Clan Boyd (Boyd Tartan)

1. About Clan Boyd (Boyd Tartan)

2. Clan Boyd History (Boyd Tartan)

The name's origin could be geographical or descriptive, but it is unmistakably Gaelic. The word Buidhe, which means "fair" or "yellow," may have originated as a descriptive adjective.

The word "Bod"—whose genitive case is "Boid"—may also refer to Bute, the island that is closest in size to Arran and is known as "Bod" in Gaelic.

A contract between the Lord of Eglinton and the burgh of Irvine was witnessed by Dominus Robertus de Boyd in 1205; as a result, the name was used in south-west Scotland throughout the 13th century.

Duncan Boyd died at the hands of the English in 1306 after professing loyalty to Robert the Bruce and the cause of Scottish independence.

Sir Robert Boyd shared the same fervor for the Bruce cause and served as a commander in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

For his valiant actions there, he was awarded lands in Kilmarnock, Bondington, and other parts of Ayrshire that had been taken from the Balliols.

James II gave the Boyd family the honorific title "Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock," which also served as a proof that they had acquired peerage.

The coup d'état Robert, the oldest son of Sir Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock, was going to try was made possible by this platform.

He served as one of James III's Regents after the young King's father passed away in 1460 since he was a dependable royal officer.

Robert Boyd had a significant impact on the young James through his younger brother Thomas. So much so that by 1466, Robert Boyd was the Great Chamberlain and Thomas Boyd served as the King's instructor for knightly exercises.

The coup consisted of kidnapping his young subject and persuading Parliament to pass an Act, with the royal nod of course (though it is questionable whether this was willingly granted), designating him as the only ruler of the realm.

When Thomas married Princess Mary, the King's sister, and gave her the title "Earl of Arran and Kilmarnock," their position was strengthened.

The newly constituted Earl of Arran, Robert Boyd, and his brother Alexander Boyd, however, suffered as a result of their pursuit of privilege.

Due to their success, a plot to undermine them was hatched in order to convince the King that the Boyd ambition was endangering the kingdom itself.

The three were called to appear before the King and Parliament in Edinburgh to respond to these allegations. Of the three, only Sir Alexander—a ill man—met the fate that they were fully aware would befall him—execution for treason.

When the Earl of Arran, Thomas Boyd, learned of Lord Boyd's escape to England, he decided that his exile in Europe would be permanent.

Under the guise of forgiving her husband Thomas, Princess Mary was called back from Scotland. Being jailed by her brother, her marriage was dissolved because Thomas's presence did not convince him to end his exile and risk death.

The family supported the King's cause throughout the Civil War, and William, Lord Boyd, was rewarded by being made Earl of Kilmarnock after the Restoration.

During the rebellion of 1715, the third earl led a regiment of Ayrshire volunteers and resisted the Stewart claim.

The fourth earl abandoned his father's sympathies and supported Prince Charles Edward Stewart, the Young Pretender, who named him a general-level member of the Privy Council.

He participated in the Battle of Culloden, but on August 18, 1746, he was arrested and executed on Tower Hill.

3. Clan Boyd Tartans

The Boyd tartan was created in 1948 for the Earl of Kilmarnock and registered with the office of Lord Lyons in 1957.

The Hay-Leith tartan and the hunting Stewart have both influenced the Earls of Kilmarnock, who are descended from both the Hays and the Stewarts.

Modern describes the dye colors, which are typically dark.

Y/10 G44 K4 B4 K4 B4 K20 R78 G10 R8 K8 W/10 Threadcount

Boyd Modern

Boyd Ancient

4. Clan Boyd Crest & Coats of Arms

4.1 Clan Boyd Crest

Worn by all of the name and ancestry

4.2 Clan Boyd Coat of Arms

Note on Coats of Arms: A coat of arms is given 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 exclusions listed above, the weapons depicted below are personal weapons. The only person authorized to use these weapons is the grantee.

Boyds of Ballymacool

Arms of (the late) Dr. Frederick Tilghman Boyd

5. Clan Boyd Places & People

5.1 Clan Boyd Places

5.1.1 Dean Castle

Dean Castle is located near Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, within the Dean Castle Country Park. Around 1350, Sir Thomas Boyd constructed it as the Boyd clan's fortress.

The castle was still owned by the Boyd family until James Boyd sold it in 1746.

5.1.2 Portencross Castle

King Bruce rewarded Robert Boyd for his dedication by giving him Portencross Castle and other important lands in Strathclyde.

Over four hundred years, from roughly 1385 to 1785, the Boyd family owned Portencross.

5.1.3 Law Castle

When Princess Mary, the daughter of James II, wed Thomas, Master of Boyd and later Earl of Arran, Law Castle was constructed in 1468. The Tower of Kilbride is another name for the castle.

5.1.4 Penkill Castle

When it was sold in the 1960s, the castle was last owned by the Boyd family.

5.2 Clan Boyd People

5.2.1 William Boyd (1704 – 1746)

William Boyd, the fourth Earl of Kilmarnock, attended Glasgow University.

William initially sided with the government in the uprising of 1715, but in the rebellion of 1745, either because of a personal slight, the sway of his wife, or his precarious situation, he deserted George II and joined Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender.

He was named a colonel of guards before being made a privy counsellor to Charles. He participated in the battles of Falkirk and Culloden, when he was captured. On August 18, 1746, he was decapitated on Tower Hill.

5.2.2 Sir John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr (1880 – 1971)

A Scottish physician, biologist, and politician who worked with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and conducted scientific study on nutrition was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Orr was raised in Kilmaurs, a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. He later attended a teachers' college and the University of Glasgow to pursue his studies in the arts while preparing to become a teacher.

He returned to the university to finish his studies in biology and medicine after three years of teaching. He worked as a military physician for the British Army and Royal Navy during World War I, first on active service and then as a researcher on military diets.

His study after the war was primarily focused on animal nutrition, but as a researcher and an outspoken advocate for changing people's diets, his attention shifted to human nutrition.

Boyd Orr held a number of positions after the Second World War, most notably at the FAO, where his extensive proposals for enhancing food production and its fair distribution fell short of receiving the support of Britain and the US.

Following his resignation from the FAO, he took on a number of directorships, demonstrated his skill as a stock market investor, and amassed a sizeable personal fortune.

As a result, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949, he was able to donate the entire sum to organizations working to bring about world peace and a unified global government. In 1949, he was made a peer and given the title Baron Boyd-Orr.

John Boyd Orr is honored at the University of Glasgow with a building bearing his name, and the Hunterian Museum houses his Nobel Prize.

5.2.3 Billy Boyd (born 1968 in Glasgow)

The Scottish actor is most known for his roles as Barrett Bonden in Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Peregrin Took (Pippin) in the Lord of the Rings film adaptations.