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The modern clan Chisholm or Siosal,
in Inverness-shire, though claiming to be of Celtic origin, are, it is probable, descended
from one of the northern collaterals of the original family of Chisholme of Chisholme in
Roxburghshire, which possessed lands there as early as the reign of Alexander III.
Few families have asserted their right to be considered as a Gaelic clan with greater
vehemence than the Chisholms, notwithstanding that there are perhaps few whose Lowland
origin is less doubtful. Their early charters suffice to establish the real origin of the
family with great clearness. The Highland possessions of the family consist of Comer,
Strathglass, &c, in which is situated their castle of Erchless, and the manner in
which they acquired these lands is proved by the fact, that there exists a confirmation of
an indenture betwixt William de Fenton of Baky on the one part, and "Margaret de la
Ard domina de Erchless and Thomas de Chishelme her son and heir" on the other part,
dividing between them the lands of which they were heirs portioners, and among these lands
is the barony of the Ard in Inverness-shire. This deed is dated at Kinrossy, 25th April,
1403.
In all probability, therefore, the husband of Margaret must have been Alexander de
Chishelme, who is mentioned in 1368 as comportioner of the barony of Ard along with Lord
Fenton.
The Chisholms came into prominence in the reign of David II, when Sir Robert de Chisholm
married the daughter of Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood, and ultimately succeeded him in
the government of Urquhart Castle. In 1376 he occupied the important position of justiciar
north of the Forth.
Wiland de Chesholm obtained a charter of the lands of Comer dated 9th April 1513. In 1587,
the chiefs on whose lands resided "broken men", were called upon to give
security for their peaceable behaviour, among whom appears "Cheisholme of
Cummer". After the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, Erchless castle, the seat of the
chief, was garrisoned for King James, and General Livingstone, the commander of the
government forces, had considerable difficulty in dislodging the Highlanders. In 1715,
Ruari or Roderick MacIan, the chief, signed the address of a hundred and two chiefs and
head of houses to George the First, expressive of their attachment and loyalty, but no
notice being taken of it, he engaged very actively in the rising under the Earl of Mar;
and at the battle of Dunblane, the clan was headed by Chisholm of Croefin, an aged
veteran, for which the estates of the chief were forfeited and sold. In 1727, he procured
with several other chiefs, a pardon under the privy seal, and the lands were subsequently
conveyed, by the then proprietor, to Roderick's eldest son, who entailed them on his heirs
male. In 1745, this chief joined the standard of the Pretender with his clan, and Colin,
his youngest son, was appointed colonel of the clan battalion. Lord President Forbes thus
states the strength of the Chisholms at that period. "Chisholms - Their chief is
Chisholm of Strathglass, in Gaelic called Chisallich. His lands are held crown, and he can
bring out two hundred of the men".
Alexander Chisholm, chief of the clan, who succeeded in 1785, left an only child, Mary,
married to James Gooden, Esq, London, and dying in 1793, the chiefship and estates,
agreeably to the deed of entail, devolved on his youngest brother, William, who married
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Duncan MacDonnell, Esq of Glengarry, and left two sons and
one daughter. On his death in 1817 he was succeeded by the elder son, Alexander William,
once member of parliament for Inverness-shire, who died, prematurely, in September 1838.
He was succeeded by his brother, Duncan MacDonnell Chisholm, who died in London 14th
September 1858, aged 47, when the estate devolved on James Sutherland Chisholm, the
present Chisholm, son of Roderick, son of Archibald, eldest son of the above Alexander,
who resides at Erchless Castle, Inverness-shire.
The common designation of the chief of the house is "The Chisholm", and whatever
be its antiquity, it is a title which is very generally accorded to him, and, like the
designation of "The O'Connor Don", has even been sanctioned by use in the
senate. An old chief of the clan Chisholm once not very modestly said that there were but
three persons in the world entitled to it - "The Pope, the King and the
Chisholm".
One of the chiefs of this clan having carried off a daughter of Lord Lovat, placed her on
an islet in Loch Bruirach, where she was soon discovered by the Frazers, who had mustered
for the rescue. A severe conflict ensued, during which the young lady was accidentally
slain by her own brother. A plaintive Gaelic song records the sad calamity, and numerous
tumuli mark the graves of those who fell.
The once great family of Chisholme of Cromlix, sometimes written Cromleck, in Perthshire,
which for above a century held the hereditary bailie and justiciary-ship of the
ecclesiastical lordship of Dunblane, and furnished three bishops to that see, but which is
now extinct, was also descended from the border Chisholmes.
Another Account of the Clan
BADGE: Raineach (filix) Fern.
PIBROCH: Failte Siosalaich Strathglas.
 ONE
of the most remarkable episodes among the adventures of Prince Charles
Edward in the West Highlands, between the time of his escape from
Benbecula by the aid of Flora MacDonald and his final setting sail for
France on board the Doutelle, was that of his shelter and
protection by the Seven Men of Glen Morriston. The names of these seven
men, as given in the Lyon in Mourning, were Patrick Grant, commonly
called Black Peter of Craskie, John MacDonnell alias Campbell, Alexander
MacDonnell, Grigor MacGregor, and three brothers Alexander, Donald, and
Hugh Chisholm. These seven were afterwards joined by an eighth, Hugh
Macmillan. These men had been engaged in the Jacobite rising, and, as a
result, their small possessions had been burned and destroyed. Seventy
others of their neighbours who had surrendered they had seen sent as
slaves to the colonies, and in desperation they had bound themselves by a
solemn oath never to yield and never to give up their arms, but to fight
to the last drop of their blood. Several of their deeds are recounted in
the work already referred to. About three weeks before the Prince joined
them, four of them, the two Macdonnells and Alexander and Donald Chisholm,
attacked a convoy of seven soldiers carrying provisions from Fort Augustus
to Glenelg, shot two of the soldiers dead, turned loose the horses, and
carried the provisions to their cave. A few days later, meeting Robert
Grant, a notorious informer from Strathspey, they shot him dead, cut off
his head, and set it up in a tree near the high road, where it remained
for many a day, a terror to traitors. Three days later, word reached them
that an uncle of Patrick Grant had had his cattle driven off by a large
party of soldiers. Near the Hill of Lundy, between Fort Augustus and
Glenelg, they came up with the raiders and demanded the return of the
cattle. The three king’s officers formed up their party for defence and
continued to drive away the cattle; but the seven men, moving parallel
with the party, kept up a running fire two by two, and finally, in a
narrow and dangerous pass, so beset the soldiers that they fell into
confusion and fled, leaving the cattle, as well as a horse laden with
provisions, to the assailants.
To these men the Prince was
introduced as young Cianranald, but they instantly recognised him, and
welcomed him with the utmost enthusiasm and devotion. They took a dreadful
oath to be faithful to him, and kept it so well, that not one of them
spoke of the Prince having been in their company till a twelvemonth after
he had sailed to France. Charles told them they were the first privy
council who had sworn faith to him since the battle of Culloden, and he
lived with them first for three days in the cave of Coiraghoth, and
afterwards for four days in another of their fastnesses two miles away,
the cave of Coirskreaoch.
John Home, in his history
of the Rebellion, quoting the narrative of Hugh Chisholm, says that
"when Charles came near they knew him and fell upon their knees
Charles was then in great distress. He had a bonnet on his head, a
wretched yellow wig, and a clouted hand. kerchief about his neck. He had a
coat of coarse dark-coloured cloth, a Stirling tartan waistcoat much worn,
a pretty good belted plaid, tartan hose, and Highland brogues tied with
thongs, so much worn that they would scarcely stick upon his feet. His
shirt (and he had not another) was of the colour of saffron." The
outlaws undertook to procure him a change of dress. This they did by
waylaying and killing the servant of an officer, conveying his master’s
baggage to Fort Augustus.
On 6th August, learning
that a certain captain of militia, named Campbell, factor to the Earl of
Seaforth, was encamped within four miles of his hiding-place, Charles
determined to remove, and, during the night, attended by his rude but
faithful bodyguard, he passed over into Strathglass, the country of The
Chisholm. The Prince stayed in Strathglass for four days, then passed over
into Glen Cannich, hoping to hear of a French vessel that bad put into
Poolewe. Disappointed in this, however, he returned across the Water of
Cannich, and, passing near young Chisholm’s house, arrived about two in
the morning of 14th August at a place called Fassanacoill in Strathglass,
where the party was supplied with provisions by one, John Chisholm, a
farmer. Chisholm was even able to furnish a bottle of wine, which had been
left with him by a priest. It was not till the 19th of August that the
Prince passed from Glen Morriston to Glengarry. On finally parting from
his faithful protectors at a wood at the foot of Loch Arkaig, the Prince
gave their leader, Patrick Grant, twenty-four guineas, being nearly all
the money he possessed. This made an allowance of three guineas for each
man, which cannot be considered a preposterous acknowledgment, seeing that
any one of them could, at any moment during the Prince’s stay among
them, have earned for himself the reward of £30,000 offered by
Government for his capture.
Of one of these seven men,
Hugh Chisholm, in later days, an interesting account is given by Sir
Walter Scott. Towards the close of the century he lived in Edinburgh and
became known to Scott, then a young man at college, who subscribed to a
trifling annuity for him. Scott says "he was a noble commanding
figure of six feet and upwards, had a very stately demeanour, and always
wore the Highland garb. . . . He kept his right hand usually in his bosom,
as if worthy of more care than the rest of his person, because Charles
Edward had shaken hands with him when they separated." In the end he
returned to his native district, and died in Strathglass some time after
1812.
The humble clansmen who
appear thus heroically in Scottish history in the eighteenth century, were
members of a race whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. By some
the family is believed to have taken its name originally from a property
on the Scottish Border, and to have been transplanted thence at an early
date to the district of Strathglass in Inverness-shire. Another theory is
that the Chisholms, whose Gaelic name is Siosal, are derived from the
English Cecils. If either of these theories be correct, the case is little
different from that of many others of the most notable Scottish clans,
whose progenitors appear to have settled in the north in the time of
Malcolm Canmore and his sons, much in the same way as Norman and Saxon
knights were settled in the Lowlands by these monarchs, and probably for
the same reason, to develop the military resources and ensure the loyalty
of their respective districts.
Whatever its origin, the
race of the Chishoims appears early enough among the makers of history in
the north. Guthred or Harald, Thane of Caithness in the latter part of the
twelfth century, is stated by Sir Robert Gordon to have borne the surname
of Chisholm. His wife was the daughter of Madach, Earl of Atholl, and he
was one of the most powerful and turbulent of the northern chiefs, till
William the Lion at last defeated and put him to death, and divided his
lands between Freskin, ancestor of the Earls of Sutherland, and Magnus,
son of Gillibreid, Earl of Angus. Upon that event the chiefs of the
Chisholms, it is conjectured, sought a new district, and about the year
1220 settled in Strathglass. From that time to this they have been located
in the region, and to an early chief the saying is attributed that there
were but three persons in the world entitled to be called "The "—the
King, the Pope, and The Chisholm.
In the Ragman Roll of 1296
appear the names of Richard de Cheseheim, in Roxburghshire, and John de
Cheshome, in Berwickshire, but it cannot be supposed that these
individuals had any but the most remote relationship with the Clan
Chisholm of the north. In 1334 the chief of the Chisholms married the
daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood, presumably the
estate of that name in the parish of Kirkmahoe in Dumfries-shire, who was
at that time Constable of the royal castle of Urquhart at the foot of Glen
Morriston on Loch Ness. Robert, the son of this marriage, succeeded
through his mother to the estate of Quarrelwood, and became keeper of
Urquhart Castle. He was one of the knights who was taken prisoner along
with the young King David II. at Neville’s Cross in 1346, but procured
his freedom, and left a record of his piety at a later day by bestowing
six acres of arable land within the territory of the old Castle of
Inverness upon the kirk there. The deed, dated in 1362, is still
preserved, and the ground, still the property of the Kirk Session, has its
revenue devoted to the relief of the poor, and is known on that account as
the Diribught, "Tir na bochd," or poor’s land.
By way of contrast to this
piety, Sir Robert Chisholm, Lord of Quarrelwood, was accused in 1369 of
having wrongously intromitted with some of the property belonging to the
bishopric of Moray, and twenty-nine years later John de Cheseheim was
ordered to restore the lands of Kinmylies, which belonged to the church.
In the Register of Moray, under the date of 1368, is preserved the record
of an act of homage performed to the Bishop for certain lands by Alexander
de Chisholme, presumably a son of Sir Robert. "In camera domini
Alexandri, Del gratia Episcopi Moraviensis apud Struy, presente tota
multitudine Canonicorum et Capellanorum et aliorum, ad prandium ibi
invitatorum, Alexander de Chisholme fecit homagium, junctis manibus et
discooperta capite, pro eisdem terris," etc.
The main residence of the
chiefs of that time appears to have been Comar, and in an indenture dated
1403 Margaret de Ia Aird is stated to be the widow of the late chief,
Alexander Chisholm of Comar. This indenture was for the settlement of the
estates between the widow, Alexander’s successor Thomas, and William,
Lord Fenton, as heirs portioners, and it detailed the family property as
lying not only in the shires of Inverness and Moray, but also in the
counties of Aberdeen, Forfar, and Perth.
At the end of the
fourteenth century the chief of the time, John Chisholm, had an only
child, Morella, or Muriel. By her marriage to Alexander Sutherland, baron
of Duffus, a large part of the property of the chiefs was carried out of
the family, and John’s successor was left with little more than the
original patrimony of his ancestors in Strathglass. Muriel also carried
into her husband’s family the Chisholm insignia of the Boar’s head as
an addition to its coat of arms.
Somewhere during those
centuries occurred a tragic incident which has retained a place among the
traditions of the clan. One of the Chisholm chiefs, it appears, carried
off a daughter of the chief of the Frasers. To ensure her safety he placed
her on an island on Loch Bruaich. But her father’s clan having mustered
in force, traced her to this retreat. A fierce struggle followed, and in
the course of it the young lady was accidentally slain by her own brother’s
hand. The incident is the subject of a well-known Gaelic song, and around
the spot are still to be seen the burial mounds of those who fell in the
battle.
For some two centuries
Comar appears to have remained the residence of the chiefs. In 1513 amid
the troubles which followed the defeat and death of James IV. at Flodden
it is recorded that Uilan of Comar, along with Alastair MacRanald of
Glengarry, stormed the royal castle of Urquhart. And again in 1587, when
the chiefs of the Highland clans were called upon to give security for the
peaceful behaviour of those upon their lands, the name of "Cheisholme
of Cummer" appears on the roll. Within the next century, however,
Erchless Castle had become their main stronghold, and at the Revolution it
was garrisoned for King James. After the battle of Killiecrankie it was
deemed important enough to call for a special effort at reduction, and
General Livingstone found no little difficulty, though he besieged it with
a large force, in capturing the place and preventing the clansmen from
regaining possession.
Among the Highland chiefs
who signed the loyal address to King George I., which was presented to
that monarch by the Earl of Mar on his landing at Greenwich in 1714,
appears Ruari or Roderick MacIan, the Chisholm chief of the time. George
I., as all the world knows, treated the address and its bearer with scant
courtesy, and by that proceeding directly brought about the rising of the
Jacobite clans under the Earl of Mar in 1715. In that rebellion the clan
was led by Chisholm of Cnocfin, and in consequence, after the defeat at
Sheriffmuir, his estates were forfeited and sold. In 1727, however, the
veteran procured a pardon under the Privy Seal. The lands had meanwhile
been acquired by MacKenzie of Allangrange. On the pardon being granted he
conveyed them to Chisholm of Mucherach, who, in turn, conveyed them to
Roderick’s eldest son, with an entail on his heirs male.
In 1745 the clan again
turned out in support of the Jacobite cause, and was led on the occasion
by Colin, the youngest son of the chief. The protection afforded Prince
Charles Edward by the seven men of Glen Morriston during the critical days
of his wandering in the Chisholm country and its neighbourhood, was only
part of the devoted effort put forth by the clan on that memorable
occasion.
Alexander Chisholm, who
succeeded to the chiefship in 1785, and died in 1793, left an only child,
Mary, who married an Englishman, James Gooden, and settled in London. The
chiefship and estates then passed to his youngest brother, William. This
chief married the eldest daughter of MacDonnell of Glengarry, and his
elder son and successor, Alexander, sat as M.P. for Inverness-shire. On
the death of the latter in 1838 the estates and chiefship passed to his
brother Duncan. The clan is fortunate in still possessing a chief of its
name well known for his public spirit in Highland affairs, while Erchless
Castle, the ancient family seat, remains one of the most beautiful and
picturesque of Highland residences. Near the Castle, on a green mound
surrounded by ancient trees, a number of the early chiefs were buried, and
here also, by his own desire, lies Alexander William, the chief who died
in 1838; but the burying-place of most of the family was at Beauly Priory,
where a tablet set up by his only daughter, Mrs. Gooden, commemorates
Alexander, the chief who died in 1793.
From an early date a branch
of the clan was settled at Cromlix, or Cromlics, in Perthshire, which
includes the episcopal city of Dunblane. At the Reformation, this branch
produced in succession three bishops, all of the name of William, each of
whom strenuously opposed the tenets of the Reformation. The first of
these, who died in 1564, was notorious for his moral shortcomings, and
seized the pretext of the Reformation, when church lands were being cast
into the melting pot, to alienate the episcopal estates of Dunblane to his
illegitimate children. The second of these bishops, who was appointed co-adjutor
to his uncle in 1561, and succeeded him as Bishop in 1564, acted as envoy
for Mary Queen of Scots from 1565 to 1567. Before 1570, like
several other Catholic Scottish bishops, he withdrew to France, where he
was appointed Bishop of Vaison. In 1584 he became a monk of the
Chartreuse, and latterly was prior of the Chartreuse at Lyons and Rome.
This bishop also was succeeded by a nephew, who became bishop of Vaison in
1584. He was notorious for his intrigues in Scottish affairs in 1602,
when, in the interest of the Scottish Catholics, he endeavoured to obtain
the cardinalate. He was rector of Venaissin from 1603 till his death in
1629. Finally, by the marriage of Jane, only daughter of Sir James
Chisholm of Cromlix, to James, second son of David, second Lord Drummond,
who afterwards became Lord Maderty, the lands were carried into the family
of that nobleman, and gave his descendant, Viscount Strathallan, his
second title, which is still carried by his descendant, the Earl of Perth,
though the superiority of the lands afterwards passed to the Earl of
Kinnoul.
Two other Catholic prelates
of the name were personages of importance in the Highlands. The elder of
these, John Chisholm, was educated at Douai, was made a prelate as titular
Bishop of Oria in 1792, and became Vicar Apostolic of the Highland
district in the same year. He was succeeded by his clansman, Aeneas
Chisholm, who, after an education at Valladolid, became tutor at Douai in
1786, and priest in Strathglass three years later. After being raised to
the prelacy as titular bishop of Diocaesarea in 1805, he became Vicar
Apostolic of the Highland district in 1814. |
