Tennant Clan History

It is not uncommon to find the surname Tennant also spelled as Tenant and Tennent. In 1296, there is record of a William tenant of Crestone of county Linlescu, and he pledged allegiance to Edward I of England by signing the Ragman Roll, along with many other Scottish nobles. His seal bears a large dog and his name S’ Will’i Tenavnt.

An inquiry concerning the Knights Templar in 1309 saw Thomas Tenaunt as a witness.

The garrison of Edinburgh Castle between 1339 and 1340 had a John Tenant as one of the soldiers within the castle. The 1366 attack on the cruives (livestock pens) and fishings of the abbot and convent of Cambuskenneth by the burgesses of Stirling, included a John Tennand as one of the belligerents. In Ayr, Andro Tenand is recorded as being a charter witness in 1500, and nineteen years later, in 1519, Andro Tenand and Bob Tenand were voters in Monkland.

In 1539, Andrew Tennend was a burgess of Are, and a different Andrew Tennand was recorded as having been in Dysart, Fife, in 1542. In Glasgow, Robert Tenent was a witness in 1550, and reversion was given, in 1555, to Kenthigern Tenende, also in Glasgow.

In 1776 John and Robert Tennent founded the famous brewery which still bears their names.