St Kilda Kilts & Scottish Gifts

In 1572 the Boyds were said to be ‘a surname of right hardie men’ (Estimate of the Scottish Nobility, 1873, p.21). This is the crest of the Lords Boyd.

Here we have a simple Latin motto, ‘confido’, meaning I trust. The crest is a right hand with two fingers and the thumb raised, then two fingers folded. The crest seems to first appear on a seal of Robert Boyd of Kilmarknock, on a charter dated 1452 (Willam Rae MacDonald, Scottish Armorial Seals, 1904, 26). This is a symbol most associated with bishops and the right of benediction. The motto ‘I trust’ can thus be read as ‘I trust [in God]’. It is surprising that this symbol survived the Protestant Reformation of 1560.

Interestingly, the Workman’s Manuscript of 1565-6 has an annotation ‘two fingers cut off’. The motto recorded then was ‘confedo’, which is probably a spelling mistake. The spelling mistake and assumption of removed fingers perhaps suggests that the compiler of the manuscript didn’t quite understand what was being represented here. No stories seem to suggest the loss of fingers in battle, and the blazon usually specifically refers to two fingers being turned down.

There were Boyd bishops, but they came after the crest was first recorded: Bishop Andrew Boyd (1566-1636), who was Bishop of the Isles from 1613.

MKP 4 August 2020, revised 21 November 2025