KNELAND,
(now Cleland,) a surname derived from the lands of Kneland in
Lanarkshire. The first of the family on record, Alexander Kneland of
that ilk, living in the time of Alexander III., married Margaret,
daughter of Adam Wallace of Riccartoun, father of Sir William Wallace,
the hero of Scotland. His son, James Cleland, joined his cousin in
1296, in his attempt to restore the liberties of his country. In
enumerating those who then hastened to the standard of Wallace, Blind
Harry (Dr. Jamieson’s edition of The Wallace and Bruce, p. 30),
says,
“Kneland was thar, ner cusyng to Wallace,
Syne baid with him in mony peralouss place.”
He was present at
most of the exploits of Wallace, particularly at Loundoun hill, July
1296, at the battle of Stirling, 13th September 1297, and
at the disastrous battle of Falkirk, 22d July 1298. He sailed with his
illustrious cousin to France, and in the directions in Blind Harry
given by Wallace to his men, in the sea-battle with Thomas of
Longueville, called the Red Reaver, is this one;
“Kneland, cusyng, cum take the ster on hand,
Her on the waill ner by the I sall stand.”
He supported the
cause of Robert Brus, and with his eldest son, John Cleland, fought
gallantly at the battle of Bannockburn, where he was wounded. For his
loyalty and good services he obtained from that monarch several lands
in the barony of Calder, Linlithgowshire, as already related (see
CLELAND). The son, who succeeded him, was taken prisoner with David
II. at the battle of Durham, 17th October 1346.
The
representative of the family, James Blackwood Rose Cleland, Esq. of
Ruth-‘Gael, Ireland, was born in 1835.
