MACLEAN,
the name of a clan (badge, blackberry heath) of supposed Irish
descent, founded by one of the Fitzgerald family, as the clan Kenzie
is said to have been by another. The Macleans are not mentioned
among the native tribes in the Gaelic MS. of 1450, and the Norman or
Italian origin of their chiefs is therefore the more probable, the
Fitzgeralds having sprung from the Florentine Geraldi, one of whom
came over with William the Conqueror. Their progenitor, according to
Celtic tradition, was one Gillean or Gille-oin, a name signifying
the young man, or the servant or follower of John, who lived so
early as the beginning of the 5th century. He was called
Gillean-ni-Tuiodh, that is, Gillean with the axe, from the
dexterous manner in which he wielded that weapon in battle, and his
descendants bear a battle-axe in their crest, between a laurel and a
cypress branch. Macalane, the Gaelic pronunciation of the name, may
mean the great stranger, from magnus, great, and alienus,
a foreigner.
The Macleans have been located in Mull since the 14th
century. They appear originally to have belonged to Moray. Mr. Skene
says: “The two oldest genealogies of the Macleans, of which one is
the production of the Beatons, who were hereditary sennachies of the
family, concur in deriving the clan Gille-eon from the same race
from whom the clans belonging to the great Moray tribe are brought
by the MS. of 1450. Of this clan the oldest seat seems to have been
the district of Lorn, as they first appear in subjection to the
lords of Lorn; and their situation being thus between the Camerons
and Macnachtans, who were undisputed branches of the Moray tribe,
there can be little doubt that the Macleans belonged to that tribe
also. As their oldest seat was thus in Argyle, while they are
unquestionably a part of the tribe of Moray, we may infer that they
were one of those clans transplanted from North Moray by Malcolm
IV., and it is not unlikely that Glen Urquhart was their original
residence, as that district is said to have been in the possession
of the Macleans when the Bissets came in.”
The first of the name on record, Gillean, lived in the reign
of Alexander III. (1249-1286), and fought against the Norsemen at
the battle of Largs. In the Ragman Roll we find Gilliemore Macilean
described as del Counte de Perth, among those who swore fealty to
Edward I. in 1296. As the county of Perth at that period included
Lorn, it is probable that he was the son of Gillean and ancestor of
the Macleans. In the reign of Robert the Bruce mention is made of
three brothers, John, Nigel, and Dofuall, termed Macgillean or filii
Gillean, who appear to have been sons of Gilliemore, for we find
John afterwards designated Macgilliemore. The latter fought under
Bruce at Bannockburn. A dispute having arisen with the lord of Lorn,
the brothers left him and took refuge in the Isles. Between them and
the Mackinnons, upon whose lands they appear to have encroached, a
bitter feud took place, which led to a most daring act on the part
of the chief of the Macleans. When following, with the chief of the
Mackinnons, the galley of the lord of the Isles, he attacked the
former and slew him, and immediately after, afraid of his vengeance,
he seized the Macdonald himself, and carried him prisoner to
Icolmkill, where he was detained until he agreed to vow friendship
to the Macleans, “upon certain stones where men were used to make
solemn vows in those superstitious times,” and granted them the
lands in Mull which they have ever since possessed. John Gilliemore,
surnamed Dhu from his dark complexion, appears to have settled in
Mull about the year 1330. He died in the reign of Robert II.,
leaving two sons, Lachlan Lubanich, ancestor of the Macleans of
Dowart, and Eachin or Hector Reganach, of the Macleans of Lochbuy.
Lachlan, the elder son, married in 1366, Margaret, daughter of
John I., lord of the Isles, by his wife, the princess Margaret
Stewart, and had a son, Hector, which became a favourite name among
the Macleans, as Kenneth was among the Mackenzies, Evan among the
Camerons, and Hugh among the Mackays. Both Lachlan and his son,
Hector, received extensive grants of land from John, the
father-in-law of the former, and his successor, Donald. Altogether,
their possessions consisted of the isles of Mull, Tiree, and Coll,
with Morvern on the mainland; and the clan Gillean became one of the
most important and powerful of the vassal tribes of the lords of the
Isles.
Lachlan’s son, Hector, called Eachin Ruadh ni Cath,
that is, Red Hector of the Battles, commanded as lieutenant-general
under his uncle, Donald, at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, when he
and Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, seeking out each other by their
armorial bearings, encountered hand to hand and slew each other; in
commemoration of which circumstance, we are told, the Dowart and
Drum families were long accustomed to exchange swords. Near the
field of battle is a tomb, built in the form of a malt steep, where,
according to local tradition, Donald of the Isles lies buried, and
it is commonly called Donald’s tomb. But Donald was not slain in the
battle, and Mr. Tytler conjectures, with much probability, that the
tomb may be that of the chief of Maclean, or Macintosh, who was also
slain there, and he refers, in support of this opinion, to
Macfarlane’s Genealogical Collections (MS. Advocates’ Library,
Jac. 5. 4. 16. vol. i. p. 180.) Red Hector of the Battles
married a daughter of the earl of Douglas, His eldest son was taken
prisoner at the battle of Harlaw, and detained in captivity a long
time by the earl of Mar. His brother, John, at the head of the
Macleans, was in the expedition of Donald Balloch, cousin of the
lord of the Isles, in 1431, when the Islesmen ravaged Lochaber, and
were encountered at Inverlochy, near Fortwilliam, by the royal
forces under the earls of Caithness and Mar, whom they defeated. In
the dissensions which arose between John, the last lord of the
Isles, and his turbulent son, Angus, who, with the island chiefs
descended from the original family, complained that his father had
made improvident grants of land to the Macleans and other tribes,
Hector Maclean, chief of the clan, and great-grandson of Red Hector
of the Battles, took part with the former, and commanded his fleet
at the battle of the Bloody Bay in 1480, where he was taken
prisoner. This Hector was chief of his tribe at the date of the
forfeiture of the lordship of the Isles in 1493, when the clan
Gillean, or Clanlean as it came to be called, was divided into four
independent branches, viz., the Macleans of Dowart, the Macleans of
Lochbuy, the Macleans of Coll, and the Macleans of Ardgour. When
King James was on his second expedition to the Isles in 1495, Hector
Maclean of Dowart was among the island chiefs who then made their
submission to him, and the following year he was one of the five
chiefs of rank who appeared before the lords of council and bound
themselves, “by the extension of the hands,” to abstain from mutual
injuries and molestation, each under a penalty of £500. Lachlan
Maclean was chief of Dowart in 1502, and he and his kinsman, Maclean
of Lochbuy, were among the leading men of the Western Isles whom
that energetic monarch, James IV., entered into correspondence with,
for the purpose of breaking up the confederacy of the Islanders,
“rewarding them by presents in the shape either of money or of
grants of land, and securing their services in reducing to obedience
such of their fellow chieftains as proved contumacious, or actually
rose in rebellion.” (See Tytler’s Hist. of Scotland, vol. iv.
p. 368). Nevertheless, on the breaking out of the insurrection under
Donald Dubh, in 1503, they were both implicated in it. Lachlan
Maclean was forfeited with Cameron of Locheil, while Maclean of
Lochbuy and several others were summoned before the parliament, to
answer for their treasonable support given to the rebels. In 1505
Maclean of Dowart abandoned the cause of Donald Dubh and submitted
to the government; his example was followed by Maclean of Lochbuy
and other chiefs; and this had the effect, soon after, of putting an
end to the rebellion.
The lands of Lochiel had, in 1458, been bestowed by the earl
of Ross on Maclean, founder of the family of Coll, and this caused a
quarrel between the Macleans and the Camerons, in which, in course
of time, were involved all of the former name. The feud raged, with
more or less bitterness, for several years, but it, and another,
between the Dowart and Lochbuy branches of the Macleans, regarding
their lands in Morvern and the isle of Tiree, appear to have been
checked for a time, by the prudent measures of James IV., towards
the end of his reign.
Lachlan Maclean of Dowart was killed at Flodden. His
successor, of the same name, was one of the principal supporters of
Sir Donald Macdonald of Lochalsh, when, in November 1513, he brought
forward his claims to the lordship of the Isles. He seized the royal
castle of Carneburgh, near Mull, and afterwards that of Dunskiach in
Sleat. By the earl of Argyle, however, he was prevailed upon, with
several other island chiefs, to submit to the government, after
having, in 1517, with Macleod of Dunvegan, made prisoners of Sir
Donald’s two brothers. In a petition which he presented to the
council on this occasion he demanded a free remission of all
offences to himself and certain of his “kin, men, servants, and
part-takers,” whom he named; that Sir Donald of Lochalsh, with his
associates should be proceeded against as traitors, and their lands
forfeited; and that Sir Donald’s two brothers, then in his custody,
should be executed according to law. The remission he asked for was
granted, upon hostages being given for future obedience, but when he
claimed an heritable grant of one hundred merk lands in Tiree and
Mull, free of all duties, the council would not give it for a longer
term then till the king, who was then only in his fifth year, should
come of age. With this arrangement he was forced to be content, and
having appeared before the council, he gave his solemn oath of
allegiance to the king.
From this time till 1523, there was peace in the Isles, but in
that year a feud of a most implacable character broke out between
the Macleans and the Campbells, arising out of an occurrence, which
forms the subject of Miss Baillie’s celebrated tragedy of ‘The
Family Legend,’ and is thus related by Mr. Gregory: “Lauchlan
Cattanach Maclean of Dowart married Lady Elizabeth Campbell,
daughter of Archibald, second earl of Argyle; and, either from the
circumstance of their union being unfruitful, or more probably owing
to some domestic quarrels, he determined to get rid of his wife.
Some accounts say that she had twice attempted her husband’s life;
but, whatever the cause may have been, Maclean, following the advice
of two of his vassals, who exercised a considerable influence over
him from the tie of fosterage, caused his lady to be exposed on a
rock, which was only visible at low water, intending that she should
be swept away by the return of the tide. This rock lies between the
island of Lismore and the coast of Mull, and is still known by the
name of the ‘Lady’s Rock,’ From this perilous situation she was
rescued by a boat accidentally passing, and conveyed to her
brother’s house. Her relations, although much exasperated against
Maclean, smothered their resentment for a time, but only to break
out afterwards with greater violence; for the laird of Dowart, being
in Edinburgh, was surprised, when in bed, and assassinated by Sir
John Campbell of Calder, the lady’s brother. The Macleans instantly
took arms, to revenge the death of their chief, and the Campbells
were not slow in preparing to follow up the feud; but the government
interfered, and, for the present, an appear to arms was avoided.” (Gregory’s
Highlands and Isles, pp. 127, 128.) In 1529, however, the
Macleans joined the Clandonald of Isla against the earl of Argyle,
and ravaged with fire and sword the lands of Roseneath, Craignish,
and others belonging to the Campbells, killing many of the
inhabitants. The Campbells, on their part, retaliated by laying
waste great portion of the isles of Mull and Tiree and the lands of
Morvern, belonging to the Macleans. In May 1530, Maclean of Dowart
and Alexander of Isla made their personal submission to the
sovereign at Stirling, and, with the other rebel island chiefs who
followed their example, were pardoned, upon giving security for
their after obedience.
In 1545, Maclean of Dowart acted a very prominent part in the
intrigues with England, in furtherance of the project of Henry
VIII., to force the Scottish nation to consent to a marriage between
Prince Edward and the young Queen Mary. He and Maclean of Lochbuy
were among the barons of the Isles who accompanied Donald Dubh to
Ireland, and at the command of the earl of Lennox, claiming to be
regent of Scotland, swore allegiance to the king of England. One of
the two plenipotentiaries sent by Donald Dubh to the English court
at this time, was Patrick Maclean, brother of Dowart, described as
justiciar of the Isles and bailie of Icolmkill. Of the money sent by
the English king to pay the islesmen engaged in the expedition
against the regent Arran, Maclean of Dowart seems to have had the
charge, but not making a proper division of it, the insular chiefs
separated in discontent, and the expedition came, in consequence, to
an end. Macvurish, in a note quoted by Mr. Gregory, says: “A ship
came from England with a supply of money to carry on the war, which
landed at Mull; and the money was given to Maclean of Dowart to be
distributed among the commanders of the army; which they not
receiving in proportion as it should have been distributed amongst
them, caused the army to disperse.”
The clan history subsequently consisted chiefly of feuds in
which the Dowart family were engaged with the Coll branch of the
Macleans, and the Macdonalds of Kintyre. The dispute with the former
arose from Dowart, who was generally recognised as the head of the
clan-lean, insisting on being followed as chief by Maclean of Coll,
and the latter, who held his lands direct from the crown, declining
to acknowledge him as such, on the ground that being a free baron,
he owed no service but to his sovereign as his feudal superior. In
consequence of this refusal, Dowart, in the year 1561, caused Coll’s
lands to be ravaged, and his tenants to be imprisoned. With some
difficulty, and after the lapse of several years, Coll succeeded in
bringing his case before the privy council, who ordered Dowart to
make reparation to him for the injury done to his property and
tenants, and likewise to refrain from molesting him in future. But
on a renewal of the feud some years after, the Macleans of Coll were
expelled from that island by the young laird of Dowart.
The quarrel between the Macleans and the Macdonalds of Isla
and Kintyre was, at the outset, merely a dispute as to the right of
occupancy of the crown lands called the Rhinns of Isla, but it soon
involved these tribes in a long and bloody feud, and eventually led
to the destruction nearly of them both. The Macleans, who were in
possession, claimed to hold the lands in dispute as tenants of the
crown, but the privy council decided that Macdonald of Isla was
really the crown tenant. In 1562, the Macdonalds of Isla, assisted
by those of Sleat, invaded the isles of Mull, Tiree, and Coll, and
in 1565 the rival chiefs were compelled to find sureties, to the
amount of £10,000, that they would abstain from mutual hostilities.
But even this did not restrain a high spirited tribe like the
Macleans. On the death of James Macdonald of Dunyveg, Hector Maclean
of Dowart ravaged with fire and sword the isle of Gigha, being part
of the jointure lands of Lady Agnes Campbell, Macdonald’s widow, and
in consequence Queen Mary, then at the castle of Dunbar, granted, on
28th April, 1567, a commission of lieutenandry to the
earl of Argyle against him and his clan (Analecta Scotica, p.
393.)
Lachlan Maclean of Dowart, called Lachlan Mor, was chief of
the Macleans in 1578. He is said to have got the name of Mor,
from his great stature, but, as we have already shown in the article
on Campbell, this term was frequently applied to denote superior
rank. Under him the feud with the Macdonalds assumed a most
sanguinary and relentless character. He is described as a young man
of an active and energetic spirit, and of superior talents improved
by a good education, but of a cruel and fierce disposition. He had
succeeded young to the chiefship, and during his minority the
estates were managed by his kinsman, Hector Maclean, whose father,
Allan Maclean of Gigha and Turlusk, brother of the former Maclean of
Dowart, is celebrated in tradition as a warrior, by the name of
Alein na’n Sop. To obtain possession of the estates for himself,
Hector designed to deprive the young chief of his life, but Lachlan
Mor discovered his purpose, and on attaining his majority, had him
apprehended, and after imprisoning him for a considerable time in
the castle of Dowart, he was removed to the isle of coll, and
beheaded by Lachlan’s order. The following year, on a renewal of the
feud between the Macleans and the Macdonalds of Isla, the king and
council commanded the chiefs of both tribes to subscribe assurances
of indemnity to each other, under the penalty of treason. But
although Macdonald of Dunyveg, at this time, married Maclean’s
sister, hostilities were only suspended between the clans, to break
out no long time after, with increased violence. It was in the year
1585 that this most destructive feud reached its height, and that
under the following circumstances:
Macdonald of Sleat, on his way to visit his kinsman, Angus
Macdonald, was driven by stress of weather to the island of Jura,
and landed on that part which belonged to Maclean, the other part
being the property of Angus Macdonald. Two of the Clandonald, who
had a grudge at their chief, one of whom was named Macdonald
Terreagh, happened to arrive on the island at the same time, and
that same night carried off some of Maclean’s cattle, with the
object that the theft might be imputed to Sleat and his party. Under
that impression Lachlan Mor Maclean assembled his followers, and
suddenly attacking them at night, slew about sixty of them. The
chief of Sleat himself only escaped by his having previously gone on
board his galley to pass the night. After his return to Skye,
whither he proceeded vowing vengeance against the Macleans, he was
visited by Angus Macdonald, for the purpose of concerting measures
of retaliation. On his homeward voyage to Kintyre, Angus Macdonald
landed in the isle of Mull, and, against the advice of his
followers, went to visit his brother-in-law at his castle of Dowart,
in the hope of effecting an amicable arrangement of all their
disputes. His two brothers, Ranald and Coll, who were with him,
refused to accompany him, fearing treachery, and their fears were
realized; for, although well received at first by Maclean, Angus and
all his party were the following day arrested by Lachlan Mor and
thrown into prison. The only one who escaped was Reginald Macdonald,
the cousin of Angus. To preserve his life and recover his freedom,
Angus agreed to renounce his right to the disputed lands in the
Rhinns of Isla, and for the performance of this engagement he was
obliged to give his eldest son, James, a young boy, and his brother,
Ranald, as hostages. In a short time afterwards Lachlan Mor sailed
to Isla to get the agreement completed, taking with him James
Macdonald, one of the hostages, leaving the other in fetters in the
castle of Dowart. On his arrival he encamped at the ruinous fort of
Eilan Gorm on the Rhinns. Angus Macdonald was then residing at
Mullintrea, to which place he invited Maclean, who declined the
invitation. “There wes,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “so little trust on
either syd, that they did not now merit in friendship or amitie, but
upon ther owne guard, or rather by messingers, one from another.”
Angus, however, pressed his invitation, with the strongest
assurances of safety and good treatment, and Lachlan Mor, thrown off
his guard, at length complied. With 86 of his followers he went to
Mullintrea in the month of July 1586, and on his arrival was
sumptuously entertained the whole day. The night, however, was
signalized by treachery and blood. The event is thus related: “At
the usual hour for retiring to repose, Maclean and his people were
lodged in a longhouse, which stood by itself, at some distance from
the other houses. During the whole day Maclean had always kept James
Macdonald, the hostage, within his reach, as a sort of protection to
him in case of an attack, and at going to bed he took him along with
him. About an hour after Maclean and his people had retired, Angus
assembled his men to the number of 3 or 400, and made them surround
the house in which Maclean and his company lay. Then going himself
to the door, he called upon Maclean, and told him that he had come
to give him his reposing drink, which he had forgotten to order him
before going to bed. Maclean answered that he did not wish to drink
at that time, but Macdonald insisted that he should rise, it being,
he said, his will that he should do so. The peremptory tone of
Macdonald made Maclean at once apprehensive of danger, and getting
up and placing the boy between his shoulders, as a sort of shield,
he prepared to defent his life as long as he could, or to sell it as
dearly as possible. As soon as the door was forced open, James
Macdonald, seeing his father with a naked sword in his hand, and a
number of his men armed in the same manner, cried aloud for mercy to
Maclean, his uncle, which being granted. Lachlan Mor was immediately
removed to a secret chamber, where he remained till next morning.
After Maclean had surrendered, Angus Macdonald announced to those
within the house that if they would come without, their lives would
be spared; but he excepted Macdonald Terreagh and another individual
whom he named. The whole, with the exception of these two, having
complied, the house was immediately set on fire, and consumed along
with Macdonald Terreagh and his companion. The former was one of the
Clandonald of the western islands, and not only had assisted the
Macleans against his own tribe, but was also the originator of all
these disturbances; and the latter was a near kinsman of Maclean,
one of the oldest of the clan, and celebrated both for his wisdom
and prowess.”
But this was only the beginning of the tragedy. What followed
was still more horrible. Allan Maclean, a near kinsman of Lachlan
Mor, in the hope that the Macdonalds would put him to death, in
which event he would have succeeded to the management of the estate,
as guardian to his children, who were then very young, caused a
report to be spread that the hostage left behind at Dowart castle,
had been killed by the Macleans. Under the impression that it was
true, Coll Macjames, the brother of the hostage and of Angus
Macdonald, took a signal vengeance on the unfortunate prisoners in
his hands, two of whom were executed every day, until at last
Lachlan Mor alone survived. An accident that happened to Angus
Macdonald, as he was mounting his horse to witness his execution,
saved his life. Information of these atrocities being sent to the
king (James VI.), he immediately despatched a herald to demand that
Lachlan Mor should be set at liberty, but the herald was unable to
procure shipping for Isla. Macdonald was at length prevailed upon to
release him, in his delivering into his hands his eldest son, Hector
Maclean, and seven other hostages. Soon after Angus Macdonald went
on a visit to Ulster, when Maclean, regardless of the safety of his
hostages, and dreaming only of vengeance, hurried to Isla and laid
waste a great portion of that island.
On his return from Ireland, Angus Macdonald, at the head of a
large force, invaded the isles of Mull and Tiree, which he ravaged
with fire and sword, slaying many of the inhabitants, as well as the
domestic animals of every description. “Finally,” says Sir Robert
Gordon, “he came to the very Benmore in Mull, and there killed and
chased the clan Lean at his pleasure, and so revenged himself fully
of the injuries done to him and his tribe.” Instead of opposing him,
Maclean made an inroad into Kintyre, great part of which he ravaged
and plundered, and “thus for awhile they did continually vex one
another with slaughters and outrages, to the destruction almost of
their countries and people.” (Sir Robert Gordon’s Hist. of
Sutherland, p. 186). An episode in this long continued and
vindictive feud shows to what length the feelings of bitterness and
cruelty engendered by it could be carried. To gain over to his side
John Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, who had been a suitor for the hand of
his mother, the daughter of the earl of Argyle, Lachlan Mor, in
1588, invited him to Mull, with the view to the proposed alliance.
Mac Ian accepted the invitation, and was accompanied by a retinue of
the principal gentlemen of his tribe. No persuasion, however, could
induce him to join against his own clan, the Macdonalds. furious at
his refusal, Lachlan Mor, on the marriage night, caused Mac Ian’s
attendants, to the number of 18, to be massacred; then, bursting
into his bed chamber, would have murdered himself, had not his
new-made wife interposed on his behalf, and for her sake his life
was spared. With two of his followers, who had escaped the fate of
their companions, he was thrown into a dungeon, and not released for
a year afterwards, when he and other prisoners were exchanged for
Maclean’s son, and the other hostages in the hands of Angus
Macdonald.
Previous to his liberation, however, with the assistance of a
hundred Spanish soldiers belonging to the Florida, a ship of the
Spanish Armada driven by a storm into the harbour of Tobermory in
Mull, Lachlan Mor had ravaged and plundered the isles of Rum and
Eig, occupied by the Clanranald, and those of Canna and Muck,
belonging to the clan Ian. In this expedition he is said to have
burned the whole inhabitants of these Isles, sparing neither age nor
sex. On the mainland he besieged for three days Mac Ian’s castle of
Mingarry in Ardnamurchan. The Macdonalds, on their side, assisted by
a band of English mercenaries, wasted the lands of the Macleans with
fire and sword.
The mutual ravages committed by the hostile clans, in which
the kindred and vassal tribes on both sides were involved, and the
effects of which were felt throughout the whole of the Hebrides,
attracted, in 1589, the serious attention of the king and council,
and for the purpose of putting an end to them, the rival chiefs,
with Macdonald of Sleat, on receiving remissions, under the privy
seal, for all the crimes committed by them, were induced to proceed
to Edinburgh. On their arrival, they were committed prisoners to the
castle, and, after some time, Maclean and Angus Macdonald were
brought to trial, in spite of the remissions granted to them; one of
the principal charges against them being their treasonable hiring of
Spanish and English soldiers to fight in their private quarrels.
Both chiefs submitted themselves to the king’s mercy, and placed
their lives and lands at his disposal. On payment each of a small
fire they were allowed to return to the Isles, Macdonald of Sleat
being released at the same time. Besides certain conditions being
imposed upon them, they were taken bound to return to their
confinement in the castle of Edinburgh, whenever they should be
summoned, on twenty days’ warning. Not fulfilling the conditions,
they were, on 14th July 1593, cited to appear before the
privy council, and as they disobeyed the summons, both Lachlan Mor
and Angus Macdonald were, in 1594, forfeited by parliament.
At the battle of Glenlivat, in that year, fought between the
Catholic earls of Huntly, Angus, and Errol, on the one side, and the
king’s forces, under the earl of Argyle, on the other, Lachlan Mor,
at the head of the Macleans, particularly distinguished himself.
Argyle lost the battle, but, says Mr. Gregory, (Highlands and
Isles of Scotland, p. 259,) “the conduct of Lachlan Maclean of
Dowart, who was one of Argyle’s officers, in this action, would, if
imitated by the other leaders, have converted the defeat into a
victory. That chief acted the part of a brave and skilful soldier,
keeping his men in their ranks, and employing, with good effect, all
the advantages of his position. It was his division which inflicted
the principal loss on the rebels, and, at the close of the action,
he retired in good order with those under his command. It is said
that, after the battle, he offered, if Argyle would give him five
hundred men in addition to his own clan, to bring the earl of Huntly
prisoner into Argyle’s camp. This proposal was rejected, but having
come to the ears of Huntly, incensed him greatly against Maclean,
whose son afterwards, according to tradition, lost a large estate in
Lochaber, through the animosity of that powerful nobleman.”
In 1596 Lachlan Mor repaired to court, and on making his
submission to the king, the act of forfeiture was removed. He also
received from the crown a lease of the Rhinns of Isla, so long in
dispute between him and Macdonald of Dunyveg. While thus at the head
of favour, however, his unjust and oppressive conduct to the family
of the Macleans of Coll, whose castle and island he had seized some
years before, on the death of Hector Maclean, proprietor thereof,
was brought before the privy council by Lachlan Maclean, then of
Coll, Hector’s son, and the same year he was ordered to deliver up
not only the castle of Coll, but all his own castles and
strongholds, to the lieutenant of the Isles, on twenty-four hours’
warning, also, to restore to Coll, within thirty days, all the lands
of which he had deprived him, under a penalty of 10,000 merks. In
1598, Lachlan Mor, with the view of expelling the Macdonalds from
Isla, levied his vassals and proceeded to that island, and after an
ineffectual attempt at an adjustment of their differences, was
encountered, on 5th August, at the head of Lochgruinard,
by Sir James Macdonald, son of Angus, at the head of his clan, when
the Macleans were defeated, and their chief killed, with 80 of his
principal men and 200 common soldiers. Lachlan Barroch Maclean, a
son of Sir Lachlan, was dangerously wounded, but escaped. Sir
Lachlan, according to Sir Robert Gordon, had consulted a witch
before he undertook this journey into Isla; she advised him, in the
first place, not to land upon the island on a Thursday; secondly,
that he should not drink of the water of a well near Gruinard; and
lastly, she told him that one Maclean should be slain at Gruinard.
“The first he transgressed unwillingly,” says Sir Robert, “being
driven into the island of Isla by a tempest upon a Thursday; the
second he transgressed negligentlie, haveing drank of that water
before he wes awair; and so he was killed ther at Gruinard, as wes
foretold him, bot doubtfullie. Thus endeth all these that doe trust
in such kynd of responces, or doe hunt after them.” (Hist. p.
238.)
Hector Maclean, the son and successor of Sir Lachlan, at the
head of a numerous force, afterwards invaded Isla, and attacked and
defeated the Macdonalds at a place called Bern Bige, and then
ravaged the whole island. He was one of the principal chiefs of the
Isles seized by Lord Ochiltree, the king’s lieutenant, on his
expedition to the Isles in 1608, and carried to Edinburgh. The
following year he and Macdonald of Dunyveg were selected to
accompany the king’s commissioner on his survey of the Isles. With
two of his brothers, and Hector Maclean of Lochbuy, and almost all
the principal islesmen, he was present at Iona when the celebrated
“Statutes of Icolmkill” were enacted. He was also one of the six
principal islanders who met at Edinburgh on 28th June
1610, to hear his majesty’s pleasure declared to them, when they
were compelled to give sureties to a large amount for their
reappearance before the council in May 1611. In the conditions
imposed upon the chiefs for the pacification of the Isles in 1616,
we find that Maclean of Dowart was not to use in his house more than
four tun of wine, and Coll and Lochbuy one tun each. At this time
Maclean of Dowart and his brother Lachlan, having delayed to find
the sureties required of them, were committed to ward in Edinburgh
castle, whence the former was soon liberated, and allowed to live
with Acheson of Gosfurd, his father-in-law, under his own
recognisance of £40,000, and his father-in-law’s for 5,000 merks,
that he should remain there until permitted by the council to return
to the Isles. Dowart’s brother was not liberated till the following
year.
Sir Lachlan Maclean of Morvern, a younger brother of Hector
Maclean of Dowart, was in 1631 created a baronet of Nova Scotia by
Charles I., and on the death of his elder brother he succeeded to
the estate of Dowart. In the civil wars the Macleans took arms under
Montrose, and fought valiantly for the royal cause. At the battle of
Inverlochy, 2d February 1645, Sir Lachlan commanded his clan. He was
also engaged in the subsequent battles of the royalist general. Sir
Hector Maclean, his son, with 800 of his followers, was at the
battle of Inverkeithing, 20th July 1651, when the
royalists were opposed to the troops of Oliver Cromwell. On this
occasion an instance of devoted attachment to the chief was shown on
the part of the Macleans. In the heat of the battle, Sir Hector was
covered from the enemy’s attacks by seven brothers of his clan, all
of whom successively sacrificed their lives in his defence. As one
fell another rushed forward to interpose betwixt his person and the
enemy, crying out in Gaelic, Bos air son Eachin, “Another for
Hector!” this phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since
to be a proverb or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden
danger that requires instant succour. Sir Hector, however, was left
among the slain, with about 500 of his followers.
The Dowart estates had become deeply involved in debt, and the
marquis of Argyle, by purchasing them up, had acquired a claim
against the lands of Maclean, which ultimately led to the greater
portion of them becoming the property of that grasping family. In
1674, after the execution of the marquis, payment was insisted upon
by his son, the earl. The tutor of Maclean, the chief, his nephew,
being a minor, evaded the demand for a considerable time, and at
length showed a disposition to resist it by force. Argyle had
recourse to legal proceedings, and supported by a body of 2,000
Campbells, he crossed into Mull, where he took possession of the
castle of Dowart, and placed a garrison in it. The Macleans,
however, refused to pay their rents to the earl, and in consequence
he prepared for a second invasion of Mull. to resist it, the
Macdonalds came to the aid of the Macleans, but Argyle’s ships were
driven back by a storm, when he applied to government, and even went
to London, to ask assistance from the king. Lord Macdonald and other
friends of the Macleans followed him, and laid a state of the
dispute before Charles, who, in February 1676, remitted the matter
to three lords of the Scottish privy council. NO decision, however,
was come to be them, and Argyle was allowed to take possession of
the island of Mull without resistance in 1686.
After the Revolution, a party of Macleans, under their chief,
Sir John Maclean, fourth baronet, on their way to join Viscount
Dundee, were surprised in Strathspey, by a party of Mackay’s
dragoons, under Sir Thomas Livingston, when they threw away their
plaids, and formed on an adjoining hill. In the skirmish that
ensued, they sustained a loss of 80 or 100 men. At the battle of
Killiecrankie, Sir John Maclean, with his regiment, was placed on
Dundee’s right, and among the troops on his left was a battalion
under Sir Alexander Maclean. The Macleans were amongst the
Highlanders surprised and defeated at Cromdale in 1696. The
following day, a party of Macleans and Camerons, who had in the
flight separated from their companions in arms, crossed the Spey,
but being pursued by some of Livingston’s men, were overtaken and
dispersed on the moor of Granish near Aviemore, where some of them
were killed. Subsequently, the earl of Argyle invaded Mull, with
1,900 foot and 60 dragoons, when the inhabitants took the oaths of
allegiance to the government, and delivered up their arms. Sir John
Maclean himself, with a few of his friends, took refuge in the fort
of Carneburgh, one of the Treshnish isles, where a party of
Macleans, during the civil wars, had held out, for some time,
against a detachment of Cromwell’s forces.
In the rebellion of 1715, the Macleans ranged themselves under
the standard of the earl of Mar, and were present at the battle of
Sheriffmuir. For his share in the insurrection, Sir John Maclean,
the chief, was forfeited, but the estates were afterwards restored
to the family. On the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745, Sir
John’s son, Sir Hector Maclean, the fifth baronet, was apprehended,
with his servant, at Edinburgh, and conveyed to London. He was not
set at liberty till the passing of the act of indemnity in June
1747. At Culloden, however, 500 of his clan fought for Prince
Charles, under Maclean of Drumnin, who was slain leading them on.
Sir Hector died, unmarried, at Paris, in 1750, when the title
devolved upon his third cousin, the remainder being to heirs male
whatsoever. This third cousin, Sir Allan Maclean, was great-grandson
of Donald Maclean of Broloss, eldest son, by his second marriage, of
Hector Maclean of Dowart, the father of the first baronet. Sir Allen
married Anne, daughter of Hector Maclean of Coll, and had three
daughters, the eldest of whom, Maria, became the wife of Maclean of
Kinlochaline, and the second, Sibella, of Maclean of Inverscadell.
In 1773, when Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell visited the Hebrides, Sir
Allan was chief of the clan. He resided at that time on Inchkenneth,
one of his smaller islands, in the district of Mull, where he
entertained his visitors very hospitably. “This island,” says Dr.
Johnson, “is about a mile long, and perhaps half-a-mile broad,
remarkable for pleasantness and fertility. Its only inhabitants were
Sir Allan Maclean and two young ladies, his daughters, with their
servants. Romance does not often exhibit a scene that strikes the
imagination more than this little desert, in these depths of western
obscurity, occupied not by a gross herdsman, or amphibious
fisherman, but by a gentleman and two ladies, of high birth,
polished manners, and elegant conversation, who, in a habitation
raised not very far above the ground, but furnished with unexpected
neatness and convenience, practised all the kindness of hospitality
and refinement of courtesy.” From the following anecdote it would
appear that the feeling of devotion to the chief had survived the
heritable abolition act of 1747, if indeed the passing of such an
act was at all generally known in 1773 among the humbler inhabitants
of the remote Hebrides. “The Macginnises are said to be a branch of
the clan of Maclean. Sir Allan had been told that one of the name
had refused to send him some rum, at which the knight was in great
indignation. ‘You rascal!’ said he, ‘don’t you know that I can hang
you, if I please? Refuse to send rum to me, you rascal! Don’t you
know that if I order you to go and cut a man’s throat, you are to do
it!’ ‘Yes, an’t please your honour, and my own too, and hang myself
too!’ The poor fellow denied that he had refused to send the rum.
His making these professions was not merely a pretence in presence
of his chief, for, after he and I were out of Sir Allan’s hearing,
he told me, ‘Had he sent his dog for the rum, I would have given it;
I would cut my bones for him.’ Sir Allan, by way of upbraiding the
fellow, said, ‘I believe you are a Campbell!’‘
Dying without male issue in 1783, Sir Allan was succeeded by
his kinsman, Sir Hector, 7th baronet; on whose death,
Nov. 2, 1818, his brother, Lieutenant-general Sir Fitzroy Jeffry
Grafton Maclean, became the 8th baronet. He died July 5,
1847, leaving two sons, Sir Charles Fitzroy Maclean of Morvern, and
Donald Maclean, of the chancery bar, at one period a member of
parliament. Sir Charles, 9th baronet, a colonel in the
army (1846), commanded the 81st foot for some time, and
was subsequently military secretary at Gibraltar. He married a
daughter of the Hon. and Rev. Jacob Marsham, uncle of the earl of
Romney; issue, a son, Charles Donald, captain 13th
dragoons, and 4 daughters; one, Fanny, married Capt. Hood. R.N., and
another, Louisa, became the wife of Hon. Ralph Pelham Neville, son
of the earl of Abergavenny.
_____
The first of the Lochbuy branch of the Macleans was Hector
Reganach, brother of Lachlan Lubanich above mentioned. He had a son
named John, or Murchard, whose great-grandson, John Oig Maclean of
Lochbuy, received from King James IV., several charters of
confirmation under the great seal, of the lands and baronies which
had been held by his progenitors. He was killed, with his two elder
sons, in a family feud with the Macleans of Dowart. His only
surviving son, Murdoch, was obliged, in consequence of the same
feud, to retire to Ireland, where he remained for several years, and
married a daughter of the earl of Antrim. By the mediation of his
father-in-law, his differences with Dowart were satisfactorily
adjusted, and he returned to the isles, where he spent his latter
years in peace. His son, John Moir Maclean of Lochbuy, was so expert
a fencer that, according to a history of the family, he fought on a
stage in Edinburgh before the king and court, and killed a famous
Italian swordsman, who had challenged all Scotland. By his wife, a
daughter of Macdonald of the Isles, he had two sons, Hector, who
succeeded him, and Charles, progenitor of the Macleans of Tapull.
From the latter family descended Sir Alexander Maclean of Ottar,
mentioned above, who attached himself to the interests of James VII.
He accompanied the fallen monarch to France, and rose to the rank of
colonel in the French service.
The house of Lochbuy has always maintained that of the two
brothers, Lachlan Lubanich and Hector Reganach, the latter was the
senior, and that, consequently, the chiefship of the Macleans is
vested in its head; “but this,” says Mr. Gregory, “is a point on
which there is no certain evidence.” The whole clan, at different
periods, have followed the head of both families to the field, and
fought under their command. Of this house was Hector Maclean,
elected bishop of Argyle in 1686. He had in his younger years taken
arms for the king in the civil wars, but being of a religious
disposition he ultimately entered the church. The Lochbuy family now
spells its name Maclaine.
_____
The Coll branch of the Macleans, like that of Dowart,
descended from Lachlan Lubanich, said to have been grandfather of
the fourth laird of Dowart and the first laird of coll, who were
brothers. John Maclean, surnamed Garbh, son of Lachlan of Dowart,
obtained the isle of Coll and the lands of Quinish in Mull from
Alexander, earl of Ross and lord of the Isles, and afterwards, on
the forfeiture of Cameron, the lands of Locheil. The latter grant
engendered, as we have seen, a deadly feud between the Camerons and
the Macleans, which led to much contention and bloodshed between
them. At one time the son and successor of John Garbh occupied
Locheil by force, but was killed in a conflict with the Camerons at
Corpach, in the reign of James III. His infant son would also have
been put to death, had the boy not been saved by the Macgillonies or
Maclonichs, a tribe of Lochaber that generally followed the clan
Cameron. This youth, subsequently known as John Abrach Maclean of
Coll, was the representative of the family in 1493, and from him was
adopted by his successors the patronymic appellation of Maclean
Abrach, by which the lairds of Coll were ever after distinguished.
The tradition concerning this heir of coll is thus related by
Dr. Johnson, in his Tour to the Hebrides; “Very near the house of
Maclean stands the castle of Coll, which was the mansion of the
laird till the house was built. On the wall was, not long ago, a
stone with an inscription, importing, ‘That if any man of the clan
of Maclonich shall appear before this castle, though he come at
midnight with a man’s head in his hand, he shall there find safety
and protection against all but the king.’ this is an old Highland
treaty made upon a memorable occasion. Maclean, the son of John
Garbh, who recovered Coll, and conquered Barra, had obtained, it is
said, from James II., a grant of the lands of Locheil, forfeited, I
suppose, by some offence against the state. Forfeited estates were
not in those days quietly resigned: Maclean, therefore, went with an
armed force to seize his new possessions, and, I know not for what
reason, took his wife with him. The Camerons rose in defence of
their chief, and a battle was fought at the head of Lochness, near
the place where Fort Augustus now stands, in which Locheil obtained
the victory, and Maclean, with his followers, was defeated and
destroyed. The lady fell into the hands of the conquerors, and being
found pregnant, was placed in the custody of Maclonich, one of a
tribe or family branched from Cameron, with orders, if she brought a
boy, to destroy him, if a girl, to spare her. Maclonich’s wife, who
was with child likewise, had a girl about the same time at which
Lady Maclean brought a boy; and Maclonich, with more generosity to
his captive than fidelity to his trust, contrived that the children
should be changed, Maclean being thus preserved from death, in time
recovered his original patrimony; and in gratitude to his friend,
made his castle a place of refuge to any of the clan that should
think himself in danger; and, as a proof of reciprocal confidence,
Maclean took upon himself and his posterity the care of educating
the heir of Maclonich. This story, like all other traditions of the
Highlands, is variously related; but, though some circumstances are
uncertain, the principal fact is true. Maclean undoubtedly owed his
preservation to Maclonich; for the treaty between the two families
has been strictly observed; it did not sink into disuse and
oblivion, but continued in its full force while the chieftains
retained their power. The power of protection subsists no longer;
but what the law permits is yet continued, and Maclean of Coll now
educates the heir of Maclonich.”
The account of the conversion of the simple islanders of Coll
from popery to Protestantism is curious. The laird had imbibed the
principles of the Reformation, but found his people reluctant to
abandon the religion of their fathers. To compel them to do so, he
did not trouble himself with argument or reasoning of any sort, but
took his station one Sunday in the path which led to the Roman
Catholic church, and as his clansmen approached, he drove them back
with his cane. They at once made their way to the protestant place
of worship, and from this persuasive mode of conversion, his vassals
ever after called it the religion of the gold-headed stick. Lachlan,
the seventh proprietor of Coll, went over to Holland with some of
his own men, in the reign of Charles II., and obtained the command
of a company in General Mackay’s regiment, in the service of the
prince of Orange. He afterwards returned to Scotland, and was
drowned in the water of Lochy in Lochaber in 1687.
Dr. Johnson seems to have been especially gratified with his
reception at Coll. “We were at Coll,” he says, “under the protection
of the young laird, and whenever we roved, we were pleased to see
the reverence with which his subjects regarded him. He did not
endeavour to dazzle them by any magnificence of dress; his only
distinction was a feather in his bonnet; but, as soon as he
appeared, they forsook their work and clustered about him; he took
them by the hand, and they seemed mutually delighted. He has the
proper disposition of a chieftain, and seems desirous to continue
the customs of his house. The bagpiper played regularly when dinner
was served, whose person and dress made a good appearance, and he
brought no disgrace upon the family of Rankin, which has long
supplied the lairds of coll with hereditary music.” As an instance
of the expense which attended the funeral of persons of distinction
in the western isles, he states that nineteen years before his
visit, thirty cows and about fifty sheep were killed at the burial
of the laird of coll, so great was the concourse of persons present
at it. From Coll the travellers were conducted by the young laird to
Mull, Ulva, and Sir Allan Maclean’s at Inch-Kenneth. The young laird
of Coll, soon after perished in the passage between Ulva and
Inch-Kenneth. Col. Hugh Maclean, London, the last laird of coll, of
that name, was the 15th in regular descent from John
Garbh, son of Lauchlan Lubanich.
_____
The Ardgour branch of the Macleans, which held its lands
directly from the lord of the Isles, descended from Donald, another
son of Lauchlan, 3d laird of Dowart. The estate of Ardgour, which is
in Argyleshire, had previously belonged to a different tribe (the
Macmasters), but it was conferred upon Donald, either by Alexander,
earl of Ross, or by his son and successor, John. In 1463, Ewen or
Eugene, son of Donald, held the office of senechal of the household
to the latter earl; and in 1493, Lachlan Macewen Maclean was laird
of Ardgour. Alexander Maclean, Esq., the present laird of Ardgour,
is the 14th from father to son. His numerous brothers are
colonels in the army. Two of them are in the royal artillery.
_____
During the 17th and 18th centuries the
Macleans of Lochbuy, Coll, and Ardgour, more fortunate than the
Dowart branch of the clan, contrived to preserve their estates
nearly entire, although compelled by the marquis of Argyle to
renounce their holdings in capite of the crown, and to become
vassals of that nobleman. They continued zealous partizans of the
Stuarts, in whose cause they suffered severely.
_____
From Lachlan Oig Maclean, a younger son of Lachlan Mor of
Dowart, sprung the family of Torloisk in Mull. Among the Highland
corps embodied during the latter half of the last century was a
regiment raised by Captain Allan Maclean of Torloisk, which was
reduced in 1763. The Highland regiments in America and Germany were
supplied with recruits from this corps. The estate ultimately fell
to the heiress of line, Mrs. Clephane Maclean, whose grandson, 2d
son of the marquis of Northampton, came to possess the property.
Another grandson was the Baron de Norman, murdered by the Chinese in
Pekin(g).
_____
Of the numerous flourishing cadets of the different branches,
the principal were the Macleans of Kinlochaline, Ardtornish, and
Drimnin, descended from the family of Dowart; of Tapul and
Scallasdale, in the island of Mull, from that of Lochbuy; of Isle of
Muck, from that of Coll; and of Borrera, in North Uist and
Treshinish, from that of Ardgour. The family of Borrera are
represented by Donald Maclean, Esq., and General Archibald Maclean.
From Isle of Muck and Treshinish is descended A. C. Maclean of
Haremere Hall, Sussex.
The Macleans of Pennycross, island of Mull, represented by
Alexander Maclean, Esq., derives from John Dubh, the first Maclean
of Morvern. General Allan Maclean of Pennycross, colonel of the 13th
light dragoons, charged with them at Waterloo.
General Sir Archibald Maclaine, born in 1783, 2d son of
Gillian Maclaine, Esq. of Scallasdale, by the eldest daughter of Mac
Quarie of Mac Quarie, chief of Ulva, after serving with distinction
in India and the Peninsular war, was knighted for his defence of
Fort Matagorda for 55 days, with only 155 men against 8,000 men
under Marshal Soult.
A two part
video of a visit to Tiree and Coll by Steve Marsh
Part 1 |
Part 2
