CLEPHANE,
a surname belonging to a family of great antiquity which, in very
early times, possessed lands in the counties both of Fife and Berwick.
The immediate ancestor of the family was Alanus de Clephane in the
reign of King William the Lion. He was sheriff of Lauderdale, and is
witness in a donation to the monastery of Kelso by Roland lord of
Galloway; also, in a donation to the monastery of Newbottle, by the
said Roland. In another donation to the monastery of Kelso he is
designed “Alanus de Clephane, vicecom. de Lawdyr,” &c., &c., anno
1203. He died in the end of the reign of William the Lion. His son ans
successor, Walterus de Clephane, is mentioned in a donation without a
date to the monastery of Newbottle by Thomas of Galloway, fifth earl
of Athol, who died in 1234. This Walter is supposed, in the reign of
William the Lion, to have married the daughter and heiress of William
de Carslogie, son of Richard de Carslogie, in Fife, and with her got
the lands and barony of Carslogie, which became the chief title of the
family. He died in the reign of King Alexander the Second. His son,
David de Clephane, succeeded to th estate of Carslogie, and died in
the reign of Alexander the Third. He had three sons, John his heir,
Marcus de Clapan, miles, who was witness to several charters by
dominus Alexander de Abernethy of Abernethy. In the Ragman Roll occurs
the name of Marcus de Clypan, as having sworn fealty to Edward the
First, 5th August 1296, at Arbroath. This appears to have
been the same Marcus. William, the third son, was also forced to
submit to King Edward the First. The eldest son John, got a charter
from Duncan, earl of Fife, (supposed to have been Duncan the twelfth
earl), of the lands of Carslogie, which bears him to possess them
“adeo libere sicut David de Clephan pater ejus et praedecessores eas
tenuerant.” As was usual with such documents in those days, this
charter is without a date, but from the witnesses to it, “dominis
Alexandro de Abernethy, Michaele et David de Wemyss, Hugone de Lochor,
Johanne de Ramsay, Willielmo de Ramsay, et Henrico de Ramsay, cum
multis aliis,” it appears to have been granted in the beginning of the
reign of Robert the First. He had two sons, Alan his heir, and John de
Clephane, who was killed near Norham in England, fighting against the
enemies of his country, in 1327. His elder son, Alan Clephane of
Carslogie, fought with Bruce on the field of Bannockburn, where he is
said to have lost his right hand, and had one of steel made in its
stead and so fitted with springs as to enable him to wield his sword.
He is mentioned in the chartularies of Dunfermline and Balmerino in
1331, and by Sir Robert Sibbald in 1332.
His
descendant in the fourth degree, John Clephane of Carslogie, lost by
apprisings, &c., the bulk of the family estate in Lauderdale, which
had been about three centuries in their possession. This appears by a
charter under the great seal from King James the Fifth dated 2d
September 1516. Alexandro Tarvet de eodem, quadraginta mercatas
terrarum de Quhelplaw in balivat. de Lauderdale, infra vice-comitat.
de Berwick, quae appretiatae fuerunt a Johanne Clephane de Carslogie,
&c. By his wife, a daughter of Sir John Wemyss of that ilk, he had a
son, George Clephane of Carslogie, who married Christian, daughter of
Learmont of Dairsie, by whom he had two sone and two daughters. James,
the elder, carried on the line of succession. William, the younger,
was progenitor of James Clephane, Esq., who went early into the
service of the estates of Holland, where he rose to the rank of major.
He subsequently entered the British service, and in 1757, as major to
Colonel Fraser’s regiment, he was at the siege of Louisburg, and
served with great reputation in all the campaigns in America till the
expulsion of the French from Canada in 1760. He died in 1768. His
brother, Dr. John Clephane, was physician to the British army, and
died in 1758.
The last of
the eldest branch of the family, Major-general William Maclean Douglas
Clephane, who died in 1804, was the twenty-first laird, in the direct
male line, without the intervention of a female or the succession of a
younger branch. He sold the remaining portion of the barony, and it is
a singular coincidence that when the property went entirely from the
family, the eldest male line became extinct. The general married the
daughter of Mr. Maclean of Torloisk, Mull, and after his death Sir
Walter Scott was chosen by his daughters to be their guardian. His
eldest daughter married, in 1815, the second marquis of Northampton.
Her ladyship died in 1830. The Clephanes are said to have been an
exceeding tall, strong race of men, and General Clephane was far above
the usual height. His brother, Andrew Clephane, Esq., Advocate,
sheriff of the county of Fife, who died in 1838, though not so tall,
exhibited in his person evident marks of the family characteristic in
this respect. The old house of Carslogie, for centuries the residence
of the Clephanes, became the property of the Rev. Mr. Laing, an
English clergyman.
According to
tradition, in ancient times, when private feuds were common among the
Scottish barons, the lords of Carslogie entered into a league of
mutual defence with the proprietors of Scotstarvet, whose residence,
Scotstarvet tower, in situated on a lower ridge or shoulder of Tarvet
hill, about two miles to the south. The tower of Carslogie being
situated in a hollow, might have been approached by an enemy without
his being observed until very near it, but as the more commanding
situation of Scotstarvet enabled the warden on the battlements to see
to a greater distance, he, on occasions of danger, instantly sounded
his horn, which was replied to by the warden from Carslogie, and the
vassals were immediately in arms for the defence of the castle. Mr.
Leighton in his History of Fife, believes, on good grounds, that this
league was not with the Scotts of Scotstarvet, who only acquired
possession of that estate in the seventeenth century, but with the
previous proprietors of Upper Tarvet, a family of the name of Inglis.
The horn of Carslogie, with which the call to battle was sounded, has
been rendered famous by Sir Walter Scott, and is said to be still
preserved by the representatives of the family of Clephane. Besides
the horn, the steel hand already mentioned, which was also
commemorated by Sir Walter Scott, was long in possession of the
family. One tradition is that this steel hand was a present from an
ancient king of Scotland to a baron of Carslogie, who had lost his
hand in battle, in defence of his country. It does not seem, however,
to be agreed what king this was, or which of the long line of barons
of Carslogie received the royal gift. The more popular account has it
that the hand, as above stated, was lost at Bannockburn, and that the
gift was made by Robert the Bruce to Alan de Clephane, but others,
bringing the story down to a later period, say, that it was presented
to the great grandfather of the late General Clephane, the last direct
male heir of the Clephanes of Carslogie. This famous steel hand is
said to be still possessed either by the representatives of the family
or by the third marquis of Northampton, General
Maclean-Douglas-Clephane’s grandson.
