CARRUTHERS GATHERING: AUGUST 24-25, ANNAN, DUMFRIESSHIRE, SCOTLAND
Outwith the welcome speech by the Chief and his inauguration, we have organised four excellent speakers for the evening of the Gathering, prior to the evening’s Ceilidh.
The Speakers
George Carruthers FSA Scot
The first is our Clan and Family Convenor, Dr George Carruthers who will speak on the current research into our family history offering facts and where necessary, debunking myths.
George began looking seriously into our family history after his father pasted away in 1994. After a discussion with Scottish chiefs, heraldists, historians and members of the Lyon Court, and based on information his father had passed down, he began searching for the integrity of our Chiefly line in 2007.
With the help of Anthony Maxwell our heraldist, they eventually proved that after the extinction of the House of Mouswald in 1548, the chiefly line of Holmains remained viable. After liaising with the senior of that line, a successful petition led to the confirmation of Dr Peter Carruthers of Holmains, senior of the Holmains line and Chief of the Name and Arms of Carruthers, by the Lord Lyon in 2019.
George, with the assistance of Dana Caruthers Norton in the US as well as close family members and friends, started the Clan Carruthers Society (International) in support of a Carruthers chief. It is built on a Royal Charter to Holmains of 1755 and now covers 6 regions of the world.
As a historian he is continually developing and promoting the factual history of our family through his own writings. He sees this role as important in order to provide those of our name access to the rich tapestry that is our past, but also to help instil pride in who and what we are, for future generations of Carruthers.
Carruthers having never had a tartan of our own, George commissioned and registered the Carruthers tartan with the Scottish Register of Tartans in 2017, in preparation for a chief being confirmed. It is designed to reflect the history of Carruthers in its threads.
He bequeathed the ownership of the tartan to the clan and our chief in 2019, who adopted it as the official clan/family tartan of our family. This again is reflected on the Register itself.
The second of our speakers is our DNA Director of the Carruthers Research Project, who will speak on our genetic evidence to date. The effort and work put in by all those involved behind the scenes of our society, is immense.
The DNA Project has helped disprove many myths relating to our family as well as help prove our own ancestry. As such it remains integral to our on-going data gathering and dovetails well into our current genealogical and documented evidence.
Steve Colburn
Steve Colburn lives in Idaho, USA and is a Business Development Consultant for a SaaS Company out of Germany, He has been in the Technology field since 1991. He is married with two children, his son studies International Business and is attending Heidelberg University in Germany this year while his daughter is a Lieutenant in the US Army and works as a Nurse.
Steve has been studying DNA for Genetic Genealogy as a hobby since 2010 when he discovered he was a descendant of the Carruthers Dormont line. He currently manages two DNA surname projects and is the Director of DNA for the Clan Carruthers Society. He will be presenting information on the Carruthers yDNA Project and how we use DNA to further our family research.
He, with the assistance of one of our senior genealogists, Laurie Canon, FSA Scot from Canada, who will also be attending the gathering, is accurately mapping out and cross referencing our Carruthers family tree.
Our third speaker, is well known to us all:
Dr Simon Peter Carruthers of Holmains PhD (Chief)
Peter is the 22nd of his line to hold the Chiefship of the family in 210 years, as the 4 x great grandson of John Carruthers, 12th of Holmains who left it in abeyance in 1809. He was confirmed as chief by the Lord Lyon in 2017 after nearly two years of analysis of the proofs and two court cases, the second of which he was represented by Sir Crispin Agnew KC.
His talk will be on the Seraphim, which has been the Chief’s crest of Holmains for nearly 500 years and remains to this day.
A former university lecturer and agriculturalist he is well versed in academic research and his documented evidence in support of his claim in his petition for the right to bear the chiefly Arms, was described as a tome by the Lord Lyon at the first hearing.
It will be a great insight to us all.
Last but not least is a great speaker and a friend of our family, whose legal background has helped him formulate some great lectures on clans and chiefs in the 21st century. As such he is getting a name for himself as a sought after speaker at both clan and heraldic gatherings and we are delighted to have him with us.
Ross M McEwen LL.M(Dist) FSA Scot
Ross McEwen was born and raised in the Highland Capital of Inverness with Scottish family roots in Aberdeenshire, Stirlingshire and the Orkney Isles. He was brought up to possess and cherish what has become a lifelong passion for the Scottish Clan system, its presence around the world and its relation to Scots Heraldry.
By profession a subject specialist in Freedom of Information law and a former University Lecturer, Ross’s burgeoning second career in the Scottish Clan space increasingly involves speaking and advocating for the health and prosperity of Clan culture in Scotland and overseas, providing advice and support to Clan Chiefs, Societies and the public on matters pertaining to engagement, governance, ceremonial, and heraldry, as well as the role and functions of the Court of the Lord Lyon. Ross’s increasingly busy schedule includes speaking at Clan Gatherings, academic conferences here and abroad, and writing regarding the exciting and vibrant world of Scots Heraldry, history, and Clan culture around the globe, notably the subject of Clan Chiefs, and their legal status in Scotland.
In addition to being a senior member of the global leadership of Clan MacEwen, responsible for the matter of restoring the Chiefship of MacEwen (which has been in abeyance since the 1490s), Ross’s volunteer roles include being a Member of Council of The Royal Stuart Society, a Trustee of The Heraldry Society of Scotland, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and Secretary to the Association of Highland Clans & Societies.
Ross’s father is the senior member of the ‘An Darach’ McEwen family, itself a cadet branch of the former Stirlingshire farming family, The McEwens of Blackhouse. Ross now lives on the beautiful Fife Coast overlooking the Firth of Forth, with wife Victoria, cat Gustaf, and Sheltie Sigurd.
Further information on the gathering can be found by contacting the UK Commissioner Michael Carruthers directly: michaelcarruthers100@gmail.com
Will the Welcome speeches be recorded or lived streamed?
both we hope
We are working on this