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Clan Tait (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Tait

Historic Seat: Pirn, Tweeddale

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Tait Clan History

Tait's surname was originally a nickname.

According to Venerable Bede's book 'The Ecclesiastical History of the English People,' Ethelberga, daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent, was also known as 'Tate' (feminie), and there are nine individuals recorded in Walter de Gray Birch's Cartularium Saxonicum as being called 'Tata' (masculine).

Tate is a Yiddish (Jewish) word that means 'father'.

The word teitr appears in Old Norse, meaning 'glad' or 'cheerful,' and it appears numerous times in the Icelandic manuscript Landnámabók, but as an actual name, Teitr.

In 1329, the king, either Robert I or David II, made a debt repayment payment to Thomas dictus Tayt.

There are several entries between 1362 and 1370 indicating the payment of a pension to John Tayt, a clerk who appeared to be associated with the Montrose hospital.

Alexander Tayt was recorded as burgess of Edinburgh in 1381.

Adam Tayte was granted safe conduct papers in 1424 so that he could travel to England, and it is believed that he is the same Adam Tayt, scrutifer, who was a witness to a charter in Paisley in 1432.

Andrew Tait was Master of the Flesher Craft in Edinburgh in 1490, and a different Andrew Tayt was one of the preambulators of Yochry's and Achbrady's boundries in 1492.

In 1531, a Robert Tait was recorded as a tenant of Wydsyd's land, and Christie Tett and Dand Taitt were tenants of Kelso Abbey in 1567.

In 1575, the surname was recorded as far north as Orkney.

In 1605, a family called Cherrytrees held the barony of Cherrytrees.

The Taits of Pirn, an ancient family in Tweedale, ended their line with no heiresses, Anne and Margaret, one of whom married a Horsburgh of that Ilk.

Archibald Campbell Tait was born on December 21, 1811 in Edinburgh and served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1868 until his death in 1882. On December 3rd, he died at the age of 70.

Tait Places & People

Tait Locations

The Pirn is located near Innerleithen. The tower house has been replaced by a mansion (pictured above). Taits have long owned these lands.

Campbell Castle, near Dollar. The Campbells owned a portion of the ruin, but it was sold to the Taits of Harvieston in 1807.

Tait People

Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (April 28, 1831 – July 4, 1901)

Peter Tait was a Scottish mathematical physicist best known for co-authoring the seminal energy physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy with Lord Kelvin, as well as his early investigations into knot theory, which helped shape topology as a mathematical discipline. His name is mostly associated with Tait's conjecture in graph theory.

Tait Tartans

Tait Contemporary

Tait Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Tait Crest:

Tait (Scotland): A horse's head argent, Motto: gre de Tramile

Coats of Arms of Tait:

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.