I have written a critical paper on the armorial bearings, guidon and supporters used by the self styled Chief of the Clan Laing and invite readers of this genealogy forum to comment.
http://kutozov.rr.nu/clan_lainÂg.html I invited the self styled Chief of Clan Laing to view this web page and received the following reply from a Dan Laing who uses the title of Clan sennachaidh on 26th May 2005;
"I am the hereditary Clan sennachaidh or historian. I have forwarded your inquiry to Laing of Colington, the Chief of the name. Whether or not he replies to your letter will be his decision alone. //snip// A Chief is descended from a hereditary leader of a family as witnessed by the coat of arms that he bears. One can not be a chief unless others
are willing to recognize that hereditary right. The lineage of Laing of Colington has been examined by a panel of the
family (clan) and his line found valid so he was recognized as the chief. A chief is recognized as such by a heraldic authority by the number of clan members that bear the primary element of his coat of arms within their own. At present the arms of Laing of Colington may be found differenced in the arms of more by the name worldwide than any other.
In short, I and hundreds of others of the name recognize him as chief, including members of parliament that bear the name.
D. Laing
Sennachaidh, Clan Laing"
Mr. Laing is I fear much mistaken in his belief that "A chief is
recognized as such by a heraldic authority by the number of clan members that bear the primary element of his coat of arms within their own" since the arms used by the laird of Colington are in the same category as those used by all the other Laings; namely those of an indeterminate cadet. In addition there is only one heraldic authority in a position to recognise Scottish Chiefs and that is the Lord Lyon -
he has clearly not recognised Colington as chief of the name or clan.
The Chiefly arms (the undifferenced base arms) are as recorded by Nisbet: p.202 "the Arms of Laing - Argent, three piles(2) conjoined in point, sable. This blazon is copied from Ponts M.S. (AD 1624) & may be considered as the proper coat of the chief line of the name".
If Laing of Colington has a genuine claim to the chiefship of the clan and he has the support of a substantial following then why oh why does he not take the official route? Until he does, he is in my book nothing more than yet another bogus chief.
Nicholas