Chapter IV…

Chapter IV

Robertsons or Clan Donnachie--Macfarlanes--Campbells of Argyll and offshoots--Royal Marriage--Campbells of Breadalbane--Macarthur Campbells of Strachur--Campbells of Cawdor, Aberuchill, Ardnamurchan, Auchinbreck, Ardkinglass, Barcaldine, Dunstaffnage, Monzie--The Macleods of Lewis and Harris--Macleods of Rasay.

ROBERTSON.

Besides the clans already noticed, there are other two which, according to Skene, are set down by the genealogists as having originally belonged to the Gallgael or Celts of the Western Isles; these are the Robertsons or clan Donnachie, and the Macfarlanes.

Tradition claims for the clan Donnachie a descent from the great sept of the Macdonalds, their remote ancestor being said to have been Duncan (hence the name Donnachie) the Fat, son of Angus Mor, Lord of the Isles, in the reign of William the Lion. Smibert thinks this is certainly the most feasible account of their origin. Skene, however, endeavours to trace their descent from Duncan, King of Scotland, eldest son of Malcolm III., their immediate ancestor, according to him, having been Conan, second son of Henry, fourth and last of the ancient Celtic Earls of Athole. This Conan, it is said, received from his father, in the reign of Alexander II., the lands of Generochy, afterwards called Strowan, in Gaelic Struthan--that is, streamy. Conan’s great-grandson, Andrew, was styled of Athole, de Atholia, which was the uniform designation of the family, indicative, Mr Skene thinks, of their descent from the ancient Earls of Athole. According to the same authority, it was from Andrew’s son, Duncan, that the clan derived their distinctive appellation of the clan Donnachie, or children of Duncan. Duncan is said to have been twice married, and acquired by both marriages considerable territory in the district of Rannoch. By his first wife he had a son, Robert de Atholia.

As it is well known that Mr Skene’s Celtic prejudices are very strong, and as his derivation of the Robertsons from Duncan, king of Scotland, is to a great extent conjectural, it is only fair to give the other side of the question, viz., the probability of their derivation from the Celts of the Western Isles. We shall take the liberty of quoting here Mr Smibert’s judicious and acute remarks on this point. “There unquestionably exist doubts about the derivation of the Robertsons from the Macdonalds; but the fact of their acquiring large possessions at so early a period in Athole, seems to be decisive of their descent from some great and strong house among the Western Celts. And what house was more able so to endow its scions than that of Somerled, whose heads were the kings of the west of Scotland? The Somerled or Macdonald power, moreover, extended into Athole beyond all question; and, indeed, it may be said to have been almost the sole power which could so have planted there one of its offshoots, apart from the regal authority. Accordingly, though Duncan may not have been the son of Angus Mor (Macdonald), a natural son of the Lord of the Isles, as has been commonly averred, it by no means follows that the family were not of the Macdonald race. The proof may be difficult, but probability must be accepted in its stead. An opposite course has been too long followed on all sides. Why should men conceal from themselves the plain fact that the times under consideration were barbarous, and that their annals were necessarily left to us, not by the pen of the accurate historian, but by the dealers in song and tradition?”

Referring to the stress laid by Mr Skene upon the designation de Atholia, which was uniformly assumed by the Robertsons, Mr Smibert remarks,--“In the first place, the designation De Atholia can really be held to prove nothing, since, as in the case of De Insulis, such phrases often pointed to mere residence, and were especially used in reference to large districts. A gentleman ‘of Athole’ is not necessarily connected with the Duke; and, as we now use such phrases without any meaning of that kind, much more natural was the custom of old, when general localities alone were known generally. In the second place, are the Robertsons made more purely Gaelic, for such is partly the object in the view of Mr Skene, by being traced to the ancient Athole house? That the first lords of the line were Celts may be admitted; but heiresses again and again interrupted the male succession. While one wedded a certain Thomas of London, another found a mate in a person named David de Hastings. These strictly English names speak for themselves; and it was by the Hastings marriage, which took place shortly after the year 1200, that the first house of Athole was continued. It is clear, therefore, that the supposition of the descent of the Robertsons from the first lords of Athole leaves them still of largely mingled blood--Norman, Saxon, and Gaelic. Such is the result, even when the conjecture is admitted.

“As a Lowland neighbourhood gave to the race of Robert, son of Duncan, the name of Robertson, so would it also intermingle their race and blood with those of the Lowlanders.”[172]

It is from the grandson of Robert of Athole, also named Robert, that the clan Donnachie derive their name of Robertson. This Robert was noted for his predatory incursions into the Lowlands, and is historically known as the chief who arrested and delivered up to the vengeance of the government Robert Graham and the Master of Athole, two of the murderers of James I., for which he was rewarded with a crown charter, dated in 1451, erecting his whole lands into a free barony. He also received the honourable augmentation to his arms of a naked man manacled under the achievement, with the motto, Virtutis gloria merces. He was mortally wounded in the head near the village of Auchtergaven, in a conflict with Robert Forrester of Torwood, with whom he had a dispute regarding the lands of Little Dunkeld. Binding up his head with a white cloth, he rode to Perth, and obtained from the king a new grant of the lands of Strowan. On his return home, he died of his wounds. He had three sons, Alexander, Robert, and Patrick. Robert, the second son, was the ancestor of the Earls of Portmore, a title now extinct.

The eldest son, Alexander, was twice married, his sons becoming progenitors of various families of Robertsons. He died in, or shortly prior to, 1507, and was succeeded by his grandson, William. This chief had some dispute with the Earl of Athole concerning the marches of their estates, and was killed by a party of the earl’s followers, in 1530. Taking advantage of a wadset or mortgage which he held over the lands of Strowan, the earl seized nearly the half of the family estate, which the Robertsons could never again recover. William’s son, Robert, had two sons--William, who died without issue, and Donald, who succeeded him.

Donald’s grandson, 11th laird of Strowan, died in 1636, leaving an infant son, Alexander, in whose minority the government of the clan devolved upon his uncle, Donald. Devoted to the cause of Charles I., the latter raised a regiment of his name and followers, and was with the Marquis of Montrose in all his battles. After the Restoration, the king settled a pension upon him.

His nephew, Alexander Robertson of Strowan, was twice married. By his second wife, Marion, daughter of General Baillie of Letham, he had two sons and one daughter, and died in 1688. Duncan, the second son by the second marriage, served in Russia, with distinction, under Peter the Great.

Alexander, the elder son of the second marriage, was the celebrated Jacobite chief and poet. Born about 1670, he was destined for the church, and sent to the university of St Andrews; but his father and brother by the first marriage dying within a few months of each other, he succeeded to the family estate and the chiefship in 1688. Soon after, he joined the Viscount Dundee, when he appeared in arms in the Highlands for the cause of King James; but though he does not appear to have been at Killiecrankie, and was still under age, he was, for his share in this rising, attainted by a decreet of parliament in absence in 1690, and his estates forfeited to the crown. He retired, in consequence, to the court of the exiled monarch at St Germains, where he lived for several years, and served one or two campaigns in the French army. In 1703, Queen Anne granted him a remission, when he returned to Scotland, and resided unmolested on his estates, but neglecting to get the remission passed the seals, the forfeiture of 1690 was never legally repealed. With about 500 of his clan he joined the Earl of Mar in 1715, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Sheriffmuir, but rescued. Soon after, however, he fell into the hands of a party of soldiers in the Highlands, and was ordered to be conducted to Edinburgh; but, with the assistance of his sister, he contrived to escape on the way, when he again took refuge in France. In 1723, the estate of Strowan was granted by the government to Margaret, the chief’s sister, by a charter under the great seal, and in 1726 she disponed the same in trust for the behoof of her brother, substituting, in the event of his death without lawful heirs of his body, Duncan, son of Alexander Robertson of Drumachune, her father’s cousin, and the next lawful heir male of the family. Margaret died unmarried in 1727. Her brother had returned to Scotland the previous year, and obtaining in 1731 a remission for his life, took possession of his estate. In 1745 he once more “marshalled his clan” in behalf of the Stuarts, but his age preventing him from personally taking any active part in the rebellion, his name was passed over in the list of proscriptions that followed. He died in his own house of Carie, in Rannoch, April 18, 1749, in his 81st year, without lawful issue, and in him ended the direct male line. A volume of his poems was published after his death. An edition was reprinted at Edinburgh in 1785, 12mo, containing also the “History and Martial Achievements of the Robertsons of Strowan.” He is said to have formed the prototype of the Baron of Bradwardine in “Waverley.”

The portion of the original estate of Strowan which remained devolved upon Duncan Robertson of Drumachune, a property which his great-grandfather, Duncan Mor (who died in 1687), brother of Donald the tutor, had acquired from the Athole family. As, however, his name was not included in the last act of indemnity passed by the government, he was dispossessed of the estate in 1752, when he and his family retired to France. His son, Colonel Alexander Robertson, obtained a restitution of Strowan in 1784, and died, unmarried, in 1822. Duncan Mor’s second son, Donald, had a son, called Robert Bane, whose grandson, Alexander Robertson, now succeeded to the estate.

The son of the latter, Major-general George Duncan Robertson of Strowan, C.B., passed upwards of thirty years in active service, and received the cross of the Imperial Austrian order of Leopold. He was succeeded by his son, George Duncan Robertson, born 26th July 1816, at one time an officer in the 42d Highlanders.

The force which the Robertsons could bring into the field was estimated at 800 in 1715, and 700 in 1745.

Of the branches of the family, the Robertsons of Lude, in Blair-Athole, are the oldest, being of contemporary antiquity to that of Strowan.

Patrick de Atholia, eldest son of the second marriage of Duncan de Atholia, received from his father, at his death, about 1358, the lands of Lude. He is mentioned in 1391, by Wyntoun (Book ii. p. 367) as one of the chieftains and leaders of the clan. He had, with a daughter, married to Donald, son of Farquhar, ancestor of the Farquharsons of Invercauld, two sons, Donald and Alexander. The latter, known by the name of Rua or Red, from the colour of his hair, acquired the estate of Straloch, for which he had a charter from James II. in 1451, and was ancestor of the Robertsons of Straloch, Perthshire. His descendants were called the Barons Rua. The last of the Barons Rua, or Red, was Alexander Robertson of Straloch, who died about the end of the last century, leaving an only son, John, who adopted the old family soubriquet, and called himself Reid (probably hoping to be recognised as the chief of the Reids). John Reid entered the army, where he rose to the rank of General, and died in 1803, leaving the reversion of his fortune (amounting to about £70,000) for the endowment of a chair of music, and other purposes, in the University of Edinburgh. This ancient family is represented by Sir Archibald Ava Campbell, Bart.

Donald, the elder son, succeeded his father. He resigned his lands of Lude into the king’s hand on February 7, 1447, but died before he could receive his infeftment. He had two sons: John, who got the charter under the great seal, dated March 31, 1448, erecting the lands of Lude into a barony, proceeding on his father’s resignation; and Donald, who got as his patrimony the lands of Strathgarry. This branch of Lude ended in an heiress, who married an illegitimate son of Stewart of Invermeath. About 1700, Strathgarry was sold to another family of the name of Stewart.

The Robertsons of Inshes, Inverness-shire, are descended from Duncan, second son of Duncan de Atholia, dominus de Ranagh, above mentioned.

The Robertsons of Kindeace descend from William Robertson, third son of John, ancestor of the Robertsons of the Inshes, by his wife, a daughter of Fearn of Pitcullen. He obtained from his father, in patrimony, several lands about Inverness, and having acquired great riches as a merchant, purchased, in 1615, the lands of Orkney, Nairnshire, and in 1639, those of Kindeace, Ross-shire; the latter becoming the chief title of the family.

The Robertsons of Kinlochmoidart, Inverness-shire, are descended from John Robertson of Muirton, Elginshire, second son of Alexander Robertson of Strowan, by his wife, Lady Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Athole.

The fifth in succession, the Rev. William Robertson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, was father of Principal Robertson, and of Mary, who married the Rev. James Syme, and had an only child, Eleonora, mother of Henry, Lord Brougham. The Principal had three sons and two daughters.

MACFARLANE.

Of the clan Macfarlane, Mr Skene gives the best account, and we shall therefore take the liberty of availing ourselves of his researches. According to him, with the exception of the clan Donnachie, the clan Parlan or Pharlan is the only one, the descent of which from the ancient earls of the district where their possessions were situated, may be established by the authority of a charter. It appears, indeed, that the ancestor of this clan was Gilchrist, the brother of Maldowen or Malduin, the third Earl of Lennox. This is proved by a charter of Maldowen, still extant, by which he gives to his brother Gilchrist a grant “de terris de superiori Arrochar de Luss;” and these lands, which continued in possession of the clan until the death of the last chief, have at all times constituted their principal inheritance.

But although the descent of the clan from the Earls of Lennox be thus established, the origin of their ancestors is by no means so easily settled. Of all the native earls of Scotland, those of this district alone have had a foreign origin assigned to them, though, apparently, without any sufficient reason. The first Earl of Lennox who appears on record is Aluin comes de Levenox, who lived in the early part of the 13th century; and there is some reason to believe that from this Aluin the later Earls of Lennox were descended. It is, no doubt, impossible to determine now who this Aluin really was; but, in the absence of direct authority, we gather from tradition that the heads of the family of Lennox, before being raised to the peerage, were hereditary seneschals of Strathearn, and bailies of the Abthanery of Dull, in Athole. Aluin was succeeded by a son of the same name, who is frequently mentioned in the chartularies of Lennox and Paisley, and who died before the year 1225. In Donald, the sixth earl, the male branch of the family became extinct. Margaret, the daughter of Donald, married Walter de Fassalane, the heir male of the family; but this alliance failed to accomplish the objects intended by it, or, in other words, to preserve the honours and power of the house of Lennox. Their son Duncan, the eighth earl, had no male issue; and his eldest daughter Isabella, having married Sir Murdoch Stuart, the eldest son of the Regent, he and his family became involved in the ruin which overwhelmed the unfortunate house of Albany. At the death of Isabella, in 1460, the earldom was claimed by three families; but that of Stewart of Darnley eventually overcame all opposition, and acquired the title and estates of Lennox. Their accession took place in the year 1488; upon which the clans that had been formerly united with the earls of the old stock separated themselves, and became independent.

Of these clans the principal was that of the Macfarlanes, the descendants, as has already been stated, of Gilchrist, a younger brother of Maldowen, Earl of Lennox. In the Lennox charters, several of which he appears to have subscribed as a witness, this Gilchrist is generally designated as frater comitis, or brother of the earl. His son Duncan also obtained a charter of his lands from the Earl of Lennox, and appears in the Ragman’s roll under the title of “Duncan Macgilchrist de Levenaghes.” From a grandson of this Duncan, who was called in Gaelic Parlan, or Bartholomew, the clan appears to have taken the surname of Macfarlane; indeed the connection of Parlan both with Duncan and with Gilchrist is clearly established by a charter granted to Malcolm Macfarlane, the son of Parlan, confirming to him the lands of Arrochar and others; and hence Malcolm may be considered as the real founder of the clan. He was succeeded by his son Duncan, who obtained from the Earl of Lennox a charter of the lands of Arrochar as ample in its provisions as any that had been granted to his predecessors; and married a daughter of Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, as appears from a charter of confirmation granted in his favour by Duncan, Earl of Lennox. Not long after his death, however, the ancient line of the Earls of Lennox became extinct; and the Macfarlanes having claimed the earldom as heirs male, offered a strenuous opposition to the superior pretensions of the feudal heirs. Their resistance, however, proved alike unsuccessful and disastrous. The family of the chief perished in defence of what they believed to be their just rights; the clan also suffered severely, and of those who survived the struggle, the greater part took refuge in remote parts of the country. Their destruction, indeed, would have been inevitable, but for the opportune support given by a gentleman of the clan to the Darnley family. This was Andrew Macfarlane, who, having married the daughter of John Stewart, Lord Darnley and Earl of Lennox, to whom his assistance had been of great moment at a time of difficulty, saved the rest of the clan, and recovered the greater part of their hereditary possessions. The fortunate individual in question, however, though the good genius of the race, does not appear to have possessed any other title to the chiefship than what he derived from his position, and the circumstance of his being the only person in a condition to afford them protection; in fact, the clan refused him the title of chief, which they appear to have considered as incommunicable, except in the right line; and his son, Sir John Macfarlane, accordingly contented himself with assuming the secondary or subordinate designation of captain of the clan.

From this time, the Macfarlanes appear to have on all occasions supported the Earls of Lennox of the Stewart race, and to have also followed their banner in the field. For several generations, however, their history as a clan is almost an entire blank; indeed, they appear to have merged into mere retainers of the powerful family, under whose protection they enjoyed undisturbed possession of their hereditary domains. But in the sixteenth century Duncan Macfarlane of Macfarlane appears as a steady supporter of Matthew, Earl of Lennox. At the head of three hundred men of his own name, he joined Lennox and Glencairn in 1544, and was present with his followers at the battle of Glasgow-Muir, where he shared the defeat of the party he supported. He was also involved in the forfeiture which followed; but having powerful friends, his property was, through their intercession, restored, and he obtained a remission under the privy seal. The loss of this battle forced Lennox to retire to England; whence, having married a niece of Henry VIII., he soon afterwards returned with a considerable force which the English monarch had placed under his command. The chief of Macfarlane durst not venture to join Lennox in person, being probably restrained by the terror of another forfeiture; but, acting on the usual Scottish policy of that time, he sent his relative, Walter Macfarlane of Tarbet, with four hundred men, to reinforce his friend and patron; and this body, according to Holinshed, did most excellent service, acting at once as light troops and as guides to the main body. Duncan, however, did not always conduct himself with equal caution; for he is said to have fallen in the fatal battle of Pinkie, in 1547, on which occasion also a great number of his clan perished.

Andrew, the son of Duncan, as bold, active, and adventurous as his sire, engaged in the civil wars of the period, and, what is more remarkable, took a prominent part on the side of the Regent Murray; thus acting in opposition to almost all the other Highland chiefs, who were warmly attached to the cause of the queen. He was present at the battle of Langside with a body of his followers, and there “stood the Regent’s part in great stead;” for, in the hottest of the fight, he came up with three hundred of his friends and countrymen, and falling fiercely on the flank of the queen’s army, threw them into irretrievable disorder, and thus mainly contributed to decide the fortune of the day. The clan boast of having taken at this battle three of Queen Mary’s standards, which, they say, were preserved for a long time in the family. Macfarlane’s reward was not such as afforded any great cause for admiring the munificence of the Regent; but that his vanity at least might he conciliated, Murray bestowed upon him the crest of a demi-savage proper, holding in his dexter hand a sheaf of arrows, and pointing with his sinister to an imperial crown, or, with the motto, This I’ll defend. Of the son of this chief nothing is known; but his grandson, Walter Macfarlane, returning to the natural feelings of a Highlander, proved himself as sturdy a champion of the royal party as his grandfather had been an uncompromising opponent and enemy. During Cromwell’s time, he was twice besieged in his own house, and his castle of Inveruglas was afterwards burned down by the English. But nothing could shake his fidelity to his party. Though his personal losses in adhering to the royal cause were of a much more substantial kind than his grandfather’s reward in opposing it, yet his zeal was not cooled by adversity, nor his ardour abated by the vengeance which it drew down on his head.

Although a small clan, the Macfarlanes were as turbulent and predatory in their way as their neighbours the Macgregors. By the Act of the Estates of 1587 they were declared to be one of the clans for whom the chief was made responsible; by another act passed in 1594, they were denounced as being in the habit of committing theft, robbery, and oppression; and in July 1624 many of the clan were tried and convicted of theft and robbery. Some of them were punished, some pardoned; while others were removed to the highlands of Aberdeenshire, and to Strathaven in Banffshire, where they assumed the names of Stewart, M’Caudy, Greisock, M’James, and M’Innes.

Of one eminent member of the clan, the following notice is taken by Mr Skene in his work on the Highlands of Scotland. He says, “It is impossible to conclude this sketch of the history of the Macfarlanes without alluding to the eminent antiquary, Walter Macfarlane of that ilk, who is as celebrated among historians as the indefatigable collector of the ancient records of the country, as his ancestors had been among the other Highland chiefs for their prowess in the field. The family itself, however, is now nearly extinct, after having held their original lands for a period of six hundred years.”

Of the lairds of Macfarlane there have been no fewer than twenty-three. The last of them went to North America in the early part of the 18th century. A branch of the family settled in Ireland in the reign of James VII., and the headship of the clan is claimed by its representative, Macfarlane of Hunstown House, in the county of Dublin. The descendants of the ancient chiefs cannot now be traced, and the lands once possessed by them have passed into other hands.

Under the head of Garmoran, Mr Skene, following the genealogists, includes two western clans, viz., those of Campbell and Macleod. We shall, however, depart from Mr Skene’s order, and notice these two important clans here, while treating of the clans of the western coasts and isles. Mr Skene,[173] on very shadowy grounds, endeavours to make out that there must have been an ancient earldom of Garmoran, situated between north and south Argyle, and including, besides the districts of Knoydart, Morar, Arisaig, and Moydart (forming a late lordship of Garmoran), the districts of Glenelg, Ardnamurchan, and Morvern. He allows, however, that “at no period embraced by the records do we discover Garmoran as an efficient earldom.” As to this, Mr E. W. Robertson[174] remarks that “the same objection may be raised against the earldom of Garmoran which is urged against the earldom of the Merns, the total silence of history respecting it.”

ARGYLL CAMPBELL.

The name CAMPBELL is undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity, and the clan has for long been one of the most numerous and powerful in the Highlands, although many families have adopted the name who have no connection with the Campbells proper by blood or descent. The Argyll family became latterly so powerful, that many smaller clans were absorbed in it voluntarily or compulsorily, and assumed in course of time its peculiar designation. The origin of the name, as well as of the founder of the family, remains still a matter of the greatest doubt. The attempt to deduce the family from the half-mythical King Arthur, of course, is mere trifling.

The name is by some stated to have been derived from a Norman knight, named de Campo Bello, who came to England with William the Conqueror. As respects the latter part of the statement, it is to be observed that in the list of all the knights who composed the army of the Conqueror on the occasion of his invasion of England, and which is known by the name of the Roll of Battle-Abbey, the name of Campo Bello is not to be found. But it does not follow, as recent writers have assumed, that a knight of that name may not have come over to England at a later period, either of his reign or that of his successors.

It has been alleged, in opposition to this account, that in the oldest form of writing the name, it is spelled Cambel or Kambel, and it is so found in many ancient documents; but these were written by parties not acquainted with the individuals whose name they record, as in the manuscript account of the battle of Halidon Hill, by an unknown English writer, preserved in the British Museum; in the Ragman’s Roll, which was compiled by an English clerk, and in Wyntoun’s Chronicle. There is no evidence, however, that at any period it was written by any of the family otherwise than as Campbell, notwithstanding the extraordinary diversity that occurs in the spelling of other names by their holders, as shown by Lord Lindsay in the account of his clan; and the invariable employment of the letter p by the Campbells themselves would be of itself a strong argument for the southern origin of the name, did there not exist, in the record of the parliament of Robert Bruce held in 1320, the name of the then head of the family, entered as Sir Nigel de Campo Bello.

The writers, however, who attempt to sustain the fabulous tales of the sennachies, assign a very different origin to the name. It is personal, say they, “like that of some others of the Highland clans, being composed of the words cam, bent or arched, and beul, mouth; this having been the most prominent feature of the great ancestor of the clan, Diarmid O’Dubin or O’Duin, a brave warrior celebrated in traditional story, who was contemporary with the heroes of Ossian. In the Gaelic language his descendants are called Siol Diarmid, the offspring or race of Diarmid.”

Besides the manifest improbability of this origin on other grounds, two considerations may be adverted to, each of them conclusive:--

First, It is known to all who have examined ancient genealogies, that among the Celtic races personal distinctives never have become hereditary. Malcolm Canmore, Donald Bane, Rob Roy, or Evan Dhu, were, with many other names, distinctive of personal qualities, but none of them descended, or could do so, to the children of those who acquired them.

Secondly, It is no less clear that, until after what is called the Saxon Conquest had been completely effected, no hereditary surnames were in use among the Celts of Scotland, nor by the chiefs of Norwegian descent who governed in Argyll and the Isles. This circumstance is pointed out by Tytler in his remarks upon the early population of Scotland, in the second volume of the History of Scotland. The domestic slaves attached to the possessions of the church and of the barons have their genealogies engrossed in ancient charters of conveyances and confirmation copied by him. The names are all Celtic, but in no one instance does the son, even when bearing a second or distinctive name, follow that of his father.

Skene, who maintains the purely native origin of the Campbell, does so in the following remarks:--

“We have shown it to be invariably the case, that when a clan claims a foreign origin, and accounts for their possession of the chiefship and property of the clan by a marriage with the heiress of the old proprietors, they can be proved to be in reality a cadet of that older house who had usurped the chiefship, while their claim to the chiefship is disputed by an acknowledged descendant of that older house. To this rule the Campbells are no exceptions, for while the tale upon which they found a Norman descent is exactly parallel to those of the other clans in the same situation, the most ancient manuscript genealogies deduce them in the male line from that very family of O’Duin, whose heiress they are said to have married, and the Macarthur Campbells, of Strachur, the acknowledged descendants of the older house, they have at all times disputed the chiefship with the Argyll family. Judging from analogy, we are compelled to admit that the Campbells of Strachur must formerly have been chiefs of the clan, and that the usual causes in such cases have operated to reduce the Strachur family, and to place that of Argyll in that situation, and this is confirmed by the early history of the clan.”

We shall take the liberty of quoting here some ingenious speculations on the origin of the name and the founder of the clan, from the pen of a gentleman, a member of the clan, who, for several years, has devoted his leisure to the investigation of the subject, and has placed the results of his researches at our disposal. He declares that the name itself is the most inflexible name in Scotland. In all old documents, he says, in which it occurs, either written by a Campbell, or under his direction, it is spelled always Campbell, or Campo-Bello; and its southern origin he believes is past question. It has always seemed to him to have been the name of some Roman, who, after his countrymen retired from Britain, had settled among the Britons of Strath-Clyde. “I am not one,” he continues, “of those who suppose that the fortunes of Campbell depended entirely on the patrimony of his wife. As a family who had been long in the country, the chief of the name (it is improbable that he was then the sole owner of that name, although his family is alone known to history), as a soldier, high in his sovereign’s favour, was likely to have possessed lands in Argyle before his marriage took place. Men of mark were then necessary to keep these rather wild and outlandish districts in subjection, and only men high in royal favour were likely to have that trust,--a trust likely to be so well rewarded, that its holder would be an eligible match for the heiress of Paul In-Sporran.

“It is also quite likely that Eva O’Duin was a king’s ward, and on that account her hand would be in the king’s gift; and who so likely to receive it as a trusted knight, connected with the district, and one whose loyalty was unquestioned?

“Again, we put little stress on the Celtic origin of the name,--from the crooked mouth of the first chief, as if from cam, bent or crooked, and beul, mouth. No doubt this etymology is purely fanciful, and may have been invented by some one anxious to prove the purely Celtic origin of the family; but this seems really unnecessary, as a Celtic residence, Celtic alliances, and Celtic associations for nearly 800 years, is a Celtic antiquity in an almost unbroken line such as few families are able to boast of; indeed, no clan can boast of purer Celtic blood than the Campbells, and their present chief.”

The conclusion which, we think, any unprejudiced reader must come to, is, that the question of the origin of the Campbells cannot, until further light be thrown upon it, be determined with certainty at the present day. It is possible that the story of the genealogists may be true; they declare that the predecessors of the Argyll[175] family, on the female side, were possessors of Lochow or Lochawe in Argyleshire, as early as 404 A.D. Of this, however, there is no proof worthy of the name. The first of the race, who comes prominently into notice is one Archibald (also called Gillespie) Campbell, as likely as not, we think, to be a gentleman of Anglo-Norman lineage, who lived in the 11th century. He acquired the lordship of Lochow, or Lochawe, by marriage with Eva, daughter and heiress of Paul O’Duin, Lord of Lochow, denominated Paul Insporran, from his being the king’s treasurer. Another Gillespic is the first of the house mentioned in authentic history, his name occurring as a witness of the charter of the lands of the burgh of Newburgh by Alexander III. in 1246.

Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, the real founder of the family, sixth in descent from the first Gillespic, distinguished himself by his warlike actions, and was knighted by King Alexander the Third in 1280. He added largely to his estates, and on account of his great prowess he obtained the surname of Mohr or More (“great”); from him the chief of the Argyll family is in Gaelic styled Mac Chaillan More.[176]

Sir Colin Campbell had a quarrel with a powerful neighbour of his, the Lord of Lorn, and after he had defeated him, pursuing the victory too eagerly, was slain (in 1294) at a place called the String of Cowal, where a great obelisk was erected over his grave. This is said to have occasioned bitter feuds betwixt the houses of Lochow and Lorn for a long period of years, which were put an end to by the marriage of the daughter of the Celtic proprietor of Lorn, with John Stewart of Innermeath about 1386. Sir Colin married a lady of the name of Sinclair, by whom he had five sons.

Sir Niel Campbell of Lochow, his eldest son, swore fealty to Edward the First, but afterwards joined Robert the Bruce, and fought by his side in almost every encounter, from the defeat at Methven to the victory at Bannockburn. King Robert rewarded his services by giving him his sister, the Lady Mary Bruce, in marriage, and conferring on him the lands forfeited by the Earl of Athole. His next brother Donald was the progenitor of the Campbells of Loudon. By his wife Sir Niel had three sons,--Sir Colin; John, created Earl of Athole, upon the forfeiture of David de Strathbogie, the eleventh earl; and Dugal.

Sir Colin, the eldest son, obtained a charter from his uncle, King Robert Bruce, of the lands of Lochow and Artornish, dated at Arbroath, 10th February 1316, in which he is designated Colinus filius Nigelli Cambel, militis. As a reward for assisting the Steward of Scotland in 1334 in the recovery of the castle of Dunoon, in Cowal, Sir Colin was made hereditary governor of the castle, and had the grant of certain lands for the support of his dignity. Sir Colin died about 1340. By his wife, a daughter of the house of Lennox, he had three sons and a daughter.

The eldest son, Sir Gillespic or Archibald, who added largely to the family possessions, was twice married, and had three sons, Duncan, Colin, and David, and a daughter, married to Duncan Macfarlane of Arrochar. Colin, the second son, was designed of Ardkinglass, and of his family, the Campbells of Ardentinny, Dunoon, Carrick, Skipnish, Blythswood, Shawfield, Rachan, Auchwillan, and Dergachie are branches.

Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, the eldest son, was one of the hostages in 1424, under the name of Duncan, Lord of Argyll, for the payment of the sum of forty thousand pounds (equivalent to four hundred thousand pounds of our money), for the expense of King James the First’s maintenance during his long imprisonment in England, when Sir Duncan was found to be worth fifteen hundred merks a-year. He was the first of the family to assume the designation of Argyll. By King James he was appointed one of his privy council, and constituted his justiciary and lieutenant within the shire of Argyll. He became a lord of parliament in 1445, under the title of Lord Campbell. He died in 1453, and was buried at Kilmun. He married, first, Marjory or Mariota Stewart, daughter of Robert Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, by whom he had three sons,--Celestine, who died before him; Archibald, who also predeceased him, but left a son; and Colin, who was the first of Glenorchy, and ancestor of the Breadalbane family. Sir Duncan married, secondly, Margaret, daughter of Sir John Stewart of Blackhall and Auchingown, natural son of Robert the Third, by whom also he had three sons, namely, Duncan, who, according to Crawford, was the ancestor of the house of Auchinbreck, of whom are the Campbells of Glencardel, Glensaddel, Kildurkland, Kilmorie, Wester Keams, Kilberry, and Dana; Niel, progenitor, according to Crawford, of the Campbells of Ellengreig and Ormadale; and Arthur or Archibald, ancestor of the Campbells of Ottar, now extinct. According to some authorities, the Campbells of Auchinbreck and their cadets, also Ellengrieg and Ormadale, descend from this the youngest son, and not from his brothers.

The first Lord Campbell was succeeded by his grandson Colin, the son of his second son Archibald. He acquired part of the lordship of Campbell in the parish of Dollar,[177] by marrying the eldest of the three daughters of John Stewart, third Lord of Lorn and Innermeath. He did not, as is generally stated, acquire by this marriage any part of the lordship of Lorn (which passed to Walter, brother of John, the fourth Lord Innermeath, and heir of entail), but obtained that lordship by exchanging the lands of Baldunning and Innerdunning, &c., in Perthshire, with the said Walter. In 1457 he was created Earl of Argyll. In 1470 he was created baron of Lorn, and in 1481 he received a grant of many lands in Knapdale, along with the keeping of Castle Sweyn, which had previously been held by the Lord of the Isles. He died in 1493.

By Isabel Stewart, his wife, eldest daughter of John, Lord of Lorn, the first Earl of Argyll had two sons and seven daughters. Archibald, his elder son, became second earl, and Thomas, the younger, was the ancestor of the Campbells of Lundie, in Forfarshire. Another daughter was married to Torquil Macleod of the Lewis.

Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, succeeded his father in 1493. In 1499 he and others received a commission from the king to let on lease, for the term of three years, the entire lordship of the Isles as possessed by the last lord, both in the Isles and on the mainland, excepting only the island of Isla, and the lands of North and South Kintyre. He also received a commission of lieutenancy, with the fullest powers, over the lordship of the Isles; and, some months later, was appointed keeper of the castle of Tarbert, and bailie and governor of the king’s lands in Knapdale. From this period the great power formerly enjoyed by the Earls of Ross, Lords of the Isles, was transferred to the Earls of Argyll and Huntly; the former having the chief rule in the south isles and adjacent coasts. At the fatal battle of Flodden, 9th September 1513, his lordship and his brother-in-law, the Earl of Lennox, commanded the right wing of the royal army, and with King James the Fourth, were both killed. By his wife, Lady Elizabeth Stewart, eldest daughter of John, first Earl of Lennox, he had four sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Colin, was the third Earl of Argyll. Archibald, his second son, had a charter of the lands of Skipnish, and the keeping of the castle thereof, 13th August 1511. His family ended in an heir-female in the reign of Mary. Sir John Campbell, the third son, at first styled of Lorn, and afterwards of Calder, married Muriella, daughter and heiress of Sir John Calder of Calder, now Cawdor, near Nairn.

According to tradition, she was captured in childhood by Sir John Campbell and a party of the Campbells, while out with her nurse near Calder castle. Her uncles pursued and overtook the division of the Campbells to whose care she had been intrusted, and would have rescued her but for the presence of mind of Campbell of Inverliver, who, seeing their approach, inverted a large camp kettle as if to conceal her, and commanding his seven sons to defend it to the death, hurried on with his prize. The young men were all slain, and when the Calders lifted up the kettle, no Muriel was there. Meanwhile so much time had been gained that farther pursuit was useless. The nurse, just before the child was seized, bit off a joint of her little finger, in order to mark her identity--a precaution which seems to have been necessary, from Campbell of Auchinbreck’s reply to one who, in the midst of their congratulations on arriving safely in Argyll with their charge, asked what was to be done should the child die before she was marriageable? “She can never die,” said he, “as long as a red-haired lassie can be found on either side of Lochawe!” It would appear that the heiress of the Calders had red hair.

Colin Campbell, the third Earl of Argyll, was, immediately after his accession to the earldom, appointed by the council to assemble an army and proceed against Lauchlan Maclean of Dowart, and other Highland chieftains, who had broken out into insurrection, and proclaimed Sir Donald of Lochalsh Lord of the Isles. Owing to the powerful influence of Argyll, the insurgents submitted to the regent, after strong measures had been adopted against them. In 1517 Sir Donald of Lochalsh again appeared in arms, but being deserted by his principal leaders, he effected his escape. Soon after, on his petition, he received a commission of lieutenancy over all the Isles and adjacent mainland.

For some years the Isles had continued at peace, and Argyll employed this interval in extending his influence among the chiefs, and in promoting the aggrandisement of his family and clan, being assisted thereto by his brothers, Sir John Campbell of Calder, so designed after his marriage with the heiress, and Archibald Campbell of Skipnish. The former was particularly active. In 1527 an event occurred, which forms the groundwork of Joanna Baillie’s celebrated tragedy of “The Family Legend.” It is thus related by Gregory:--“Lauchlan Cattanach Maclean of Dowart had married Lady Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, and, either from the circumstance of their union being unfruitful, or more probably owing to some domestic quarrels, he determined to get rid of his wife. Some accounts say that she had twice attempted her husband’s life; but, whatever the cause may have been, Maclean, following the advice of two of his vassals, who exercised a considerable influence over him from the tie of fosterage, caused his lady to be exposed on a rock, which was only visible at low water, intending that she should be swept away by the return of the tide. This rock lies between the island of Lismore and the coast of Mull, and is still known by the name of the ‘Lady’s Rock.’ From this perilous situation the intended victim was rescued by a boat accidentally passing, and conveyed to her brother’s house. Her relations, although much exasperated against Maclean, smothered their resentment for a time, but only to break out afterwards with greater violence; for the laird of Dowart being in Edinburgh, was surprised when in bed, and assassinated by Sir John Campbell of Calder, the lady’s brother. The Macleans instantly took arms to revenge the death of their chief, and the Campbells were not slow in preparing to follow up the feud; but the government interfered, and, for the present, an appeal to arms was avoided.”[178]

On the escape of the king, then in his seventeenth year, from the power of the Douglases, in May 1528, Argyll was one of the first to join his majesty at Stirling. Argyll afterwards received an ample confirmation of the hereditary sheriffship of Argyleshire and of the offices of justiciary of Scotland and master of the household, by which these offices became hereditary in his family. He had the commission of justice-general of Scotland renewed 25th October 1529. He died in 1530.

By his countess, Lady Jane Gordon, eldest daughter of Alexander, third Earl of Huntly, the third Earl of Argyll had three sons and a daughter. His sons were, Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll; John, ancestor of the Campbells of Lochnell, of which house the Campbells of Balerno and Stonefield are cadets; and Alexander, dean of Moray.

Archibald, the fourth Earl of Argyll, was, on his accession to the title in 1530, appointed to all the offices held by the two preceding earls. A suspicion being entertained by some of the members of the privy council, which is said to have been shared in by the king himself, that many of the disturbances in the Isles were secretly fomented by the Argyll family, that they might obtain possession of the estates forfeited by the chiefs thus driven into rebellion, and an opportunity soon presenting itself, the king eagerly availed himself of it, to curb the increasing power of the Earl of Argyll in that remote portion of the kingdom. Alexander of Isla, being summoned to answer certain charges of Argyll, made his appearance at once, and gave in to the council a written statement, in which, among other things, he stated that the disturbed state of the Isles was mainly caused by the late Earl of Argyll and his brothers, Sir John Campbell of Calder, and Archibald Campbell of Skipnish. The king made such an examination into the complaints of the islanders as satisfied him that the family of Argyll had been acting more for their own benefit than for the welfare of the country, and the earl was summoned before his sovereign, to give an account of the duties and rental of the Isles received by him, the result of which was that James committed him to prison soon after his arrival at court. He was soon liberated, but James was so much displeased with his conduct that he deprived him of the offices he still held in the Isles, some of which were bestowed on Alexander of Isla, whom he had accused. After the death of James the Fifth he appears to have regained his authority over the Isles. He was the first of the Scotch nobles who embraced the principles of the Reformation, and employed as his domestic chaplain Mr John Douglas, a converted Carmelite friar, who preached publicly in his house. The Archbishop of St Andrews, in a letter to the earl, endeavoured to induce him to dismiss Douglas, and return to the Romish church, but in vain, and on his death-bed he recommended the support of the new doctrines, and the suppression of Popish superstitions, to his son. He died in August 1558. He was twice married. By his first wife, Lady Helen Hamilton, eldest daughter of James, first Earl of Arran, he had a son, Archibald, fifth Earl of Argyll. His second wife was Lady Mary Graham, only daughter of William, third Earl of Menteith, by whom he had Colin, sixth earl, and two daughters.

Archibald, fifth Earl of Argyll, was educated under the direction of Mr John Douglas, his father’s domestic chaplain, and the first Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews, and distinguished himself as one of the most able among the Lords of the Congregation. In the transactions of their times the earl and his successors took prominent parts; but as these are matters of public history, and as so much the history of the Highlands, in which the Argylls took a prominent part, has been already given in the former part of this work, we shall confine our attention here to what belongs to the history of the family and clan.

The earl had married Jean, natural daughter of King James the Fifth by Elizabeth daughter of John, Lord Carmichael, but he does not seem to have lived on very happy terms with her, as we find that John Knox, at the request of Queen Mary, endeavoured, on more occasions than one, to reconcile them after some domestic quarrels.[179] Her majesty passed the summer of 1563 at the earl’s house in Argyleshire, in the amusement of deer-hunting.

Argyll died on the 12th of September 1575, aged about 43. His countess, Queen Mary’s half-sister, having died without issue, was buried in the royal vault in the abbey of Holyrood-house; and he married, a second time, Lady Johanna or Joneta Cunningham, second daughter of Alexander, fifth Earl of Glencairn, but as she also had no children, he was succeeded in his estates and title by his brother.

On the 28th of January 1581, with the king and many of the nobility, the sixth earl subscribed a second Confession of Faith. He died in October 1584, after a long illness. He married, first, Janet, eldest daughter of Henry, first Lord Methven, without issue; secondly, Lady Agnes Keith, eldest daughter of William, fourth Earl Marischal, widow of the Regent Moray, by whom he had two sons, Archibald, seventh Earl of Argyll, and the Hon. Sir Colin Campbell of Lundie, created a baronet in 1627.

In 1594, although then only eighteen, the seventh Earl of Argyll was appointed king’s lieutenant against the popish Earls of Huntly and Errol, who had raised a rebellion. In 1599, when measures were in progress for bringing the chiefs of the isles under subjection to the king, the Earl of Argyll and his kinsman, John Campbell of Calder, were accused of having secretly used their influence to prevent Sir James Macdonald of Dunyveg and his clan from being reconciled to the government. The frequent insurrections which occurred in the South Isles in the first fifteen years of the seventeenth century have also been imputed by Mr Gregory to Argyll and the Campbells, for their own purposes. The proceedings of these clans were so violent and illegal, that the king became highly incensed against the Clandonald, and finding, or supposing he had a right to dispose of their possessions both in Kintyre and Isla, he made a grant of them to the Earl of Argyll and the Campbells. This gave rise to a number of bloody conflicts between the Campbells and the Clandonald, in the years 1614, 1615, and 1616, which ended in the ruin of the latter, and for the details of which, and the intrigues and proceedings of the Earl of Argyll to possess himself of the lands of that clan, reference may be made to the part of the General History pertaining to this period.

In 1603, the Macgregors, who were already under the ban of the law, made an irruption into the Lennox, and after defeating the Colquhouns and their adherents at Glenfruin, with great slaughter, plundered and ravaged the whole district, and threatened to burn the town of Dumbarton. For some years previously, the charge of keeping this powerful and warlike tribe in order had been committed to the Earl of Argyll, as the king’s lieutenant in the “bounds of the clan Gregor,” and he was answerable for all their excesses. Instead of keeping them under due restraint, Argyll has been accused by various writers of having from the very first made use of his influence to stir them up to acts of violence and aggression against his own personal enemies, of whom the chief of the Colquhouns was one; and it is further said that he had all along meditated the destruction of both the Macgregors and the Colquhouns, by his crafty and perfidious policy. The only evidence on which these heavy charges rest is the dying declaration of Alister Macgregor of Glenstrae, the chief of the clan, to the effect that he was deceived by the Earl of Argyll’s “falsete and inventiouns,” and that he had been often incited by that nobleman to “weir and truble the laird of Luss,” and others; but these charges ought to be received with some hesitation by the impartial historian. However this may be, the execution of the severe statutes which were passed against the Macgregors after the conflict at Glenfruin, was intrusted to the Earls of Argyll and Athole, and their chief, with some of his principal followers, was enticed by Argyll to surrender to him, on condition that they would be allowed to leave the country. Argyll received them kindly, and assured them that though he was commanded by the king to apprehend them, he had little doubt he would be able to procure a pardon, and, in the meantime, he would send them to England under an escort, which would convey them off Scottish ground. It was Macgregor’s intention, if taken to London, to procure if possible an interview with the king; but Argyll prevented this; yet, that he might fulfil his promise, he sent them under a strong guard beyond the Tweed at Berwick, and instantly compelled them to retrace their steps to Edinburgh, where they were executed 18th January 1604. How far there may have been deceit used in this matter,--whether, according to Birrel, Argyll “keipit are Hielandman’s promise; in respect he sent the gaird to convey him out of Scottis grund, but thai were not directit to pairt with him, but to fetch him bak agane;” or whether their return was by orders from the king, cannot at the present time be ascertained.

In 1617, after the suppression by him of the Clandonald, Argyll obtained from the king a grant of the whole of Kintyre. For some years Argyll had been secretly a Catholic. His first countess, to whom Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, inscribed his “Aurora” in 1604, having died, he had, in November 1610, married a second time, Anne, daughter of Sir William Cornwall of Brome, ancestor of the Marquis Cornwallis. This lady was a Catholic, and although the earl was a warm and zealous Protestant when he married her, she gradually drew him over to profess the same faith with herself. After the year 1615, as Gregory remarks, his personal history presents a striking instance of the mutability of human affairs. In that year, being deep in debt, he went to England; but as he was the only chief that could keep the Macdonalds in order, the Privy Council wrote to the king urging him to send him home; and in his expedition against the clan Donald he was accompanied by his son, Lord Lorn. In 1618, on pretence of going to the Spa for the benefit of his health, he received from the king permission to go abroad; and the news soon arrived that the earl, instead of going to the Spa, had gone to Spain; that he had there made open defection from the Protestant religion, and that he had entered into very suspicious dealings with the banished rebels, Sir James Macdonald and Alister MacRanald of Keppoch, who had taken refuge in that country. On the 16th of February he was openly declared rebel and traitor, at the market cross of Edinburgh, and remained under this ban until the 22d of November 1621, when he was declared the king’s free liege. Nevertheless, he did not venture to return to Britain till 1638, and died in London soon after, aged 62. From the time of his leaving Scotland, he never exercised any influence over his great estates; the fee of which had, indeed, been previously conveyed by him to his eldest son, Archibald, Lord Lorn, afterwards eighth Earl of Argyll. By his first wife he had, besides this son, four daughters. By his second wife, the earl had a son and a daughter, viz., James, Earl of Irvine, and Lady Mary, married to James, second Lord Rollo.

Archibald, eighth Earl and first Marquis of Argyll, after his father, went to Spain, as has been above said, managed the affairs of his family and clan. So full an account of the conspicuous part played by the first Marquis of Argyll, in the affairs of his time, has been already given in this work, that further detail here is unnecessary. Suffice it to say, that in 1641 he was created Marquis, and was beheaded with the “Maiden,” at the cross of Edinburgh, May 27, 1661; and whatever may be thought of his life, his death was heroic and Christian. By his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas, second daughter of William, second Earl of Morton, he had three daughters and two sons. The eldest son Archibald, became ninth Earl of Argyll, the second was Lord Niel Campbell, of Ardmaddie.

On the death of the eighth earl, his estates and title were of course forfeited, but Charles II., in 1663, sensible of the great services of Lord Lorn, and of the injustice with which he had been treated, restored to him the estates and the title of Earl of Argyll. The trivial excuse for the imprisoning and condemning him to death, has been already referred to, and an account has been given of the means whereby he was enabled to make his escape, by the assistance of his step-daughter, Lady Sophia Lindsay. Having taken part in Monmouth’s rebellion, he was taken prisoner, and being carried to Edinburgh, was beheaded upon his former unjust sentence, June 30, 1685. Argyll was twice married; first to Lady Mary Stuart, eldest daughter of James, fifth Earl of Moray; and secondly, to Lady Anna Mackenzie, second daughter of Colin, first Earl of Seaforth, widow of Alexander, first Earl of Balcarres. By the latter, he had no issue; but by the former he had four sons and three daughters. He was succeeded by his son Archibald, tenth Earl and first Duke of Argyll, who was an active promoter of the Revolution, and accompanied the Prince of Orange to England. He was one of the commissioners deputed from the Scots Parliament, to offer the crown of Scotland to the Prince, and to tender him the coronation oath. For this and other services, the family estates, which had been forfeited, were restored to him. He was appointed to several important public offices, and in 1696, was made colonel of the Scots horse-guards, afterwards raising a regiment of his own clan, which greatly distinguished itself in Flanders.

On the 21st of June 1701, he was created, by letters patent, Duke of Argyll, Marquis of Lorn and Kintyre, Earl of Campbell and Cowal, Viscount of Lochow and Glenila, Baron Inverary, Mull, Morvern, and Tiree. He died 28th September, 1703. Though undoubtedly a man of ability, he was too dissipated to be a great statesman. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Lionel Tollmash, by whom he had two sons, the elder being the celebrated Duke of Argyll and Greenwich.

John, second Duke of Argyll, and also Duke of Greenwich, a steady patriot and celebrated general, the eldest son of the preceding, was born October 10, 1678. On the death of his father in 1703, he became Duke of Argyll, and was soon after sworn of the privy council, made captain of the Scots horse-guards, and appointed one of the extraordinary lords of session. He was soon after sent down as high commissioner to the Scots parliament, where, being of great service in promoting the projected Union, for which he became very unpopular in Scotland, he was, on his return to London, created a peer of England by the titles of Baron of Chatham, and Earl of Greenwich.

In 1706 his Grace made a campaign in Flanders, under the Duke of Marlborough, and rendered important services at various sieges and battles on the continent, and on December 20, 1710, he was installed a knight of the Garter. On the accession of George I., he was made groom of the stole, and was one of the nineteen members of the regency, nominated by his majesty. On the king’s arrival in England, he was appointed general and commander-in-chief of the king’s forces in Scotland.

At the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1715, his Grace, as commander-in-chief in Scotland, defeated the Earl of Mar’s army at Sheriffmuir, and forced the Pretender to retire from the kingdom. In March 1716, after putting the army into winter quarters, he returned to London, but was in a few months, to the surprise of all, divested of all his employments. In the beginning of 1718 he was again restored to favour, created Duke of Greenwich, and made lord steward of the household. In 1737, when the affair of Captain Porteous came before parliament, his Grace exerted himself vigorously and eloquently in behalf of the city of Edinburgh. A bill having been brought in for punishing the Lord Provost of that city, for abolishing the city guard, and for depriving the corporation of several ancient privileges; and the Queen Regent having threatened, on that occasion, to convert Scotland into a hunting park, Argyll replied, that it was then time to go down and gather his beagles.

In April 1740, he delivered a speech with such warmth against the administration, that he was again deprived of all his offices. To these, however, on the resignation of Sir Robert Walpole, he was soon restored, but not approving of the measures of the new ministry, he gave up all his posts, and never afterwards engaged in affairs of state. This amiable and most accomplished nobleman has been immortalised by Pope in the lines,

“Argyle, the state’s whole thunder born to wield, And shake alike the senate and the field.”

He was twice married. By his first wife, Mary, daughter of John Brown, Esq. (and niece of Sir Charles Duncombe, Lord Mayor of London in 1708), he had no issue. By his second wife, Jane, daughter of Thomas Warburton of Winnington, in Cheshire, one of the maids of honour to Queen Anne, he had five daughters. As the duke died without male issue, his English titles of Duke and Earl of Greenwich, and Baron of Chatham, became extinct, while his Scotch titles and patrimonial estate devolved on his brother. He died October 4, 1743; and a beautiful marble monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, the brother of the preceding, was born at Ham, Surrey, in June 1682, and educated at the university of Glasgow. In 1705 he was constituted lord high treasurer of Scotland; in 1706 one of the commissioners for treating of the Union between Scotland and England; and 19th October of the same year, for his services in that matter, was created Viscount and Earl of Isla. In 1708 he was made an extraordinary lord of session, and after the Union, was chosen one of the sixteen representative peers of Scotland. In 1710 he was appointed justice-general of Scotland, and the following year was called to the privy council. When the rebellion broke out in 1715, he took up arms for the defence of the house of Hanover. By his prudent conduct in the West Highlands, he prevented General Gordon, at the head of three thousand men, from penetrating into the country and raising levies. He afterwards joined his brother, the duke, at Stirling, and was wounded at the battle of Sheriffmuir. In 1725 he was appointed keeper of the privy seal, and in 1734 of the great seal, which office he enjoyed till his death. He excelled in conversation, and besides building a very magnificent seat at Inverary, he collected one of the most valuable private libraries in Great Britain. He died suddenly, while sitting in his chair at dinner, April 15, 1761. He married the daughter of Mr Whitfield, paymaster of marines, but had no issue by her grace.

The third Duke of Argyll was succeeded by his cousin, John, fourth duke, son of the Hon. John Campbell of Mamore, second son of Archibald, the ninth Earl of Argyll (who was beheaded in 1685), by Elizabeth, daughter of John, eighth Lord Elphinstone. The fourth duke was born about 1693. Before he succeeded to the honours of his family, he was an officer in the army, and saw some service in France and Holland. When the rebellion of 1745 broke out, he was appointed to the command of all the troops and garrisons in the west of Scotland, and arrived at Inverary, 21st December of that year, and, with his eldest son joined the Duke of Cumberland at Perth, on the 9th of the following February. He died 9th November 1770, in the 77th year of his age. He married in 1720 the Hon. Mary Bellenden, third daughter of the second Lord Bellenden, and had four sons and a daughter.

John, fifth Duke of Argyll, born in 1723, eldest son of the fourth duke, was also in the army, and attained the rank of general in March 1778, and of field-marshal in 1796. He was created a British peer, in the lifetime of his father, as Baron Sundridge of Coomb-bank in Kent, 19th December 1766, with remainder to his heirs male, and failing them to his brothers, Frederick and William, and their heirs male successively. He was chosen the first president of the Highland Society of Scotland, to which society, in 1806, he made a munificent gift of one thousand pounds, as the beginning of a fund for educating young men of the West Highlands for the navy. He died 24th May 1806, in the 83d year of his age. He married in 1759, Elizabeth, widow of James, sixth Duke of Hamilton, the second of the three beautiful Miss Gunnings, daughters of John Gunning, Esq. of Castle Coote, county Boscommon, Ireland. By this lady the duke had three sons and two daughters.

George William, sixth Duke of Argyll, was born 22d September 1768. He married, 29th November 1810, Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of the fourth Earl of Jersey, but had no issue. His Grace died 22d October 1839.

His brother, John Douglas Edward Henry (Lord John Campbell of Ardincaple, M.P.) succeeded as seventh duke. He was born 21st December 1777, and was thrice married; first, in August 1802, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of William Campbell, Esq. of Fairfield, who died in 1818; secondly, 17th April, 1820, to Joan, daughter and heiress of John Glassel, Esq. of Long Niddry; and thirdly, in January 1831, to Anne Colquhoun, eldest daughter of John Cunningham, Esq. of Craigends. By his second wife he had two sons and a daughter, namely, John Henry, born in January 1821, died in May 1837; George Douglas, who succeeded as eighth duke; and Lady Emma Augusta, born in 1825. His Grace died 26th April 1847.

George John Douglas, the eighth duke, born in 1823, married in 1844, Lady Elizabeth Georgina (born in 1824), eldest daughter of the second Duke of Sutherland; issue, John Douglas Sutherland, Marquis of Lorn (M.P. for Argyleshire), born in 1845, and other children. His Grace has distinguished himself not only in politics, but in science; to geology, in particular, he has devoted much attention, and his writings prove him to be possessed of considerable literary ability. He is author of “An Essay on the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland since the Reformation,” “The Reign of Law,” &c. He was made Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, 1851; Lord Privy Seal, 1853; Postmaster-general, 1855-8; Knight of the Thistle, 1856; again Lord Privy Seal, 1859; Secretary of State for India, 1868. The Duke of Argyll is hereditary master of the queen’s household in Scotland, keeper of the castles of Dunoon, Dunstaffnage, and Carrick, and heritable sheriff of Argyleshire.

It has been foretold, says tradition, that all the glories of the Campbell line are to be renewed in the first chief who, in the hue of his locks, approaches to Ian Roy Cean (John Red Head, viz., the second duke). This prophecy some may be inclined to think, has been royally fulfilled in the recent marriage of the present duke’s heir, the Marquis of Lorn, with the Princess Louise, daughter of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. This event took place on the 21st March 1871, amid the enthusiastic rejoicings of all Scotchmen, and especially Highlandmen, and with the approval of all the sensible portion of Her Majesty’s subjects. Her Majesty conferred the honour of knighthood on the Marquis of Lorn, after the ceremony of the marriage, and invested him with the insignia of the Order of the Thistle.

There are a considerable number of important offshoots from the clan Campbell, the origin of some of which has been noticed above; it is necessary, however, to give a more particular account of the most powerful branch of this extensive clan, viz., the BREADALBANE CAMPBELLS.

BREADALBANE CAMPBELL.

As we have already indicated, the ancestor of the Breadalbane family, and the first of the house of Glenurchy, was Sir Colin Campbell, the third son of Duncan, first Lord Campbell of Lochow.

In an old manuscript, preserved in Taymouth Castle, named “the Black Book of Taymouth” (printed by the Bannatyne Club, 1853), containing a genealogical account of the Glenurchy family, it is stated that “Duncan Campbell, commonly callit Duncan in Aa, knight of Lochow (lineallie descendit of a valiant man, surnamit Campbell, quha cam to Scotland in King Malcolm Kandmoir, his time, about the year of God 1067, of quhom came the house of Lochow), flourisched in King David Bruce his dayes. The foresaid Duncan in Aa had to wyffe Margarit Stewart, dochter to Duke Murdoch [a mistake evidently for Robert], on whom he begat twa sones, the elder callit Archibald, the other namit Colin, wha was first laird of Glenurchay.” That estate was settled on him by his father. It had come into the Campbell family, in the reign of King David the Second, by the marriage of Margaret Glenurchy with John Campbell; and was at one time the property of the warlike clan MacGregor, who were gradually expelled from the territory by the rival clan Campbell.

In 1440 he built the castle of Kilchurn, on a projecting rocky elevation at the east end of Lochawe, under the shadow of the majestic Ben Cruachan, where--now a picturesque ruin,--

“grey and stern Stands, like a spirit of the past, lone old Kilchurn.”

According to tradition, Kilchurn (properly Coalchuirn) Castle was first erected by his lady, and not by himself, he being absent on a crusade at the time, and for seven years the principal portion of the rents of his lands are said to have been expended on its erection. Sir Colin died before June 10, 1478; as on that day the Lords’ auditors gave a decreet in a civil suit against “Duncain Cambell, son and air of umquhile Sir Colin Cambell of Glenurquha, knight.” He was interred in Argyleshire, and not, as Douglas says, at Finlarig at the north-west end of Lochtay, which afterwards became the burial-place of the family. His first wife had no issue. His second wife was Lady Margaret Stewart, the second of the three daughters and co-heiresses of John Lord Lorn, with whom he got a third of that lordship, still possessed by the family, and thenceforward quartered the galley of Lorn with his paternal achievement. His third wife was Margaret, daughter of Robert Robertson of Strowan, by whom he had a son and a daughter. Sir Colin’s fourth wife was Margaret, daughter of Luke Stirling of Keir, by whom he had a son, John, ancestor of the Earls of Loudon, and a daughter, Mariot, married to William Stewart of Baldoran.

Sir Duncan Campbell, the eldest son, obtained the office of bailiary of the king’s lands of Discher, Foyer, and Glenlyon, 3d September 1498, for which office, being a hereditary one, his descendant, the second Earl of Breadalbane, received, on the abolition of the heritable jurisdiction in Scotland, in 1747, the sum of one thousand pounds, in full of his claim for six thousand. Sir Duncan also got charters of the king’s lands of the port of Lochtay, &c. 5th March 1492; also of the lands of Glenlyon, 7th September 1502; of Finlarig, 22d April 1503; and of other lands in Perthshire in May 1508 and September 1511. He fell at the battle of Flodden. He was twice married. He was succeeded by Sir Colin, the eldest son, who married Lady Marjory Stewart, sixth daughter of John, Earl of Athole, brother uterine of King James the Second, and had three sons, viz., Sir Duncan, Sir John, and Sir Colin, who all succeeded to the estate. The last of them, Sir Colin, became laird of Glenurchy in 1550, and, according to the “Black Book of Taymouth,” he “conquessit” (that is, acquired) “the superiority of M’Nabb, his haill landis.” He was among the first to join the Reformation, and sat in the parliament of 1560, when the Protestant doctrines received the sanction of the law. In the “Black Book of Taymouth,” he is represented to have been “ane great justiciar all his tyme, throch the quhilk he sustenit the deidly feid of the Clangregor ane lang space; and besides that, he causit execute to the death many notable lymarris, he behiddit the laird of Macgregor himself at Kandmoir, in presence of the Erle of Athol, the justice-clerk, and sundrie other nobilmen.” In 1580 he built the castle of Balloch in Perthshire, one wing of which still continues attached to Taymouth Castle, the splendid mansion of the Earl of Breadalbane. He also built Edinample, another seat of the family. Sir Colin died in 1583. By his wife Catherine, second daughter of William, second Lord Ruthven, he had four sons and four daughters.

Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy, his eldest son and successor, was, on the death of Colin, sixth Earl of Argyll, in 1584, nominated by that nobleman’s will one of the six guardians of the young earl, then a minor. The disputes which arose among the guardians have been already referred to, as well as the assassination of the Earl of Moray and Campbell of Calder, and the plot to assassinate the young Earl of Argyll. Gregory expressly charges Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy with being the principal mover in the branch of the plot which led to the murder of Calder.

In 1617 Sir Duncan had the office of heritable keeper of the forest of Mamlorn, Bendaskerlie, &c., conferred upon him. He afterwards obtained from King Charles the First the sheriffship of Perthshire for life. He was created a baronet of Nova Scotia by patent, bearing date 30th May 1625. Although represented as an ambitious and grasping character, he is said to have been the first who attempted to civilise the people on his extensive estates. He not only set them the example of planting timber trees, fencing pieces of ground for gardens, and manuring their lands, but assisted and encouraged them in their labours. One of his regulations of police for the estate was “that no man shall in any public-house drink more than a chopin of ale with his neighbour’s wife, in the absence of her husband, upon the penalty of ten pounds, and sitting twenty-four hours in the stocks, toties quoties.” He died in June 1631. He was twice married; by his first wife, Lady Jean Stewart, second daughter of John, Earl of Athole, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, by whom he had seven sons and three daughters. Archibald Campbell of Monzie, the fifth son, was ancestor of the Campbells of Monzie, Lochlane, and Finnab, in Perthshire.

Sir Colin Campbell, the eldest son of Sir Duncan, born about 1577, succeeded as eighth laird of Glenurchy. Little is known of this Sir Colin save what is highly to his honour, namely, his patronage of George Jamesone, the celebrated portrait painter. Sir Colin married Lady Juliana Campbell, eldest daughter of Hugh, first Lord Loudon, but had no issue. He was succeeded by his brother, Sir Robert, at first styled of Glenfalloch, and afterwards of Glenurchy. Sir Robert married Isabel, daughter of Sir Lauchlan Mackintosh, of Torcastle, captain of the clan Chattan, and had eight sons and nine daughters. William, the sixth son, was ancestor of the Campbells of Glenfalloch, the representatives of whom have succeeded to the Scottish titles of Earl of Breadalbane, &c. Margaret, the eldest daughter, married to John Cameron of Lochiel, was the mother of Sir Ewen Cameron.

The eldest son, Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy, who succeeded, was twice married. His first wife was Lady Mary Graham, eldest daughter of William, Earl of Strathearn, Menteith, and Airth.

Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy, first Earl of Breadalbane, only son of this Sir John, was born about 1635. He gave great assistance to the forces collected in the Highlands for Charles the Second in 1653, under the command of General Middleton. He subsequently used his utmost endeavours with General Monk to declare for a free parliament, as the most effectual way to bring about his Majesty’s restoration. Being a principal creditor of George, sixth Earl of Caithness, whose debts are said to have exceeded a million of marks, that nobleman, on 8th October 1672, made a disposition of his whole estates, heritable jurisdictions, and titles of honour, after his death, in favour of Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy, the latter taking on himself the burden of his lordship’s debts; and he was in consequence duly infefted in the lands and earldom of Caithness, 27th February 1673. The Earl of Caithness died in May 1676, when Sir John Campbell obtained a patent, creating him Earl of Caithness, dated at Whitehall, 28th June 1677. But George Sinclair of Keiss, the heir-male of the last earl, being found by parliament entitled to that dignity, Sir John Campbell obtained another patent, 13th August 1681, creating him instead Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Viscount of Tay and Paintland, Lord Glenurchy, Benederaloch, Ormelie, and Weik, with the precedency of the former patent, and remainder to whichever of his sons by his first wife he might designate in writing, and ultimately to his heirs-male whatsoever. On the accession of James II., the Earl was sworn a privy councillor. At the Revolution, he adhered to the Prince of Orange; and after the battle of Killiecrankie, and the attempted reduction of the Highlands by the forces of the new government, he was empowered to enter into a negotiation with the Jacobite chiefs to induce them to submit to King William, full details of which, as well as of his share in the massacre of Glencoe, have been given in the former part of the work.

When the treaty of Union was under discussion, his Lordship kept aloof, and did not even attend parliament. At the general election of 1713, he was chosen one of the sixteen Scots representative peers, being then seventy-eight years old. At the breaking out of the rebellion of 1715, he sent five hundred of his clan to join the standard of the Pretender; and he was one of the suspected persons, with his second son, Lord Glenurchy, summoned to appear at Edinburgh within a certain specified period, to give bail for their allegiance to the government, but no further notice was taken of his conduct. The Earl died in 1716, in his 81st year. He married first, 17th December 1657, Lady Mary Rich, third daughter of Henry, first Earl of Holland, who had been executed for his loyalty to Charles the First, 9th March 1649. By this lady he had two sons--Duncan, styled Lord Ormelie, who survived his father, but was passed over in the succession, and John, in his father’s lifetime styled Lord Glenurchy, who became second Earl of Breadalbane. He married, secondly, 7th April 1678, Lady Mary Campbell, third daughter of Archibald, Marquis of Argyll, dowager of George, sixth Earl of Caithness.

John Campbell, Lord Glenurchy, the second son, born 19th November 1662, was by his father nominated to succeed him as second Earl of Breadalbane, in terms of the patent conferring the title. He died at Holyrood-house, 23d February 1752, in his ninetieth year. He married, first, Lady Frances Cavendish, second of the five daughters of Henry, second Duke of Newcastle. She died, without issue, 4th February 1690, in her thirtieth year. He married, secondly, 23d May 1695, Henrietta, second daughter of Sir Edward Villiers, knight, sister of the first Earl of Jersey, and of Elizabeth, Countess of Orkney, the witty but plain-looking mistress of King William III. By his second wife he had a son, John, third earl, and two daughters.

John, third earl, born in 1696, was educated at the university of Oxford, and after holding many highly important public offices, died at Holyrood-house, 26th January 1782, in his 86th year. He was twice married, and had three sons, who all predeceased him.

The male line of the first peer having thus become extinct, the clause in the patent in favour of heirs-general transferred the peerage, and the vast estates belonging to it, to his kinsman, John Campbell, born in 1762, eldest son of Colin Campbell of Carwhin, descended from Colin Campbell of Mochaster (who died in 1678), third son of Sir Robert Campbell of Glenurchy. The mother of the fourth Earl and first Marquis of Breadalbane was Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald Campbell of Stonefield, sheriff of Argyleshire, and sister of John Campbell, judicially styled Lord Stonefield, a lord of session and justiciary. In 1784 he was elected one of the sixteen representative peers of Scotland, and was rechosen at all the subsequent elections, until he was created a peer of the United Kingdom in November 1806, by the title of Baron Breadalbane of Taymouth, in the county of Perth, to himself and the heirs-male of his body. In 1831, at the coronation of William the Fourth, he was created a marquis of the United Kingdom, under the title of Marquis of Breadalbane and Earl of Ormelie. In public affairs he did not take a prominent or ostentatious part, his attention being chiefly devoted to the improvement of his extensive estates, great portions of which, being unfitted for cultivation, he laid out in plantations. In the magnificent improvements at Taymouth, his lordship displayed much taste; and the park has been frequently described as one of the most extensive and beautiful in the kingdom. He married, 2d September 1793, Mary Turner, eldest daughter and coheiress of David Gavin, Esq. of Langton, in the county of Berwick, and by her had two daughters and one son. The elder daughter, Lady Elizabeth Maitland Campbell, married in 1831, Sir John Pringle of Stitchell, baronet, and the younger, Lady Uary Campbell, became in 1819 the wife of Richard, Marquis of Chandos, who in 1839 became Duke of Buckingham. The marquis died, after a short illness, at Taymouth Castle, on 29th March 1834, aged seventy-two.

The marquis’ only son, John Campbell, Earl of Ormelie, born at Dundee, 26th October 1796, succeeded, on the death of his father, to the titles and estates. He married, 23d November 1821, Eliza, eldest daughter of George Baillie, Esq. of Jerviswood, without issue. He died November 8th, 1862, when the marquisate, with its secondary titles, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, became extinct, and he was succeeded in the Scotch titles by a distant kinsman, John Alexander Gavin Campbell of Glenfalloch, Perthshire, born in 1824. The claim of the latter, however, was disputed by several candidates for the titles and rich estates. As we have already indicated, the title of Glenfalloch to the estates was descended from William, sixth son of Sir Robert Campbell, ninth laird and third baron of Glenurchy. He married, in 1850, Mary Theresa, daughter of J. Edwards, Esq., Dublin, and had issue two sons, Lord Glenurchy and the Honourable Ivan Campbell; and one daughter, Lady Eva. This the sixth earl died in London, March 20, 1871, and has been succeeded by his eldest son.

Of the MACARTHUR CAMPBELLS of STRACHUR, the old Statistical Account of the parish of Strachur says:--“This family is reckoned by some the most ancient of the name of Campbell. The late laird of Macfarlane, who with great genius and assiduity had studied the ancient history of the Highlands, was of this opinion. The patronymic name of this family was Macarthur (the son of Arthur), which Arthur, the antiquary above-mentioned maintains, was brother to Colin, the first of the Argyll family, and that the representatives of the two brothers continued for a long time to be known by the names of Macarthur and Maccaellein, before they took the surname of Campbell. Another account makes Arthur the first laird of Strachur, to have descended of the family of Argyll, at a later period, in which the present laird seems to acquiesce, by taking, with a mark of cadetcy, the arms and livery of the family of Argyll, after they had been quartered with those of Lorn. The laird of Strachur has been always accounted, according to the custom of the Highlands, chief of the clan Arthur or Macarthurs.” We have already quoted Mr Skene’s opinion as to the claims of the Macarthurs to the chiefship of the clan Campbell; we cannot think these claims have been sufficiently made out.

Macarthur adhered to the cause of Robert the Bruce, and received, as his reward, a considerable portion of the forfeited territory of MacDougall of Lorn, Bruce’s great enemy. He obtained also the keeping of the castle of Dunstaffnage. After the marriage of Sir Neil Campbell with the king’s sister, the power and possessions of the Campbell branch rapidly increased, and in the reign of David II. they appear to have first put forward their claims to the chieftainship, but were successfully resisted by Macarthur, who obtained a charter “Arthuro Campbell quod nulli subjicitur pro terris nisi regi.”

In the reign of James I., the chief’s name was John Macarthur, and so great was his following, that he could bring 1,000 men into the field. In 1427 that king, in a progress through the north, held a parliament at Inverness, to which he summoned all the Highland chiefs, and among others who then felt his vengeance, was John Macarthur, who was beheaded, and his whole lands forfeited. From that period the chieftainship, according to Skene, was lost to the Macarthurs; the family subsequently obtained Strachur in Cowal, and portions of Glenfalloch and Glendochart in Perthshire. Many of the name of Macarthur are still found about Dunstaffnage, but they have long been merely tenants to the Campbells. The Macarthurs were hereditary pipers to the MacDonalds of the Isles, and the last of the race was piper to the Highland Society.

In the history of the main clan, we have noted the origin of most of the offshoots. It may, however, not be out of place to refer to them again explicitly.

The CAMPBELLS of CAWDOR or CALDER, now represented by the Earl of Cawdor, had their origin in the marriage in 1510, of Muriella heiress of the old Thanes of Cawdor, with Sir John Campbell, third son of the second Earl of Argyll. In the general account of the clan, we have already detailed the circumstances connected with the bringing about of this marriage.

The first of the CAMPBELLS of ABERUCHILL, in Perthshire, was Colin Campbell, second son of Sir John Campbell of Lawers, and uncle of the first Earl of Loudon. He got from the Crown a charter of the lands of Aberuchill, in 1596. His son, Sir James Campbell, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in the 17th century.

The CAMPBELLS of ARDNAMURCHAN are descended from Sir Donald Campbell, natural son of Sir John Campbell of Calder, who, as already narrated, was assassinated in 1592. For services performed against the Macdonalds, he was in 1625 made heritable proprietor of the district of Ardnamurchan and Sunart, and was created a baronet in 1628.

The AUCHINBRECK family is descended from Sir Dugald Campbell of Auchinbreck, who was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1628.

The CAMPBELLS of ARDKINGLASS were an old branch of the house of Argyll, Sir Colin Campbell, son and heir of James Campbell of Ardkinglass, descended from the Campbells of Lorn, by Mary, his wife, daughter of Sir Robert Campbell of Glenurchy, was made a baronet in 1679. The family ended in an heiress, who married into the Livingstone family; and on the death of Sir Alexander Livingstone Campbell of Ardkinglass, in 1810, the title and estate descended to Colonel James Callander, afterwards Sir James Campbell, his cousin, son of Sir John Callander of Craigforth, Stirlingshire. At his death in 1832, without legitimate issue, the title became extinct.

The family of BARCALDINE and GLENURE, in Argyleshire, whose baronetcy was conferred in 1831, is descended from a younger son of Sir Duncan Campbell, ancestor of the Marquis of Breadalbane.

The CAMPBELLS of DUNSTAFFNAGE descend from Colin, first Earl of Argyll. The first baronet was Sir Donald, so created in 1836.

The ancient family of CAMPBELL of MONZIE, in Perthshire, descend, as above mentioned, from a third son of the family of Glenurchy.

We have already devoted so much space to the account of this important clan, that it is impossible to enter more minutely into the history of its various branches, and of the many eminent men whom it has produced. In the words of Smibert, “pages on pages might be expended on the minor branches of the Campbell house, and the list still be defective.” The gentry of the Campbell name are decidedly the most numerous, on the whole, in Scotland, if the clan be not indeed the largest. But, as has been before observed, the great power of the chiefs called into their ranks, nominally, many other families besides the real Campbells. The lords of that line, in short, obtained so much of permanent power in the district of the Dhu-Galls, or Irish Celts, as to bring these largely under their sway, giving to them at the same time that general clan-designation, respecting the origin of which enough has already been said.

The force of the clan was, in 1427, 1000; in 1715, 4000; and in 1745, 5000.

Although each branch of the Campbells has its own peculiar arms, still there runs through all a family likeness, the difference generally being very small. All the families of the Campbell name bear the oared galley in their arms, showing the connection by origin or intermarriage with the Western Gaels, the Island Kings. Breadalbane quarters with the Stewart of Lorn, having for supporters two stags, with the motto Follow Me.

MACLEOD.

The clan LEOD or MACLEOD is one of the most considerable clans of the Western Isles, and is divided into two branches independent of each other, the Macleods of Harris and the Macleods of Lewis.

To the progenitors of this clan, a Norwegian origin has commonly been assigned. They are also supposed to be of the same stock as the Campbells, according to a family history referred to by Mr Skene, which dates no farther back than the early part of the 16th century.

The genealogy claimed for them asserts that the ancestor of the chiefs of the clan, and he who gave it its clan name, was Loyd or Leod, eldest son of King Olave the Black, brother of Magnus, the last king of Man and the Isles. This Leod is said to have had two sons: Tormod, progenitor of the Macleods of Harris, hence called the Siol Tormod, or race of Tormod; and Torquil, of those of Lewis, called the Siol Torquil, or race of Torquil. Although, however, Mr Skene and others are of opinion that there is no authority whatever for such a descent, and “The Chronicle of Man” gives no countenance to it, we think the probabilities are in its favour, from the manifestly Norwegian names borne by the founders of the clan, namely, Tormod or Gorman and Torquil, and from their position in the Isles, from the very commencement of their known history. The clan itself, there can be no doubt, are mainly the descendants of the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the western isles.

Tormod’s grandson, Malcolm, got a charter from David II., of two-thirds of Glenelg, on the mainland, a portion of the forfeited lands of the Bissets, in consideration for which he was to provide a galley of 36 oars, for the king’s use whenever required. This is the earliest charter in possession of the Macleods. The same Malcolm obtained the lands in Skye which were long in possession of his descendants, by marriage with a daughter of MacArailt, said to have been one of the Norwegian nobles of the Isles. From the name, however, we would be inclined to take this MacArailt for a Celt. The sennachies sometimes made sad slips.

MACLEOD of HARRIS, originally designated “de Glenelg,” that being the first and principal possession of the family, seems to have been the proper chief of the clan Leod. The island, or rather peninsula of Harris, which is adjacent to Lewis, belonged, at an early period, to the Macruaries of Garmoran and the North Isles, under whom the chief of the Siol Tormod appears to have possessed it. From this family, the superiority of the North Isles passed to the Macdonalds of Isla by marriage, and thus Harris came to form a part of the lordship of the Isles. In the isle of Skye the Siol Tormod possessed the districts of Dunvegan, Duirinish, Bracadale, Lyndale, Trotternish, and Minganish, being about two-thirds of the whole island. Their principal seat was Dunvegan, hence the chief was often styled of that place.

The first charter of the MACLEODS of LEWIS, or Siol Torquil, is also one by King David II. It contained a royal grant to Torquil Macleod of the barony of Assynt, on the north-western coast of Sutherlandshire. This barony, however, he is said to have obtained by marriage with the heiress, whose name was Macnicol. It was held from the crown. In that charter he has no designation, hence it is thought that he had then no other property. The Lewis Macleods held that island as vassals of the Macdonalds of Isla from 1344, and soon came to rival the Harris branch of the Macleods in power and extent of territory, and even to dispute the chiefship with them. Their armorial bearings, however, were different, the family of Harris having a castle, while that of Lewis had a burning mount. The possessions of the Siol Torquil were very extensive, comprehending the isles of Lewis and Rasay, the district of Waterness in Skye, and those of Assynt, Cogeach, and Gairloch, on the mainland.

To return to the Harris branch. The grandson of the above-mentioned Malcolm, William Macleod, surnamed Achlerach, or the clerk, from being in his youth designed for the church, was one of the most daring chiefs of his time. Having incurred the resentment of his superior, the Lord of the Isles, that powerful chief invaded his territory with a large force, but was defeated at a place called Lochsligachan. He was, however, one of the principal supporters of the last Lord of the Isles in his disputes with his turbulent and rebellious son, Angus, and was killed, in 1481, at the battle of the Bloody Bay, where also the eldest son of Roderick Macleod of the Lewis was mortally wounded. The son of William of Harris, Alexander Macleod, called Allaster Crottach, or the Humpbacked, was the head of the Siol Tormod at the time of the forfeiture of the lordship of the Isles in 1493, when Roderick, grandson of the above-named Roderick, was chief of the Siol Torquil. This Roderick’s father, Torquil, the second son of the first Roderick, was the principal supporter of Donald Dubh, when he escaped from prison and raised the banner of insurrection in 1501, for the purpose of regaining the lordship of the Isles, for which he was forfeited. He married Katherine, daughter of the first Earl of Argyll, the sister of Donald Dubh’s mother. The forfeited estate of Lewis was restored in 1511 to Malcolm, Torquil’s brother. Alexander the Humpback got a charter, under the great seal, of all his lands in the Isles, from James IV., dated 15th June, 1468, under the condition of keeping in readiness for the king’s use one ship of 26 oars and two of 16. He had also a charter from James V. of the lands of Glenelg, dated 13th February, 1539.

With the Macdonalds of Sleat, the Harris Macleods had a feud regarding the lands and office of bailiary of Trotternish, in the isle of Skye, held by them under several crown charters. The feud was embittered by Macleod having also obtained a heritable grant of the lands of Sleat and North Uist; and the Siol Torquil, who had also some claim to the Trotternish bailiary and a portion of the lands, siding with the Macdonalds, the two leading branches of the Macleods came to be in opposition to each other. Under Donald Gruamach (“grim-looking”) aided by the uterine brother of their chief, John Mactorquil Macleod, son of Torquil Macleod of the Lewis, forfeited in 1506, the Macdonalds succeeded in expelling Macleod of Harris or Dunvegan from Trotternish, as well as in preventing him from taking possession of Sleat and North Uist. The death of his uncle, Malcolm Macleod, and the minority of his son, enabled Torquil, with the assistance of Donald Gruamach, in his turn, to seize the whole barony of Lewis, which, with the leadership of the Siol Torquil, he held during his life. His daughter and heiress married Donald Gorme of Sleat, a claimant for the lordship of the Isles, and the son and successor of Donald Gruamach. An agreement was entered into between Donald Gorme and Ruari or Roderick Macleod, son of Malcolm, the last lawful possessor of the Lewis, whereby Roderick was allowed to enter into possession of that island, and in return Roderick became bound to assist in putting Donald Gorme in possession of Trotternish, against all the efforts of the chief of Harris or Dunvegan, who had again obtained possession of that district. In May 1539, accordingly, Trotternish was invaded and laid waste by Donald Gorme and his allies of the Siol Torquil; but the death soon after of Donald Gorme, by an arrow wound in his foot, under the walls of Mackenzie of Kintail’s castle of Ellandonan, put an end to his rebellion and his pretensions together. When the powerful fleet of James V. arrived at the isle of Lewis the following year, Roderick Macleod and his principal kinsmen met the king, and were made to accompany him in his farther progress through the Isles. On its reaching Skye, Alexander Macleod of Dunvegan was also constrained to embark in the royal fleet. With the other captive chiefs they were sent to Edinburgh, and only liberated on giving hostages for their obedience to the laws.

Alexander the Humpback, chief of the Harris Macleods, died at an advanced age in the reign of Queen Mary. He had three sons, William, Donald, and Tormod, who all succeeded to the estates and authority of their family. He had also two daughters, the elder of whom was thrice married, and every time to a Macdonald. Her first husband was James, second son of the fourth laird of Sleat. Her second was Allan MacIan, captain of the Clanranald; and her third husband was Macdonald of Keppoch. The younger daughter became the wife of Maclean of Lochbuy.

William Macleod of Harris had a daughter, Mary, who, on his death in 1554, became under a particular destination, his sole heiress in the estates of Harris, Dunvegan, and Glenelg. His claim to the properties of Sleat, Trotternish, and North Uist, of which he was the nominal proprietor, but which were held by the Clandonald, was inherited by his next brother and successor, Donald. This state of things placed the latter in a very anomalous position, which may be explained in Mr Gregory’s words:--“The Siol Tormod,” he says,[180] “was now placed in a position, which, though quite intelligible on the principles of feudal law, was totally opposed to the Celtic customs that still prevailed, to a great extent, throughout the Highlands and Isles. A female and a minor was the legal proprietrix of the ancient possessions of the tribe, which, by her marriage, might be conveyed to another and a hostile family; whilst her uncle, the natural leader of the clan according to ancient custom, was left without any means to keep up the dignity of a chief, or to support the clan against its enemies. His claims on the estates possessed by the Clandonald were worse than nugatory, as they threatened to involve him in a feud with that powerful and warlike tribe, in case he should take any steps to enforce them. In these circumstances, Donald Macleod seized, apparently with the consent of his clan, the estates which legally belonged to his niece, the heiress; and thus, in practice, the feudal law was made to yield to ancient and inveterate custom. Donald did not enjoy these estates long, being murdered in Trotternish, by a relation of his own, John Oig Macleod, who, failing Tormod, the only remaining brother of Donald, would have become the heir male of the family. John Oig next plotted the destruction of Tormod, who was at the time a student in the university of Glasgow; but in this he was foiled by the interposition of the Earl of Argyll. He continued, notwithstanding, to retain possession of the estates of the heiress, and of the command of the clan, till his death in 1559.” The heiress of Harris was one of Queen Mary’s maids of honour, and the Earl of Argyll, having ultimately become her guardian, she was given by him in marriage to his kinsman, Duncan Campbell, younger of Auchinbreck. Through the previous efforts of the earl, Tormod Macleod, on receiving a legal title to Harris and the other estates, renounced in favour of Argyll all his claims to the lands of the Clandonald, and paid 1000 merks towards the dowry of his niece. He also gave his bond of service to Argyll for himself and his clan. Mary Macleod, in consequence, made a complete surrender to her uncle of her title to the lands of Harris, Dunvegan, and Glenelg, and Argyll obtained for him a crown charter of these estates, dated 4th August, 1579. Tormod adhered firmly to the interest of Queen Mary, and died in 1584. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William, under whom the Harris Macleods assisted the Macleans in their feuds with the Macdonalds of Isla and Skye, while the Lewis Macleods supported the latter. On his death in 1590, his brother, Roderick, the Rory Mor of tradition, became chief of the Harris Macleods.

In December 1597, an act of the Estates had been passed, by which it was made imperative upon all the chieftains and landlords in the Highlands and Isles, to produce their title-deeds before the lords of Exchequer on the 15th of the following May, under the pain of forfeiture. The heads of the two branches of the Macleods disregarded the act, and a gift of their estates was granted to a number of Fife gentlemen, for the purposes of colonisation. They first began with the Lewis, in which the experiment failed, as narrated in the General History. Roderick Macleod, on his part, exerted himself to get the forfeiture of his lands of Harris, Dunvegan, and Glenelg, removed, and ultimately succeeded, having obtained a remission from the king, dated 4th May, 1610. He was knighted by King James VI., by whom he was much esteemed, and had several friendly letters from his majesty; also, a particular license, dated 16th June, 1616, to go to London, to the court, at any time he pleased. By his wife, a daughter of Macdonald of Glengarry, he had, with six daughters, five sons, viz., John, his heir; Sir Roderick, progenitor of the Macleods of Talisker; Sir Norman of the Macleods of Bernera and Muiravonside; William of the Macleods of Hamer; and Donald of those of Grisernish.

The history of the Siol Torquil, or Lewis Macleods, as it approached its close, was most disastrous. Roderick, the chief of this branch in 1569, got involved in a deadly feud with the Mackenzies, which ended only with the destruction of his whole family. He had married a daughter of John Mackenzie of Kintail, and a son whom she bore, and who was named Torquil Connanach, from his residence among his mother’s relations in Strathconnan, was disowned by him, on account of the alleged adultery of his mother with the breve or Celtic judge of the Lewis. She eloped with John MacGillechallum of Rasay, a cousin of Roderick, and was, in consequence, divorced. He took for his second wife, in 1541, Barbara Stewart, daughter of Andrew Lord Avondale, and by this lady had a son, likewise named Torquil, and surnamed Oighre, or the Heir, to distinguish him from the other Torquil. About 1566, the former, with 200 attendants, was drowned in a tempest, when sailing from Lewis to Skye, and Torquil Connanach immediately took up arms to vindicate what he conceived to be his rights. In his pretensions he was supported by the Mackenzies. Roderick was apprehended and detained four years a prisoner in the castle of Stornoway. The feud between the Macdonalds and Mackenzies was put an end to by the mediation of the Regent Moray. Before being released from his captivity, the old chief was brought before the Regent and his privy council, and compelled to resign his estate into the hands of the crown, taking a new destination of it to himself in liferent, and after his death to Torquil Connanach, as his son and heir apparent. On regaining his liberty, however, he revoked all that he had done when a prisoner, on the ground of coercion. This led to new commotions, and in 1576 both Roderick and Torquil were summoned to Edinburgh, and reconciled in presence of the privy council, when the latter was again acknowledged as heir apparent to the Lewis, and received as such the district of Cogeach and other lands. The old chief some time afterwards took for his third wife, a sister of Lauchlan Maclean of Dowart, and had by her two sons, named Torquil Dubh and Tormod. Having again disinherited Torquil Connanach, that young chief once more took up arms, and was supported by two illegitimate sons of Roderick, named Tormod Uigach and Murdoch, while three others, Donald, Rory Oig, and Neill, joined with their father. He apprehended the old chief, Roderick Macleod, and killed a number of his men. All the charters and title deeds of the Lewis were carried off by Torquil, and handed over to the Mackenzies. The charge of the castle of Stornoway, with the chief, a prisoner in it, was committed to John Macleod, the son of Torquil Connanach, but he was attacked by Rory Oig and killed, when Roderick Macleod was released, and possessed the island in peace during the remainder of his life.

On his death he was succeeded by his son Torquil Dubh, who married a sister of Sir Roderick Macleod of Harris. Torquil Dubh, as we have narrated in the former part of the work, was by stratagem apprehended by the breve of Lewis, and carried to the country of the Mackenzies, into the presence of Lord Kintail, who ordered Torquil Dubh and his companions to be beheaded. This took place in July 1597.

Torquil Dubh left three young sons, and their uncle Neill, a bastard brother of their father, took, in their behalf, the command of the isle of Lewis. Their cause was also supported by the Macleods of Harris and the Macleans. The dissensions in the Lewis, followed by the forfeiture of that island, in consequence of the non-production of the title-deeds, as required by the act of the Estates of 1597, already mentioned, afforded the king an opportunity of trying to carry into effect his abortive project of colonisation already referred to. The colonists were at last compelled to abandon their enterprise.

The title to the Lewis having been acquired by Kenneth Mackenzie, Lord Kintail, he lost no time in taking possession of the island, expelling Neill Macleod, with his nephews, Malcolm, William, and Roderick, sons of Rory Oig, who, with about thirty others, took refuge on Berrisay, an insulated rock on the west coast of Lewis. Here they maintained themselves for nearly three years, but were at length driven from it by the Mackenzies. Neill surrendered to Roderick Macleod of Harris, who, on being charged, under pain of treason, to deliver him to the privy council at Edinburgh, gave him up, with his son Donald. Neill was brought to trial, convicted, and executed, and is said to have died “very Christianlie” in April 1613. Donald, his son, was banished from Scotland, and died in Holland. Roderick and William, two of the sons of Rory Oig, were seized by the tutor of Kintail, and executed. Malcolm, the other son, apprehended at the same time, made his escape, and continued to harass the Mackenzies for years. He was prominently engaged in Sir James Macdonald’s rebellion in 1615, and afterwards went to Flanders, but in 1616 was once more in the Lewis, where he killed two gentlemen of the Mackenzies. He subsequently went to Spain, whence he returned with Sir James Macdonald in 1620. In 1622 and 1626, commissions of fire and sword were granted to Lord Kintail and his clan against “Malcolm MacRuari Macleod.” Nothing more is known of him.

On the extinction of the main line of the Lewis, the representation of the family devolved on the Macleods of Rasay, afterwards referred to. The title of Lord Macleod was the second title of the Mackenzies, Earls of Cromarty.

At the battle of Worcester in 1651, the Macleods fought on the side of Charles II., and so great was the slaughter amongst them that it was agreed by the other clans that they should not engage in any other conflict until they had recovered their losses. The Harris estates were sequestrated by Cromwell, but the chief of the Macleods was at last, in May 1665, admitted into the protection of the Commonwealth by General Monk, on his finding security for his peaceable behaviour under the penalty of £6,000 sterling, and paying a fine of £2,500. Both his uncles, however, were expressly excepted.

At the Revolution, MACLEOD of MACLEOD, which became the designation of the laird of Harris, as chief of the clan, was favourable to the cause of James II. In 1715 the effective force of the Macleods was 1,000 men, and in 1745, 900. The chief, by the advice of President Forbes, did not join in the rebellion of the latter year, and so saved his estates, but many of his clansmen, burning with zeal for the cause of Prince Charles, fought in the ranks of the rebel army.

It has been mentioned that the bad treatment which a daughter of the chief of the Macleods experienced from her husband, the captain of the Clanranald, had caused them to take the first opportunity of inflicting a signal vengeance on the Macdonalds. The merciless act of Macleod, by which the entire population of an island was cut off at once, is described by Mr Skene,[181] and is shortly thus. Towards the close of the 16th century, a small number of Macleods accidentally landed on the island of Eigg, and were hospitably received by the inhabitants. Offering, however, some incivilities to the young women of the island, they were, by the male relatives of the latter, bound hand and foot, thrown into a boat, and sent adrift. Being met and rescued by a party of their own clansmen, they were brought to Dunvegan, the residence of their chief, to whom they told their story. Instantly manning his galleys, Macleod hastened to Eigg. On descrying his approach, the islanders, with their wives and children, to the number of 200 persons, took refuge in a large cave, situated in a retired and secret place. Here for two days they remained undiscovered, but having unfortunately sent out a scout to see if the Macleods were gone, their retreat was detected, but they refused to surrender. A stream of water fell over the entrance to the cave, and partly concealed it. This Macleod caused to be turned from its course, and then ordered all the wood and other combustibles which could be found to be piled up around its mouth, and set fire to, when all within the cave were suffocated.

The Siol Tormod continued to possess Harris, Dunvegan, and Glenelg till near the close of the 18th century. The former and the latter estates have now passed into other hands. A considerable portion of Harris is the property of the Earl of Dunmore, and many of its inhabitants have emigrated to Cape Breton and Canada. The climate of the island is said to be favourable to longevity. Martin, in his account of the Western Isles, says he knew several in Harris of 90 years of age. One Lady Macleod, who passed the most of her time here, lived to 103, had then a comely head of hair and good teeth, and enjoyed a perfect understanding till the week she died. Her son, Sir Norman Macleod, died at 96, and his grandson, Donald Macleod of Bernera, at 91. Glenelg became the property first of Charles Grant, Lord Glenelg, and afterwards of Mr Baillie. From the family of Bernera, one of the principal branches of the Harris Macleods, sprung the Macleods of Luskinder, of which Sir William Macleod Bannatyne, a lord of session, was a cadet.

The first of the house of RASAY, the late proprietor of which is the representative of the Lewis branch of the Macleods, was Malcolm Garbh Macleod, the second son of Malcolm, eighth chief of the Lewis. In the reign of James V. he obtained from his father in patrimony the island of Rasay, which lies between Skye and the Ross-shire district of Applecross. In 1569 the whole of the Rasay family, except one infant, were barbarously massacred by one of their own kinsmen, under the following circumstances. John MacGhilliechallum Macleod of Rasay, called Ian na Tuaidh, or John with the axe, who had carried off Janet Mackenzie, the first wife of his chief, Roderick Macleod of the Lewis, married her, after her divorce, and had by her several sons and one daughter. The latter became the wife of Alexander Roy Mackenzie, a grandson of Hector or Eachen Roy, the first of the Mackenzies of Gairloch, a marriage which gave great offence to his clan, the Siol vic Gillechallum, as the latter had long been at feud with that particular branch of the Mackenzies. On Janet Mackenzie’s death, he of the axe married a sister of a kinsman of his own, Ruari Macallan Macleod, who, from his venomous disposition, was surnamed Nimhneach. The latter, to obtain Rasay for his nephew, his sister’s son, resolved to cut off both his brother-in-law and his sons by the first marriage. He accordingly invited them to a feast in the island of Isay in Skye, and after it was over he left the apartment. Then, causing them to be sent for one by one, he had each of them assassinated as they came out. He was, however, balked in his object, as Rasay became the property of Malcolm or Ghilliechallum Garbh Macallaster Macleod, then a child, belonging to the direct line of the Rasay branch, who was with his foster-father at the time.[182] Rasay no longer belongs to the Macleods, they having been compelled to part with their patrimony some years ago.

The Macleods of ASSYNT, one of whom betrayed the great Montrose in 1650, were also a branch of the Macleods of Lewis. That estate, towards the end of the 17th century, became the property of the Mackenzies, and the family is now represented by Macleod of Geanies. The Macleods of Cadboll are cadets of those of Assynt.

FOOTNOTES:

[172] Smibert’s Clans, pp. 77, 78.

[173] Highlanders, ii. 266.

[174] Early Kings, i. 75.

[175] In March 1870, the present Duke, in answer to inquiries, wrote to the papers stating that he spells his name Argyll, because it has been spelled so by his ancestors for generations past.

[176] This, through the mis-spelling, intentional or unintentional, of Sir Walter Scott, is often popularly corrupted into Maccallum More, which, of course, is wrong, as the great or big ancestor’s name was Colin, not Callum.

[177] In 1489, by an act of the Scottish parliament, the name of Castle Gloom, its former designation, was changed to Castle Campbell. It continued to be the frequent and favourite residence of the family till 1644, when it was burnt down by the Macleans in the army of the Marquis of Montrose. The castle and lordship of Castle Campbell remained in the possession of the Argyll family till 1808, when it was sold.

[178] Highlands and Isles of Scotland, p. 128.

[179] Calderwood, vol. ii. p. 215.

[180] History of the Highlands and Isles, p. 204.

[181] Highlanders, vol. ii. p. 277.

[182] Gregory’s Highlands and Isles of Scotland, p. 211.

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Chapter V

Clan Chattan--Chiefship--Mackintoshes--Battle of North Inch --Macphersons--MacGillivrays--Shaws--Farquharsons--Macbeans --Macphails--Gows--MacQueens--Cattanachs.

THE CLAN CHATTAN.[183]

Of the clan Chattan little or nothing authentic is known previous to the last six hundred years. Their original home in Scotland, their parentage, even their name, have been disputed. One party brings them from Germany, and settles them in the district of Moray; another brings them from Ireland, and settles them in Lochaber; and a third makes them the original inhabitants of Sutherland and Caithness. With regard to their name there is still greater variety of opinion: the Catti, a Teutonic tribe; Catav, “the high side of the Ord of Caithness;” Gillicattan Mor, their alleged founder, said to have lived in the reign of Malcolm II., 1003-1033; cat, a weapon,--all have been advanced as the root name. We cannot pretend to decide on such a matter, which, in the entire absence of any record of the original clan, will no doubt ever remain one open to dispute; and therefore we refrain from entering at length into the reasons for and against these various derivations. Except the simple fact that such a clan existed, and occupied Lochaber for some time (how long cannot be said) before the 14th century, nothing further of it is known, although two elaborate genealogies of it are extant--one in the MS. of 1450 discovered by Mr Skene; the other (which, whatever its faults, is no doubt much more worthy of credence) compiled by Sir Æneas Macpherson in the 17th century.

Mr Skene, on the authority of the MS. of 1450, makes out that the clan was the most important of the tribes owning the sway of the native Earls or Maormors of Moray, and represents it as occupying the whole of Badenoch, the greater part of Lochaber, and the districts of Strathnairn and Strathdearn, holding their lands in chief of the crown. But it seems tolerably evident that the MS. of 1450 is by no means to be relied upon; Mr Skene himself says it is not trustworthy before A.D. 1000, and there is no good ground for supposing it to be entirely trustworthy 100 or even 200 years later. The two principal septs of this clan in later times, the Macphersons and the Mackintoshes, Mr Skene, on the authority of the MS., deduces from two brothers, Neachtan and Neill, sons of Gillicattan Mor, and on the assumption that this is correct, he proceeds to pronounce judgment on the rival claims of Macpherson of Cluny and Mackintosh of Mackintosh to the headship of clan Chattan.

Mr Skene, from “the investigations which he has made into the history of the tribes of Moray, as well as into the history and nature of Highland traditions,” conceives it to be established by “historic authority,” that the Macphersons are the lineal and feudal representatives of the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan, and “that they possess that right by blood to the chiefship, of which no charters from the crown, and no usurpation, however successful and continued, can deprive them.” It is not very easy to understand, however, by what particular process of reasoning Mr Skene has arrived at this conclusion. For supposing it were established “beyond all doubt,” as he assumes it to be, by the manuscript of 1450, that the Macphersons and the Mackintoshes are descended from Neachtan and Neill, the two sons of Gillichattan-more, the founder of the race, it does not therefore follow that “the Mackintoshes were an usurping branch of the clan,” and that “the Macphersons alone possessed the right of blood to that hereditary dignity.” This is indeed taking for granted the very point to be proved, in fact the whole matter in dispute. Mr Skene affirms that the descent of the Macphersons from the ancient chiefs “is not denied,” which is in reality saying nothing to the purpose; because the question is, not whether this pretended descent has or has not been denied, but whether it can now be established by satisfactory evidence. To make out a case in favour of the Macphersons, it is necessary to show--first, that the descendants of Neachtan formed the eldest branch, and consequently were the chiefs of the clan; secondly, that the Macphersons are the lineal descendants and the feudal representatives of this same Neachtan, whom they claim as their ancestor; and, lastly, that the Mackintoshes are really descended from Neill, the second son of the founder of the race, and not from Macduff, Earl of Fife, as they themselves have always maintained. But we do not observe that any of these points has been formally proved by evidence, or that Mr Skene has deemed it necessary to fortify his assertions by arguments, and deductions from historical facts. His statement, indeed, amounts just to this--That the family of Macheth, the descendants of Head or Heth, the son of Neachtan, were “identical with the chiefs of clan Chattan;” and that the clan Vurich, or Macphersons, were descended from these chiefs. But, in the first place, the “identity” which is here contended for, and upon which the whole question hinges, is imagined rather than proved; it is a conjectural assumption rather than an inference deduced from a series of probabilities: and, secondly, the descent of the clan Vurich from the Macheths rests solely upon the authority of a Celtic genealogy (the manuscript of 1450) which, whatever weight may be given to it when supported by collateral evidence, is not alone sufficient authority to warrant anything beyond a mere conjectural inference. Hence, so far from granting to Mr Skene that the hereditary title of the Macphersons of Cluny to the chiefship of clan Chattan has been clearly established by him, we humbly conceive that he has left the question precisely where he found it. The title of that family may be the preferable one, but it yet remains to be shown that such is the case.

Tradition certainly makes the Macphersons of Cluny the male representatives of the chiefs of the old clan Chattan; but even if this is correct, it does not therefore follow that they have now, or have had for the last six hundred years, any right to be regarded as chiefs of the clan. The same authority, fortified by written evidence of a date only about fifty years later than Skene’s MS., in a MS. history of the Mackintoshes, states that Angus, 6th chief of Mackintosh, married the daughter and only child of Dugall Dall, chief of clan Chattan, in the end of the 13th century, and with her obtained the lands occupied by the clan, with the station of leader, and that he was received as such by the clansmen. Similar instances of the abrogation of what is called the Highland law of succession are to be found in Highland history, and on this ground alone the title of the Mackintosh chiefs seems to be a good one. Then again we find them owned and followed as captains of clan Chattan even by the Macphersons themselves up to the 17th century; while in hundreds of charters, bonds and deeds of every description, given by kings, Lords of the Isles, neighbouring chiefs, and the septs of clan Chattan itself, is the title of captain of clan Chattan acceded to them--as early as the time of David II. Mr Skene, indeed, employs their usage of the term Captain to show that they had no right of blood to the headship--a right they have never claimed, although there is perhaps no reason why they should not claim such a right from Eva. By an argument deduced from the case of the Camerons--the weakness of which will at once be seen on a careful examination of his statements--he presumes that they were the oldest cadets of the clan, and had usurped the chiefship. Ho doubt the designation captain was used, as Mr Skene says, when the actual leader of a clan was a person who had no right by blood to that position, but it does not by any means follow that he is right in assuming that those who are called captains were oldest cadets. Hector, bastard son of Ferquhard Mackintosh, while at the head of his clan during the minority of the actual chief, his distant cousin, is in several deeds styled captain of clan Chattan, and he was certainly not oldest cadet of the house of Mackintosh.

It is not for us to offer any decided opinion respecting a matter where the pride and pretensions of rival families are concerned. It may therefore be sufficient to observe that, whilst the Macphersons rest their claims chiefly on tradition, the Mackintoshes have produced, and triumphantly appealed to charters and documents of every description, in support of their pretensions; and that it is not very easy to see how so great a mass of written evidence can be overcome by merely calling into court Tradition to give testimony adverse to its credibility. The admitted fact of the Mackintosh family styling themselves captains of the clan does not seem to warrant any inference which can militate against their pretensions. On the contrary, the original assumption of this title obviously implies that no chief was in existence at the period when it was assumed; and its continuance, unchallenged and undisputed, affords strong presumptive proof in support of the account given by the Mackintoshes as to the original constitution of their title. The idea of usurpation appears to be altogether preposterous. The right alleged by the family of Mackintosh was not direct but collateral; it was founded on a marriage, and not derived by descent; and hence, probably, the origin of the secondary or subordinate title of captain which that family assumed. But can any one doubt that if a claim founded upon a preferable title had been asserted, the inferior pretension must have given way? Or is it in any degree probable that the latter would have been so fully recognised, if there had existed any lineal descendant of the ancient chiefs in a condition to prefer a claim founded upon the inherent and indefeasible right of blood?

Further, even allowing that the Macphersons are the lineal male representatives of the old clan Chattan chiefs, they can have no possible claim to the headship of the clan Chattan of later times, which was composed of others besides the descendants of the old clan. The Mackintoshes also repudiate any connection by blood with the old clan Chattan, except through the heiress of that clan who married their chief in 1291; and, indeed, such a thing was never thought of until Mr Skene started the idea; consequently the Macphersons can have no claim over them, or over the families which spring from them. The great body of the clan, the historical clan Chattan, have always owned and followed the chief of Mackintosh as their leader and captain--the term captain being simply employed to include the whole--and until the close of the 17th century no attempt was made to deprive the Mackintosh chiefs of this title.

Among many other titles given to the chief of the Mackintoshes within the last 700 years, are, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, those of Captain of Clan Chattan, Chief of Clan Chattan, and Principal of Clan Chattan. The following on this subject is from the pen of Lachlan Shaw, the historian of Moray, whose knowledge of the subject entitled him to speak with authority. It is printed in the account of the Kilravock Family issued by the Spalding Club. “Eve Catach, who married MacIntosh, was the heir-female (Clunie’s ancestor being the heir-male), and had MacIntosh assumed her surname, he would (say the MacPhersons) have been chief of the Clanchatan, according to the custom of Scotland. But this is an empty distinction. For, if the right of chiftanry is, jure sanguinis, inherent in the heir-female, she conveys it, and cannot but convey it to her son, whatever surname he takes; nam jura sanguinis non prœscribunt. And if it is not inherent in her, she cannot convey it to her son, although he assume her surname. Be this as it will, MacIntosh’s predecessors were, for above 300 years, designed Captains of Clanchatan, in royal charters and commissions, in bonds, contracts, history, heraldrie, &c.; the occasion of which title was, that several tribes or clans (every clan retaining its own surname) united in the general designation of Clanchatan; and of this incorporated body, MacIntosh was the head leader or captain. These united tribes were MacIntosh, MacPherson, Davidson, Shaw, MacBean, MacGilivray, MacQueen, Smith, MacIntyre, MacPhail, &c. In those times of barbarity and violence, small and weak tribes found it necessary to unite with, or come under the patronage of more numerous and powerful clans. And as long as the tribes of Clanchatan remained united (which was till the family of Gordon, breaking with the family of MacIntosh, disunited them, and broke their coalition), they were able to defend themselves against any other clan.”

In a MS., probably written by the same author, a copy of which now lies before us, a lengthened enquiry into the claims of the rival chiefs is concluded thus:--“In a word, if by the chief of the clan Chattan is meant the heir of the family, it cannot be doubted that Cluny is chief. If the heir whatsoever is meant, then unquestionably Mackintosh is chief; and whoever is chief, since the captaincy and command of the collective body of the clan Chattan was for above 300 years in the family of Mackintosh, I cannot see but, if such a privilege now remains, it is still in that family.” In reference to this much-disputed point, we take the liberty of quoting a letter of the Rev. W. G. Shaw, of Forfar. He has given the result of his inquiries in several privately printed brochures, but it is hoped that ere long he will place at the disposal of all who take an interest in these subjects the large stores of information he must have accumulated on many matters connected with the Highlands. Writing to the editor of this book he says, on the subject of the chiefship of clan Chattan:--

“Skene accords too much to the Macphersons in one way, but not enough in another.

“(Too much)--He says that for 200 years the Mackintoshes headed the clan Chattan, but only as captain, not as chief. But during these 200 years we have bonds, &c., cropping up now and then in which the Macphersons are only designated as (M. or N.) Macpherson of Cluny. Their claim to headship seems to have been thoroughly in abeyance till the middle of the 17th century.

“(Too little)--For he says the Macphersons in their controversy (1672) before the Lyon King, pled only tradition, whereas they pled the facts.

“De jure the Macphersons were chiefs; de facto, they never were; and they only claimed to use the title when clanship began to be a thing of the past, in so far as fighting was concerned.

“The Macphersons seem to have been entitled to the chieftainship by right of birth, but de facto they never had it. The might of ‘the Macintosh’ had made his right, as is evidenced in half-a-hundred bonds of manrent, deeds of various kinds, to be found in the ‘Thanes of Cawdor,’ and the Spalding Club Miscellany--passim. He is always called Capitane or Captane of clan Quhattan, the spelling being scarcely ever twice the same.”

Against Mackintosh’s powerful claims supported by deeds, &c., the following statements are given from the Macpherson MS. in Mr W. G. Shaw’s possession:--

I. In 1370, the head of the Macphersons disowned the head of the Mackintoshes at Invernahavon. Tradition says Macpherson withdrew from the field without fighting, i.e., he mutinied on a point of precedence between him and Mackintosh.

II. Donald More Macpherson fought along with Marr at Harlaw, against Donald of the Isles with Mackintosh on his side, the two chiefs being then on different sides (1411).

III. Donald Oig Macpherson fought on the side of Huntly at the battle of Corrichie, and was killed; Mackintosh fought on the other side (1562).

IV. Andrew Macpherson of Cluny held the Castle of Ruthven, A.D. 1594, against Argyll, Mackintosh fighting on the side of Argyll.[184]

This tends to show that when the Macphersons joined with the Mackintoshes, it was (they alleged) voluntarily, and not on account of their being bound to follow Mackintosh as chief.

In a loose way, no doubt, Mackintosh may sometimes have been called Chief of Clan Chattan, but Captain is the title generally given in deeds of all kinds. He was chief of the Mackintoshes, as Cluny was chief of the Macphersons--by right of blood; but by agreement amongst the Shaws, Macgillivrays, Clarkes, (Clerach), Clan Dai, &c., renewed from time to time, Mackintosh was recognised as Captain of Clan Chattan.

We cannot forbear adding as a fit moral to this part of the subject, the conclusion come to by the writer of the MS. already quoted:--“After what I have said upon this angry point, I cannot but be of opinion, that in our day, when the right of chieftanrie is so little regarded, when the power of the chiefs is so much abridged, when armed convocations of the lieges are discharged by law, and when a clan are not obliged to obey their chief unless he bears a royal commission,--when matters are so, ’tis my opinion that questions about chieftainrie and debates about precedency of that kind, are equally idle and unprofitable, and that gentlemen should live in strict friendship as they are connected by blood, by affinity, or by the vicinity of their dwellings and the interest of their families.”

The clan Chattan of history, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh of Drummond,[185] was composed of the following clans, who were either allied to the Mackintoshes and Macphersons by genealogy, or who, for their own protection or other reasons, had joined the confederacy:--The Mackintoshes, Macphersons, Macgillivrays, Shaws, Farquharsons, Macbeans, Macphails, clan Tarril, Gows (said to be descended from Henry the Smith, of North Inch fame), Clarks, Macqueens, Davidsons, Cattanachs, clan Ay, Nobles, Gillespies. “In addition to the above sixteen tribes, the Macleans of Dochgarroch or clan Tearleach, the Dallases of Cantray, and others, generally followed the captain of clan Chattan as his friends.” Of some of these little or nothing is known except the name; but others, as the Mackintoshes, Macphersons, Shaws, Farquharsons, &c., have on the whole a complete and well-detailed history.

MACKINTOSH.

According to the Mackintosh MS. Histories (the first of which was compiled about 1500, other two dated in the 16th century, all of which were embodied in a Latin MS. by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara about 1680), the progenitor of the family was Shaw or Seach, a son of Macduff, Earl of Fife, who, for his assistance in quelling a rebellion among the inhabitants of Moray, was presented by King Malcolm IV. with the lands of Petty and Breachly and the forestry of Strathearn, being made also constable of the castle at Inverness. From the high position and power of his father, he was styled by the Gaelic-speaking population Mac-an-Toisich, i.e., “son of the principal or foremost.” Tus, tos, or tosich, is “the beginning or first part of anything,” whence “foremost” or “principal.” Mr Skene says the tosich was the oldest cadet of a clan, and that Mackintosh’s ancestor was oldest cadet of clan Chattan. Professor Cosmo Innes says the tosich was the administrator of the crown lands, the head man of a little district, who became under the Saxon title of Thane hereditary tenant; and it is worthy of note that these functions were performed by the successor of the above mentioned Shaw, who, the family history says, “was made chamberlain of the king’s revenues in those parts for life.” It is scarcely likely, however, that the name Mackintosh arose either in this manner or in the manner stated by Mr Skene, as there would be many tosachs, and in every clan an oldest cadet. The name seems to imply some peculiar circumstances, and these are found in the son of the great Thane or Earl of Fife.

Little is known of the immediate successors of Shaw Macduff. They appear to have made their residence in the castle of Inverness, which they defended on several occasions against the marauding bands from the west. Some of them added considerably to the possessions of the family, which soon took firm root in the north. Towards the close of the 13th century, during the minority of Angus MacFerquhard, 6th chief, the Comyns seized the castle of Inverness, and the lands of Geddes and Rait belonging to the Mackintoshes, and these were not recovered for more than a century. It was this chief who in 1291-2 married Eva, the heiress of clan Chattan, and who acquired with her the lands occupied by that clan, together with the station of leader of her father’s clansmen. He appears to have been a chief of great activity, and a staunch supporter of Robert Bruce, with whom he took part in the battle of Bannockburn. He is placed second in the list of chiefs given by General Stewart of Garth as present in this battle. In the time of his son William the sanguinary feud with the Camerons broke out, which continued up to the middle of the 17th century. The dispute arose concerning the lands of Glenlui and Locharkaig, which Angus Mackintosh had acquired with Eva, and which in his absence had been occupied by the Camerons. William fought several battles for the recovery of these lands, to which in 1337 he acquired a charter from the Lord of the Isles, confirmed in 1357 by David II., but his efforts were unavailing to dislodge the Camerons. The feud was continued by his successor, Lauchlan, 8th chief, each side occasionally making raids into the other’s country. In one of these is said to have occurred the well-known dispute as to precedency between two of the septs of clan Chattan, the Macphersons and the Davidsons. According to tradition, the Camerons had entered Badenoch, where Mackintosh was then residing, and had seized a large “spreagh.” Mackintosh’s force, which followed them, was composed chiefly of these two septs, the Macphersons, however, considerably exceeding the rest. A dispute arising between the respective leaders of the Macphersons and Davidsons as to who should lead the right wing, the chief of Mackintosh, as superior to both, was appealed to, and decided in favour of Davidson. Offended at this, the Macphersons, who, if all accounts are true, had undoubtedly the better right to the post of honour, withdrew from the field of battle, thus enabling the Camerons to secure a victory. When, however, they saw that their friends were defeated, the Macphersons are said to have returned to the field, and turned the victory of the Camerons into a defeat, killing their leader, Charles MacGillonie. The date of this affair, which took place at Invernahavon, is variously fixed at 1370 and 1384, and some writers make it the cause which led to the famous battle on the North Inch of Perth twenty-six years later.

As is well known, great controversies have raged as to the clans who took part in the Perth fight, and those writers just referred to decide the question by making the Macphersons and Davidsons the combatant clans.[186]

Wyntoun’s words are--

“They three score ware clannys twa, Clahynnhe Qwhewyl and Clachinyha, Of thir twa kynnys war thay men, Thretty again thretty then, And thare thay had thair chiftanys twa, SCHA FARQWHARIS SONE wes ane of thay, The tother CHRISTY JOHNESONE.”

On this the Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar remarks,--“One writer (Dr Macpherson) tries to make out that the clan Yha or Ha was the clan Shaw. Another makes them to be the clan Dhai or Davidsons. Another (with Skene) makes them Macphersons. As to the clan Quhele, Colonel Robertson (author of ‘Historical Proofs of the Highlanders,’) supposes that the clan Quhele was the clan Shaw, partly from the fact that in the Scots Act of Parliament of 1392 (vol. i. p. 217), whereby several clans were forfeited for their share in the raid of Angus [described in vol. i.], there is mention made of Slurach, or (as it is supposed it ought to have been written) Sheach[187] et omnes clan Quhele. Then others again suppose that the clan Quhele was the clan Mackintosh. Others that it was the clan Cameron, whilst the clan Yha was the Clan-na-Chait or clan Chattan.

“From the fact that, after the clan Battle on the Inch, the star of the Mackintoshes was decidedly in the ascendant, there can be little doubt but that they formed at least a section of the winning side, whether that side were the clan Yha or the clan Quhele.

“Wyntoun declines to say on which side the victory lay. He writes--

‘Wha had the waur fare at the last, I will nocht say.’

“It is not very likely that subsequent writers knew more of the subject than he did, so that after all, we are left very much to the traditions of the families themselves for information. The Camerons, Davidsons, Mackintoshes, and Macphersons, all say that they took part in the fray. The Shaws’ tradition is, that their ancestor, being a relative of the Mackintoshes, took the place of the aged chief of that section of the clan, on the day of battle. The chroniclers vary as to the names of the clans, but they all agree as to the name of one of the leaders, viz., that it was Shaw. Tradition and history are agreed on this one point.

“One thing emerges clearly from the confusion as to the clans who fought, and as to which of the modern names of the contending clans was represented by the clans Yha and Quhele,--one thing emerges, a Shaw leading the victorious party, and a race of Shaws springing from him as their great--if not their first--founder, a race, who for ages afterwards, lived in the district and fought under the banner of the Laird of Mackintosh.”[188]

As to the Davidsons, the tradition which vouches for the particulars of the fight at Invernahavon expressly says that the Davidsons were almost to a man cut off, and it is scarcely likely that they would, within so short a time, be able to muster sufficient men either seriously to disturb the peace of the country or to provide thirty champions. Mr Skene solves the question by making the Mackintoshes and Macphersons the combatant clans, and the cause of quarrel the right to the headship of clan Chattan. But the traditions of both families place them on the winning side, and there is no trace whatever of any dispute at this time, or previous to the 16th century, as to the chiefship. The most probable solution of this difficulty is, that the clans who fought at Perth were the clan Chattan (i.e., Mackintoshes, Macphersons, and others) and the Camerons. Mr Skene, indeed, says that the only clans who have a tradition of their ancestors having been engaged are the Mackintoshes, Macphersons, and Camerons, though he endeavours to account for the presence of the last named clan by making them assist the Macphersons against the Mackintoshes.[189] The editor of the Memoirs of Lochiel, mentioning this tradition of the Camerons, as well as the opinion of Skene, says,--“It may be observed, that the side allotted to the Camerons (viz. the unsuccessful side) affords the strongest internal evidence of its correctness. Had the Camerons been described as victors it would have been very different.”

The author of the recently discovered MS. account of the clan Chattan already referred to, says that by this conflict Cluny’s right to lead the van was established; and in the meetings of clan Chattan he sat on Mackintosh’s right hand, and when absent that seat was kept empty for him. Henry Wynde likewise associated with the clan Chattan, and his descendants assumed the name of Smith, and were commonly called Sliochd a Gow Chroim.

[Music: THE MACKINTOSH’S LAMENT[190]

Arranged for the Bagpipes by PIPE-MAJOR A. M’LENNAN, _Highland Light Infantry Militia, Inverness_.]

[Music: VARIATION 1ST.

DOUBLING OF VARIATION 1ST.]

Lauchlan, chief of Mackintosh, in whose time these events happened, died in 1407, at a good old age. In consequence of his age and infirmity, his kinsman, Shaw Mackintosh, had headed the thirty clan Chattan champions at Perth, and for his success was rewarded with the possession of the lands of Rothiemurchus in Badenoch. The next chief, Ferquhard, was compelled by his clansmen to resign his post in consequence of his mild, inactive disposition, and his uncle Malcolm (son of William Mac-Angus by a second marriage) succeeded as 10th chief of Mackintosh, and 5th captain of clan Chattan. Malcolm was one of the most warlike and successful of the Mackintosh chiefs. During his long chiefship of nearly fifty years, he made frequent incursions into the Cameron territories, and waged a sanguinary war with the Comyns, in which he recovered the lands taken from his ancestor. In 1411 he was one of the principal commanders in the army of Donald, Lord of the Isles, in the battle of Harlaw, where he is by some stated incorrectly to have been killed. In 1429, when Alexander, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross; broke out into rebellion at the head of 10,000 men, on the advance of the king into Lochaber, the clan Chattan and the clan Cameron deserted the earl’s banners, went over to the royal army, and fought on the royal side, the rebels being defeated. In 1431, Malcolm Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, received a grant of the lands of Alexander of Lochaber, uncle of the Earl of Ross, that chieftain having been forfeited for engaging in the rebellion of Donald Balloch. Having afterwards contrived to make his peace with the Lord of the Isles, he received from him, between 1443 and 1447, a confirmation of his lands in Lochaber, with a grant of the office of bailiary of that district. His son, Duncan, styled captain of the clan Chattan in 1467, was in great favour with John, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, whose sister, Flora, he married, and who bestowed on him the office of steward of Lochaber, which had been held by his father. He also received the lands of Keppoch and others included in that lordship.

On the forfeiture of his brother-in-law in 1475, James III. granted to the same Duncan Mackintosh a charter, of date July 4th, 1476, of the lands of Moymore, and various others, in Lochaber. When the king in 1493 proceeded in person to the West Highlands, Duncan Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, was one of the chiefs, formerly among the vassals of the Lord of the Isles, who went to meet him and make their submission to him. These chiefs received in return royal charters of the lands they had previously held under the Lord of the Isles, and Mackintosh obtained a charter of the lands of Keppoch, Innerorgan, and others, with the office of bailiary of the same. In 1495, Farquhar Mackintosh, his son, and Kenneth Oig Mackenzie of Kintail, were imprisoned by the king in Edinburgh castle. Two years thereafter, Farquhar, who seems about this time to have succeeded his father as captain of the clan Chattan, and Mackenzie, made their escape from Edinburgh castle, but, on their way to the Highlands, they were seized at Torwood by the laird of Buchanan. Mackenzie, having offered resistance, was slain, but Mackintosh was taken alive, and confined at Dunbar, where he remained till after the battle of Flodden.

Farquhar was succeeded by his cousin, William Mackintosh, who had married Isabel M’Niven, heiress of Dunnachtan: but John Roy Mackintosh, the head of another branch of the family, attempted by force to get himself recognised as captain of the clan Chattan, and failing in his design, he assassinated his rival at Inverness in 1515. Being closely pursued, however, he was overtaken and slain at Glenesk. Lauchlan Mackintosh, the brother of the murdered chief, was then placed at the head of the clan. He is described by Bishop Lesley[191] as “a verrie honest and wyse gentleman, an barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole ken, friendes and tennentis in honest and guid rewll.” The strictness with which he ruled his clan raised him up many enemies among them, and, like his brother, he was cut off by the hand of an assassin. “Some wicked persons,” says Lesley, “being impatient of virtuous living, stirred up one of his own principal kinsmen, called James Malcolmson, who cruelly and treacherously slew his chief.” This was in the year 1526. To avoid the vengeance of that portion of the clan by whom the chief was beloved, Malcolmson and his followers took refuge in the island in the loch of Rothiemurchus, but they were pursued to their hiding place, and slain there.

Lauchlan had married the sister of the Earl of Moray, and by her had a son, William, who on his father’s death was but a child. The clan therefore made choice of Hector Mackintosh, a bastard son of Farquhar, the chief who had been imprisoned in 1495, to act as captain till the young chief should come of age. The consequences of this act have already been narrated in their proper place in the General History. On attaining the age of manhood William duly became head of the clan, and having been well brought up by the Earls of Moray and Cassilis, both his near relatives, was, according to Lesley, “honoured as a perfect pattern of virtue by all the leading men of the Highlands.” During the life of his uncle, the Earl of Moray, his affairs prospered; but shortly after that noble’s death, he became involved in a feud with the Earl of Huntly. He was charged with the heinous offence of conspiring against Huntly, the queen’s lieutenant, and at a court held by Huntly at Aberdeen, on the 2d August 1550, was tried and convicted by a jury, and sentenced to lose his life and lands. Being immediately carried to Strathbogie, he was beheaded soon after by Huntly’s countess, the earl himself having given a pledge that his life should be spared. The story is told, though with grave errors, by Sir Walter Scott, in his Tales of a Grandfather.[192] By Act of Parliament of 14th December 1557, the sentence was reversed as illegal, and the son of Mackintosh was restored to all his father’s lands, to which Huntly added others as assythment for the blood. But this act of atonement on Huntly’s part was not sufficient to efface the deep grudge owed him by the clan Chattan on account of the execution of their chief, and he was accordingly thwarted by them in many of his designs.

In the time of this earl’s grandson, the clan Chattan again came into collision with the powerful Gordons, and for four years a deadly feud raged between them. In consequence of certain of Huntly’s proceedings, especially the murder of the Earl of Moray, a strong faction was formed against him, Lauchlan, 16th chief of Mackintosh, taking a prominent part. A full account of these disturbances in 1624 has already been given in its place in the General History.

In this feud Huntly succeeded in detaching the Macphersons belonging to the Cluny branch from the rest of clan Chattan, but the majority of that sept, according to the MS. history of the Mackintoshes, remained true to the chief of Mackintosh. These allies, however, were deserted by Huntly when he became reconciled to Mackintosh, and in 1609 Andrew Macpherson of Cluny, with all the other principal men of clan Chattan, signed a bond of union, in which they all acknowledged the chief of Mackintosh as captain and chief of clan Chattan. The clan Chattan were in Argyll’s army at the battle of Glenlivat in 1595, and with the Macleans formed the right wing, which made the best resistance to the Catholic earls, and was the last to quit the field.

Cameron of Lochiel had been forfeited in 1598 for not producing his title deeds, when Mackintosh claimed the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, of which he had kept forcible possession. In 1618 Sir Lauchlan, 17th chief of Mackintosh, prepared to carry into effect the acts of outlawry against Lochiel, who, on his part, put himself under the protection of the Marquis of Huntly, Mackintosh’s mortal foe. In July of the same year Sir Lauchlan obtained a commission of fire and sword against the Macdonalds of Keppoch for laying waste his lands in Lochaber. As he conceived that he had a right to the services of all his clan, some of whom were tenants and dependents of the Marquis of Huntly, he ordered the latter to follow him, and compelled such of them as were refractory to accompany him into Lochaber. This proceeding gave great offence to Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, the marquis’s son, who summoned Mackintosh before the Privy Council, for having, as he asserted, exceeded his commission. He was successful in obtaining the recall of Sir Lauchlan’s commission, and obtaining a new one in his own favour. The consequences of this are told in vol. i. ch. x.

During the wars of the Covenant, William, 18th chief, was at the head of the clan, but owing to feebleness of constitution took no active part in the troubles of that period. He was, however, a decided loyalist, and among the Mackintosh papers are several letters, both from the unhappy Charles I. and his son Charles II., acknowledging his good affection and service. The Mackintoshes, as well as the Macphersons and Farquharsons, were with Montrose in considerable numbers, and, in fact, the great body of clan Chattan took part in nearly all that noble’s battles and expeditions.

Shortly after the accession of Charles II., Lauchlan Mackintosh, to enforce his claims to the disputed lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig against Cameron of Lochiel, raised his clan, and, assisted by the Macphersons, marched to Lochaber with 1500 men. He was met by Lochiel with 1200 men, of whom 300 were Macgregors. About 300 were armed with bows. General Stewart says:--“When preparing to engage, the Earl of Breadalbane, who was nearly related to both chiefs, came in sight with 500 men, and sent them notice that if either of them refused to agree to the terms which he had to propose, he would throw his interest into the opposite scale. After some hesitation his offer of mediation was accepted, and the feud amicably and finally settled.” This was in 1665, when the celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron was chief, and a satisfactory arrangement having been made, the Camerons were at length left in undisputed possession of the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, which their various branches still enjoy.

In 1672 Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, having resolved to throw off all connexion with Mackintosh, made application to the Lyon office to have his arms matriculated as laird of Cluny Macpherson, and “the only and true representative of the ancient and honourable family of the clan Chattan.” This request was granted; and, soon afterwards, when the Privy Council required the Highland chiefs to give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans, Macpherson became bound for his clan under the designation of the lord of Cluny and chief of the Macphersons; as he could only hold himself responsible for that portion of the clan Chattan which bore his own name and were more particularly under his own control. As soon as Mackintosh was informed of this circumstance, he applied to the privy council and the Lyon office to have his own title declared, and that which had been granted to Macpherson recalled and cancelled. An inquiry was accordingly instituted, and both parties were ordered to produce evidence of their respective assertions, when the council ordered Mackintosh to give bond for those of his clan, his vassals, those descended of his family, his men, tenants, and servants, and all dwelling upon his ground; and enjoined Cluny to give bond for those of his name of Macpherson, descended of his family, and his men, tenants, and servants, “without prejudice always to the laird of Mackintosh.” In consequence of this decision, the armorial bearings granted to Macpherson were recalled, and they were again matriculated as those of Macpherson of Cluny.

Between the Mackintoshes and the Macdonalds of Keppoch, a feud had long existed, originating in the claim of the former to the lands occupied by the latter, on the Braes of Lochaber. The Macdonalds had no other right to their lands than what was founded on prescriptive possession, whilst the Mackintoshes had a feudal title to the property, originally granted by the lords of the Isles, and, on their forfeiture, confirmed by the crown. After various acts of hostility on both sides, the feud was at length terminated by “the last considerable clan battle which was fought in the Highlands.” To dispossess the Macdonalds by force, Mackintosh raised his clan, and, assisted by an independent company of soldiers, furnished by the government, marched towards Keppoch, but, on his arrival there, he found the place deserted. He was engaged in constructing a fort in Glenroy, to protect his rear, when he received intelligence that the Macdonalds, reinforced by their kinsmen of Glengarry and Glencoe, were posted in great force at Mulroy. He immediately marched against them, but was defeated and taken prisoner. At that critical moment, a large body of Macphersons appeared on the ground, hastening to the relief of the Mackintoshes, and Keppoch, to avoid another battle, was obliged to release his prisoner. It is highly to the honour of the Macphersons, that they came forward on the occasion so readily, to the assistance of the rival branch of the clan Chattan, and that so far from taking advantage of Mackintosh’s misfortune, they escorted him safely to his own territories, and left him without exacting any conditions, or making any stipulations whatever as to the chiefship.[193] From this time forth, the Mackintoshes and the Macphersons continued separate and independent clans, although both were included under the general denomination of the clan Chattan.

At the Revolution, the Mackintoshes adhered to the new government, and as the chief refused to attend the Viscount Dundee, on that nobleman soliciting a friendly interview with him, the latter employed his old opponent, Macdonald of Keppoch, to carry off his cattle. In the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, the Mackintoshes took a prominent part. Lauchlan, 20th chief, was actively engaged in the ’15, and was at Preston on the Jacobite side. The exploits of Mackintosh of Borlum, in 1715, have been fully narrated in our account of the rebellion of that year.

Lauchlan died in 1731, without issue, when the male line of William, the 18th chief, became extinct. Lauchlan’s successor, William Mackintosh, died in 1741. Angus, the brother of the latter, the next chief, married Anne, daughter of Farquharson of Invercauld, a lady who distinguished herself greatly in the rebellion of 1745. When her husband was appointed to one of the three new companies in Lord London’s Highlanders, raised in the beginning of that year, Lady Mackintosh traversed the country, and, in a very short time, enlisted 97 of the 100 men required for a captaincy. On the breaking out of the rebellion, she was equally energetic in favour of the Pretender, and, in the absence of Mackintosh, she raised two battalions of the clan for the prince, and placed them under the command of Colonel Macgillivray of Dunmaglass. In 1715 the Mackintoshes mustered 1,500 men under Old Borlum, but in 1745 scarcely one half of that number joined the forces of the Pretender. She conducted her followers in person to the rebel army at Inverness, and soon after her husband was taken prisoner by the insurgents, when the prince delivered him over to his lady, saying that “he could not be in better security, or more honourably treated.”

At the battle of Culloden, the Mackintoshes were on the right of the Highland army, and in their eagerness to engage, they were the first to attack the enemy’s lines, losing their brave colonel and other officers in the impetuous charge. On the passing of the act for the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions in 1747, the laird of Mackintosh claimed £5,000 as compensation for his hereditary office of steward of the lordship of Lochaber.

In 1812, Æneas Mackintosh, the 23d laird of Mackintosh, was created a baronet of the United Kingdom. He died 21st January 1820, without heirs male of his body. On his death, the baronetcy expired, and he was succeeded in the estate by Angus Mackintosh, whose immediate sires had settled in Canada. Alexander, his son, became Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and died in 1861, his son, Alexander Æneas, now of Mackintosh, succeeding him as 27th chief of Mackintosh, and 22d captain of clan Chattan.

The funerals of the chiefs of Mackintosh were always conducted with great ceremony and solemnity. When Lauchlan Mackintosh, the 19th chief, died, in the end of 1703, his body lay in state from 9th December that year, till 18th January 1704, in Dalcross Castle (which was built in 1620, and is a good specimen of an old baronial Scotch mansion, and has been the residence of several chiefs), and 2000 of the clan Chattan attended his remains to the family vault at Petty. Keppoch was present with 220 of the Macdonalds. Across the coffins of the deceased chiefs are laid the sword of William, twenty-first of Mackintosh, and a highly finished claymore, presented by Charles I., before he came to the throne, to Sir Lauchlan Mackintosh, gentleman of the bedchamber.

The principal seat of The Mackintosh is Moy Hall, near Inverness. The original castle, now in ruins, stood on an island in Loch Moy.

The eldest branch of the clan Mackintosh was the family of Kellachy, a small estate in Inverness-shire, acquired by them in the 17th century. Of this branch was the celebrated Sir James Mackintosh. His father, Captain John Mackintosh, was the tenth in descent from Allan, third son of Malcolm, tenth chief of the clan. Mackintosh of Kellachy, as the eldest cadet of the family, invariably held the appointment of captain of the watch to the chief of the clan in all his wars.

MACPHERSON.

The Macphersons, the other principal branch of the clan Chattan, are in Gaelic called the clan Vuirich or Muirich, from an ancestor of that name, who, in the Gaelic MS. of 1450, is said to have been the “son of Swen, son of Heth, son of Nachtan, son of Gillichattan, from whom came the clan Chattan.” The word Gillichattan is supposed by some to mean a votary or servant of St Kattan, a Scottish saint, as Gillichrist (Gilchrist) means a servant of Christ.

The Macphersons claim unbroken descent from the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan, and tradition is in favour of their being the lineal representatives of the chiefs of the clan. However, this point has been sufficiently discussed in the history of the Mackintoshes, where we have given much of the history of the Macphersons.

It was from Muirich, who is said to have been chief in 1153, that the Macphersons derive the name of the clan Muirich or Vuirich. This Muirich was parson of Kingussie, in the lower part of Badenoch, and the surname was given to his descendants from his office. He was the great-grandson of Gillichattan Mor, the founder of the clan, who lived in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, and having married a daughter of the thane of Calder, had five sons. The eldest, Gillichattan, the third of the name, and chief of the clan in the reign of Alexander II., was father of Dougal Dall, the chief whose daughter Eva married Angus Mackintosh of Mackintosh. On Dougal Dall’s death, as he had no sons, the representation of the family devolved on his cousin and heir-male, Kenneth, eldest son of Eoghen or Ewen Baan, second son of Muirich. Neill Chrom, so called from his stooping shoulders, Muirich’s third son, was a great artificer in iron, and took the name of Smith from his trade. Farquhar Gilliriach, or the Swift, the fourth son, is said to have been the progenitor of the MacGillivrays, who followed the Mackintosh branch of the clan Chattan; and from David Dubh, or the Swarthy, the youngest of Muirich’s sons, were descended the clan Dhai, or Davidsons of Invernahavon.[194]

One of the early chiefs is said to have received a commission to expel the Comyns from Badenoch, and on their forfeiture he obtained, for his services, a grant of lands. He was also allowed to add a hand holding a dagger to his armorial bearings. A MS. genealogy of the Macphersons makes Kenneth chief in 1386, when a battle took place at Invernahavon between the clan Chattan and the Camerons, details of which and of the quarrel between the Macphersons and the Davidsons will be found in the general history, and in the account of the Mackintoshes.

In 1609 the chief of the Macphersons signed a bond, along with all the other branches of that extensive tribe, acknowledging Mackintosh as captain and chief of the clan Chattan; but in all the contentions and feuds in which the Mackintoshes were subsequently involved with the Camerons and other Lochaber clans, they were obliged to accept of the Macphersons’ aid as allies rather than vassals.

Andrew Macpherson of Cluny, who succeeded as chief in 1647, suffered much on account of his sincere attachment to the cause of Charles I. His son, Ewen, was also a staunch royalist. In 1665, under Andrew, the then chief, when Mackintosh went on an expedition against the Camerons, for the recovery of the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, he solicited the assistance of the Macphersons, when a notarial deed was executed, wherein Mackintosh declares that it was of their mere good will and pleasure that they did so; and on his part it is added, “I bind and oblige myself and friends and followers to assist and fortify and join, with the said Andrew, Lauchlan, and John Macpherson, all their lawful and necessary adoes, being thereunto required.” The same Andrew, Lauchlan, and John, heads of the three great branches of the Macphersons, had on the 19th of the preceding November given a bond acknowledging Mackintosh as their chief. In 1672 Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, Andrew’s brother, made application to the Lyon office to have his arms matriculated as laird of Cluny Macpherson, and “the only and true representative of the ancient and honourable family of the clan Chattan.” This application was successful; but as soon as Mackintosh heard of it, he raised a process before the privy council to have it determined as to which of them had the right to the proper armorial bearings. After a protracted inquiry, the council issued an order for the two chiefs to give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans, in the terms given in the account of Mackintosh. The same year Cluny entered into a contract of friendship with Æneas, Lord Macdonnell, and Aros, “for himself and takeing burden upon him for the haill name of Macpherson, and some others, called Old Clan-chatten, as cheefe and principall man thereof.”

It is worthy of note that this same Duncan made an attempt, which was happily frustrated by his clansmen, to have his son-in-law, a son of Campbell of Cawdor, declared his successor.

On the death, without male issue, of Duncan Macpherson, in 1721 or 1722, the chiefship devolved on Lauchlan Macpherson of Nuid, the next male heir, being lineally descended from John, youngest brother of Andrew, the above-named chief. One of the descendants of this John of Nuid was James Macpherson, the resuscitator of the Ossianic poetry. Lauchlan married Jean, daughter of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel. His eldest son, Ewen, was the chief at the time of the rebellion of 1745.

In the previous rebellion of 1715, the Macphersons, under their then chief Duncan, had taken a very active part on the side of the Pretender. On the arrival of Prince Charles in 1745, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny, who the same year had been appointed to a company in Lord Loudon’s Highlanders, and had taken the oaths to government, threw up his commission, and, with 600 Macphersons, joined the rebel army after their victory at Prestonpans. The Macphersons were led to take an active part in the rebellion chiefly from a desire to revenge the fate of two of their clansmen, who were shot on account of the extraordinary mutiny of the Black Watch (now the 42d regiment) two years before, an account of which is given in the history of that Regiment.

Ewen Macpherson, the chief, at first hesitated to join the prince; and his wife, a daughter of Lord Lovat, although a staunch Jacobite, earnestly dissuaded him from breaking his oath to government, assuring him that nothing could end well that began with perjury. Her friends reproached her for interfering--and his clan urging him, Cluny unfortunately yielded.

At the battle of Falkirk, the Macphersons formed a portion of the first line. They were too late for the battle of Culloden, where their assistance might have turned the fortune of the day; they did not come up till after the retreat of Charles from that decisive field. In the subsequent devastations committed by the English army, Cluny’s house was plundered and burnt to the ground. Every exertion was made by the government troops for his apprehension, but they never could lay their hands upon him. He escaped to France in 1755, and died at Dunkirk the following year.

Ewen’s son, Duncan, was born in 1750, in a kiln for drying corn, in which his mother had taken refuge after the destruction of their house. During his minority, his uncle, Major John Macpherson of the 78th foot, acted as his guardian. He received back the estate which had been forfeited, and, entering the army, became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d foot guards. He married, 12th June 1798, Catherine, youngest daughter of Sir Ewen Cameron of Fassifern, baronet; and on his death, 1st August 1817, was succeeded by his eldest son, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny, the present chief.

In Cluny castle are preserved various relics of the rebellion of 1745; among the rest, the Prince’s target and lace wrist ruffles, and an autograph letter from Charles, promising an ample reward to his devoted friend Cluny. There is also the black pipe chanter on which the prosperity of the house of Cluny is said to be dependent, and which all true members of the clan Vuirich firmly believe fell from heaven, in place of the one lost at the conflict on the North Inch of Perth.

The war-cry of the Macphersons was “Cragi Dhu,” the name of a rock in the neighbourhood of Cluny Castle. The chief is called in the Highlands “Mac Mhurich Chlanaidh,” but everywhere else is better known as Cluny Macpherson.

Among the principal cadets of the Macpherson family were the Macphersons of Pitmean, Invereshie, Strathmassie, Breachachie, Essie, &c. The Invereshie branch were chiefs of a large tribe called the Siol Gillies, the founder of which was Gillies or Elias Macpherson, the first of Invereshie, a younger son of Ewen Baan or Bane (so called from his fair complexion) above mentioned. Sir Eneas Macpherson, tutor of Invereshie, advocate, who lived in the reigns of Charles II. and James VII., collected the materials for the history of the clan Macpherson, the MS. of which is still preserved in the family. He was appointed sheriff of Aberdeen in 1684.

George Macpherson of Invereshie married Grace, daughter of Colonel William Grant of Ballindalloch, and his elder son, William, dying, unmarried, in 1812, was succeeded by his nephew George, who, on the death of his maternal grand-uncle, General James Grant of Ballindalloch, 13th April 1806, inherited that estate, and in consequence assumed the name of Grant in addition to his own. He was MP. for the county of Sutherland for seventeen years, and was created a baronet 25th July 1838. He thus became Sir George Macpherson-Grant of Invereshie, Inverness-shire, and Ballindalloch, Elginshire. On his death in November 1846, his son, Sir John, sometime secretary of legation at Lisbon, succeeded as second baronet. Sir John died Dec. 2, 1850. His eldest son, Sir George Macpherson-Grant of Invereshie and Ballindalloch, born Aug. 12, 1839, became the third baronet of this family, He married, July 3, 1861, Frances Elizabeth, younger daughter of the Rev. Roger Pocklington, Vicar of Walesby, Nottinghamshire.

We can refer only with the greatest brevity to some of the minor clans which were included under the great confederacy of the clan Chattan.

MACGILLIVRAY.

The Macgillivrays were one of the oldest and most important of the septs of clan Chattan, and from 1626, when their head, Ferquhard MacAllister, acquired a right to the lands of Dunmaglass, frequent mention of them is found in extant documents, registers, etc. Their ancestor placed himself and his posterity under the protection of the Mackintoshes in the time of Ferquhard, fifth chief of Mackintosh, and the clan have ever distinguished themselves by their prowess and bravery. One of them is mentioned as having been killed in a battle with the Camerons about the year 1330, but perhaps the best known of the heads of this clan was Alexander, fourth in descent from the Ferquhard who acquired Dunmaglass. This gentleman was selected by Lady Mackintosh to head her husband’s clan on the side of Prince Charlie in the ’45. He acquitted himself with the greatest credit, but lost his life, as did all his officers except three, in the battle of Culloden. In the brave but rash charge made by his battalion against the English line, he fell, shot through the heart, in the centre of Barrel’s regiment. His body, after lying for some weeks in a pit where it had been thrown with others by the English soldiers, was taken up by his friends and buried across the threshold of the kirk of Petty. His brother William was also a warrior, and gained the rank of captain in the old 89th regiment, raised about 1758. One of the three officers of the Mackintosh battalion who escaped from Culloden was a kinsman of these two brothers,--Farquhar of Dalcrombie, whose grandson, Niel John M’Gillivray of Dunmaglass, is the present head of the clan.

The M’Gillivrays possessed at various times, besides Dunmaglass, the lands of Aberchallader, Letterchallen, Largs, Faillie, Dalcrombie, and Daviot. It was in connection with the succession to Faillie that Lord Ardmillan’s well-known decision was given in 1860 respecting the legal status of a clan.

In a Gaelic lament for the slain at Culloden the MacGillivrays are spoken of as

“The warlike race, The gentle, vigorous, flourishing, Active, of great fame, beloved, The race that will not wither, and has descended Long from every side, Excellent MacGillivrays of the Doune.”

SHAW.[195]

The origin of the Shaws, at one time a most important clan of the Chattan confederation, has been already referred to in connection with the Mackintoshes. The tradition of the Mackintoshes and Shaws is “unvaried,” says the Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar, that at least from and after 1396, a race of Shaws existed in Rothiemurchus, whose great progenitor was the Shaw Mor who commanded the section of the clan represented by the Mackintoshes on the Inch. The tradition of the Shaws is, that he was Shaw, the son of James, the son or descendant of Farquhar; the tradition of the Macintoshes--that he was Shaw-mac-Gilchrist-mac-Ian-mac-Angus-mac-Farquhar,--Farquhar being the ancestor according to both traditions, from whom he took the name (according to Wyntoun) of Sha Farquharis Son.[196] The tradition of a James Shaw who ‘had bloody contests with the Comyns,’ which tradition is fortified by that of the Comyns, may very likely refer to the James, who, according to the genealogies both of the Shaws and Mackintoshes, was the son of Shaw Mor.

Mr Shaw of Forfar, who is well entitled to speak with authority on the subject, maintains “that prior to 1396, the clan now represented by the Mackintoshes, had been (as was common amongst the clans) sometimes designated as the clan Shaw, after the successive chiefs of that name, especially the first, and sometimes as the clan of the Mac-an-Toisheach, i.e., of the Thane’s son. Thus, from its first founder, the great clan of the Isles was originally called the clan Cuin, or race of Constantine. Afterwards, it was called the clan Colla, from his son Coll, and latterly the clan Donald, after one of his descendants of that name. So the Macleans are often called clan Gilleon after their founder and first chief; and the Macphersons, the clan Muirich, after one of the most distinguished in their line of chiefs. The Farquharsons are called clan Fhiunla, after their great ancestor, Finlay Mor. There is nothing more probable, therefore--I should say more certain--than that the race in after times known as Mackintoshes, should at first have been as frequently designated as Na Si’aich, ‘The Shaws,’ after the Christian name of their first chief, as Mackintoshes after his appellative description or designation. It is worthy of remark, that the race of Shaws is never spoken of in Gaelic as the ‘clan Shaw,’ but as ‘Na Si’aich’--The Shaws, or as we would say Shawites. We never hear of Mac-Shaws--sons of Shaw, but of ‘Na Si’aich--The Shaws.’ Hence prior to 1396, when a Shaw so distinguished himself as to found a family, under the wing of his chief, the undivided race, so to speak, would sometimes be called ‘Mackintoshes,’ or followers of the Thane’s sons, sometimes the clan Chattan, the generic name of the race, sometimes ‘clan Dhugaill,’ (Quehele) after Dougall-Dall, and sometimes ‘Na Si’aich,’ the Shaws or Shawites, after the numerous chiefs who bore the name of Shaw in the line of descent. Hence the claim of both Shaws and Mackintoshes to the occupancy of Rothiemurchus. After 1396, the term Na Si’aich was restricted, as all are agreed, to the clan developed out of the other, through the prowess of Shaw Mór.”

Shaw “Mor” Mackintosh, who fought at Perth in 1396, was succeeded by his son James, who fell at Harlaw in 1411. Both Shaw and James had held Rothiemurchus only as tenants of the chief of Mackintosh, but James’s son and successor, Alister “Ciar” (i.e., brown), obtained from Duncan, 11th of Mackintosh, in 1463-4, his right of possession and tack. In the deed by which David Stuart, Bishop of Moray, superior of the lands, confirms this disposition of Duncan, and gives Alister the feu, Alister is called “Allister Kier Mackintosh.” This deed is dated 24th September 1464. All the deeds in which Alister is mentioned call him Mackintosh, not Shaw, thus showing the descent of the Shaws from the Mackintoshes, and that they did not acquire their name of Shaw until after Alister’s time.

Alister’s grandson, Alan, in 1539, disponed his right to Rothiemurchus to Edom Gordon, reserving only his son’s liferent. Alan’s grandson, of the same name was outlawed for the murder of his stepfather, some fifty years later, and compelled to leave the country. Numerous Shaws are, however, still to be found in the neighbourhood of Rothiemurchus, or who can trace their descent from Alister Kier.

Besides the Shaws of Rothiemurchus, the Shaws of TORDARROCH in Strathnairn, descended from Adam, younger brother of Alister Kier, were a considerable family; but, like their cousins, they no longer occupy their original patrimony. Tordarroch was held in wadset of the chiefs of Mackintosh, and was given up to Sir Æneas Mackintosh in the end of last century by its holder at the time, Colonel Alexander Shaw, seventh in descent from Adam.

Angus MacBean vic Robert of Tordarroch signed the Bond of 1609 already mentioned. His great-grandsons, Robert and Æneas, took part during their father’s life in the rebellion of 1715; both were taken prisoners at Preston, and were confined in Newgate, the elder brother dying during his imprisonment. The younger, Æneas, succeeded his father, and in consideration of his taking no part in the ’45, was made a magistrate, and received commissions for his three sons, the second of whom, Æneas, rose to the rank of major-general in the army. Margaret, daughter of Æneas of Tordarroch, was wife of Farquhar Macgillivray of Dalcrombie, one of the three officers of the Mackintosh regiment who escaped from Culloden.

Æneas was succeeded by his eldest son, Colonel Alexander Shaw, lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man under the crown. He gave up the wadset of Tordarroch to Sir Æneas Mackintosh, and died in 1811.

From the four younger sons of Alister Kier descended respectively the Shaws of DELL (the family of the historian of Moray, the Rev. Lachlan Shaw); of DALNIVERT, the representation of it devolved in the last century on a female, who married ---- Clark; the FARQUHARSONS, who in time acquired more importance than the Shaws; and the SHAWS of HARRIS, who still retain a tradition of their ancestor, Iver MacAlister Ciar.

FARQUHARSON.

The immediate ancestor of the Farquharsons of Invercauld, the main branch, was Farquhar or Fearchard, a son of Alister “Keir” Mackintosh or Shaw of Rothiemurchus, grandson of Shaw Mor. Farquhar, who lived in the reign of James III., settled in the Braes of Mar, and was appointed baillie or hereditary chamberlain thereof. His sons were called Farquharson, the first of the name in Scotland. His eldest son, Donald, married a daughter of Duncan Stewart, commonly called Duncan Downa Dona, of the family of Mar, and obtained a considerable addition to his paternal inheritance, for faithful services rendered to the crown.

Donald’s son and successor, Findla or Findlay, commonly called from his great size and strength, Findla Mhor, or great Findla, lived in the beginning of the sixteenth century. His descendants were called MacIanla or Mackinlay. Before his time the Farquharsons were called in the Gaelic, clan Erachar or Earachar, the Gaelic for Farquhar, and most of the branches of the family, especially those who settled in Athole, were called MacEarachar. Those of the descendants of Findla Mhor who settled in the Lowlands had their name of Mackinlay changed into Finlayson.[197]

Findla Mhor, by his first wife, a daughter of the Baron Reid of Kincardine Stewart, had four sons, the descendants of whom settled on the borders of the counties of Perth and Angus, south of Braemar, and some of them in the district of Athole.

His eldest son, William, who died in the reign of James VI., had four sons. The eldest, John, had an only son, Robert, who succeeded him. He died in the reign of Charles II.

Robert’s son, Alexander Farquharson of Invercauld, married Isabella, daughter of William Mackintosh of that ilk, captain of the clan Chattan, and had three sons.

William, the eldest son, dying unmarried, was succeeded by the second son, John, who carried on the line of the family. Alexander, the third son, got the lands of Monaltrie, and married Anne, daughter of Francis Farquharson, Esq. of Finzean.

The above-mentioned John Farquharson of Invercauld, the ninth from Farquhar the founder of the family, was four times married. His children by his first two wives died young. By his third wife, Margaret, daughter of Lord James Murray, son of the first Marquis of Athole, he had two sons and two daughters. His elder daughter, Anne, married Eneas Mackintosh of that ilk, and was the celebrated Lady Mackintosh, who, in 1745, defeated the design of the Earl of Loudon to make prisoner Prince Charles at Moy castle. By his fourth wife, a daughter of Forbes of Waterton, he had a son and two daughters, and died in 1750.

His eldest son, James Farquharson of Invercauld, greatly improved his estates, both in appearance and product. He married Amelia, the widow of the eighth Lord Sinclair, and daughter of Lord George Murray, lieutenant-general of Prince Charles’s army, and had a large family, who all died except the youngest, a daughter, Catherine. On his death, in 1806, this lady succeeded to the estates. She married, 16th June 1798, Captain James Ross, R.N. (who took the name of Farquharson, and died in 1810), second son of Sir John Lockhart Ross of Balnagowan, Baronet, and by him had a son, James Farquharson, a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, representative of the family.

There are several branches of this clan, of which we shall mention the Farquharsons of WHITEHOUSE, who are descended from Donald Farquharson of Castleton of Braemar and Monaltrie, living in 1580, eldest son, by his second wife, of Findla Mhor, above mentioned.

Farquharson of FINZEAN is the heir male of the clan, and claims the chieftainship, the heir of line being Farquharson of Invercauld. His estate forms nearly the half of the parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire. The family, of which he is representative, came originally from Braemar, but they have held property in the parish for many generations. On the death of Archibald Farquharson, Esq. of Finzean, in 1841, that estate came into the possession of his uncle, John Farquharson, Esq., residing in London, who died in 1849, and was succeeded by his third cousin, Dr Francis Farquharson. This gentleman, before succeeding to Finzean, represented the family of Farquharson of Balfour, a small property in the same parish and county, sold by his grandfather.

The Farquharsons, according to Duncan Forbes “the only clan family in Aberdeenshire,” and the estimated strength of which was 500 men, were among the most faithful adherents of the house of Stuart, and throughout all the struggles in its behalf constantly acted up to their motto, “Fide et Fortitudine.” The old motto of the clan was, “We force nae friend, we fear nae foe.” They fought under Montrose, and formed part of the Scottish army under Charles II. at Worcester in 1651. They also joined the forces under the Viscount of Dundee in 1689, and at the outbreak of the rebellion of 1715 they were the first to muster at the summons of the Earl of Mar.

In 1745, the Farquharsons joined Prince Charles, and formed two battalions, the one under the command of Farquharson of Monaltrie, and the other of Farquharson of Balmoral; but they did not accompany the Prince in his expedition into England. Farquharson of Invercauld was treated by government with considerable leniency for his share in the rebellion, but his kinsman, Farquharson of Balmoral, was specially excepted from mercy in the act of indemnity passed in June 1747.

The MACBEANS, Macbanes, or Macbains, derive their name from the fair complexion of their progenitor, or, according to some, from their living in a high country, beann being the Gaelic name for a mountain, hence Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, &c. The distinctive badge of the Macbeans, like that of the Macleods, was the red whortleberry. Of the Mackintosh clan they are considered an offshoot, although some of themselves believe that they are Camerons. It is true that a division of the MacBeans fought under Lochiel in 1745, but a number of them fought under Golice or Gillies MacBane, of the house of Kinchoil, in the Mackintosh battalion. This gigantic Highlander, who was six feet four and a-half inches in height, displayed remarkable prowess at the battle of Culloden.[198]

“In the time of William, first of the name, and sixth of Mackintosh, William Mhor, son to Bean-Mac Domhnuill-Mhor and his four sons, Paul, Gillies, William-Mhor, and Farquhar, after they had slain the Red Comyn’s steward at Innerlochie, came, according to the history, to William Mackintosh, to Connage, where he then resided, and for themselves and their posterity, took protection of him and his. No tribe of Clan Chattan, the history relates, suffered so severely at Harlaw as Clan Vean.”[199]

The MACPHAILS are descended from one “Paul Macphail, goodsir to that Sir Andrew Macphail, parson of Croy, who wrote the history of the Mackintoshes. Paul lived in the time of Duncan, first of the name, and eleventh of Mackintosh, who died in 1496. The head of the tribe had his residence at Inverarnie, on the water of Nairn.”[200]

According to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, there is a tradition that the Gows are descended from Henry, the smith who fought at the North Inch battle, he having accompanied the remnant of the Mackintoshes, and settled in Strathnairn. Being bandy-legged, he was called “Gow Chrom.” At any rate, this branch of clan Chattan has long been known as “Sliochd an Gow Chrom”. Gow is a “smith,” and thus a section of the multitudinous tribe of Smiths may claim connection with the great clan Chattan.

The head of the MACQUEENS was Macqueen of Corrybrough, Inverness-shire.[201] The founder of this tribe is said to have been Roderick Dhu Revan MacSweyn or Macqueen, who, about the beginning of the 15th century, received a grant of territory in the county of Inverness. He belonged to the family of the Lord of the Isles, and his descendants from him were called the clan Revan.

The Macqueens fought, under the standard of Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, at the battle of Harlaw in 1411. On 4th April 1609, Donald Macqueen of Corrybrough signed the bond of manrent, with the chiefs of the other tribes composing the clan Chattan, whereby they bound themselves to support Angus Mackintosh of that ilk as their captain and leader. At this period, we are told, the tribe of Macqueen comprehended twelve distinct families, all landowners in the counties of Inverness and Nairn.

In 1778, Lord Macdonald of Sleat, who had been created an Irish peer by that title two years before, having raised a Highland regiment, conferred a lieutenancy in it on a son of Donald Macqueen, then of Corrybrough, and in the letter, dated 26th January of that year, in which he intimated the appointment, he says, “It does me great honour to have the sons of chieftains in the regiment, and as the Macqueens have been invariably attached to our family, to whom we believe we owe our existence, I am proud of the nomination.” Thus were the Macqueens acknowledged to have been of Macdonald origin, although they ranged themselves among the tribes of the clan Chattan. The present head of the Macqueens is John Fraser Macqueen, Q.C.

The CATTANACHS, for a long period few in number, are, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, perhaps better entitled to be held descendants of Gillichattan Mor than most of the clan.

The force of the clan Chattan was, in 1704, estimated at 1400; in 1715, 1020; and in 1745, 1700.

FOOTNOTES:

[183] For much of this account of the clan Chattan we are indebted to the kindness of A. Mackintosh Shaw, Esq. of London, who has revised the whole. His forthcoming history of the clan, we have reason to believe, will be the most valuable clan history yet published.

[184] Mr Mackintosh Shaw says that, in 1591, Huntly obtained a bond of manrent from Andrew Macpherson and his immediate family, the majority of the Macphersons remaining faithful to Mackintosh. Statements II. and III. are founded only on the Macpherson MS.

[185] Antiquarian Notes, p. 358.

[186] For details as to this celebrated combat, see vol. i. ch. v. The present remarks are supplementary to the former, and will serve to correct several inaccuracies.

[187] Every one acquainted with the subject, knows what havoc Lowland scribes have all along made of Gaelic names in legal and public documents.

[188] The Mackintosh MS. of 1500 states that Lauchlan, the Mackintosh chief, gave Shaw a grant of Rothiemurchus “for his valour on the Inch that day.”

[189] Vol. ii. pp. 175-178.

[190] THE MACKINTOSH’S LAMENT.--For the copy of the Mackintosh’s Lament here given, the editor and publishers are indebted to the kindness of The Mackintosh. In a note which accompanied it that gentleman gives the following interesting particulars:--

“The tune is as old as 1550 or thereabouts. Angus Mackay in his Pipe Music book gives it 1526, and says it was composed on the death of Lauchlan, the 14th Laird; but we believe that it was composed by the famous family bard Macintyre, upon the death of William, who was murdered by the Countess of Huntly, in 1550. This bard had seen within the space of 40 years, four captains of the Clan Chattan meet with violent deaths, and his deep feelings found vent in the refrain,

‘Mackintosh, the excellent They have lifted; They have laid thee Low, they have laid thee.’

“These are the only words in existence which I can hear of.”

[191] History of Scotland, p. 137.

[192] Vol. ii. p. 7.

[193] Skene’s Highlanders, ii. 198-9.

[194] This is the genealogy given by Sir Æneas Macpherson. From another MS. genealogy of the Macphersons, and from the Mackintosh MS. history, we find that the son of Kenneth, the alleged grandson of Muirich, married a daughter of Ferquhard, ninth of Mackintosh, cir. 1410, so that it is probable Sir Æneas has placed Muirich and his family more than a century too early.

[195] The Shaw arms are the same as those of the Farquharsons following, except that the former have not the banner of Scotland in bend displayed in the second and third quarters.

[196] The date of part of the Mackintosh MS. is 1490. It states that Lauchlan the chief gave Shaw a grant of Rothiemurchus “for his valour on the Inch that day.” It also states that the “Farquhar” above-mentioned was a man of great parts and remarkable fortitude, and that he fought with his clan at the battle of Largs in 1263. More than this, it states that Duncan, his uncle, was his TUTOR during his minority, and that Duncan and his posterity held Rothiemurchus till 1396, when Malcolm, the last of his race, fell at the fight at Perth--after which the lands (as above stated) were given to Shaw Mor.

[197] Family MS. quoted by Douglas in his Baronage.

[198] See vol. i. p. 666.

[199] Fraser-Mackintosh’s Antiquarian Notes, p. 360.

[200] Ibid.

[201] The present head does not now hold the property.

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