The Scottish Tartans Authority was a group dedicated to archiving tartan designs.

The Scottish Tartans Authority was established in 1996 by members who had split from the Scottish Tartans Society. The former is now defunct, but the Scottish Tartans Authority shares its principal goals, such as education and research on tartans.

The Scottish Tartan Authority, unlike the Scottish Tartans Society, has a commercial outlook. Its primary output is the International Tartan Index, which consists of 3,500 individual tartan designs. Although, the International Tartan Index actually consists of over 6,000 entries, many of these are mistakes or duplicates, which results a much lower unique entry number. The Scottish tartan Authority works on a membership basis, where tartan industry figures can join for advice or reference to tartan design.

The Scottish tartan Authority holds status as a Scottish recognized charity. It was granted a coat of arms by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in 2004. The coat of arms consists of a white fret on a blue background, which makes allusions to both St. Andrew and the tartan weaving process. The design also features a shuttle (a device used for weaving), an ell (a measurement device) and a book. The coat of arms is also decorated with the motto "weave truth with trust".

The Scottish Tartan Society was a group dedicated to the preservation of woven tartan designs from across the globe.

The Scottish Tartan Society is a now defunct group, due to financial problems it ceased to record new tartan designs in 2000. At the time of its demise, the Scottish Tartan Society had registered close to 2,700 tartan designs. Currently, these tartan designs reside with the Scottish Tartan World Register.

The Scottish Tartan Society was first formed in 1963 by a group of scholars in the field of Highland dress and tartans. The members of this group included Capt. T Stuart Davidson, Donald Calder Stewart, Alison Stewart, James Desmond Scarlett and Davidson Stuart. It is said that the Lord Lyon King of Arms provided great encouragement to the forming of the Scottish Tartan Society.

Ultimately, the goal of the Scottish Tartan Society was to recover and record every tartan known across the world. This quest led them to retrieve designs from private collections, museums, clan tartans and even Scottish tartan artifices. The Scottish Tartan Society also promoted continuing research of traditional Highland dress and assisted in the design and development of new tartans. The Scottish Tartan Society quickly received the status of recognized charity and was also granted its own coat of arms in 1976, by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The Scottish Tartan Society was also responsible for establishing a tartan museum in Highlands, North Carolina in the United States, though it was moved to Franklin North Carolina in 1994.

1915-1984

George Campbell Hay was a Scottish poet.

George Campbell Hay was born in 1915, in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His father, John Macdougall Hay, was a minister in the town, he was also the author of the book Gillespie. When George Campbell Hay was only four when his father passed away, subsequently, the remains of his family moved to Tarbert, Kintyre in Scotland. He attended Fettes College and then the University of Oxford. George Campbell Hay served in the army during World War II in North Africa, Greece and Italy. Reportedly, at the last station he was injured, which eventually led to metal illness which plagued the man for the rest of his life.

George Campbell Hay was a vastly talented poet who received disproportionately little attention during his lifetime. It is considered to his works in Gaelic and Scots are his most significant works. George Campbell Hay also created significant amounts of work in English, French, Italian and Norwegian. His most prominent writtings were collected and published together in “Collected Poems and Songs “, edited by Michael Byrne. The appreciation of his work within Scotland was delayed due to an overwhelming ignorance of Scots and Gaelic. The pieces that were written in other European languages did receive appreciation, but typically in the country of the language.

Some World War I records hold that the kilt was worn by a select number of Scottish regiments with claims that this offered them a decided advantage in the fields of war.

The claims that the kilt was an advantageous piece of uniform are taken from "The Romantic Story of the Highland Garb and Tartan", by J.G.MacKay. The specific exert relating to World War I comes from an appendix written by colonel Norman MacLeod. The piece revolves around three points relating to the kilt as a items of military uniform.

Firstly, the kilt was reputed health benefits of the garment over the commonly issued trousers. Primarily, the kilt kept the soldier warmer around his mid-section than the trousers would. As this is the location of vital organs, ultimately the kilt kept the soldier in a greater state of comfort. The other health advantage came from the inevitable water that would be found in trenches. The kilt could be raised out of the water line if the need came. Also, as the kilt would be worn with hose-tops there were less cases of trench foot amongst kilt wearing soldiers, compared to the trouser issued men.
The kilt was said to give its wearers a distinct performance advantage. The most obvious benefit would be the ease of leg movement that the kilt would provide. As the kilt was considerably thicker than the standard issued trousers, it would be more effective in protecting its wearer from mustard gas. The movement of the kilt would also be rather effective at dispersing the gas as soldiers stood up.Ultimately though, the kilt was a great morale booster for the Scots troops in the war.