Pollock Family Heraldry
The Pollocks are of Scotch-Irish descent. A very thorough article detailing the migration of the Scotch-Irish from Scotland to Ireland and ultimately to the United States can be found at the web site for The Gathering of the Clans. The name of the article is The Plantation of Ireland: Who are the Scotch-Irish (Ulster-Scots)? by Brian Orr. According to Mr. Orr, Scotch-Irish is an American title, they are known elsewhere as the Ulster Scots who settled in the 18th and 19th centuries and played a large part in settling the American wilderness, and many fought in the American Revolution.1
The
Pollock badge is a boar passant pierced by an arrow.
The motto Audacter et Strenue means Boldly
and Strongly
The Crest and Motto have been associated with various members of the Clan since approximately 1200. Robert de Polloc circa 1208 A.D. used the boar passant on his personal seal. The "Heraldic Symbolism" of the boar is a "symbol of bravery, one who fights to the death."1 Just the boar's head is a symbol of hospitality. The following is a story passed down explaining the reason that the boar is on the badge. The boar passant reflects an experience that happened when one of the Pollock Chieftains was hunting the wild boar in the Royal forest with the King. The boar was rushing the King when an arow from the Pollock chief struck and killed the boar thus saving the King. The King knighted the archer for his bold and timely assistance.2
There are three "Patron Saints" of Clan Pollock. St. Andrew, St. Mirin and St. Mungo. Pollock Clan Society celebrates the Feast of St. Andrew on November 30th, St. Mungo on January 14th and St. Mirin on September 15th. St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of all Scotland. St. Mungo was an apostle and bishop of the early Celtic Church. His mother was a pagan who married a Christian. Her father disowned her. St. Mungo was born on the shore near Culross which is still marked by the remains of St. Mungo's Chapel. St. Mungo died on January 13, 603 A.D St. Mirin's church was established in 560 A.D. in Paisley on the White Cart River.
Pollock Tartan
Clan Pollock adopted its own tartan and registered it with the Scottish Tartan Society in Scotland in 1980. Both Clan Pollock - Texas Region and Clan Pollock have extensive information on the history of the Pollock family on their web sites. Further information is also given regarding the Pollock Castle. Access to both Clan pages on the Links page.
The colors of the tartan is a system of rank put in place around 800 BC to distinguish the various classes and professions. A king or queen could wear seven colors; a poet six; a chieftain five; an army leader four; a landowner three; a rent payer two; and a serf one color only. The color system is no longer used as an individual identifier, but as an identifier of a whole clan. Now the right of a chieftain to wear five colors is given to all his relations.
Pollock Tartan, detail
Overall view of the Pollock tartan
Clan Maxwell
The Pollocks are considered a "sept" of Clan Maxwell and as such can wear the Maxwell tartan.4 For the history of the Maxwell Clan, visit their website at: http://www.tartans.com/clans/Maxwell/maxwell.html
Maxwell Hunting Tartan
The Maxwell badge is a stag Proper, attired Argent, couchant before a holly bush Proper. The Motto Reviresco means I flourish again
Sources:
1. Clan Pollock. http://www.tartans.com/clans/Pollock/pollock.html
2. Pogue, Lloyd Welch. Pogue/Pollock/Polk Genealogy As Mirrored in History, From Scotland to Northern Ireland/Ulster, Ohio, and Westward. Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1990.
3. Pollock, Rhys. Clan Pollock Newsletter. Volume 1, No. 2; 1980.
4. The Clan Maxwell. http://wwwtartans.com/clans/Maxwell/maxwell.html