The Keepers of the Cloth

Our Trustees

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John F McLeish

Trustee | Chair

A life-long supporter of Highland culture, piping and the Gaelic language, John is Chief Executive of The Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen and is a Museum Mentor for The Highlanders' Museum at Fort George near Inverness. His business career spans a wide range of industry sectors and he has held senior leadership roles in Banking, Professional Services, Passenger Transport and Oil & Gas Services.

John joined an ailing Scottish Tartans Authority in 2010 and has led its revival to become a partnership focused organisation since taking on the role of Chair in 2012. He is a member of the Advisory Group of The Scottish Register of Tartans (National Records of Scotland), a Trustee of The Duff Highlanders' Society and is one of the founding Board Members of The Braemar Highland Games Centre. John was a Trustee of Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) between 2017 and 2024. He played a significant role in both the Audit and Recruitment Committees during a period of unprecedented change and acted as Interim CEO of MGS for the 12 months to February 2019. John is a member of The Royal Celtic Society and The Highland Society of London.

Peter Eslea MacDonald OBE TD

Trustee | Head of Research

Peter is an internationally recognised Tartan Historian. He has been studying and researching tartan for the past 40 years and is the leading authority on 18th and early 19th century patterns and techniques, particularly those of the weaving firm William Wilson & Son (1765 – 1926). He is a self-taught hand-weaver with some 30 years of experience and has demonstrated and lectured widely, including in; USA, Canada, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

Peter acts as technical and historical advisor to The Scottish Register of Tartans and is principal advisor on tartans to the High Council of Clan Donald. He is the author of numerous research papers on historical tartans and tartan artefacts as well as being the author of The 1819 Key Pattern Book, One Hundred Original Tartans. He has designed numerous tartans over the years (including The Edinburgh Tattoo, British Airways and Chanel) and is a consultant for a variety of museums and organisations in the UK and overseas, as well as film, television, radio and print media. Peter was awarded OBE in The King’s Birthday honours List 2025 for services to the Tartan Industry.

Malcolm Ferris-Lay MBE

Trustee | Memberships

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Adam Fraser

Trustee | Memberships

Adam has held a lifelong passion for Highland dress and has worked within the industry in Canada. His professional background spans 18 years as an archaeologist and researcher, during which he developed extensive expertise in historical and archival research.

In recognition of this work, Adam was highly commended by the British Records Association in the 2024 Janette Harley Prize for Archival Research. He now applies his research skills to the study of historic Highland dress, focusing on locating and documenting early examples, and actively contributes to the research objectives of The Scottish Tartans Authority (STA).