Clan Chisholm (Chisholm Tartan)

1. About Clan Chisholm (Chisholm Tartan)

2. Chisholm Clan History (Chisholm Tartan)

 This name is a combination of the Saxon word "holm," which meant "meadow," and the Norman word "chese," which meant "to choose."

Highlands castle named Erchless. It was constructed by the Bisset family in the thirteenth century, but in the fifteenth century, the Chisholm family acquired it through marriage. It stayed in the family up to the 1937 estate sale.

In the seventh century, the Northumbrian English conquered Gododdin; three hundred years later, the Normans did likewise.

The Roxburghshire territories that the early Chisholms claimed after crossing the North Sea developed into a feudal barony.

A charter from 1249 mentions Alexander de Cheschelme, and the Ragman Roll of 1296, which lists the supporters of Edward I of England, names Richard and John de Cheschelme.

The family's seal depicts a boar's head as a nod to the old legend of the two Chisholm brothers who rescued a monarch from a wild boar.

Even today, Chisholm heraldry employs this sign. The family was appointed as constables of Urquhart Castle in 1359, an important royal fortress on Loch Ness's coasts that protected the approach to the western highlands.

The Clans of Strathglass and Glen Cannich's many chiefs were collectively referred to as "The Chisholm." One of them would assert that only the Pope, the King, and the Chisholm were permitted to use the definite article for their titles.

At Culloden, fewer than fifty of the Chisholms who fought for Prince Charles were still alive (top combat illustration from today).

Alexander, Donald, and Hugh, three of the seven men that escorted the Prince across the nation, were Chisholms.

After shaking the Prince's hand at the conclusion of their tour, Hugh promised he would never shake the hand of another man. He lived out his promise.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, chief number twenty-two Ruairidh followed the practice of other clan chiefs by pressuring his tenants to pay as much rent as he could.

In 1793, William, the twenty-third chief, burned his family's devoted followers out of their homes to make room for sheep, relieving the burden for a generation.

3. Clan Chisholm Tartans

The Chisholm tartan originates from the Vestairium Scoticum and may be found in James Grant's 1886 book, "The Tartans of the Clans of Scotland."

Ancient refers to dye shades, which are typically lighter, and modern relates to darker colors.

R/12 W4 R48 B12 G4 B2 G4 B2 G4 R/2 Threadcount

Chisholm tartan

People of the time thought the red tartan was too bright, so they altered the red to brown, giving rise to the Chisholm hunting tartan.

Brown/12 W4 Brown48 B12 G4 B2 G4 B2 G24 Brown/2 Threadcount

Chisholm Hunting

4. Clan Chisholm Crest & Coats of Arms

4.1 Clan Chisholm Crest

Worn by all of the name and ancestry

Crest Description:

A dexter hand holding a dagger erect, Proper, the point thereof transfixing a boar’s head erased, Or

4.2 Clan Chisholm 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.

CHISHOLM

An argent boar's head couped on gules. The 1722 work A System of Heraldry by Alexander Nisbet

1) CHISHOLM OF CHISHOLM
2) Mrs Mary CHISHOLM or GOODEN
3) Mrs CHISHOLM BATTEN
4) James Chisholm GOODEN-CHISHOLM
Gules a boar’s head couped Or. Sir James Balfour Paul’s Scottish Ordinary;
1a) 1st matric 1816
1b) 2nd matric 1831
2) 1827
3) 1860
4) 1887

1) CHISHOLM OF COMER
2) Capt Roderick CHISHOLM OF CHISHOLM
3) Andrew Francis Hamish CHISHOLM OF CHISHOLM
Gules a boar’s head couped Or langued Azure. 1) Sir James Balfour Paul’s Scottish Ordinary;
1760
2) An Ordinary of Arms Volume II 1902-1973
29th March 1938 33/12 *
3) Lyon Register 12 Dec 1998 (BLG Scotland)

* In addition, Alistair Hamish Wiland Andre Fraser Chisholm of Chilsholm Yrg was defaced with a three-point label while his father was alive.

 William CHISHOLM

Author from Edinburgh A boar's head couped in Gules inside a second-color nebuly bordure. James Balfour, Sir Scottish Ordinary by Paul, 1672–1679.

STIRCHES' SCOTT CHISHOLM Quarterly 2nd & 3rd Gules, a couped boar's head and neck Argent. Or, a mullet of Argent between two of the first color within a bordure of the second color, charged in chief with two of the first color's crescents and a mullet in base as of the first. Scottish Ordinary of Sir James Balfour Paul from 1853

Aeneas CHISHOLM

Aberdeen's Roman Catholic Bishop is armed with a boar's head couped Or langued Azure within an engrailed Vert bordure and three Argent mitres. 6th March 1902, Volume II of An Ordinary of Arms (1902–1973)

CHISHOLM, Ruari Ian Lambert For variation, Gules is charged with a boar's head couped Or langued Azure within a bordure Argent. 19th April 1939, page 33/60 of An Ordinary of Arms Volume II, 1902–1973.
[brother of Andre Fraser Chisholm and Alistair Hamish Wiland]

Henry John CHISHOLM

Australia Gules, a shaved boar's head Or charged with three estoiles of eight points of the second within a bordure invected Vert and armed proper langued Azure. 30 November 1961: Volume II of an Ordinary of Arms, 1902–1973

Shiho of Cromlix A mitre in the dexter chief and an open book in the base, both of which are Or, are displayed alongside a couped boar's head in the color gules. 20th December 1954, Volume II of An Ordinary of Arms, 1902–1973
Arms of devotion for Chisholm of Cromlix, according to Hon. Evelyn Vane, third quarter DRUMMOND OF CROMLIX or EDEN



Heraldry Online granted permission for the use of these pictures; visit their website at http://www.heraldry-online.org.uk for further details.

 5. Clan Chisholm Places & People

5.1 Clan Chisholm Places

From the 15th century until the 1930s, Clan Chisholm held sway at Erchless Castle in the Highlands. The estates had been owned by Clan Bissett until they were married off to the Chisholms.

The current castle was constructed in 1600 to replace an earlier structure constructed in the 1200s.

The 19th century saw additions to and modifications to Erchless Castle. After the passing of the final member of the Chisholm family to own the castle directly, the land was sold in 1937.

5.2 Clan Chisholm People

Erik Chisholm (1904-64)

The Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music was founded in Glasgow in 1929 by Erik Chisholm, a composer, music professor, and society founder.

Thanks to Chisholm's efforts, more than 200 new works received their first public performances. He dedicated his production of the massive Opus Clavicembalisticum by Sorabji to Hugh MacDairmid.

He was appointed a music professor at the University of Capetown in 1946. He produced a couple of brief operas during this period.

He dedicated his most beautiful compositions to his wife Lillias, and his significant works included the Indian and Pibroch Piano Concertos as well as the ballet Forsaken Mermaid, which was written particularly for the Celtic Ballet Company.

6. Associated Names

Name variations consist of:

Cheseholme, Chisholm, Chisholme Cheishame, Cheishelm, Cheisholme, Chesame, Chesehelme, Cheseholm, Cheseim, Cheshelm, Cheshelme, Chesholm, Chesholme, Cheshom, Chesim, Chesolm, Chesolme, Chesom, Chesome, Chessam, Chessame, Chesseholme, Chisholm, Chisholme, Chism, Chisolm, Chisolme, Chisomme, Chissem, Chissim, Chissolme, Schisholme, Schishome, Schisolme , Schisome, Sheshelm, Shisholme

According Scottish legend, the surname Fenton is a sept of the Clan Chisholm. I am unable to determine the causes of this.