Home / Scottish Clans - Histories, Tartans Crests and much more / Clan Johnstone (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

Clan Johnstone (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

By ScotsTee Shop

Johnstone

Gaelic Name: MacIain

Clan Crest: A winged spur Or

Clan Motto: Nunquam non paratus (Never unprepared)

Origin of Name: John’s son

Clan Badge: Red Hawthorn

Lands: Borders and Aberdeenshire

Clan Chief: The Rt. Hon. Earl of Annandale and Hartfell

⇨ View All Johnstone Tartan Products

Johnstone Clan History

The Johnstones were once one of the most powerful Border clans. They began in Annandale and have held extensive possessions on the western marches for over 600 years, where they kept watch against English freebooters.

John Johnstone was the first recorded member of the family, and his son, Gilbert, is mentioned in records after 1194. John must have been a prominent settler prior to that date. Sir John Johnstone, knight of Dumfries, appears on the Ragman Roll in 1296, swearing fealty to Edward I of England. In 1381, his great-grandson was appointed as one of the wardens of the western marches. Sir Adam Johnstone of that ilk was Laird of Johnstone before 1413 and took part in the Battle of Sark in 1448 with the Scottish army. Sir Adam also took part on the royal side in the Crown's suppression of the Black Douglases rebellion. The King rewarded him with a grant of the lands of Buittle and Sannoch near Threave Castle, which were previously part of the Douglas lands of Galloway. Sir John, Adam's eldest son, was the ancestor of the Annandale or main branch of the family, while Matthew, who was said to have married a daughter of the Earl of Angus, chief of the Red Douglases, was the ancestor of the Westerhall branch.

Unlike many of their neighbors, who raided each other's lands, the Johnstones "sought only to raid into England," but they had a hereditary feud with the Maxwells. In the sixteenth century, Lord Maxwell, the head of this great family, was the most powerful man in the south-west of Scotland. On December 7, 1593, he was killed along with many of his men at the battle of Dryfe Sands near Lockerbie. In turn, at a meeting to reconcile their differences held under a truce flag in 1608, Johnstone was treacherously shot in the back and killed by the ninth Lord Maxwell, who paid for his crime on the scaffold in 1614.

Charles I made James Johnstone, the clan's chief, Lord Johnstone of Lochwood in 1633. Ten years later, he was created Earl of Hartfell, a title reserved for him and his male heirs only. In August 1645, he joined Montrose following the Battle of Kilsyth. He was apprehended at Philiphaugh and imprisoned in the castles of Dumbarton, Glasgow, and St. Andrews before being released thanks to the intercession of the Marquis of Argyll.

Charles II created Lord Hartfell Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, Viscount of Annan, Lord Johnstone of Lochwood, Lochmaben, Moffatdale, and Evandale to compensate him for the hardships he had endured in the royal cause throughout the Commonwealth period. Because James, Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, had only daughters as heirs at the time, the king granted a charter in 1662 establishing the land as a territorial earldom entailed to the heirs male of his body, and failing that, to the heirs female. Despite the fact that James had a son, William, this grant would be significant three centuries later.

William, the third Earl of Hartfell and second Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, was made Marquess of Annandale in 1701. He served in a variety of important state positions, including Secretary of State and President of the Privy Council. James, second Marquess of Annandale, died unmarried in Naples in 1730, while on his second grand tour, after only nine years of enjoying the family dignities and estates. On 5 March 1747, his half-brother, George, third and last Marquess, who succeeded him, was found incapable of managing his affairs, and John, second Earl of Hopetoun was appointed curator. When the third Marquess died unmarried in 1792, the family titles became dormant, and the estates passed to his grand-nephew, James, third Earl of Hopetoun, through his grandmother, Lady Henrietta Johnstone.

Attempts to resurrect the Annandale titles were futile in the nineteenth century, and it wasn't until 1971 that real progress was made. Unlike all previous cases, it was decided to proceed on the basis of the Charter of 1662, which re-granted the earldom of Annandale and Hartfell as a territorial earldom descended through the female line. The first step was to confirm the Annandale family's leader as Chief of the Johnstones and to update their family tree. Unfortunately, this had not been done in two hundred years. On February 16, 1982, Lord Lyon created Major Percy Johnstone of Annandale and of that ilk as Baron of the lands of the earldom of Annandale and Hartfell and of the lordship of Johnstone, Hereditary Steward of the Stewartry of Annandale, and Hereditary Keeper of Lochmaben Castle. The case was then presented to the House of Lords in June 1985, and the Court ruled in favor of Major Percy's son, Patrick, who is now the current and 11th Earl of Annandale and Hartfell, as well as Chief of the Name and Arms of Johnstone.

Other possible senior branches of the clan flourished as well, most notably the house of Caskieben. On March 31, 1626, Sir George Johnston of Caskieben, who is said to be descended from Stephen de Johnston, the purported brother of the Laird of Johnstone, was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. The third Baronet fought in William of Orange's army at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The fourteenth Baronet currently holds this title and lives in America.

The Clan Chief's original seat was the old castle of Lochwood, now a ruin south of Moffat. Raehills, near St. Ann's in Lockerbie, is the current family seat.

Written by Lord Annandale, Chief of Clan Johnstone, and Cecil, Baron Johnson of Kilmaine, Commissioner to the Chief of Clan Johnstone.

Johnstone Places & People

Clan Johnstone Individuals

Samuel Johnson, M.D.

Samuel Johnson (1709–84).

Dr Johnson was the son of a bookseller and received his education from his family until he entered Oxford in 1727.

He worked as a journalist for a time and received an advance for his dictionary idea in 1747. His dictionary was published in 1755 with six assistants, five of whom were Scottish, and it is easy to imagine how well it was received. From 1750 to 1762, he was the editor of The Rambler, where he published "Rasselas," another successful work.

James Boswell introduced himself to Johnson in May 1763. They toured the Western Isles together ten years later, recording their experiences for a biography called "A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland" that was published in 1775.

The book is still popular among historians, sociologists, and anyone who enjoys Johnson's sharp opinions and behavior.

Johnson, James (c1753-1811)

James Johnson conceived of the Scots Musical Museum. Between 1783 and 1803, he collected Scottish songs and published them in six volumes.

Before his death in 1796, Robert Burns was the collection's editor, and he contributed over 200 songs. The collection is regarded as one of the most important in Scottish history, with musical notes added to the figured basses later by Stenhouse and Sharp.

Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938).

Johnston, who attended Edinburgh University and Magdalen College, Oxford, joined the Hong Kong Cadet Corps in 1898 and rose to the position of Commissioner of Weihaiwei, Shandong Province, from 1927 to 1930. Between 1919 and 1925, the Edinburgh native served as a tutor to China's last Emperor.

He visited many parts of the country, was influenced by Buddhism, and is the only European to become a first-rank mandarin. Johnston published "Buddhist China" in 1913 and "Twilight in the Forbidden City" in 1926.

Johnstone, William (1897-1981)

Between 1919 and 1923, Johnstone, from Denholm in Roxburghshire, studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art. He was unimpressed with what the College had to offer, so he went to Paris on a scholarship in 1925 and became involved in Surrealism. During the 1930s, his work was among the most innovative in Britain.

He earned a living as a teacher and established the founding principles for teaching modern art as Principal of Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, followed by the same position at the Central School of London.

He retired in 1960 to become a farmer in the Borders while continuing to paint.

Johnstone Tartans

Ancient Johnstone

Johnstone Contemporary

Johnstone Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Johnstone Crest

The crest is a winged spur of Or.

Coats of Arms of Johnstone:

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.