feudal property owners and titled lairds because it gave a clear and unambiguous naming line. Previous to this, clan chiefs as such were not necessarily replaced by their own flesh and blood, and given the complexity of patronymic naming a person from a different family origin could take over. For example, on Lewis this meant a MacLeod could have taken over as a Morrison.

If this seems complicated for the upper echelons of Scottish society then it is even more so for the ever so ‘humble everyday Scot’. It is therefore at best tenuous to claim a family line deep into the times when ‘clans’ were developing and forming because of the shifting naming and heredity practices. The ‘humble everyday Scot’, usually illiterate, married on the basis of cohabitation and carrying a name based on any one of four possible derivations did not become readily traceable until the introduction of civil registration in 1855.

To make this complex picture even more intricate, consider the layer of “incomers” from far and wide who add to the mix. ‘Lewis’ Morrison legend claims Norse roots which is feasible because along with the Isles of Orkney, the Norwegians held suzerainty until 1469 (it was 1266 for the Hebrides). Some DNA researchers are keen to sell testing that shows this link. 

In reality all DNA testing can show is some level of breeding structure within defined areas, but one thing it will not show is a common Morrison “clan”, something we already know without DNA testing. So why do it?. How much better does it make you feel when a result shows you have some vague ethnic affinity with someone born 700 years ago but there are no intervening links to show what the lineage is? There are no ‘Norwegian Morrisons’, all the DNA tests might show is that in some time past there was an infusion of DNA from Nordic menfolk into the overall population, in just the same way Roman and Norman DNA found its way into population of the United Kingdom. Remember also that the Vikings settled in Normandy well before 1066. Norse origins can be found all over Europe. Hence the Normans also carried Norse genes into Britain in 1066.

The Morrison Clan Society of North America has a DNA project and has so far identified Morrisons who have participated with origins from all over Scotland, Ireland and the USA. The results show that there are people with the name Morrison who carry a variety of gene markers. It most certainly doesn’t establish a “Morrison Clan”. Quite the reverse, it establishes a heritability of markers from a variety of regions demonstrating there is no common Morrison gene. This strikes me as a bizarre use of DNA, an attempt by some to identify with all the folklore surrounding the Isle of Lewis, an issue of genealogy attempting to prove fable.

Conclusions about the name Morrison

 We can therefore draw the following conclusions:

1. There is no single Morrison clan as such because there is no common lineal descent line, but there is a common but unconnected Morrison name. The so called “Clan Morrison” to which many overseas Scots subscribe is really a large conglomerate of people who share a common name derived from a variety of linguistic and geographical subsets with no relational connection. The idea of a “clan” is a commercial artifact represented by one family who have been granted a ceremonial title ‘Chief’ by the Lord Lyon.
2. The name Morrison can be demonstrated to have come into use in Scotland from a diversity of geographical areas identified in this article such as the   West Coastal islands of Lewis and Skye, the Highlands of Sutherland, the Lowlands of Aberdeen, Fife or Perth, as well as England and Ireland.
3. The first record of the name Morrison in Scotland is in Fife in 1463.
4. The name Morrison can be derived from at least one of any four classes of Surname: (1) Place Names, (2) Patronymics, (3) Occupation, and (4) Personal Characteristics.
5. The name Morrison is about the 20th most popular surname in Scotland.
6. People interested in their Morrison family lineage can be reasonably sure of Scottish records that came into existence in 1855, reasonably unsure of documents before this date and certainly family researchers should not trust any family trees they have copied that go beyond their own known and recorded ancestors.

The Morrison Tartan

If one accepts there is doubt about the idea of a “Morrison Clan” based on (a)  the fallibility of fable, (b) the complexity of surname origins and (c) the distinctive historical variations, it is also informative to look at the origins of the tartan.

There would appear to be just as much fable and fiction about the origins of the Morrison tartan. Willie Scobie (who writes for an organisation called the Scottish Tartans Authority) provides two interesting perspectives on the history of the Morrison tartan in two paperstitled Mysteries of the Morrison Tartans and Territorial Tartans:

“The various stories behind the setts of the Morrison Clan provide what are surely some of the most strange and fascinating mysteries in all the long and complex history of tartan. We are left now with only scraps of written evidence, which are far removed from original sources and frustratingly lacking in coherence. It is evidence so fragmentary as to render any comment extremely speculative.

The impression given is of the quite extraordinary circumstance wherein this one clan appears to have given accounts of the relatively recent emergence of two tartans, when in one case an identical sett, and in the other case an almost identical sett, can be shown to have existed at prior dates.

This is all the more surprising because the reverse process is what one would more readily expect - i.e. when an ancient provenance is claimed for a tartan, but evidence argues for a more recent origin.

The elements of the story concerning the green Morrison tartan (ITI 1083, now known as "Morrison Society") seem relatively simple and clear. This tartan first appears in 1880 as a woven sample in the Clans Originaux swatch book produced by J. Claude Freres et Cie of Paris. Almost thirty years later, in 1909, (according to the records of D.C. Stewart and the Clan Morrison website) precisely the same sett was invented for the Morrison Society, the alleged designer being J.G. Mackay.

Two things should be noted. Firstly, a new sett was required at this time because the Morrisons believed themselves to have lost their original clan tartan. Secondly, the design of the new sett was a simple variation on the "Mackay", this being so because some Morrisons had settled in Mackay clan territory.

The very obvious question we must ask is: why was this tartan declared to be new in 1909, when in fact it had been around - named as "Morrison" - since 1880, if not indeed for considerably longer ? Given that the Clans Originaux collection is understood to have "disappeared" for a number of decades, it is perfectly possible (perhaps likely) that no one in the Morrison Society, including J.G. Mackay, was aware of the earlier existence of the sett. This leaves us with two possibilities. One is extremely far-fetched and the other is facetious -

1. J.G. Mackay designed an identical sett by sheer coincidence.
2. J.G. Mackay produced his design using psychic powers.

There is perhaps a third, which is more credible -

1. J.G. MacKay did know about the Clans Originaux "Morrison" tartan and he presented it to the clan. Later he was misrepresented as being the designer”. 

Scobie makes some uncomfortable claims regarding the origins of the two (or three if you include both red versions) Morrison tartans. Firstly, there is “irrefutable evidence that the Green tartan predates the claim that it was created in 1909 for the newly formed Morrison Society ... (according to the records of D.C. Stewart and the Clan Morrison website precisely the same sett was invented for the Morrison Society, the alleged designer being J.G. Mackay)”.

Secondly, there are the conflicting stories regarding the two Red tartans (ITI 998/993). In brief, one story has it that the red tartan dates to “a piece of tartan found in an old Morrison family bible. The bible contained a hand written reference to the tartan and was dated 1747, one year after the proscription of Highland dress. The discovery was made during the demolition of a Black House on Lewis in 1935" (Scobie).

The other story cited by Scobie claims another discovery reported “in the Sunday Mail of May 22nd 1938 (and presumably refer to events closer to that date than 1935). According to the newspaper a piece of tartan, measuring approximately six inches by four, was discovered among some stored clothing by a Miss MacDonald in her cottage in Portree, on the Isle of Skye. From the notes on the article there was no mention of a bible or of any written reference, and without any stated evidence to support the claim it was asserted that "the cloth must have been at least 250 years old. The notes give no indication as to how or why this tartan was identified as a Morrison sett”.

Scobie presents further examples of where the red tartan came into being, all conflicting and with unsubstantiated origins. What is perhaps most damming is the fact that the most sensational claim regarding the old bible wrapped in red tartan on Lewis and a note as well as the tartan scrap from Skye no longer appear to exist, and render these “discoveries” about as credible as the fable regarding the Norse origin of the clan. Both the stories of the origins of the clan and the tartans would appear to be shipwrecks.

Finally, in terms of the Green tartan, Scobie makes some comparisons with the MacKay, Gunn, MacWilliam and Morrison tartans. Writing about the territorial nature of some tartans Scobie states “It has long been widely (perhaps generally accepted) that distinctive tartan patterns were originally associated with districts rather than with specific clans or families. The observation of Martin Martin, writing at the end of the 17th century, that a Highlander's place of residence could be "guessed" by the tartan he was wearing, was a most important contribution to the history of tartan.

Given the territorial nature of clan society it is not difficult to see how a district association with a particular tartan could so easily have evolved into a clan association with the same sett”. Scobie cites the far northern counties of Sutherland and Caithness associated with the MacKays, Gunns, MacWilliams and Morrisons as an example.

The Mackay Clan Tartan was registered with the Highland Society of Scotland around 1816. It appears in Wilson's Key Pattern Book of 1819.

The Gunn tartan was featured in the Cockburn Collection (1810-1820). The sett is essentially "Mackay", with a red stripe on the green instead of black.

The McWilliam tartan seems first to have been recorded in Clan Originaux, which was published in 1880. According to the STA notes - "This is MacKay (703) with the green lines changed to red."

The Morrison tartan (ITI 1083) featured in Clan Originaux in 1880, and in Tartans of the Clans and Septs of Scotland by W.&A.K. Johnston in 1906 with the red stipe replacing the green through the blue centres of the MacKay.

For something completely different, the Morrison red tartan with one centred green stripe (ITI 993)

Scobie quotes the Scottish Tartan Authority notes relating to the green Morrison tartan (ITI 1083) where “The Morrison website adds to the story: 'The green sett was developed by the Clan Society in 1909. Due to the loss of the Morrison original tartan around the 1700s, the Society selected a MacKay sett and added a red stripe.' So there we have it. It was just made up in 1909 !” (Scobie, Territorial Tartans http://www.tartansauthority.com) The case for the red tartan appears to suffer from the same stigma.

Conclusion

What are we to make of all this about a “clan Morrison”, the origin of the name and their tartan? It has been carefully demonstrated there is no overall “clan Morrison” in the sense of lineal descent. Morrison groups come from all over, taking the name from different and unrelated origins. It would appear the Morrison tartan suffers some of the same historical myths and legends as the name. 

Perhaps one solution is to forget about being a “clan” in the true definitional sense, just be proud to be a Morrison originating from Scotland, or England or Ireland. Forget about some fabled discovery of a red tartan and accept the fact there are two tartans (green and red [or three if you want to argue for two red versions]) that you can choose from. Choosing either or both is a personal choice made on colour preference and style for the occasion.

Your next choice is a Morrison badge.

The Badge

Finally, the common commercial Morrison badge depicting a hand and dagger is also contentious. This depiction is really only appropriate for a minority of Morrisons whose roots are from the Hebridean islands, particularly Harris.  

Prior to this commercial version a different badge features three Moor’s heads. Writing in 1831, James Logan (The Scottish Gael, quoted in D C Stewart “The Setts of the Scottish Tartans” 1950, p 3) suggests that in his time there was “much curiosity among all classes, to ascertain the particular tartans and badges they were entitled to wear. This creditable feeling unfortunately led to a result different from what might have been expected; fanciful varieties of tartan and badges were passed off as genuine, and the attempt to set the public right on these matters is likely to meet the objections of many”. How true this is nearly 200 years later!

The fascinating compilation of “The history of the Morrison family with most of the Traditions of the Morrisons (clan Mac Gillemhuire), heredity judges of Lewis by Capt. F W L Thomas” by Leonard A Morrison (electronic version) goes to extraordinary lengths to try and connect the Lewis Morrisons with all other Morrisons, suggesting they have a common hereditary lineage: “The family of Morison is very numerous in Scotland, and the name has been a fixed surname there and in the adjacent Island of Lewis for many centuries, probably for a thousand years. It is an old name in the counties of Lincoln, Hertfordshire, and Lancashire, England, where persons of the name, several centuries ago, were knighted and received coats of arms. The family has spread over England, Ireland, and America. It appears to be evident that all of the name springing from the same stock, and have a common origin. The Island of Lewis, on the west coast of Scotland, is undoubtedly the place where the family originated, though its founder was probably of Norwegian origin”. 

However, Leonard Morrison then contradicts himself by claiming that Morrison name originates from a Moor background. He does this by linking the idea by a linguistic contortion from a quotation by Nathaniel Holmes Morrison (provost of Baltimore, 1880). N H Morrison suggests there were Gaels who were Moors who later became Norsemen or Saxons: “the fact that the Moors, and not the Morrises, have the same crest as the Morrisons, plainly points in that direction for the ancestry of the name. The name as originally written in Saxon, or in Saxon-English, would be Moores-son, or Mores-son; or if the h of the Gaelic were retained, Mhores-son, the Saxon genitive, our possessive, being es. This is by far the most regular, the most simple, the most natural, and, taking the crest into account, the most probable origin of the name. 'The Saxon language was "well established in England and the Lowlands of Scotland in the ninth century. In Norse, the name would be Moors-son, Mors-son, Mhors-son, the genitive being formed in s without the ‘e ‘." 

The glue that holds this contradiction together is the badge: “The mere fact that the Moors and Morrisons have a common crest, three Moor’s heads, is strong presumptive evidence in its favour, and shows that there was a connection between the two families." Further, there was also the intrigue that there were Gaels involved in the Crusades. The Moor name from Gael is somehow interwoven with the Normans and Saxons who were drawn into the Crusades where they inherit a badge with three Moor’s heads. This theory is on par with the tartan origins. There is also a body of evidence that in the early part of the 1300’s  there were Knights Templars settled in the Midlothians. This is another avenue for the introduction of a Moor influence. Sir James Douglas, and The Scottish Grand Master Templar, a Sinclair, was reputed to have taken Robert the Bruce’s heart to the Spanish Crusade.

Without going into a lengthy list of all the historic Morrison connections with the Moor’s head badge, Leonard Morrison references many heraldic instances, including Dairsie of Fife, Bognie in Aberdeen, Preston Grange in the Midlothians, and Cashiobury of Hertfordshire. All appear to have the same motto attached to the badge: “Praetia prudentia praestat” - prudence is better than profit.

It is curious, even ironic in terms of the motto, given his conviction that all Morrisons originate from Lewis, that he doesn’t mention the arm and dagger badge, or is this because it is a recent commercial invention?

Just as Scobie showed the close similarity of the tartans of the MacKays, Gunns and Morrisons, there also appears to be a close similarity between their commercial badges. Given this close similarity, or is it lack of originality, it further strengthens the proposition that the clan industry is really a commercial artifact.

Like the tartan, it becomes a personal preference, either you have the three Moor’s heads or the arm with the dagger. The commercial version of the arm and dagger badge associated with the Harris Phabbay family appears to be preferred by the commercial clan industry proponents.

Conclusion

If you read through the available literature about the Morrisons one would be forgiven for feeling cynical. As many contemporary authors warn, the clan business is really a commercial enterprise, and unfortunately some people bearing the name Morrison have been caught up in all the misty fables dragged out to support it. 

For some Morrison families of Lewis/Harris origin there is the very reasonable possibility of Norwegian in their ancestry. For the vast majority of people with the name Morrison it is virtually a lottery as to where your ancestral roots derive. A visit to the Scottish Records Office in Edinburgh either in person or electronically is about the best place to gather the facts about our ancestors. Even so, unless there are unequivocal hard copy documents to support your tree (with all the possibilities of recording errors thrown in), going back before the 1800’s with certainty is almost impossible.

There is no substitute for good research if one wants to establish a family tree. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained by doing the work yourself, unlocking the past, and finding out who you really are. 

Hopefully readers of this paper will be stimulated to do more research into the Morrison origins. If you wish to discover what Scotland was like in the time of our early ancestors then read a credible history to get a feel of what it is was to be a Scot. I would recommend you read Magnus Magnusson’s “Scotland, the story of a nation” to gain such a picture.

Alexander Weir Morrison, 2013.

References

Bain, Robert. (1938). The Clans and Tartans of Scotland, Collins, Glasgow.

Chronicon Regum Manniae (1158-1223)

Clan Morrison Website.  http://www.clanmorrison.com.au

Devine, T M. (1983). The Merchant Class of the Larger Scottish Towns in the late Seventeenth and Late Eighteenth Centuries, in G Gordon and B Dicks, Ireland and Scotland 1600-1850, pp 92-111.

Donaldson, Gordon.(1995). quoted in Scotland's History: Approaches and Reflections, ed. James Kirk, Edinburgh. 

Logan, James. (1950). The Scottish Gael, quoted in D C Stewart The Setts of the Scottish Tartans. 

MacKenzie, W C. (1903). History of the Outer Hebrides, Simkin Marshall, London.

MacLeod, Andrew P. (November, 2000). The Ancestry of Leod, Clan MacLeod Magazine, No. 91.

Magnusson, Magnus. (2001). Scotland, The Story of a Nation, Harper Collins, London.

Moody, David. (1988). Scottish Family History, B T Batsford, London.

Morrison, Alick. (1986). The Chiefs of Clan MacLeod, Edinburgh, pp1-20.

Morrison, John. (c. 1683)  A Descriptione of the Lews, in Virtual Hebrides, http://www.virtualhebrides.com/articles/virtual-hebrides/descriptione-lews.htm

Morrison, Leonard A. The history of the Morrison family with most of the Traditions of the Morrisons (clan Mac Gillemhuire), heredity judges of Lewis by Capt. F W L Thomas (electronic version).

McNie, Alan. (1986). Clan Morrison, Cascade Publishing, Jedburgh, Scotland.

Scobie, W. Mysteries of the Morrison Tartans. http://www.tartansauthority.com

Scott, Walter. (1829). History of Scotland, in Lardner’s Cabinet Encyclopaedia, Vol 1.

Stewart, Donald C. (1950). The Setts of the Scottish Tartans, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.

Surname Database, http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Morrison

Watson, Fiona. (1998). Under the Hammer, Tuckwell Press, London.