Alistair Hardaker | Image: University of Glasgow students Lilly and Layla examine the historic Paton tartan archive, recently acquired by National Museums Scotland © Duncan McGlynn
J&D Paton collection spanning 1820s to 1960s donated by family, including military fabrics and previously unrecorded clan tartans.
An archive of almost 800 historic tartan samples has been donated to National Museums Scotland by Stuart Paton, the great great grandson of the founder of J&D Paton.
The textiles were produced by J&D Paton, one of the largest tartan manufacturers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The samples record the firm’s production from its foundation in the 1820s to its closure in the 1960s.
The archive includes tartans woven for women’s fashion, textiles created for Queen Victoria and the Royal Family during the Highland revival, military fabrics supplied to Scottish regiments and previously unrecorded clan tartans.
At its peak, J&D Paton employed around 500 people across four factory sites near Tillicoultry in Stirlingshire. Family run for five generations, the company produced tweeds and tartans and won awards for fine fashion textiles sometimes woven through with silk.
Each sample in the archive served as a working record for the identification of clans, patterns and colours essential to the weaving process. The collection has been in the care of the Paton family for over 200 years and will now be catalogued and made available for research at the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh.
Dr Mhairi Maxwell, curator of modern and contemporary history at National Museums Scotland, said: “We have only just begun to uncover the stories woven through this remarkable archive and I’ve no doubt there are many discoveries waiting to be made, all thanks the generosity of Stuart Paton and his family.”
Stuart Paton, former director of J&D Paton, added: “The donation is made in memory of my godfather Captain Paton, a long-time chairman of the company, in the hopes it will become a valuable asset for those researching and learning about Scotland’s textile heritage for generations to come.”
National Museums Scotland holds one of the largest tartan collections in the world, spanning over three centuries of production history.
