MACARTHUR,
(Gaelic Artair), a branch of the clan Campbell, which formerly
inhabited the shores of Loch Awe, opposite the island of Inishail,
and long disputed the chieftainship of the Campbells with the
powerful family of Argyle. Mr. Skene, in his Highlanders of
Scotland, vol. ii. p. 282), says, “It is certain that until the
reign of Robert the Bruce the Campbells did not possess an heritable
right to any property in Argyleshire. The situation of the MacArthur
branch at this time was very different, for we find them in
possession of a very extensive territory in the earldom of Garmoran,
the original seat of the Campbells. It is, therefore, impossible to
doubt that MacArthur was at this time at the head of the clan, and
this position he appears to have maintained until the reign of James
I.” MacArthur adhered to the cause of Robert the Bruce, and
received, as his reward, a considerable portion of the forfeited
territory of MacDugall 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 is said to have been 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. He composed many pieces of bagpipe music, which were highly
esteemed by competent judges. A portrait of Archibald MacArthur, a
native of the island of Mull, who died in 1834, piper to Sir
Reginald Macdonald Stewart Seton of touch and Staffa, baronet, is in
Kay’s Edinburgh Portraits.
M’ARTHUR, JOHN, LL.D., a miscellaneous writer, was born in
Scotland in 1755. For several years he acted as secretary to Admiral
Lord Hood, and was engaged in that capacity at the breaking out of
the first French Revolution, and the consequent occupation of Toulon
by the British. During the American war he officiated as
judge-advocate. He died at Hayfield, Hamshire, July 29, 1840. He
published the following works:
The Army and Navy Gentleman’s Companion, displaying the
Intricacies of Small Sword Play. Lond. 1780.
Principles and Practice of Naval and Military Courts Martial;
with an Appendix, containing Original Papers and Documents
illustrative of the subject. Lond. 1792, 8vo. 2d edit. with
considerable additions and improvements. Lond. 1806, 2 vols. 8vo. 4th
edit. enlarged. 1813, 2 vols. 8vo.
Financial and Political Facts of the Eighteenth Century; with
Comparative Estimates of the Revenue, Expenditure, Debts,
Manufactures, and Commerce of Great Britain. London, 1801, 8vo.
Published anonymously, but a second edition appeared in 1803, with
his name.
The Poems of Ossian in the original Gaelic, with literal
Translations into Latin, by the late Robert Macfarlane, A.M.,
together with an Essay on the Authenticity of the Poems, by Sir John
Sinclair, Bart., and a Translation from the Italian of the Abbe
Cesarotti’s Critical Dissertation on their Authenticity, with Notes,
by Dr. M’Arthur, 3 vols. 8vo, 1807.
In conjunction with the Rev. James Stanie Clarke, he also
published, in 1810, a Life of Lord Nelson, from his Lordship’s
manuscripts, 2 vols. 4to.
