Another question from a very concerned member of ‘our’ society who read this on another page.
‘Is this true….
Hello, History is being re-written all the time due to all the new DNA findings, so this is confusing to keep up with it all. It always said that we were a sept of the Bruce Clan. To explain easily, that means a cousin, But we have found out that we were in Scotland long before Robert de Bruse senior or junior were around. In fact they both married Carruthers women. Our Carruthers Clan Society Int. LLC is official and at the Clan Gathering in 2918 we will have Chieftans that are being nominated now, and we will vote on a Chief.The Anciet Bruce Tartan was the Carruthers Tartan. Most Carruthers had left Scotland and it did not sell, when Braveheart came out, they renamed it the Ancient Bruce so they could sell it. Many of the tartan companies have gone back to naming it the Carruthers Tartan, now that there are a lot of Carruthers buying it again.’
HERE ARE THE FACTS, point by point, you simply cannot rewrite history :
First off Carruthers is a Scottish Clan, not Norse, English, Canadian, American nor any other nationality. It is and always will be Scottish by its roots, heritage and history.
Q: Are we cousins to Bruce.
A: No, there is no evidence to support this. A sept is a subdivision of a clan ‘with’ or ‘without’ family connection, however we are not as a family related to Bruce.
Q: Are Carruthers a sept of clan Bruce.
A: Septs came into being in those clans or families that didn’t have them, as a construct in the 1800’s. Carruthers were included as they were a) armigerous (without chief) and b) were known supporters of the family Bruce throughout history.
Once a Chief is legally recognised by the Lyon Court in Edinburgh, that will change and the clan will have official status in its own right with all that that entails. Happily this is all in hand.
Q: Did Carruthers exist before the Brus ( Bruce) family arrived in our shores.
A: Carruthers allegedly goes back way before the Normans arrived, to include de Brus, originating in the south western area of Scotland in the Briton kingdom of Strathclyde, now part of which is Dumfriesshire, our ancestral home.
Q: Were the wives of Robert the Bruce and his father Carruthers.
A: No: It is well recorded that King Robert the Bruce had two wives:
Elisabeth de Burgh 1302-1326
Isabella of Mar 1296
Neither of them were Carruthers.
A: Once again historical records show that Robert the Bruce senior married Marjorie, countess of Carrick in 1271. 1256-1292.
She was also not a Carruthers.
Q: Is Carruthers Clan Society Int. LLC the official representative of the Clan worldwide ?
A: Definitely not , it is a business run and registered in the US and there is no evidence to suggest they have any legal claims to be chief or chieftain nor to claiming the Bruce tartan. It is therefore not recognised by the Clan Carruthers Society, nor the clan in general for many reasons, to include those many false and potentially fraudulent claims.
Q: How is the clan Chief picked.
A: If there are no legitimate heirs to the chiefly arms ( eg title of chief), a gathering, supervised by the Lyon Court, may pick a commander for a period of 10 years. This is not the case with Carruthers who have descendants of the chiefly line.
A: Who officially recognises a Scottish Clan Chief
A: Only the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh may recognise with any legality a clan Chief and through them the Clan Carruthers becomes officially recognised. This is in hand. Any self appointed chiefs will not be recognised nor any chieftains the make, only a legally recognised Chief in Scottish law, may raise a clansman to chieftain status.
A: Is the Bruce tartan a Carruthers Tartan
A: As Borderers, and along with all the other Border clans, Carruthers never had a tartan as they wore leather trews not kilts and any plaid used was regional depending on the the weavers and not clan specific . Carruthers Red was designed and registered for the clan to use in 2017 because Bruce is Bruce.
Therefore ALL Bruce tartans are patented and registered to Bruce. This is based on the sett, colours and thread count which is the signature of any tartan. The Bruce tartan commonly used by Carruthers and many other ‘septs’ of that family is a Bruce tartan and not only is it rude and disrespectful to claim it as our own, it is fraud.
https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/qResults…
Q: Was the Ancient Bruce tartan actually a Carruthers tartan.
A: Simply no. See above, Irrelevant of the prefix: old, ancient, modern or what ever the clue is in the word Bruce and as can be seen above it has been registered to them since the 1800’s.
That same tartan has been freely available and used by Carruthers worldwide as a sept of Bruce and I this used of THEIR tartan.
To say that it never sold is simply inaccurate at best as it represented the Bruce family and was bought by them and their ‘septs’.
My understanding is also that once a Chief is in place and the Red Carruthers tartan officially recognised, and it will be, the major suppliers will start to change the tartan on their merchandise because the one they use is a recognised as a Bruce tartan.
SUMMARY
People have a choice, but before you make that choice please be aware of the facts.
Clan Carruthers Society-International has been tirelessly working for the benefit of the many not simply the few.
History and pedigree dictates we are entitled to it and we are loath to let others make claims on behalf of our family that simply embarrassing and continually shown to be untrue.
Please bear with us, we will have a legally recognised Chief of our Clan and through them Clan Carruthers will take their place as an official Scottish Clan along with the others.
CLAN CARRUTHERS SOCIETY (USA) 