MALCOLM, a surname originally
Gilliecolane or Gillechallum, derived from two Gaelic words
signifying the servant of St. Columba. Somerled, thane of
Argyle, had a son of this name, who was slain with him near
Renfrew in 1164.
The chief of
the clan Challum or the MacCallums, an Argyleshire sept.
originally styled the clan Challum of Ariskeodnish, is Malcolm
of Poltalloch, whose family has been settled from a very early
period in that county. One of this house, called Zachary Und
Donald Mor of Poltalloch, was killed May 25, 1647, at Ederline,
in South Argyle, in single combat with Sir Alexander Macdonald,
called Allaster Mac Collkittoch, or left-handed. He was in the
force of the marquis of Argyle when General David Leslie
advanced into Kintyre to drive out the royalists, and was
renowned in his day for his great strength. It is alleged that
he slew seven of his assailants before he was himself slain. He
was getting the better of Colkitto, when a Maclean came behind
him with a scythe and hamstrung him; he was then easily
overpowered.
In 1414, Sir
Duncan Campbell of Lochow granted to Reginald Malcolm of
Corbarron, certain lands of Craignish, and on the banks of Loch
Avich, in Nether Lorn; with the office of hereditary constable
of his castles of Lochaffy and Craignish. This branch became
extinct towards the end of the 17th century, as Corbarron or
Corran is said to have been bequeathed by the last of the family
to Zachary MacCallum of Poltalloch, who succeeded his father in
1686.
Dugald
MacCallum of Poltalloch, who inherited the estate in 1779,
appears to have been the first to adopt permanently the name of
Malcolm as the family patronymic. Besides Poltalloch, the family
possesses Kilmartin house and Duntroon castle, in the same
county.
John Malcolm,
Esq., of Poltalloch, born in 1805, a magistrate and
deputy-lieutenant for Argyleshire and Kent, succeeded his
brother, Neill, in 1857. Educated at Harrow and Oxford, he
became B.A. in 1827 and M.A. in 1830. He married 2d daughter of
the Hon. John Wingfield, Stratford, son of 3d Viscount
Powerscourt, with issue. Heir, his son, John Wingfield.
_____
The Malcolms of
Balbeadie and Grange, Fifeshire, POSSESS A BARONETCY OF Nova
Scotia, conferred in 1665. In the reign of Charles I., Sir John
Malcolm, eldest son of John Malcolm of Balbeadie, acquired the
lands of Lochore in the same county. A branch of the Malcolms of
Lochore and Innertiel settled in Dumfries-shire.
In 1746, Sir
Michael Malcolm, baronet, being related to the last Lord
Balmerino, was sent for to be present at his execution on
Tower-hill. A daughter of lord Chancellor Bathurst saw him on
the scaffold, and fell in love with him. He subsequently married
her.
On Sir
Michael’s death, the title devolved upon James Malcolm of
Grange, and at the death of the latter in 1795, upon John
Malcolm of Balbeadie, descended from the youngest brother of the
first baronet. Sir John’s son, Sir Michael Malcolm, married in
1824, Mary, youngest daughter of John Forbes, Esq., of Bridgend,
Perth, and with three daughters, had one son, Sir John Malcolm,
born April 1, 1828, who succeeded to the baronetcy, on the death
of his father in 1833.
MALCOLM I., King of Scots, was the son
of Donal IV., who reigned from 893 to 904. On the abdication of
Constantine III., Malcolm succeeded to the throne in 944. In
945, Edmund, the Saxon king of England, ceded Cumberland and
part of Westmoreland to him, on condition that he would defend
that northern territory, and become the ally of England. Edred,
the brother and successor of Edmund, accordingly applied for,
and obtained the aid of Malcolm against Anlaf, king of
Northumberland, which latter country he wasted, and carried off
the inhabitants with their cattle.
In the time of
Malcolm I., the people of the province of Moray, in the
north-east of Scotland, were a mixed race, formed of
Scandinavian settlers, with Scottish and Pictish Celts.
Turbulent and rebellious, they were continually at war with the
sovereign, and an insurrection having occurred under Cellach,
maormor of Garmoran, Malcolm marched north to reduce them to
obedience. He slew Cellach, but was, some time thereafter,
assassinated in 953 at Ulurn, supposed by Shaw to be Auldearn,
after a reign of nine years. Other accounts state his death to
have taken place at Fodresach or Forres. He was succeeded by
Indulph, the son of Constantine II., and Indulph had for his
successor, Duff, the son of Malcolm, who mounted the throne in
961. Another son of Malcolm I., Kenneth III., succeeded in 971,
after an intermediate possessor of the throne named Culen, the
son of Indulph.
MALCOLM II, King of Scots, the son of
Kenneth III., succeeded to the throne in 1003, and had a
troublous reign of about thirty years. He defeated and slew
Kenneth IV. at Monievaird in Strathearn, and in consequence
became king. His first annoyance came from the Danes who, in
previous reigns, had made several attempts to effect a
settlement in Scotland, but had been defeated in them all. They
had secured a firm footing in England, and the year after
Malcolm’s accession to the throne, they commenced the most
formidable preparations, under their celebrated king, Sweyn, for
a new expedition to the Scottish coasts. He ordered Olaus, his
viceroy in Norway, and Enet in Denmark, to raise a powerful
army, and to fit out a suitable fleet for the enterprise.
The coast of
Moray was chosen as the scene of the menaced invasion. Effecting
a descent near Speymouth, the Danes carried fire and sword
through that province, and laid siege to the fortress of Nairn,
then one of the strongest castles in the north of Scotland. They
were forced to raise the siege for a time by Malcolm, who
hastening against them with an army, encamped in a plain near
Killflow or Kinlos. In this position he was attacked by the
Danes, and forced to retreat, after being seriously wounded. The
fortress of Nairn then capitulated to the invaders, but in
violation of an express condition that their lives should be
saved, the whole garrison were immediately hanged.
To expel the
Danes from Moray, Malcolm mustered all his forces, and in the
spring of 1010, with a powerful army he encamped at Mortlach.
The Danes advanced to give him battle, and a fierce and
sanguinary conflict ensued, the result of which was long
doubtful. Three of the Scottish commanders fell at the very
commencement of the engagement, when a panic seized their
followers, and the king was borne along with them in their
retreat till he was opposite the church of Mortlach, then a
chapel dedicated to St. Molach. There, while his army were
partially pent up in their flight by the contraction of the vale
and the narrowness of the pass, he made a vow to endow a
religious house on the field of battle should he obtain the
victory. Then, rallying and rousing his troops by an animated
appeal to their patriotism, and placing himself at their head,
he wheeled round upon the Danes, threw Enotus, one of the Danish
generals, from his horse, and killed him with his own hand. The
Scots, catching his spirit, made an impetuous onset on the
enemy, whom they drove from the field, thickly strewing the
ground with their corpses. In gratitude to God for this signal
victory, Malcolm got the church of Mortlach converted into a
cathedral, and the village into the seat of a diocese, said to
have been the earliest bishopric in Scotland. His endowment of
it was confirmed by Pope Benedict, but in 1139 the bishopric was
removed to Aberdeen. In the order of precedence, while this see
lasted, it ranked next to that of St. Andrews. It was long
thought that, during their occupation of Moray, the Danes had
fortified Burgh Head, but the remains there found are now
believed to be either of roman or Pictish construction.
To revenge this
defeat and other disasters which, at this time, the invaders
experienced on the coasts of Angus and Buchan, Sweyn, the Danish
king, dispatched Camus, one of the ablest of his generals, to
the Scottish shores. He had scarcely, however, effected a
landing on the coast of Angus, in the neighbourhood of
Carnonstie, than he was attacked in the plains of Barrie by
Malcolm, at the head of a considerable army, and, after a bloody
contest, defeated with great loss. He sought safety in flight,
but was closely pursued, and killed. The place of his overthrow
is indicated by a monumental stone, called the Cross of Camus,
which stands on a small tumulus at Camustown, a village which
has been named after him, in the parish of Monikie. The tumulus,
according to tradition, contains the remains of Camus, and the
story of the old chroniclers is that, after his defeat, he fled
northwards, with a view to escape to Moray, where were some of
his ships, but was pursued and overtaken here by Robert, the
remote ancestor of the earls Marischal, who killed him by
cleaving his skull with his battle-axe. About the year 1620, the
tumulus was opened by order of Sir Patrick Maule, afterwards
first earl of Panmure, when a skeleton of large dimensions in
good preservation was discovered, with part of the skull
wanting.
The Danes,
however, were not to be deterred even by the repeated defeats
which they had sustained, from their long cherished but often
baffled scheme of the conquest of North Britain. And as for the
Scots, the spirit which animated them has been well expressed in
the lines of Home:
“The Danes have
landed, we must beat them back,
Or live the
slaves of Denmark.
In 1014,
another Danish force landed on the coast of Buchan, about a mile
west from Slaines castle, in the parish of Cruden. The Danes on
this occasion were led by Sweyn’s celebrated son, Canute,
afterwards king of England and Denmark, and again they
experienced a signal overthrow. The site of the field of battle
has been ascertained by the discovery of human bones left
exposed by the shifting or blowing of the sand. Some writers
assert that a treaty was entered into with the Danes, by which
it was stipulated that the field of battle should be consecrated
by a bishop as a burying-place for those of their countrymen who
had fallen, and that a church should be there built and priests
appointed in all time coming, to say masses for the souls of the
slain. It is certain that a chapel was erected in this
neighbourhood, dedicated to St. Olaus, the site of which has
become invisible by being covered with sand. Another and far
more important stipulation, it is said, was made by which the
Danes agreed to quit every part of the Scottish coasts, and this
was followed by the final departure, the same year, of these
ruthless invaders from Scotland.
Malcolm was
next engaged in war with the Northumbrians, and having, in 1018,
led his army to Carham, near Werk, on the southern bank of the
Tweed, he was met there by Uchtred earl of Northumberland, when
a desperate battle took place. The victory was claimed by
Uchtred, who was, soon after, assassinated, when on his way to
pay his obeisance to the great Canute. To prevent an invasion of
his territories, Eadulph, his brother and successor, in the year
1020, ceded to Malcolm the fertile region of Lodonia, or
Lothian. That extensive and beautiful district had formerly been
a part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which in the
time of Edwin, from whom Edinburgh derives its name, and who
began his reign in 617, had extended from the Humber to the
Avon; but ever after it had thus been acquired by Malcolm II.,
it formed an integral portion of the Scottish dominions. On this
occasion, Malcolm gave oblations to the churches and gifts to
the clergy, who, in return, bestowed on him the proud
designation of vir victoriosissimus.
In 1031, Canute,
the Danish king of England, the most powerful monarch of his
time, invaded Scotland, to compel Malcolm to do homage for
Cumbria, which he had refused, on the ground that Canute was a
usurper; but, after some negotiations, Duncan, Malcolm’s
grandson, afterwards king, agreed to fulfil the conditions on
which that territory had been granted to the Scots, and Canute
immediately returned to England.
Malcolm died in
1033, and was buried at Iona, the usual place of sepulcher, for
many centuries, of the Scottish kings.
[picture of Iona]
Both Boece and
Fordun assert that Malcolm II. Was murdered in the central tower
of the castle of Glammis in Forfarshire, which seems to have
been his usual place of residence. Wyntoun states that the cause
of the insurrection which led to his assassination was that he
had ravished a virgin. His words are:
“----------he
had rewyist a fayre May
Of the land
there lyand by.”
Tradition still pretends to point out a
passage in the castle, with blood-stains on the floor, where the
fatal act was perpetrated. It avers also that the ground being
covered with snow, the assassins, in their flight, mistook their
way, and unconsciously entered on the loch of Forfar, when the
ice broke, and they were drowned; a very convenient method of
getting rid of imaginary murderers. The whole story is a fiction
of that fertile inventor of Scottish history, Hector Boece, and
is totally incredible, even although no less than three
obelisks, with symbolic characters, representative of the
conspiracy and the pursuit of the fancied regicides, have for
centuries stood in different parts of the parish of Glammis, to
commemorate it. Pinkerton (Enquiry, vol. ii. p. 192) contends
that Malcolm died a natural death, which is more likely than the
fabulous account of his assassination.
The
authenticity of the pretended laws of Malcolm, called the Leges
Malcolmi, has been denied by Lord Hailes. He, however,
introduced many improvements into the internal policy of his
kingdom, and in him the church always found a guardian and
benefactor.
Malcolm’s
daughter, Bethoc, married Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld, and this
marriage gave a long line of kings to Scotland, ending with
Alexander III. Their son, Duncan, succeeded his maternal
grandfather on the throne, and was “the gracious Duncan,”
murdered by Macbeth. Crinan is styled by Fordun, Abthanus de
Dull ac Seneschallus Insularum. The title of abthane appears to
have belonged to an abbot who possessed a thanedom. It was
peculiar to Scotland, and only three abthaneries are named in
ancient records, namely, those of Dull in Athol, Kirkmichael in
Strathardie, and Madderty in Strathearn. The title of thane,
previously known in England, was not used in Scotland till the
introduction of the Saxon policy into the latter kingdom by
Edgar, who began his reign in 1097. The three thanedoms
mentioned under the name of Abthaneries appear to have been
vested in the crown, and were conferred by Edgar on his younger
brother, Ethelred, who was abbot of Dunkeld. On Ethelred’s death
they reverted to the crown.
In the time of
Crinan, “there was certainly,” says Mr. Skene, “no such title in
Scotland, but it is equally certain that there were no charters,
and although Crinan had not the name, he may have been in fact
the same thing. He was certainly abbot of Dunkeld, and he may
have likewise possessed that extensive territory which, from the
same circumstance, was afterwards called the abthanedom of Dull.
Fordun certainly inspected the records of Dunkeld, and the
circumstance can only be explained by supposing that Fordun may
have there seen the deed granting the abthanedom of Dull to
Ethelred, abbot of Dunkeld, which would naturally state that it
had been possessed by his proavus Crinan, and from which Fordun
would conclude that as Crinan possessed the thing, he was also
known by the name of Abthanus de Dull. From this, therefore, we
learn the very singular fact that the race which gave a long
line of kings to Scotland, were originally lords of that
district in Athol lying between Strathtay and Rannoch, which was
afterwards termed the Abthania de Dull.” (Skene’s Highlands of
Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 137. 138.)
Departing from
the generally received history of Scotland at this remote and
confused period of our annals, Mr. Skene is of opinion, from the
remarkable coincidence which he found between the Irish annals
and the Norse Sagas, that two Malcolms of different families
reigned in Scotland during the thirty years allotted to one, the
second of these Malcolms being in possession of the throne the
last four years of that time. From his account of the second
Norwegian kingdom in the north of Scotland, which lasted only
seven years, that is, from 986 to 993 (vol. i. p. 108), we learn
that Sigurd, the 14th iarl of Orkney, after having defeated a
Celtic army under Kenneth and Melsnechtan, maormors of Dala
(Argyle) and Ross, in an attempt on their part to recover
Caithness, in which Melsnechtan was slain, was obliged to retire
to the Orkneys, by the approach of Malcolm, maormor of Moray,
with a large Scottish force, and he was never afterwards able to
regain a footing on the mainland of Scotland. He had previously
made himself master of the districts of Ross, Moray, Sutherland,
and Argyle, but had been driven out of them by a sudden rising
of their maormors. These districts were left in possession of
Malcolm, who was enabled, by his increased power and influence,
and great personal talents, even to seat himself on the throne
itself. It what his title to the crown consisted is not known,
but whatever it was, he was supported in it by the Celtic
inhabitants of the whole of the north of Scotland. His
descendants, for many generations afterwards, constantly
asserted their right to the throne, and as invariably received
the assistance of the Celtic portion of its inhabitants. “In all
probability,” says Mr. Skene, “the Highlanders were attempting
to oppose the hereditary succession in the family of Kenneth
M’Alpin, and to introduce the more ancient Pictish law.” Kenneth
III. Is said to have got a law passed by his chiefs, on the
moothill of Scone, that the son, or nearest male heir of the
king, should always succeed to the throne, and when not of age,
that a regent should be appointed to rule the kingdom in his
name until he attained his fourteenth year, when he should
assume the reins of government. As the sovereignty was not
transmitted by the strict line of hereditary descent, brothers,
by the law of tanistry, being preferred to sons in the
succession, rival contests and civil wars for the crown were
frequent. Kenneth’s law, if passed at all, of which there is no
evidence, seems not to have been acted upon, as two princes,
Constantine IV., the son of Culen, (mentioned earlier), and
Kenneth IV. the son of Duff, succeeded to the crown before
Malcolm; that is, on the hitherto received supposition that
Malcolm II. was the son of Kenneth III., and grandson of Malcolm
I. If such was the case, Kenneth IV., the son of Duff, was his
cousin, and, during his reign, Malcolm stood in the position of
heir presumptive to the crown, and was regulus or prince of
Cumberland.
According to
Skene, however, he was maormor of Moray, and so far as appears,
not allied to the royal family at all. He seems to have made war
on Kenneth IV., but by the interposition of Fothad, one of the
Scottish bishops, a treaty was agreed to between them, by which
it was stipulated that Kenneth should remain king for life, and
that Malcolm and his heirs should succeed after him. Impatient
to possess the crown, however, Malcolm again took the field, and
in a bloody battle at Monivaird in Strathearn, Kenneth, after a
brave resistance, was killed. According to the register of St.
Andrews, Kenneth was slain “at Moleghvard,” in 1001. Other
accounts make it 1003.
Soon after
becoming king of Scotland, to conciliate Sigurd, earl of Orkney,
called the Stout, and described as “a great chieftain and
wide-landed,” Malcolm gave him his daughter for his second wife.
The issue of this marriage was four sons. The eldest, Thorfinn,
is said in the Orkneyinga Saga, to have been “a great chieftain,
one of the largest men in point of stature, ugly of aspect,
black haired, sharp featured, and somewhat tawny, and the most
martial looking man; he was a contentious man, and covetous both
of money and dignity; victorious and clever in battle, and a
hold attacker. He was then five winters old when Malcolm, king
of the Scots, his mother’s father, gave him an iarl’s title, and
Caithness to rule over, but he was fourteen winters when he
prepared maritime expeditions from his country, and made war on
the domains of other princes.” He thus early began his career as
a Vikingr. It was on the death of his father Sigurd, who was
slain in 1014, at the battle of Clontarf in Ireland, fighting
against the renowned Brian Borohime, that King Malcolm bestowed
on him the district of Caithness, his eldest half-brother, Einar,
having succeeded to the iarldom of the Orkneys.
In the Irish
annals, under the year 1029, it is recorded that “Malcolm, son
of Maelbrigde, son of Rory, King of Alban, died.” His reign
would thus appear to have lasted only twenty-six, instead of
thirty years. On his death, the Scottish portion of the nation
succeeded in placing upon the throne the son of Kenneth IV.,
also named Malcolm, for whom, according to Mr. Skene’s view, he
has been mistaken. In the Orkneyinga Saga he is known by the
name of Kali Hundason, and in the history of Scotland, of
Malcolm II.
This third
Malcolm commenced his reign by attempts to reduce the power of
the Norwegians in Scotland, but found them too strong for him.
Thorfinn having refused to pay him tribute for the territories
on the Scottish mainland, which he had received from his
grandfather, Malcolm gave Caithness to Moddan, his nephew, with
the title of iarl. To enable him to take possession of his new
territory, Moddan raised an army in Sutherland, but Thorfinn
collected his followers, and having been joined by Thorkell
Fostri, with a large force from the Orkneys, presented such a
strong front, that Moddan found himself obliged to retire
without hazarding a battle. On this Thorfinn subjected to
himself Sutherland and Ross, and carried his arms far and wide
in Scotland. He then returned to Caithness.
Malcolm, on his
part, with a fleet of eleven ships, sailed towards the north,
but was attacked and defeated in the Pentland Firth by Thorfinn,
and his fleet completely dispersed. This sea-fight took place a
little way east of Durness. Malcolm fled to the Moray Firth,
followed by Thorfinn and Thorkell. The latter, however, was soon
dispatched to Thurso, to attack Moddan, who had arrived there
with a large army. He reached Thurso at night, and having set
fire to the house in which Moddan slept, that chieftain leapt
down from the beams of an upper story, and was slain by Thorkell,
who cut off his head. After a brief fight, during which a great
number were killed, his army surrendered to Thorkell, who, with
additional forces, then rejoined Thorfinn in Moray.
In the
meantime, Malcolm had levied forces both in the east and west of
Scotland, and having been joined by a number of Irish
auxiliaries, he marched to give battle to Thorfinn. The opposing
armies met in 1033, on the southern shore of the Beauly Firth,
when Malcolm was totally defeated, and, according to some
accounts, slain. Others state that he escaped by flight, and
died the following year. Thorfinn thereafter conquered the whole
of Scotland, all the way south to Fife. He then returned to his
ships.
The only
portion of the territory of the northern Picts that had not been
subjected to his power was the district of Athole and the
greater part of Argyle, and here the Scots, on the death of
Malcolm, sought for a king; Duncan, the son of Crinan, abbot of
Dunkeld, and grandson of Malcolm II., being raised to the vacant
throne.
MALCOLM III. Better known in history
by the name of Malcolm Cean Mor, or great head, was the elder of
the two sons of Duncan, king of Scots, by his queen, a sister of
Siward, earl of Northumberland. He was born about 1024, before
his father was called to the throne, and, when the latter in
1039, after a reign of six years, was assassinated by Macbeth,
Malcolm, then only fifteen years of age, fled to Cumberland,
whilst his brother, Donald Bane, took refuge in the Hebrides.
On the
accession of Edward the Confessor to the throne of England in
1043, Malcolm was placed by his father-in-law Siward, under his
protection, when he became a resident at the English court. In
his absence various attempts were made by his adherents in
Scotland to dispossess Macbeth of the throne, in one of which
Malcolm’s grandfather, the aged Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld, was
slain in 1045. Nine years thereafter, namely in 1054, Malcolm
obtained from Edward the assistance of an Anglo-Saxon army,
under the command of Earl Siward, to support his claims to the
crown. This force he accompanied into Scotland, and a furious
battle is said to have ensued, in which Macbeth lost 3,000 men,
and the Anglo-Saxons 1,500, including Osbert, the son of Siward.
Macbeth fled northwards, leaving Lothian in possession of Siward,
who placed Malcolm as king over that district, where the Saxon
influence prevailed. Supported, however, by the Celtic
inhabitants of the north of Scotland, and by the Norwegians of
the districts under the sway of Thorfinn, the powerful earl of
Orkney, Macbeth was still enabled to retain possession of the
throne.
In 1056,
another English army was sent to the assistance of Malcolm. At
this time Thorfinn, and the son of the king of Norway, had gone
to the south, with the strength of the Norwegian power in
Scotland, to attempt the subjugation of England, but, according
to the Irish annals, “God was against them in that affair,” and
their fleet was dispersed in a storm. Macbeth, deprived of
Thorfinn’s aid, was not able to withstand this new array against
him. He was driven north to Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, where he
was overtaken and slain, December 5th, 1056. The attempt of his
stepson, Lulach, to succeed him on the throne, was, after a
struggle of four months, put an end to by his defeat and death
at Essie in Strathbogie, on the 25th of the following April.
Malcolm was
soon after crowned at Scone. Except the territories possessed by
Thorfinn, consisting, besides Orkney and the Hebrides, of the
nine districts or earldoms of Caithness, Ness, Sutherland, Ross,
Moray, Garmoran, Buchan, Mar, and Angus, he was master of all
the rest of Scotland. His first care was to recompense those who
had supported him in his struggle for the crown. His next, to
recover those northern districts which still remained under
Norwegian rule. The most remarkable reward which he bestowed was
on Macduff, maormor of Fife. The titles of earl and thane which
Malcolm is said to have introduced, were not known in Scotland
till after the Saxon colonization in Edgar’s time, the Norwegian
title iarl being confined to the Orkneys and to Caithness.
Shakspere’s
immortal tragedy of Macbeth, founded on the fables of Boece and
the traditions of the times, has thrown an interest round the
character of the principal personages concerned in it, which
could never have been created by the facts of sober history; but
there is sufficient in the events of Malcolm’s reign to render
it one of the most important in our annals. Gratitude to the
king of England, as well as the unsettled state of his own
kingdom, led Malcolm to cultivate the alliance of Edward the
Confessor, and he paid that monarch a visit in 1059. He had
contracted an intimate friendship with Tostig, who had been
created earl of Northumberland. He was the son of the celebrated
Earl Godwin and brother of Harold, the last king of Saxon
England. They were for a time esteemed “sworn brothers,” but a
quarrel having taken place between them in 1061, Malcolm made a
hostile incursion into Northumberland, and after laying that
country waste, he even violated the peace of St. Cuthbert, in
Holy Island.
On the death of
Thorfinn in 1064, his Norwegian kingdom in Scotland, which had
lasted thirty years, fell to pieces, and the different districts
he had conquered reverted to their native chiefs, “who were
territorially born to rule over them,” (Orkneyinga Saga).
Malcolm married Thorfinn’s widow, Ingioborge, and by her he had
a son, Duncan II. This marriage, however, does not seem in the
slightest to have advanced his interests in the north. The
chiefs of the districts formerly in subjection to the Norwegians
refused to acknowledge his sovereignty, and chose a king for
themselves, Donald, the son of Malcolm, maormor of Moray, and
king of Scotland. It took Malcolm twenty-one years to reduce the
northern districts under his dominion. In 1070, he is said to
have obtained a victory over his opponents, but it was not
decisive. In 1077, as the Saxon Chronicle informs us, he
overthrew Maolsuechtan, maormor of Moray, the son of Lulach, and
in 1085 he got rid of both his rivals by death. The Irish annals
say that in that year, “Malsnectai, son of Lulach, king of
Moray, died peacefully. Donald, son of Malcolm, king of Alban,
died a violent death.”
Long previous
to this, however, events in connexion with England had occurred
which exercised an important influence on his reign, and which
may now be briefly detailed. Edward the Confessor died 5th
January 1066, and was succeeded by Harold. Tostig, the brother
of the latter, had, from his extortions and his violence, so
irritated the people of Northumberland, that they rose against
him and drove him from his earldom. This happened a few years
previous to the death of Edward the English king. Harold found
it prudent to abandon his brother’s cause, on which Tostig
became his bitterest enemy. He first took refuge in Flanders,
with Baldwin, his father-in-law, and afterwards visited William,
duke of Normandy. On Harold’s accession, he collected about
sixty vessels in the ports of Flanders, and committed some
depredations on the south and east coasts of England. He next
sailed to Northumberland, and was there joined by Harold
Halfager, by some called Hadrada, king of Norway, with 300 sail.
Entering the Humber, they disembarked the troops, but were
defeated and put to flight, when Tostig proceeded into Scotland.
It is now known whether Malcolm received him at his court, or
aided, or countenanced in any way, his projects against his
brother, the new king of England. Lord Hailes thinks it probable
that he was not received by Malcolm, but only remained at anchor
in some Scottish bay, with the remains of his fleet, till joined
by reinforcements from Norway. On receiving these he and Hadrada
again invaded England, and were both slain at the battle of
Stamford Bridge, 25th September 1066. The battle of Hastings
took place on the 14th of the following October, when Harold was
killed and William the Conqueror became king of England.
Two years
thereafter, Edgar Atheling, grandson of Edmund Ironside, and the
heir of the Saxon line, with his mother, the princess Agatha,
and his two sisters, Margaret and Christina, arrived in
Scotland. In their train came many Anglo-Saxons, and among them
Gospatrick and other nobles of Northumberland. Some authors say
that it was their intention to proceed to Hungary, the native
country of Edgar and his two sisters, when they were driven by a
storm into the firth of Forth. Malcolm then resided at the tower
which still bears his name, on the small peninsular mount, in
the glen of Pittencrieff, near Dunfermline, in Fifeshire. On
hearing of the arrival of the illustrious strangers, he hastened
to invite them to his royal tower. There they were hospitably
entertained, and as he was at this time a widower, there his
nuptials with the princess Margaret were, soon after, celebrated
with unwonted splendour.
Margaret was
one of the most pious and accomplished princesses of her day,
and her character and influence tended much to improve and
refine the rude manners of her husband’s subjects. On her
husband himself her virtues and gentleness exercised a most
salutary power. We learn from Turgot, her confessor and
biographer, that Malcolm liked and disliked whatever she did,
and that such was his veneration for her worth and piety, that
being unable to read, he was in the habit of kissing her missals
and prayer-books, which, in token of his devotion, he caused to
be splendidly bound and adorned with gold and precious stones.
She persuaded him to pass the night in fervent prayer, much to
the astonishment of his courtiers. “I must acknowledge,” adds
Turgot, “that I often admired the works of the divine mercy,
when I saw a king so religious, and such signs of deep
compunction in a laic.”
Into the court
of Malcolm she introduced unusual splendour. She encouraged the
importation of rich dresses of various colours for himself and
his nobles, which led to the commencement of a trading
intercourse with foreign countries, and to this reign may be
assigned the introduction of the wearing of tartan, which came
afterwards to distinguish the clans. In her own attire she was
magnificent, and she increased the number of attendants on the
person of the king. Under her guidance the public appearances of
the sovereign were attended with more parade and ceremony than
had ever previously been the case. She also caused the king to
be served at table in gold and silver plate; “at least,” says
Turgot, afraid of going beyond the truth, “the dishes and
vessels were gilt or silvered over.”
Malcolm seems
to have intrusted the care of matters respecting religion and
the internal polity of the kingdom, entirely to her. Anxious for
the reformation of the church, she held frequent conferences
with the clergy. On one of the occasions the proper season for
celebrating Lent was the subject of discussion between them. The
clergy knew no language but the Gaelic, and the king, who had
spend fifteen years in England, and understood the Saxon as well
as his own native language, acted as interpreter. “Three days,”
says Turgot, “did she employ the sword of the Spirit in
combating their errors. She seemed another St. Helena out of the
Scriptures convincing the Jews.” At last the clergy yielded to
her views. She was also the means of inducing them to restore
the celebration of the Lord’s supper, which had fallen into
disuse, and of keeping sacred the Sabbath, which was scarcely
distinguishable from any other day of the week.
Malcolm
espoused the cause of his brother-in-law with great ardour. In
September 1069, with the assistance of the Danes, and
accompanied by Edgar Atheling, the Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian
nobles, led by Gospatrick, invaded England, and having taken the
castle of York by storm, they put the Norman garrison to the
sword. Instead, however, of following up their success, the
Northumbrians departed to their own territory, while the Danes
retired to their ships. The secret of this change in their
proceedings was that William had gained over Gospatrick, by
conferring on him the earldom of Northumberland, and had bribed
Osborne the Danish commander, to quit the English shores. Edgar
Atheling and his few remaining adherents were, in consequence,
obliged to retreat to Scotland.
The following
year, Malcolm led a numerous army into England, by the western
borders, through Cumberland. If it had been intended that he was
to support the movements of Edgar, and his Danish and
Northumbrian allies, he came too late. Nevertheless, his
operations were energetic enough. After wasting Teesdale, he
defeated an Anglo-Norman army that attempted to oppose his
progress, at a place called Hinderskell, penetrated into
Cleveland, and thence advanced into the eastern parts of the
diocese of Durham, spreading desolation and dismay wherever he
appeared. He spared neither age nor sex, and even the churches,
with those who had taken refuge in them, were burnt to the
ground. While thus engaged, he received intelligence that his
own territory of Cumberland was laid waste by Gospatrick, who,
as already stated, had gone over to King William’s interest.
On his return,
Malcolm led captive into Scotland such a multitude of young men
and women, that, says the English historian, Simeon of Durham,
“for many years they were to be found in every Scottish village,
nay, even in every Scottish hovel.” In 1072, William retaliated
by invading Scotland both by land and sea. He penetrated as far
as the Firth of Forth, but finding the conquest of Scotland not
so easy a task as had been that of England, a peace was
concluded at Abernethy, the old Pictish capital, when Malcolm
consented, in accordance with the feudal custom of the Normans,
to do homage for the lands which he held in England. Among the
hostages which he gave on this occasion was his eldest son,
Duncan, who thus had the benefit of living many years under the
Norman monarchs of England. By this peace, Malcolm, in a manner,
abandoned the cause of his weak-minded brother-in-law, Edgar
Atheling, and that personage, after making his peace with the
English monarch, received from him a handsome pension, and went
to reside at Rouen in Normandy.
With Edgar
Atheling, Malcolm had refused to give up to the English king,
the exiled nobles and others who had taken refuge in Scotland.
With the double view of strengthening his power by the influx of
so many brave and skilful strangers, and of benefiting his
subjects by the introduction among them of those who possessed a
higher civilization than, in their rude and unsettled state,
they had even known, he even encouraged them to come into his
kingdom. Among them were persons of Norman as well as of
Anglo-Saxon lineage, who had fled from the exactions and tyranny
of the Conqueror, or had been refused promised rewards for their
services. Malcolm received and welcomed them all, and to these
Norman knights and adventurers who thus came flocking across the
border, he gave lands and heritages, to induce them to remain.
They thus became the progenitors of many of our noble families.
Thousands of the poorer English, too, to escape the grinding
oppressions of their Norman rulers, sought a refuge in Scotland,
some even selling themselves for slaves, to obtain a
subsistence.
Gospatrick,
having incurred the suspicions of William, was deprived of the
earldom of Northumberland, and returning into Scotland,
succeeded in being reconciled to Malcolm, from whom he obtained
the manor of Dunbar, and other lands in the Merse and Lothian.
He was the ancestor of the earls of Dunbar and March. In 1079,
in the absence of William in Normandy, Malcolm again invaded
Northumberland, and wasted the country as far as the river Tyne.
The following year, Robert, the eldest son of William, entered
Scotland, but was obliged to retreat. To check the incursions of
the Scots into England, he erected a fortress near the Tyne, at
a place called Moncaster or Monkchester, from its being the
residence of monks, but the name of which was thereafter in
consequence changed to Newcastle.
At the request
of his queen, who has been canonized in the Romish Calendar as
St. Margaret, and of her confessor, Turgot, Malcolm founded and
endowed a monastery, in the vicinity of his residence, for
thirteen Culdees, which, with its church or chapel, was
dedicated to the Holy Trinity. This was the origin of the abbey
of Dunfermline.
The latter
portion of Malcolm’s reign was occupied in a struggle with
William Rufus, the son and successor of the Conqueror on the
throne of England. Cumberland and his other English possessions
having been withheld from him by the English king, Malcolm,
assembling his forces, broke across the borders, in May 1091,
when he penetrated as far as Chester, on the Wear; but on the
approach of the English, with a superior force, he prudently
retreated without hazarding a battle, and thus secured his booty
and his captives. In the autumn of the same year, Rufus led a
numerous army into Scotland. Malcolm advanced to meet him. By
the intercession, however, of Edgar Atheling, who accompanied
the Scottish army, and of Robert, duke of Normandy, the eldest
brother of the English king, a peace was concluded, without the
risk of a battle, Rufus consenting to restore to Malcolm twelve
manors in England which he had held under the Conqueror, and to
make an annual payment to him of twelve marks of gold, and
Malcolm, on his part, agreeing to do homage for the same, under
the same tenure of feudal service as before.
In 1092,
William Rufus began to fortify the city of Carlisle and to build
a castle there. As this was an encroachment on Malcolm’s
territory of Cumberland he remonstrated against it, when the
English king proposed a personal interview on the subject.
Malcolm, in consequence, proceeded to Gloucester, 24th August
1093. As a preliminary measure, Rufus required him again to do
homage to him there, in presence of the English barons. This
Malcolm absolutely refused, but although he had done homage to
Rufus for his English lands not much above a year before at
Abernethy, he now offered to do it, as formerly had been the
custom, on the frontiers of the two kingdoms, and in presence of
the chief men of both. Some of his councilors advised Rufus to
detain the Scottish king, now that he had him in his power, till
he had complied with his request; but although he had the grace
to reject this base proposal, it was with the most unkingly
contumely that he dismissed him from his court. Malcolm returned
home, burning with indignation and vowing revenge, and hastily
assembling a tumultuous and undisciplined army, he burst into
Northumberland, which he wasted, then, sweeping onwards to
Alnwick, he laid siege to the castle. He had not been many days
there, however, before he was surprised by Robert de Moubray, at
the head of a strong Norman and English force3. A fierce
engagement ensued, when Malcolm was slain, with his eldest son.
This fatal fight took place 13th November 1093. Malcolm’s fourth
son, Edgar, who was also in the battle, escaped, and three days
after reached the castle of Edinburgh, where his mother lay
dying. On his appearance, she in a faint voice eagerly enquired,
“How fares it with your father, and your brother, Edward?” The
youth was silent. “I know all,” she cried; “I adjure you by this
holy cross, and by your filial affection, that you tell me the
truth.” He answered, “your husband and your son are both slain.”
Raising her eyes and hands to heaven, the dying queen said,
“Praise and blessing be to thee, Almighty God, that thou hast
been pleased to make me endure so bitter anguish in the hour of
my departure, thereby, as I trust, to purify me, in some
measure, from the corruption of my sins. And thou, Lord Jesus
Christ, who, through the will of the Father, hast enlivened the
world by thy death, O deliver me!” and straightway expired. So
great was the benevolence of this truly excellent princess that
she secretly paid the ransom of many of her Saxon countrymen in
bondage in Scotland, when she found their condition too grievous
to be borne.
The character
of Malcolm Canmore is that of an able, wise, and energetic
monarch, who, after subjecting to his sovereignty the various
rude and discordant tribes that inhabited his kingdom, was
successful in maintaining its independence unimpaired during a
long reign of 37 years, and that against two such formidable
opponents as William the Conqueror and his son, William Rufus.
As an instance of his personal intrepidity the following
incident is related: Having received intelligence that one of
his nobles had formed a design against his life, he took an
opportunity, when out hunting, of leading him into a solitary
place, then, unsheathing his sword, he said, “Here we are alone,
and armed alike. You seek my life. Take it.” The astonished
noble, overcome by this address, threw himself at the feet of
the king, and implored his clemency, which was readily granted.
The removal of
his court from Abernethy to Dunfermline, about the year 1063,
and the encouragement which, after the Norman conquest of
England and his marriage with Queen Margaret, he gave to the
immigration of Anglo-Saxons and Norman adventurers into the
kingdom, had the effect of causing the Gaelic population to
retire inland from the plains, and to divide themselves into
clans and tribes, with the institution of separate chiefs, and
the preservation of all those feelings and usages which long
kept them a peculiar and distinct race from the other
inhabitants of Scotland. In the reign of Malcolm Canmore, the
whole of the country south of the Forth was possessed by the
Scots, and those who spoke the Saxon language, while the Celtic
portion of the nation occupied the remaining districts.
Tenacious of their native language and ancient customs, the
latter viewed with equal scorn and disgust the introduction of
foreign manners and races into the kingdom, and hence began that
long struggle between the Scottish and Celtic communities which
lasted for nearly seven hundred years, and was only terminated
on the field of Culloden in 1746. “The people,” says General
Stewart of Garth, referring to the Gaelic inhabitants (sketches,
vol. i. p. 20), “now beyond the reach of the laws, became
turbulent and fierce, revenging in person those wrongs for which
the administrators of the laws were too distant and too feeble
to afford redress. Thence arose the institution of chiefs, who
naturally became the judges and arbiters in the quarrels of
their clansmen and followers, and who were surrounded by men
devoted to the defence of their rights, their property, and
their power; and accordingly the chiefs established within their
own territories a jurisdiction almost wholly independent of
their liege lord.”
Malcolm had by
his queen, Margaret, six sons and two daughters. The sons were,
Edward, who was slain with his father near Alnwick; Ethelred,
who was bred a churchman and became Culdee abbot of Dunkeld;
Edmund; Edgar, Alexander, and David. The three last were
successively kings of Scotland. The elder daughter, Maud,
married Henry I. of England, a marriage which united the Saxon
and the Norman dynasties, and Mary, the younger, became the wife
of Eustace, count of Boulogne.
MALCOLM IV., King of Scots, born in
1141, was the son of Prince Henry, son of David I., and
succeeded his grandfather, May 24, 1153, a year after his
father’s death, being then only twelve years old. The same year
he was crowned at Scone. He acquired the name of Malcolm the
Maiden, either from the effeminate expression of his features,
or from the softness of his disposition. In the following
November, Somerled, thane of Argyle, invaded the Scottish
coasts, at the head of all the fierce tribes of the isles. The
accession of a new king, and he a mere boy, appears to have been
deemed by this formidable chief a favourable time to endeavour
to advance the cause of his grandsons, the sons of the monk
Wimond, otherwise Malcolm MacHeth, who claimed the earldom of
Moray, and who had been imprisoned in Roxburgh castle by David
I. as an impostor. In 1156, Donald, a son of Wimond, was
discovered skulking at Whithorn in Galloway, and sent to share
the captivity of his father. After harassing the country for
some years, Somerled was at last forced back to his own
territories, by Gilchrist, earl of Angus, and a treaty of peace
was concluded with him in 1157, which was considered of so much
importance at the time as to form an epoch in the dating of
Scottish charters.
Malcolm had no
sooner accommodated matters with Somerled, than a demand was
made upon him by Henry I. of England, for those parts of the
English territory which the Scottish kings held in that kingdom.
On this account Malcolm had an interview with Henry at Chester,
when he did homage to him for the same, as his predecessors had
done, “reserving all his dignities.” Malcolm was then only
sixteen years of age, and Henry, taking advantage of his
inexperience, easily prevailed upon the youthful monarch, to
surrender to him Cumberland and Northumberland, at the same time
bestowing upon him the earldom of Huntington. Fordun says that
the English king had, on this occasion, corrupted his
councilors.
In 1158,
desirous of obtaining the honour of knighthood from the king of
England, Malcolm repaired to Henry’s court at Carlisle, for the
purpose, but Henry refused to bestow upon him an honour,
probably on account of his youth, which was highly prized in
that age, and Malcolm returned home greatly disappointed. In the
following year, Malcolm passed over to France, where the English
monarch then was, and after serving under his banner he was at
length knighted by him. The Scots, indignant at his subservience
to Henry, and apprehensive that he would become the mere vassal
of England, sent a deputation to remonstrate with Malcolm on his
conduct. “We will not,” said they, “have Henry to rule over us.”
Malcolm, in consequence, hastened back to Scotland, and on his
arrival assembled a parliament at Perth.
The fierce
nobles who, as governors of their respective provinces, were
bound to maintain the independence of the kingdom, availed
themselves of this opportunity to attempt to seize the king’s
person. Accordingly, Ferquhard, earl of Strathearn, and five
other earls assaulted the tower in which Malcolm had taken
refuge, but were repulsed. On the interference of the clergy, a
reconciliation took place between the young king and his
offended nobles.
Fortunately for
Malcolm an occasion almost immediately occurred to give
employment to them and their followers. Fergus, lord of
Galloway, the most potent feudatory of the Scottish crown, and
the son-in-law of Henry I., threw off his allegiance, and
stirred up an insurrection against Malcolm. At the head of a
powerful army, the king entered Galloway, and though twice
driven back, he at length succeeded, in 1160, in overpowering
its rebellious lord. He then compelled Fergus to resign his
lordship, and to give his son, Uchtred, as an hostage for the
peace concluded between them; after which Fergus retired to the
abbey of Holyrood, where he died of a broken heart.
In 1161, a
still more formidable insurrection broke out among the
inhabitants of the province of Moray, which comprehended all
what is now Elginshire, all Nairnshire, a considerable part of
Banffshire, and the half of continental Inverness-shire. The
pretext was the attempt on Malcolm’s part to intrude the
Anglo-Norman jurisdiction upon their Celtic customs, and the
settling of Flemish colonists among them. The men of Moray were
never wanting in an excuse for rising in arms. They were the
most unruly and rebellious of all the subjects of the sovereigns
of Scotland. According to Fordun, “no solatiums or largesses
could allure, or treaties or oaths bind them to their duty.” On
this occasion the insurgents laid waste the neighbouring
counties, and so regardless were they of the royal authority
that they actually hanged the heralds who were sent to summon
them to lay down their arms. Malcolm dispatched against them a
strong force under that Earl Gilchrist who had been sent against
Somerled, but he was routed, and forced to recross the
Grampians.
This defeat
roused all the energy of Malcolm’s character, and with the whole
array of the kingdom he marched against them. He found them
assembled on the muir of Urquhart, near the Spey, ready to give
him battle. After crossing that river, Malcolm’s nobles, seeing
their strength, advised him to negotiate with the rebels, and to
promise them that if they submitted, their lives would be
spared. The Moraymen accepted the offer, the king kept his word,
and now occurred the extraordinary circumstance of different
parts of the country exchanging their populations. To put an
end, at once and for ever, to the frequent insurrections which
occurred in the province, Malcolm ordained that all who had been
engaged in the rebellion should remove out of Moray, and that
their places should be supplied with people from other parts of
the kingdom. In consequence, some transplanted themselves into
the northern, but the greater number into the southern
districts, as far as Galloway. The older historians say that the
Moraymen were almost totally cut off in an obstinate battle, and
strangers put in their place, but this statement is at variance
with the register of Paisley. Among the new families brought in
to replace those who were removed, the principal were the
powerful earls of Fife and Strathearn, with the Comyns and
Bissets, and among those who remained were the Inneses, the
Calders and others. After thus removing the rebels, and
colonizing the province with a quieter race, Malcolm, as well as
his successor, William the Lion, appear to have frequently
resided in Moray, for from Inverness, Elgin, and various other
of its localities, several of their charters are dated.
In July 1163,
Malcolm did homage to the king of England and his infant son at
Woodstock. The following year he founded and richly endowed an
abbey for Cistertian monks at Coupar-Angus. He had previously,
in 1156, founded the priory of Emanuel near Linlithgow, for nuns
of the same order.
In 1164,
Somerled, the ambitious and powerful lord of the Isles, made
another and a last attempt to overthrow the king’s authority.
Assembling a numerous army from Argyle, Ireland, and the Isles,
he sailed up the Clyde with 160 galleys, and landed his forces
near Renfrew, threatening, as some of the old chroniclers inform
us, to make a conquest of the whole of Scotland. Here, according
to the usual accounts, he was slain, with his son, Gillecolane,
after a battle, in which he was defeated by an inferior force of
the Scots. Tradition, however, states that he was assassinated
in his tent by an individual in whom he placed confidence, and
that his followers, deprived of their leader, hastened back to
the Isles, without hazarding an engagement.
Malcolm died at
Jedburgh, of a lingering disease, December 9, 1165, at the early
age of 24, and was succeeded by his brother William, styled
William the Lion.
MALCOLM, SIR PULTENEY, a distinguished
naval officer, an elder brother of Sir John Malcolm, the subject
of the following notice, was born at Douglan, near Langholm,
Dumfries-shire, February 20, 1768. His father, George Malcolm,
farmer, Burnfoot, had, by his wife, the daughter of James Pasley,
Esq. of Craig and Burn, 17 children. Robert, the eldest son, at
his death was high in the civil service of the East India
Company; James, Pulteney, and John, the next three sons, were
honoured with the insignia of knights commanders of the Bath at
the same time, the former for his distinguished services in
Spain and North America, when commanding a battalion of royal
marines, and Sir John, for his military and diplomatic services
in India. The younger sons were Gilbert, rector of Todenham;
David, in a commercial house in India; and Admiral Sir Charles
Malcolm, of whom a memoir is given below.
Pulteney
entered the navy, October 20, 1778, as a midshipman on board the
Sybille frigate, commanded by his maternal uncle, Captain Pasley,
with whom he sailed to the Cape of Good Hope; and on his return
thence, removed with him into the Jupiter, of which he was
appointed lieutenant in March 1783. At the commencement of the
French revolutionary war, he was first lieutenant of the
Penelope at Jamaica; in which ship he assisted at the capture of
the Inconstante frigate, and Gaelon corvette, both of which he
conducted to Port Royal in safety. He also commanded the boats
of the Penelope in several severe conflicts, and succeeded in
cutting out many vessels from the ports of St. Domingo. In April
1794 he was made a commander, when he joined the Jack Tar; and
upon Cape Nichola Mole being taken possession of by the British,
he had the direction of the seamen and marines landed to
garrison that place. In October 1794 he was promoted to the rank
of post captain, and the following month was appointed to the
Fox frigate, with which he subsequently served in the North Sea.
Having proceeded with a convoy to the East Indies, he captured
on that station La Modeste, of 20 guns. In 1797 the duke of
Wellington, then Colonel Wellesley, of the 33d regiment, took a
passage with Captain Malcolm, in the Fox, from the Cape of Good
Hope to Bengal. He afterwards served in the Suffolk, the
Victorious, and the Royal Sovereign; and in March 1805 was
appointed to the Donegal, in which he accompanied Lord Nelson in
the memorable pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and
Spain to the West Indies.
On his return
to the Channel, Captain Malcolm was sent to reinforce Admiral
Collingwood off Cadiz. Four days previous to the battle of
Trafalgar, the Donegal, being short of water, and greatly in
need of a refit, was ordered to Gibraltar. On the 20th October
Captain Malcolm received information that the enemy’s fleets
were quitting Cadiz. His ship was then in the Mole nearly
dismantled, but by the greatest exertions he succeeded in
getting her out before night, and on the 23d joined Admiral
Collingwood in time to capture El Rayo, a Spanish three-decker.
Towards the close of 1805 the Donegal accompanied Sir John
Duckworth to the West Indies, in quest of a French squadron that
had sailed for that quarter; and in the battle fought off St.
Domingo, February 6, 1806, Captain Malcolm greatly distinguished
himself. On his return to England, he was honoured with a gold
medal for his conduct in the action, and, in common with the
other officers of the squadron, received the thanks of both
houses of parliament.
In the summer
of 1808 he escorted the army under General Wellesley from Cork
to Portugal, and for his exertions in disembarking the troops,
he received the thanks of Sir John Moore and Sir Arthur
Wellesley. The Donegal was subsequently attached to the Channel
fleet under the orders of Sir John Gambier; and after the
discomfiture of the French ships in Aix Roads in April 1809,
Captain Malcolm was sent with a squadron on a cruise. He next
commanded the blockade of Cherbourg, on which station the ships
under his orders captured a number of privateers, and on one
occasion drove two frigates on shore near Cape La Hogue. In 1811
the Donegal was paid off, when Captain Malcolm was appointed to
the Royal Oak, a new 74, in which he continued off Cherbourg
until March 1812, when he removed into the San Josef, 110 guns,
as captain of the Channel fleet under Lord Keith. In the
subsequent August he was promoted to the rank of colonel of
marines, and December 4, 1813, was appointed rear-admiral. In
June 1814 he hoisted his flag in the Royal Oak, and proceeded to
North America with a body of troops, under Brigadier-general
Ross. Soon after his arrival, he accompanied Sir Alexander
Cochrane on an expedition up the Chesapeake, when the duty of
regulating the collection, embarkation, and re-embarkation of
the troops employed against Washington, Baltimore, and New
Orleans, devolving upon him, he performed it in a manner that
obtained the warmest acknowledgments of the commander-in-chief.
He was afterwards employed at the siege of Fort Boyer, on Mobile
Point, the surrender of which, by capitulation, on February 14,
terminated the war between Great Britain and the United States.
At the
extension of the order of the Bath into three classes, January
2, 1815, Admiral Malcolm was nominated, with his two brothers, a
knight commander. After his arrival in England, on the renewal
of hostilities with France, in consequence of the return of
Napoleon from Elba, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the
naval force ordered to co-operate with the duke of Wellington
and the allied armies, on which service he continued until after
the restoration of the bourbons. His last appointment was to the
important office of commander-in-chief on the St. Helena
station, where he continued from the spring of 1816 until the
end of 1817. By the cordiality of his disposition and manners,
he not only obtained the confidence, but won the regard of the
emperor Napoleon. “Ah! There is a man,” he exclaimed in
reference to Sir Pulteney Malcolm, “with a countenance really
pleasing; open, frank, and sincere. There is the face of an
Englishman – his countenance bespeaks his heart; and I am sure
he is a good man. I never yet beheld a man of whom I so
immediately formed a good opinion as of that fine soldier-like
old man. He carries his head erect, and speaks out openly and
boldly what he thinks, without being afraid to look you in the
face at the time. His physiognomy would make every person
desirous of a further acquaintance, and render the most
suspicious confident in him.” One day when fretting at the
unjust treatment he received, he exclaimed to the admiral, “Does
your government mean to detain me upon this rock until my
death’s day?” Sir Pulteney replied, “Such I apprehend is their
purpose.” “Then the term of my life will soon arrive,” said
Napoleon. “I hope not, Sir,” answered Sir Pulteney, “I hope you
will survive to record your great actions, which are so
numerous, and the task will insure you a term of long life.”
Napoleon felt the compliment and acknowledged it by a bow, and
soon recovered his good humour. On his deathbed he paid a
well-merited tribute to the generosity and benevolence of Sir
Pulteney, whose conduct at St. Helena is described by Sir
Walter Scott in his ‘Life of Napoleon,’ in a manner highly
honourable to him. He was advanced to the rank of vice-admiral
July 19, 1821, and of admiral January 10, 1837. He died July 20,
1838. a monument has been erected to his memory. Subjoined is
his portrait:
[portrait of Sir Pulteney Malcolm]
Sir Pulteney
Malcolm married, January 18, 1809, Clementina, eldest daughter
of the Hon. W. F. Elphinstone.
MALCOLM, SIR JOHN, a distinguished
soldier and diplomatist, a younger brother of the subject of the
foregoing memoir, was born May 2, 1769, on the farm of Burnfoot,
near Langholm, in Dumfries-shire. In 1782 he went out to the
East Indies as a cadet in the Company’s service. On his arrival
he was placed under the care of his uncle, Dr. Gilbert Pasley,
and assiduously applied himself to the study of the manners and
languages of the East. The abilities which he displayed at the
siege of Seringapatam, in 1792, attracted the notice of Lord
Cornwallis, who appointed him Persian interpreter to a body of
British troops in the service of one of the native princes. In
1794, in consequence of bad heath, he revisited his native
country; but the following year he returned to India on the
staff of Field-marshal Sir Alured Clarke; and for his conduct at
the taking of the Cape of Good Hope, he received the public
thanks of that officer. In 1797 he obtained a captain’s
commission. In 1799 he was ordered to join the Nizam’s
contingent force in the war against Tippoo Saib, with the chief
command of the infantry, in which post he continued till the
surrender of Seringapatam, where he highly distinguished
himself. He was then appointed joint secretary, with Captain,
afterwards Sir Thomas Munro, to the commissioners for settling
the new government of Mysore. In the same year he was sent by
Lord Wellesley on a diplomatic mission to Persia, a country
which no British ambassador had visited since the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.
Captain Malcolm
returned to Bombay in 1801, when he was appointed private
secretary to the governor-general, who stated to the secret
committee that “he had succeeded in establishing a connection
with the actual government of the Persian empire, which promised
to British natives in India political and commercial advantages
of the most important description.” In January 1802 he was
promoted to the rank of major; and on the death of the Persian
ambassador, who was accidentally shot at Bombay, he was again
sent to Persia to make the necessary arrangements for the
renewal of the embassy. In February 1803 he was appointed
Resident with the rajah of Mysore; and in December 1804 he
attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In June 1805 he was
nominated chief agent of the governor-general, in which capacity
he continued to act till March 1806, during which period he
concluded several important treaties with native princes.
On the arrival
in India, in April 1808, of the new governor-general, Lord Minto,
he dispatched Colonel Malcolm on a mission to Persia, with the
view of endeavouring to counteract the designs of Napoleon, who
then threatened an invasion of India from that quarter. In this
difficult embassy, however, he did not wholly succeed. He
returned in the following august, and soon after proceeded to
his residency at Mysore. Early in 1810, owing to a change in the
policy of the Persian court, he was again appointed ambassador
to Persia, where he remained till the nomination of Sir Gore
Ouseley as minister plenipotentiary. On his departure the shah
conferred upon him the order of the Sun and Lion, presented him
with a valuable sword, and made him a khan and sepahdar of the
empire.
In 1812 Colonel
Malcolm again visited England, and soon after his arrival
received the honour of knighthood. The same year he published,
in one volume, ‘A Sketch of the Sikhs, a singular Nation in the
province of the Punjaub, in India.’ In 1815 appeared his
‘History of Persia,’ in 2 vols. 4to, which is valuable from the
information it contains, taken from oriental sources, regarding
the religion, government, manners, and customs of the
inhabitants of that country, in ancient as well as in modern
times. He returned to India in 1817, and on his arrival was
attached, as political agent of the governor-general, to the
force under Sir Thomas Hislop in the Deccan. With the rank of
brigadier-general, he was appointed to the command of the third
division of the army, and greatly distinguished himself in the
decisive battle of Mehidpoor, when the army under Mulhar Rao
Holkar was completely routed. For his skill and valour on this
occasion he received the thanks of the house of commons, on the
motion of Mr. Canning, who declared that “the name of this
gallant officer will be remembered in India as long as the
British flag is hoisted in that country.” His conduct was also
noticed by the prince regent, who expressed his regret that the
circumstance of his not having attained the rank of
major-general prevented his being then created a knight grand
cross, which honour, however, was conferred on him in 1821.
After the
termination of the war with the Mahrattas and Pindarries, he
received the military and political command of Malwa, and
succeeded in establishing the Company’s authority, both in that
province and the other territories adjacent, which had been
ceded to them.
In April 1822
he returned once more to Britain with the rank of major-general.
Shortly after, he was presented by the officers who had acted
under him in the late war with a superb vase, valued at £1,500.
The court of directors of the East India company likewise
testified their sense of his merits by a grant to him of £1,000
a-year. In July 1827 he was appointed governor of Bombay, which
important post he resigned in 1831, and finally returned to
Britain. On quitting India, he received many gratifying
instances of the esteem and high consideration in which he was
held. The principal European gentlemen of Bombay requested him
to sit for his statue, which was executed by Chantrey, and
erected in that city; the members of the Asiatic Society
requested a bust of him for their library; the native gentlemen
of Bombay solicited his portrait, to be placed in the public
room; the East India Amelioration Society voted him a service of
plate; and the United society of Missionaries, including
English, Scots, and Americans, acknowledged with gratitude the
assistance they had received from him in the prosecution of
their pious labours.
Subjoined is
Sir John Malcolm’s portrait:
[portrait of Sir John Malcolm]
Soon after his
arrival in England in 1831, he was elected M.P. for Launceston,
and took an active part in the proceedings in the house of
commons upon several important questions, particularly the
Scottish reform bill, which he warmly opposed. After the
dissolution of parliament in 1832 he offered himself for
Carlisle, but being unsuccessful, he retired to his seat near
Windsor, and employed himself in writing a Treatise upon ‘The
Government of India,’ with the view of elucidating the difficult
questions relating to the renewal of the East India Company’s
charter, which was published only a few weeks previous to his
death. His last address in public was at a meeting in the
Thatched House Tavern, London, for the purpose of forming a
subscription to buy up the mansion of Abbotsford for the family
of the great novelist; and on that occasion his concluding
sentiment was “that when he was gone, his son might be proud to
say that his father had been among the contributors to that
shrine of genius.” On the day following he was struck with
paralysis, and died at London, May 31, 1833. A monument has been
erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey, and also an obelisk,
100 feet high, on Langholm hill, in his native parish of
Westerkirk. He married, in June 1807, charlotte, daughter of Sir
Alexander Campbell, Bart., by whom he had five children.
Sir John Malcolm’s works are:
Sketch of the Political History of India,
from the Introduction of Mr. Pitt’s Bill, A.D. 1784, to the
present date. London, 1811, 8vo.
Sketch of the Sikhs, a nation who inhabit the
provinces of the Punjaub, situated between the rivers Jumna and
Indus in India. London, 1812, 8vo.
Observations on the disturbances in the
Madras Army in 1809; in 2 parts. London, 1812, 8vo.
History of Persia, from the most early period
to the present time, containing an account of the religion,
government, usages, and character of the inhabitants of that
kingdom. London, 1815, 2 vols, 4to.
A memoir of Central India, including Malwa
and adjoining Provinces, with the history and copious
illustrations of the past and present condition of that country.
London, 1823, 2 vols, 8vo.
The Political History of India from 1784 to
1823. Lond., 1826, 2 vols. 8vo.
The Government of India. London, 1833, 8vo.
The Life of Robert, Lord Clive, collected
from the Family Papers, communicated by the earl of Powis.
London, 1836, 3 vols, 8vo. Posthumous.
MALCOLM, SIR CHARLES, an eminent naval
officer, the tenth son of George Malcolm of Burnfoot, and
youngest brother of the preceding, was born at Burnfoot,
Dumfries-shire, in 1782, and entered the navy in 1791, when only
nine years old. In 1798, he was master’s mate of the Fox, of 32
guns, commanded by his brother, Pulteney, when, with the
Sybille, of 38 guns, that ship entered the Spanish harbour of
Manilla, the capital of the Philippines, under French colours,
and in the face of three ships of the line and three frigates,
succeeded in capturing seven boars, taking prisoner 200 men, and
carrying off a large quantity of ammunition and materials of
war. In 1807, he got the command of the Narcissus, 32. On board
this ship he attacked a convoy of 30 sail in the Conquet Roads,
on which occasion he was slightly wounded. In 1809, he assisted
in the capture of Les Saintes, islands in the West Indies. In
June of the same year he was appointed to the Rhine, 38, in
which he actively co-operated with the patriots on the north
coast of Spain.
Subsequently he
served in the West Indies, and on the coast of Brazil. On July
18, 1815, he landed and stormed a fort at Corrigion near
Abervack, which was the last exploit of the kind achieved during
the war. In July 1822, he was nominated to the command of the
William and Mary, royal yacht, lying at Dublin, in attendance on
the lord-lieutenant; and in 1826, to the Royal charlotte, yacht,
on the same service. In 1827 he was knighted by the Marquis
Wellesley, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Soon after he was
appointed superintendent of the Bombay marine.
During the ten
years that he held that office, he effected a complete reform in
the administration of the service, and converted its previous
system into that of the Indian navy. He also instituted many
extensive and important surveys, and was prominently concerned
in the establishment of steam navigation in the Red Sea. In 1837
he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and in 1847 to that
of vice-admiral. He died at Brighton, June 14, 1851, aged 69. He
married first in 1808, his cousin, Magdalene, daughter of
Charles Pasley, Esq., issue, one daughter; and, 2dly, in 1829,
Elmira Riddell, youngest daughter of Major-general Shaw, and by
her had three sons, two of whom entered the navy.