Are Watsons really a Sept of Clan Buchanan?
Considering the claim that Watsons are a Sept of Clan Buchanan. Historical fact or just part of a clever marketing effort?
If you Google “Clan Watson” or any variant thereof, you will find the Clan Buchanan Society International (CBSI) website fairly high up the list (number 5 on the search results at the time of writing) with the phrase “The official site for Watson, a Sept of Clan Buchanan”.
I’ve never really been a fan of things written as a matter of fact without any sort of evidence or source material supporting the claims, and sadly, it is rarely the case that a clan society provides any supporting historical evidence when listing septs.
So whilst the tagline “The official site for Watson, a Sept of Clan Buchanan” most certainly works as a clever marketing ploy for membership numbers, I wanted to see how accurate this was based on available historical evidence.
What is a Sept?
A sensible place to start would be defining what a sept is. According to the CBSI website, in the context of Scottish Clans, a sept is:-
“…families that followed another family's chief, or part of the extended family and that hold a different surname. These smaller septs would then be part of the chief's larger clan.”
This is pretty consistent with other websites and publications on the topic, including The Clan Watson Society who go on to state that families following another families chief:-
“…leads to an assumption that an agreement has been forged between two clan chiefs, with a smaller clan pledging fealty to a larger one.”
According to the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs:-
“There is no official list of recognised septs. This is a matter for each chief to determine. But where a particular sept has traditionally been associated with a particular clan it would not be appropriate for that name to be treated by another clan chief as one of its septs.”
The concept of septs however is a relatively new thing. In the 19th century, a renewed enthusiasm for clans, fuelled and fostered by the tourism industry, tartan manufacturers and clan societies, each for their own interest, resulted in a trend of attributing as many surnames as possible to particular clans as septs, often with pretty stretched or tentative links.
The High Council of Clan Donald address this on their website:-
Some people and clan associations speak of a “sept list” to indicate the various names associated with their clan. This an improper use of the term, at least when speaking of Clan Donald, and probably when speaking of any Highland clan. The preferred terminology is “Families of Clan Donald.”
As of today, the CBSI website claims that Clan Buchanan has 16 Sept Groups made up of 80+ surnames. Watson features in the Sept Group for Lenny.
When did Watson become a Sept of Buchanan?
The Buchanan Society, which is separate from CBSI, is the oldest Clan Society in the world, instituted back in 1725 and still operates as a Registered Charity in Scotland (Registered Charity No: Sco 13679). However to this day recognises only 3 families as septs of Buchanan. Stating that membership of The Buchanan Society is open to those who bear by birth, adoption or marriage the surname Buchanan and also those of the recognised septs: MacAuslan (all spellings), MacWattie and Risk.
Clan Buchanan Society International, was formed much later in 1970 originally with the name “Clan Buchanan Society in America”.
Clan Buchanan recently celebrated the inauguration of a new Clan Chief, a wonderful achievement in 2022 and something that I would love to see one day with Clan Watson. John Michael Baillie-Hamilton Buchanan was appointed as the true heir and chief of Clan Buchanan. The first since 1681 for Clan Buchanan.
So my question is… if The Buchanan Society, the oldest in the world, didn’t recognise Watsons as a sept of Clan Buchanan when instituted and this continues to be the case nearly 300 years later, and there had been no Chief of Clan Buchanan for 340 years… was the Watsons being a sept of the Buchanan’s a mere invention of “Clan Buchanan Society in America” that has been mind numbingly copied and spread across the internet and publications ever since without any historical research or evidence to support it?
I think there is some truth to this in the sense of it being mind numbingly copied and spread across the internet without research or evidence to support it. However it’s unlikely that this started with Clan Buchanan Society in America and more likely some sort of precursor to them.
The Clan Buchanan Wiki page makes reference to Watsons being on a list within the 1960 reprint of the 1900 book Scots Kith & Kin, although I’ve been unable to verify this myself. There is a passing mention of the MacWattie and Watsons link that I will discuss shortly, in the 1908 book “The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands” by Frank Adam.
Other than that, the only other verifiable early reference I am able to find that Watsons are allegedly a Sept of Clan Buchanan is from CBSI’s own newsletter “The Buchanan Banner” in 1980.
What evidence is there to support Watsons as a sept?
When a name is listed as being a Sept of a Clan, frustratingly, there is rarely any information as to why or historical evidence to support it. It’s just there as a matter of fact and we see this a lot when it comes to Watsons being listed as a Sept of Clan Buchanan, and is the case in the examples mention above.
However, that said the CBSI website does at least state on the Watson page that:-
“Walter was a son of a Buchanan of Leny (b. 1338), of whom used the form 'MacWattie'. 'Watt' was common in Forbes country, especially in Strathdon where it remains popular. Other forms such as Macouat, MacQuattie, MacWatt, Walters, MacWalters and Watson may derive from either source.”
First off note the use of the word “may”. The name Watson “may” derive from Walter MacWattie, son of Buchanan of Leny, or it “may” derive from Watt in Forbes country. Alternatively it “may” derive from neither.
Watson is after all a patronymic surname, it has many origins wide spread across the country and beyond.
Observation #2; John Buchanan (1st of Leny) married Janet de Lany (daughter of John de Lany) c.1392. Janet being the heiress of the lands of Leny, this is discussed in detail on the Leny Sept page on the CBSI Website. That’s 54 years after the birth of the referenced “Walter MacWattie”. Also, according to stirnet.com no direct descendent of John Buchanan (1st of Leny) appears to have used the names MacWattie, Watt or Watson or indeed have been called Walter. (Note: I’ve been unable to disprove anything from stirnet.com relating to this and have repeatedly found their research on other families and lines to be very accurate).
Further and possibly conflicting information is then provided by CBSI on the Leny page which states that:-
The MacWatties are descended from Walter who was a son of John, Laird of Lenny. This Walter was called Wattie of Callintuy, this being the name of the place of his residence. His son John, following a common custom among Highlanders changed his surname into the patronymical one which was derived from his father’s proper name. That is: John MacWattie, Wattie being the diminutive of Walter. This John MacWattie had nine sons who all had sons; consequently, in a short space of time, the name and its derivatives and variations became quite numerous.
This wording appears to have been lifted from Volume V Number 2 Summer issue of “The Buchanan Banner” a newsletter published by the original “Clan Buchanan Society in America” in 1980, which lists Watson as a Sept of Leny. The information from the newsletter cites William Buchanan of Auchmar, presumably from his paper “A historical and genealogical essay upon the family and surname of Buchanan” first published in 1723
I’ve been unable to find any John Buchanan of Leny that had a son called Walter, nor any that later styled themselves as Wattie or indeed MacWattie, nor any reference to “Wattie of Callintuy”. In fact the only source of this information appears to be secondary, from William Buchanan of Auchmar in the previously mentioned paper back in 1723.
Even assuming that William Buchanan’s information is accurate, we still have to make the assumption that in this instance ‘MacWattie’ changed to ‘Watson’ based, it would appear solely, on the statement “John MacWattie had nine sons who all had sons; consequently, in a short space of time, the name and its derivatives and variations became quite numerous.”
There is no evidence to support this either provided by William Buchanan of Auchmar nor found by myself. In fact, at no point in the 276 pages of his paper is the name ‘Watson’ mentioned by William Buchanan of Auchmar.
Origins of the name Watson
As already mentioned, Watson has no one specific origin story. Unlike Surnames that are derived from a specific person or place, Watson is a patronymic surname meaning it is usually derived from the given name of a father or someone on the paternal line and that the patronymic suffix " -son" has been added to it. Watson literally meaning ‘Son of Watt’.
Watt or Wat was often used as a diminutive name (pet name / nickname) for those called Walter.
The given name Walter is believed to derive ultimately from an Old German name, which meant "mighty army" and was introduced to Scotland in the early 11th century, during the reign of Edward the Confessor.
The Watson name is wide spread across Scotland and indeed the rest of the UK and has been for many centuries. Clan Watson are investigating multiple Watson family clusters in Edinburgh, Dumbarton, Fife, Aberdeen, Lamington, Glasgow, Dundee, Rockingham many of which were established within 100 years of some of the information above, some contemporary.
Today, Watson is the 19th most common surname in Scotland according to National Records of Scotland.
It would be ridiculous, and factually inaccurate to think that all of this stemmed solely from the alleged son of John Buchanan of Leny.
So are the Watsons really a Sept of Clan Buchanan?
Making the assumption that the single secondary source of source William Buchanan of Auchmar is accurate, and that because in some cases elsewhere in Scotland, the name MacWattie has been anglicised to Watson that it is therefore the case here… then yes a single branch of Watsons “may” have been an associated family of the Clan Buchanan.
A sept however as per the definitions provided earlier? The truth, is I have seen no verifiable evidence to date to support this.
As per the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs “there is no official list of recognised Septs” and therefore as a result, in the absence of an agreement between two Clan Chiefs there can be no such thing as an official sept.
Watsons had a Chief in 1818 with James Watson Esq. of Saughton recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, and to our knowledge no such agreement has ever been made.
Watsons, in my opinion, appear to have been added to a Sept list by some sort of precursor to the current Clan Buchanan societies based on tentative supposition at best and without a Clan Chief contrary to the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs:-
“There is no official list of recognised septs. This is a matter for each chief to determine. But where a particular sept has traditionally been associated with a particular clan it would not be appropriate for that name to be treated by another clan chief as one of its septs.”
“The official site for Watson, a Sept of Clan Buchanan” is therefore as suspected, nothing more than a clever marketing ploy to recruit new members, and unfortunately has been blindly parroted by websites, researchers and authors over the last 100 years. Summarised pretty well by CBSI on their own website:-
Today, sept lists are used by clan societies to recruit new members. Such lists date back to the 19th century, when clan societies and tartan manufacturers attempted to capitalise on the enthusiasm and interest for all things Scottish. Lists were drawn up that linked as many surnames as possible to a particular clan, regardless of whether there was an actual historical connection to that clan surname.
Clan Buchanan Society International is possibly one of the best examples of a Clan Society in 2022, it certainly appears to be a well oiled business with lots of support. However, I can’t help but feel that a little more transparency on the part of clan societies, in general, is needed when it comes to Sept lists and they are associated with other clans and families.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions in this post are my own and mine alone, independent of Clan Watson Society or any other group or organisation to which I am a member. They have also been formed based on active research, and available evidence at the time. As such are subject to change.
If you have any evidence to the contrary of anything presented above, please comment below so that we can discuss and if necessary update