MACALISTER,
the name of a clan that inhabited the south of Knapdale and the
north of Kintyre in Argyleshire. They are traced to Alister or
Alexander, a son of Angus Mor, of the clan Donald. Exposed to the
encroachments of the Campbells, their principal possessions became,
ere long, absorbed by different branches of that powerful clan. Clan
badge, the five-leaved heath. The chief of this sept of the
Macdonalds in Somerville MacAlester of Loup in Kintyre, and Kennox
in Ayrshire. In 1805 Charles Somerville MacAlester, Esq. of Loup,
assumed the name and arms of Somerville in addition to his own, in
right of his wife, Janet Somerville, inheritrix of the entailed
estate of Kennox, whom he had married in 1792.
From their descent from Alexander, eldest son of Angus Mor,
lord of the Isles and Kintyre in 1284, the grandson of Somerled,
thane of Argyle, the MacAlesters claim to be the representatives,
after MacDonell of Glengarry, of the ancient lords of the Isles, as
heirs male of Donald, grandson of Somerled.
Having joined the lord of Lorn against Robert the Bruce,
Alexander was, by that monarch, attacked in his principal
stronghold, Castle Sweyn in Knapdale, and, forced to surrender, died
a prisoner in Dundonald castle. His forfeited possessions were
conferred on his younger brother, Angus Oig, who had always
supported the cause of the Bruce. Alexander’s descendants acquired
lands in Argyleshire, and attached themselves to the powerful
division of the clan Donald, called Ian Mor, from John the great,
its progenitor, who lived in 1400, and whose possessions were in
Isla and Kintyre.
After the forfeiture of the lords of the Isles in 1493, the
MacAlesters became so numerous as to form a separate and independent
clan. At that period their chieftain was named John or Ean Dubh,
whose residence was at Ard Phadriuc or Ardpatrick, in South
Knapdale. One of the family, Charles MacAlester, is mentioned as
steward of Kintyre in 1481.
In the register of the privy seal for 1515 appears the name of
his son, Angus vic Ean Dubh. This Angus had three sons, Alexander;
Donald, constable of the castle of Tarbet, on Loch Fyne, an office
which became hereditary in the family; and Roderick, said to have
been, in 1545, bishop of the Isles, although not mentioned in
Keith’s Catalogue.
The eldest son, Alexander MacAlester of the Loup, was
forfeited for treasonably abiding from the army at Solway, but in
1540 he obtained a remission for himself and 15 of his clan.
His grandson, Alexander, was one of those Highland chieftains
who were held responsible, by the act called “the Black Band,”
passed in 1587, for the peaceable behaviour of their clansmen and
the “broken men” who lived on their lands. He died when his son,
Godfrey or Gorrie MacAlester, was yet under age.
This youthful chief became the hero of a tragedy which forms
one of the most remarkable cases in Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials,
(vol. iii. p. 7). Between him and a young lady of great property
residing not far from his own possessions a mutual love existed, but
their union was prevented by his guardian, who contrived to get her
married to one of his own sons. Apprehensive, however, of the
resentment of his ward, who had now attained his majority, he
removed for a time to a distant part of the country. On his return
in 1598, he was attacked and slain by the young chief. As the
latter’s vengeance was equally directed against the sons of his
tutor, they took refuge in the house of Askomull in Kintyre,
belonging to Angus Macdonald of Dunyveg, chief of the clan Ian Vohr,
whilst the laird of Loup procured the assistance of Sir James
Macdonald, the son of Angus, then at variance with his father. With
about 300 armed men, they surrounded the house of Askomull at
midnight, and on the refusal of those within to surrender, it was
immediately set on fire. Although he knew that his father and mother
were at the time in the house, Sir James savagely refused to let the
fire be extinguished, and, at length, his father, in endeavouring to
make his escape, was made prisoner, after being severely burnt, and
receiving many indignities from the servants of his unnatural son.
The other inmates of the house also fell into his hands, and were
treated with various degrees of severity, but he does not appear to
have caused any of them to be put to death.
For his share in this transaction MacAlester was obliged to
conceal himself for a time. He afterwards returned and joined Sir
James Macdonald in the deadly conflict which took place 5th
August 1598, at Loch Gruinard in Isla, between the Macdonalds and
the M’Leans, in which the latter were defeated and their chief
slain. (See MACLEAN, clan of.) In September 1605, Sir David Murray,
Lord Scone, comptroller of Scotland, was directed to repair to
Kintyre, to receive the obedience of the principal men of the clans
in the South Isles, with surety for the payment of his majesty’s
rents and duties, when the laird of Loup, with Angus Macdonald and
his relatives and vassals in Kintyre, were the only persons who
appeared before him. Dying soon after, he was interred at Iona, the
burial-place of the MacAlister.
His son, Hector, succeeded while still very young. On 3d July
1615, two of his kinsmen, Alester and Angus MacAlester, with Angus
Oig, brother of Sir James Macdonald, were tried before the privy
council for high treason, for forcibly seizing on the castle of
Dunyveg in Isla, and holding it out against his majesty’s forces
under Sir Oliver Lambert, and being found guilty, were executed at
the market cross of Edinburgh on the 8th of the same
month. In 1618 the laird of Loup was named one of the twenty barons
and gentlemen of the shire of Argyle who were made responsible for
the good rule of the earldom during Argyle’s absence. He married
Margaret, daughter of Colin Campbell of Kilberry, and though, as a
vassal of the marquis of Argyle, he took no part in the wars of the
marquis of Montrose, many of his clan fought on the side of the
latter, and one of them particularly distinguished himself at the
battle of Inverlochy, February 2, 1645. After the Restoration he was
one of the commissioners of supply for the shire of Argyle, as was
also, in 1678, his son Godfrey MacAlester of Loup, who succeeded
him. Alexander MacAlester of Loup, the son of the latter, adhered,
after the Revolution, to the cause of James VII., and was present at
the battle of Killiecrankie, under the Viscount Dundee. He
afterwards joined the force commanded by Major-general Buchan, which
was totally routed at Cromdale 1st May 1690.
Subsequently, proceeding to Ireland, he was present at the battle of
the Boyne. He had three sons, Hector, of Loup; Charles, who
succeeded his brother; and Duncan, who settled in Holland, where he
left numerous descendants. His son, Robert MacAlester, a general in
the Dutch service, was commandant of the Scots brigade.
Charles MacAlester of Loup had two sons, Angus, his successor,
who sold a considerable part of his patrimony, and
Lieutenant-general Archibald MacAlester, who for many years
commanded the 35th regiment, and was father of
Lieutenant-colonel MacAlester of the Ceylon rifle regiment. Angus,
of Loup, married his cousin Jane, then a widow, daughter of John
Macdonald of Ardnacroish, cousin of the celebrated Flora Macdonald,
and died in 1796. With one son, Charles Somerville MacAlester of
Loup, who succeeded him, he had three daughters.
The principal cadet of the family of Loup was MacAlester of
Tarbert. There is also MacAlister of Glenbarr, county of Argyle.
