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Mr Skene says of the clan Grant, "Nothing
certain is known regarding the origin of the Grant. They have been said to be of Danish,
English, French, Norman, and of Gaelic extraction; but each of these suppositions depends
for support upon conjecture alone, and amidst so many conflicting opinions it is
difficult to fix upon the most probable. It is maintained by the supporters of their
Gaelic origin, that they are a branch of the Macgregors, and in this opinion they are
certainly borne out by the ancient and unvarying tradition of the country; for their
Norman origin, I have upon examination entirely failed in discovering any further reason
than that their name may be derived from the French, grand or great, and that they occasionally use the Norman form of de Grant. The latter reason, however, is not of any
force, for it is impossible to trace an instance of their using the form de Grant until
the 15th century; on the contrary, the form invariably Grant or le Grant, and on the very
first appearance of the family it is 'dictus Grant'. It is certainly not a territorial
name, for there was no ancient property of that name, and the peculiar form under which it
invariably appears in the earlier generations, proves that the name is derived from a
personal epithet. It so happens, however, that there was no epithet so common among the
Gael as that of Grant, as a perusal of the Irish annals will evince; and at the same time
Ragman's Roll shows that the Highland epithets always appear among the Normal signatures
with the Norman 'le' prefixed to them. The clan themselves unanimously assert their
descent from Gregor Mor Macgregor, who lived in the 12th century; and this is supported by
their using to this day the same badge of distinction. So strong is this belief in both
the clans of Grant and Macgregor, that in the early part of the last century a meeting of
the two was held in the Blair of Athole, to consider the policy of re-uniting them. Upon
this point all agreed, and also that the common surname should be Macgregor, if the
reversal of the attainder of that name could be got from the government. If that could not
be obtained it was agreed that either MacAlpine or Grant should be substituted. This
assembly of the clan Alpine lasted for fourteen days, and was only rendered abortive by
disputes as to the chieftainship of the combined clan. Here then is as strong an
attestation of a tradition as it is possible to conceive, and when to this is added the
utter absence of the name in the old Norman rolls, the only trustworthy mark of a Norman
descent, we are warranted in placing the Grants among the Siol Alpine".
With Mr Smibert we are inclined to think that, come the clan designation whence it may,
the great body of the Grants were Gael of the stock of Alpine, which, as he truly says, is
after all the main point to be considered.
The first of the name on record in Scotland is Gregory de Grant, who, in the reign of
Alexander II (1214-1249), was sheriff of the shire of Inverness, which then, and till
1583, comprehended Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, besides what is now Inverness-shire.
By his marriage with Mary, daughter of Sir John Bisset of Lovat, he became possessed of
the lands of Stratherrick, at that period a part of the province of Moray, and had two
sons, namely, Sir Lawrence, his heir, and Robert, who appears to have succeeded his father
as sheriff of Inverness.
The elder son, Sir Lawrence de Grant, with his brother Robert, witnessed an agreement,
dated 9th Sept, 1258, between Archibald, bishop of Moray, and John Bisset of Lovat; Sir
Lawrence is particularly mentioned as the friend and kinsman of the latter. Chalmers
states that he married Bigla, the heiress of Comyn of Glenchernach, and obtained his
father-in-law's estates in Strathspey, and a connection with the post potent family in
Scotland. Douglas, however, in his Baronage, says that she was the wife of his elder son,
John. He had two sons, Sir John and Rudolph. They supported the interest of Bruce against
Baliol, and were taken prisoners in 1296, at the battle of Dunbar. After Baliol's
surrender of his crown and kingdom to Edward, the English monarch, with his victorious
army, marched north as far as Elgin. On his return to Berwick he received the submission
of many of the Scottish barons, whose names were written upon four large rolls of
parchment, so frequently referred to as the Ragmans Roll. Most of them were dismissed on
their swearing allegiance to him, among whom was Rudolph de Grant, but his brother, John
de Grant, was carried to London. He was released the following year, on condition of
serving King Edward in France, John Comyn of Badenoch being his surety on the occasion.
Robert de Grant, who also swore fealty to Edward I in 1296, is supposed to have been his
uncle.
At the accession of Robert the Bruce in 1306, the Grants do not seem to have been very
numerous in Scotland; but as the people of Strathspey, which from that period was knows as
"the country of the Grants", came to form a clan, with their name, they soon
acquired the position and power of Highland chiefs.
Sir John had three sons - Sir John, who succeeded him; Sir Allan, progenitor of the clan
Allan, a tribe of the Grants, of whom the Grants of Auchernick are the head; and Thomas,
ancestor of some families of the name. Sir John's grandson, John de Grant, had a son; and
a daughter, Agnes, married to Sir Richard Comyn, ancestor of the Cummings of Altyre. The
son, Sir Robert de Grant, in 1385, when the king of France, then at war with Richard II,
remitted to Scotland a subsidy of 40,000 French crowns, to induce the Scots to invade
England, was one of the principal barons, about twenty in all, among whom the money was
divided. He died in the succeeding reign.
At this point there is some confusion in the pedigree of the Grants. The family papers
state that the male line was continued by the son of Sir Robert, named Malcolm, who soon
after his father's death began to make a figure as chief of the clan. On the other hand,
some writers maintain that Sir Robert had no son, but a daughter, Maud or Matilda, heiress
of the estate, and lineal representative of the family of Grant, who about the year 1400
married Andrew Stewart, son of Sir John Stewart, commonly called the Black Stewart,
sheriff of Bute, and son of King Robert II, and that this Andrew sunk the royal name, and
assumed instead the name and arms of Grant. This marriage, however, though supported by
the tradition of the country, is not acknowledged by the family or the clan, and the very
existence of such an heiress is denied.
Malcolm de Grant, above mentioned, had a son, Duncan de Grant, the first designed of
Freuchie, the family title for several generations. By his wife, Muriel, a daughter of
Mackintosh of Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, he had, with a daughter, two sons,
John and Patrick. The latter, by his elder son, John, was ancestor of the Grants of
Ballindalloch, county of Elgin, of whom afterwards, and of those of Tomnavoulem, Tulloch,
&c; and by his younger son, Patrick, of the Grants of Dunlugas in Banffshire.
Duncan's eldest son, John Grant of Freuchie, by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir James
Ogilvie of Deskford, ancestor of the Earls of Findlater, had, with a daughter, married to
her cousin, Hector, son of the chief of Mackintosh, three sons - John, his heir; Peter of
Patrick, said to be the ancestor of the tribe of Phadrig, or house of Tullochgorum; and
Duncan, progenitor of the tribe called clan Donachie, or house of Gartenbeg. By the
daughter of Baron Stewart of Kincardine, he had another son, also named John, ancestor of
the Grants of Glenmoriston.
His eldest son, John, the tenth laird, called, from his poetical talents, the Bard,
succeeded in 1508. He obtained four charters under the great seal, all dated 3d December
1509, of various lands, among which were Urquhart and Glenmoriston in Inverness-shire. He
had three sons; John, the second son, was ancestor of the Grants of Shogglie, and of those
of Corrimony in Urquhart.
The younger son, Patrick, was the progenitor of the Grants of Bonhard in Perthshire. John
the Bard died in 1525.
His eldest son, James Grant of Freuchie, called, from his daring character, Shemas nan
Creach, of James the Bold, was much employed, during the reign of King James V, in
quelling insurrections in the northern counties. His lands in Urquhart were, in November
1513, plundered and laid waste by the adherents of the Lord of the Isles, and again in
1544 by the Clanranald, when his castle of Urquhart was taken possession of. This chief of
the Grants was in such high favour with King James V that he obtained from that monarch a
charter, dated 1535, exempting him from the jurisdiction of all courts of judicature,
except the court of session, then newly instituted. He died in 1553. He had with two
daughters, two sons, John and Archibald; the latter the ancestor of the Grants of Cullen,
Monymusk, &c.
His eldest son, John, usually called Evan Baold, or the Gentle, was a strenuous promoter
of the Reformation, and was a member of that parliament which, in 1560, abolished Popery
as the established religion of Scotland. He died in 1585, having been twice married -
first, to Margaret Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Athole, by whom he had, with two
daughters, two sons, Duncan and Patrick, the latter ancestor of the Grants of
Rothiemurchus; and, secondly, to a daughter of Barclay of Towie, by whom he had an only
son, Archibald, ancestor of the Grants of Bellintomb, represented by the Grants of
Monymusk.
Duncan, the elder son, predeceased his father in 1581, leaving four sons - John; Patrick,
ancestor of the Grants of Easter Elchies, of which family was Patrick Grant, Lord Elchies,
a lord of session; Robert, progenitor of the Grants of Lurg; and James, of Ardnellie,
ancestor of those of Moyness.
John, the eldest son, succeeded his grandfather in 1585, and was much employed in public
affairs. a large body of his clan, at the battle of Glenlivet, was commanded by John Grant
of Gartenbeg, to whose treachery, in having, in terms of as concerted plan, retreated with
his men as soon as the action began, as well as to that of Campbell of Lochnell, Argyll
owed his defeat in that engagement. This laird of Grant greatly extended and improved his
paternal estates, and is said to have been offered by James VI, in 1610, a patent of
honour, which he declined. From the Shaws he purchased the lands of Rothiemurchus, which
he exchanged with his uncle Patrick for the lands of Muchrach. On his marriage with Lilias
Murray, daughter of John, Earl of Athole, the nuptials were honoured with the
presence of
King James VI and his queen. Besides a son and daughter by his wife, he had a natural son,
Duncan, progenitor of the Grants of Cluney. He died in 1622.
His son, Sir John, by his extravagance and attendance at court, greatly reduced his
estates, and when he was knighted he got the name of "Sir John Sell-the-land".
he had eight sons and three daughters, and dying at Edinburgh in April 1637, was buried at
the abbey church of Holyroodhouse.
His elder son, James, joined the Covenanters on the north side of the Spey in 1638, and on
19th July 1644, was, by the Estates, appointed one of the committee for trying the
malignants in the north. after the battle of Inverlochy, however, in the following year,
he joined the standard of the Maquis of Montrose, then in arms for the king, and ever
after remained faithful to the royal cause. In 1663, he went to Edinburgh, to see justice
done to his kinsman, Allan Granr of Tulloch, in a criminal prosecution for manslaughter,
in which he was successful; but he died in that city soon after his arrival there. A
patent had been made out creating him Earl of Strathspey, and Lord Grant of Freuchie and
Urquhart, but in consequence of his death it did not pass the seals. The patent itself is
said to be preserved in the family archives. He had two sons, Ludovick and Patrick, the
latter ancestor of the family of Wester Elchies in Speyside.
Ludovick, the eldest son, being a minor, was placed under the guardianship of his uncle,
Colonet Patrick Grant, who faithfully discharged his trust, an so was enabled to remove
some of the burdens on the encumbered family estates. Ludovick Grant of Grant and Freuchie
took for his wife Janet, only child of Alexander Brodie of Lethen. By the favour of his
father-in-law, the laird of Grant was enabled in 1685, to purchase the barony of
Pluscardine, which was always to descend to the second son. By King William he was
appointed colonel of a regiment of foot, and sheriff of Inverness. In 1700 he raised a
regiment of his own clan, being the only commoner that did so, and kept his regiment in
pay a whole year at his own expense. In compensation, three of his sons got commissions in
the army, and his lands were erected into a baroncy. He died at Edinburgh in 1718, in his
66th year, and, like his father and grandfather, was buried in Holyrood abbey.
Alexander, his eldest son, after studying the civil law on the continent, entered the
army, and soon obtained the command of a regiment of foot, with the rank of brigadier.
When the rebellion broke out, being with his regiment in the south, he wrote to his
brother, Captain George Grant, to raise the clan for the service of government, which he
did, and a portion of them assisted at the reduction of Inverness. as justiciary of the
counties of Inverness, Moray and Banff, he was successful in suppressing the bands of
outlaws and robbers which infested these counties in that unsettled time. He succeeded his
father in 1718, but died at Leith the following year, aged 40. Though twice married, he
had no children.
His brother, Sir James Grant of Pluscardine, was the next laird. In 1702, in his father's
lifetime, he married Anne, only daughter of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. By
the marriage contract it was specially provided that he should assume the surname and arms
of Colquhoun, and if he should at any time succeed to the estate of Grant, his second son
should, with the name of Colquhoun, become proprietor of Luss. In 1704, Sir Humphrey
obtained a new patent in favour of his son-in-law, James Grant, who on his death, in 1715,
became in consequence Sir James Grant Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. On succeeding, however,
to the estate of Grant four years after, he dropped the name of Colquhoun, retaining the
baronetcy, and the estate of Luss went to his second surviving son. He had five daughters,
and as many sons, viz Humphrey, who predeceased him in 1732; Ludovick; James, a major in
the army, who succeeded to the estate and baronetcy of Luss, and took the name of
Colquhoun; Francis, who died a general in the army; and Charles, a captain in the Royal
Navy.
The second son, Ludovick, was admitted advocate in 1728; but on the death of his brother
he relinquished his practice at the bar, and his father devolving on him the
management of
the estate, he represented him thereafter as chief of the clan. He was twice married -
first, to a daughter of Sir Robert Dalrymple of North Berwick, by whom he had a
daughter, who died young; secondly, to Lady Margaret Ogilvie, eldest daughter of James Earl
of Findlater and Seafield, in virtue of which marriage his grandson succeeded to the
earldom of Seafield. By his second wife Sir Ludovick had one son, James, and eleven
daughters, six of whom survived him. Penuel, the third of these, was the wife of Hentry
Mackenzie, Esq, author of Man of Feeling. Sir Ludovick died at Castle Grant, 18th March
1773.
His only son, Sir James Grant of Grant, baronet, born in 1738, was distinguished for his
patriotism and public spirit. On the declaration of was by France in 1793, he was among
the first to raise a regiment of fencibles, called the Grant or Strathspey fencibles, of
which he was appointed colonel. after a lingering illness, he died at Castle Grant on 18th
February 1811. He had married in 1763, Jean, only child of Alexander Duff, Esq, of Hatton,
Aberdeenshire, and had by her three sons and three daughters. Sir Lewis Alexander Grant,
the eldest son, in 1811 succeeded to the estates and earldom of Seafield, on the
death of
his cousin, James Earl of Findlater and Seafield, and his brother, Francis William,
became, in 1840, sixth earl. The younger children obtained in 1822 the rank and precedency
of an earl's junior issue.
The Grants of Ballindalloch, in the parish of Inveravon, Banffshire - commonly called the
Criag-Achrochean Grants - as already stated, descend from Patrick, twin brother of John,
ninth laird of Freuchie. Patrick's grandson, John Grant, was killed by his kinsman, John
Roy Grant of Carron, as afterwards mentioned, and his son, also John Grant, was father of
another Patrick, whose son, John Roy Grant, by his extravagant living and unhappy
differences with his lady, a daughter of Leslie of Balquhain, entirely ruined his estate,
and was obliged to consent to placing it under the management and trust of three of his
kinsmen, Brigadier Grant, Captain Grant of Elchies, and Walter Grant of Arndilly, which
gave occasion to W. Elchies' verses of "What meant the man?".
General James Grant of Ballindalloch succeeded to the estates on the death of his nephew,
Major William Grant, in 1770. He died at Ballindalloch, on 13th April 1806, at the age of
86. Having no children, he was succeeded by his maternal grand-nephew, George Macpherson,
Esq of Invereshie, who assumed in consequence the additional name of Grant, and was
created a baronet in 1838.
The Grants of Glenmoriston, in Inverness-shire, are sprung from John More Grant, natural
son of John Grant, ninth laird of Freuchie. His son, John Roy Grant, acquired the lands of
Carron from the Marquis of Huntly. In a dispute about the marches of their respective
properties, he killed his kinsman, John Grant of Ballindalloch, in 1588, an event which
led to a lasting feud between the families. John Roy Grant had four sons - Patrick, who
succeeded him in Carron; Robert of Nether Glen of Rothes; James an Tuim, or James of the
hill; and Thomas.
The Glenmoriston branch of the Grants adhered faithfully to the Stuarts. Patrick Grant of
Glenmoriston appeared in arms in Vicount Dundee's army at Killiecrankie. He was also at
the skirmish at Cromdale against the government soon after, and at the battle of Sheiffmuir
in 1715. His estate was, in consequence, forfeited, but through the interposition of the
chief of the Grants, was brought back from the barons of the Exchequer. The laird of
Glenmoriston in 1745 also took arms for the Pretender; but means were found to preserve
the estate to the family. The families proceeding from this branch, besides that of
Carron, which estate is near Elchies, on the river Spey, are those of Lynachoarn,
Aviemore, Croskie, &C.
The favourite song of "Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch" (the only one she was ever
known to compose), was written by a Mrs Grant of Carron, whose maiden name was Grant,
born, near Aberlour, about 1745. Mr Grant of Carron, whose wife she became about 1763, was
her cousin. After his death she married, a second time, an Irish physician practising at
Bath, of the name of Murray, and died in that city in 1814.
The Grants of Dalvey, who possess a baronetcy, are descended from Duncan, second son of
John the Bard, tenth laird of Grant.
The grants of Monymusk, who also possess a baronetcy (date of creation, December 7, 1705),
are descended from Archibald Grant of Ballintomb, an estate conferred on him by charter,
dated 8th March 1580. He was called Evan Baold, or the Gentle, by his second wife, Isobel
Barclay. With three daughters, Archibald Grant had two sons. The youngest son, James, was
designed of Tombreak. Duncan of Ballintomb, the elder, had three sons - Archibald, his
heir; Alexander, of Allachie; and William, of Arndillie. The eldest son, Archibald, had,
with two daughters, two sons, the elder of whom, Archibald grant, Esq of Bellinton, had a
son, Sir Francis, a lord of session, under the title of Lord Cullen, the first baronet of
this family.
The Grants of Kilgraston, in Perthshire, are lineally descended, through the line of the
Grants of Glenlochy, from the ninth laird of Grant. Peter Grant, the last of the lairds of
Glenlochy, which estate he sold, had two sons, John and Francis. The elder son, John,
chief justice of Jamaica from 1783 to 1790, purchased the estates of Kilgraston and
Pitcaithley, lying contiguous to each other in Strathearn; and dying in 1793, without
issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Francis. This gentleman married Anne, eldest
daughter of Robert Oliphant, Esq of Rossie, postmaster-general of Scotland, and had five
sons and two daughters. He died in 1819, and was succeeded by his son, John Grant, the
present representative of the Kilgraston family. He married - first, 1820, Margaret,
second daughter of the late Lord Gray; second, 1828, Lucy, third daughter of Thomas, late
Earl of Elgin. Heir, his son, Charles Thomas Constantine, born, 1831, and married, 1856,
Matilda, fifth daughter of William Hay, Esq, of Dunse Castle.
The badge of the clan Grant was the pine or cranberry heath, and their slogan or gathering
cry, "Stand fast, Craigellachie!" the bold projecting rock of that name
("the rocj of alarm") in the united parishes of Duthil and Rothiemurchus, being
their hill of rendezvous. The Grants had a long-standing feud with the Gordons, and even
among the different branches of themselves there were faction fights, as between the
Ballindalloch and Carron Grants. The clan, with few exceptions, was noted for its loyalty,
being generally, and the family of the chief invariably, found on the side of government.
In Strathspey the name prevailed almost to the exclusion of every other, and to this day
Grant is the predominant surname in the district, as alluded to by Sir Alexander Boswell,
Baronet, in his lively verses:-
"Come the Grants of Tullochgorum,
Wi' their pipes gaun before 'em,
Proud the mothers are that bore 'em.
Next the Grants of Rothiemurchus,
Every man his sword and durk has,
Every man as proud's a Turk is".
In 1715, the force of the clan was 800, and in 1745, 850.
Another Account of the Clan
BADGE: Giuthas (pinus
sylvestris) pine.
SLOGAN: Stand fast, Craig Elachaidh.
PIBROCH: Craigelachaidh.
 THERE
seems no good reason to
doubt that Clan Grant was originally of the same ancient royal stock as
Clan Gregor. It is true that there is a family of the same name in
England, but it is of a separate and different origin, and probably
derived its patronymic from the ancient name of the river Cam, which was
originally the Granta, or from the ancient designation of Cambridge, which
was the Caer Grant of the early Saxons. Early in the eighteenth century,
when there seemed some prospect of the proscription of the name MacGregor
being removed, a meeting of the MacGregors and the Grants was held in
Blair Athol, and it was proposed that, in view of their ancient
relationship, the two clans should adopt a common name and acknowledge a
single chief. The meeting lasted for fourteen days, and, though it finally
broke up without coming to an agreement, several of the Grants, like the
Laird of Ballindalloch, showed their loyalty to the ancient kinship by
adding the MacGregor patronymic to their name. According to the tradition
of the clan, the founder of the Grants was Gregor, second son of Malcolm,
chief of the MacGregors in the year 1160. It is said he took his
distinguishing cognomen from the Gaelic Grannda, or
"ugly," in allusion to the character of his features. It is
possible, however, that this branch of Clan Alpin took its name rather
from the country in which it settled. In the district of Strathspey is a
wide moor known as the "griantach," or Plain of the Sun, the
number of pagan remains scattered over its surface showing it to
have been in early times a chief centre of the Beltane or Sun Worship.
Residents here would be set down by the early monkish writers under the
designation of "de
Griantach" or "de
Grant." This latter suggested origin of the name is supported by the
crest of the Grant family, which is a Mountain in Flames, an obvious
allusion to the Baal-teine or Baal-fire of the early pagan faith.
The first of the name to
appear in written records was Gregor, Sheriff of Inverness in the reign of
Alexander II., between 1214 and 1249. It was probably this Gregor de Grant
who obtained Stratherick through marriage with an heiress of the Bisset of
Lovat and Aboyne. The son of this magnate, by name Laurence or Laurin, who
was witness to a deed by the Bishop of Moray in 1258, obtained wide lands
in Strathspey by marrying the heiress of Gilbert Comyn of Glencharny; and
the son of Laurin, Sir Ian, was a noted supporter of the patriot Wallace.
It may have been about this
time that the incident happened which transferred the stronghold, now
known as Castle Grant in Strathspey, from the ownership of the once
powerful Comyns to that of the Grants. According to tradition a younger
son of Grant of Stratherick ran away with and married the daughter of his
host, the Chief of MacGregor. With thirty followers the young couple fled
to Strathspey and took refuge in the fastness now known as Huntly’s
Cave, a little more than a mile from the castle, at that time known as
Freuchie. Comyn of Freuchie, little liking such a settlement in his
immediate neighbourhood, tried to dislodge the trespassers, but without
result. Then the MacGregor Chief appeared upon the scene with an armed
following and demanded his daughter. He arrived at night, and was received
by his astute son-in-law with much respect and hospitality. As the feast
went on at the mouth of the cavern, Grant so arranged the comings and
goings of his men in the torchlight and among the woods that his
father-in-law was impressed with what appeared to be the considerable size
of his following, and, changing his mind with regard to the desirability
of the match, freely forgave the young couple. Forthwith Grant proceeded
to turn his father-in-law’s friendship to account. He told him of the
attacks made upon him by Comyn of Freuchie, and persuaded him to help in a
reprisal. Before morning the united forces of Grant and MacGregor made an
attack on Freuchie, slew the Comyn chief, and took possession of the
castle. As a token and memento of the occurrence, the skull of Comyn is
carefully preserved at Castle Grant to the present day.
The castle did not
immediately change its name, for in a charter under the Great Seal in 1442
Sir Duncan Grant is described as "Dominus de eodem et de Freuchie."
A succeeding chief, Sir Ian, joined the Earls of Huntly and Mar with his
clan in 1488 in support of James III. against his rebellious nobles; so by
that time the Grants had become a power to be reckoned with. Like most of
the Highland clans they had their own story of fiery feud and bloody raid.
One of the chief quarrels in which they were engaged remains notable from
the fact that it led directly to a notorious historical event, the
slaughter of the Bonnie Earl of Moray at Dunibristle on 7th February,
1592. The trouble began when the Earl of Huntly, Chief of the Gordons and
of the Catholics of the north, finding himself in danger among the
Protestant faction at court, retired to his estates and proceeded to erect
a castle at Ruthven in Badenoch, not far from the Grant country. This
seemed to the Grants and Clan Chattan to be intended to overawe their
district, and difficulties arose when the members of Clan Chattan, who
were Huntly’s vassals, refused to fulfil their obligations to furnish
the materials for the building. About the same time John Grant, the Tutor,
or trustee, of Ballindalloch, refused certain payments to the widow of the
late laird, a sister of Gordon of Lesmore. In the strife which followed a
Gordon was slain, and as a consequence the Tutor was outlawed and
Ballindalloch was besieged and captured by Huntly. That was on 2nd
November, 1590. Forthwith the Grants and. MacIntoshes sought the
protection of the Earls of Athol and Moray. They refused Huntly’s
summons to deliver up the Tutor, and when surprised at Forres by the
sudden appearance of Huntly, fled to the Earl of Moray’s castle of
Darnaway. Here another Gordon was shot by one of Moray’s servants. This
bred bad blood between the two earls, and later, when the Earl of Bothwell,
after an attempt on the life of Chancellor Maitland, was said to be
harboured by Moray in his house of Dunibristle, Huntly willingly accepted
a commission to attack that place. Here again a Gordon was mortally
wounded, and, on the Earl of Moray fleeing along the shore, he was pursued
by the brothers of the two slain men, and promptly put to death. Among
other acts of vengeance Huntly sent a force of Lochaber men against the
Grants in Strathspey, killing eighteen of them, and laying waste the lands
of Ballindalloch. Afterwards, when the young Earl of Argyll was sent to
attack Huntly, the Grants took part with him at the battle of Glenlivet,
and Argyll’s defeat there was mainly owed to the action of John Grant of
Gartenbeg, one of Huntly’s vassals, who, as arranged with Huntly,
retired with his men at the beginning of the action, and thus completely
broke the centre and left wing of Argyll’s army.
The most notable feature in
the annals of the clan during the first half of the seventeenth century
was the career of James Grant of Carron. The determining factor in the
career of this notable freebooter was an event which had happened some
seventy years previously. This was the murder of John Grant of
Ballindalloch by John Roy Grant of Carron, a son of John Grant of Glen
Moriston, at the instigation of the Laird of Grant, who, it is said, had
conceived a grudge against his kinsman. A feud between the Grants of
Carron and the Grants of Ballindalloch was the result. In the course of
this feud, at a fair at, Elgin about the year 1625, one of the Grants of
Ballindalloch knocked down and wounded Thomas Grant, one of the Carron
family. The brother of Thomas, James Grant of Carron, attacked the
assailant and killed him on the spot. At the instance of Ballindalloch,
James Grant was cited to stand trial, and, as he did not appear, was
outlawed. In vain the Laird of Grant tried to reconcile the parties, while
James Grant offered money compensation, and even the exile of himself.
Nothing but his blood, however, would satisfy Ballindalloch, and, driven
to despair, with his life every moment in jeopardy, James Grant finally
collected a band of broken men from all parts of the Highlands, and set up
as an independent freebooter. His career was that of another Gilderoy, or
the hero of the famous MacPherson’s Rant. Lands were wasted by him and
men were slain, and Ballindalloch, having killed John Grant of Carron, the
nephew of the freebooter, was himself forced to flee to the North of
Scotland. At last, at the end of December, 1630, a party of Clan Chattan
surprised James Grant at Auchnachayle in Strathdon by night, when after
receiving eleven wounds and seeing four of his party killed, the cateran
was taken prisoner, sent to Edinburgh for trial, and imprisoned in
Edinburgh Castle.
About the same time the
famous feud occurred between Gordon of Rothiemay and Crichton of
Frendraught, which ended in the burning of Frendraught, with Lord Aboyne,
the Marquess of Huntly’s son, and several of his friends. Rothiemay had
been helped in the feud by James Grant, and it was said the latter had
been in treaty to undertake the burning of the mansion.
On the night of 15th
October, 1632, the freebooter escaped from Edinburgh Castle by descending
on the west side by means of ropes furnished him by his wife or son, and
fled to Ireland. Presently, however, it was known that he had returned,
and Ballindalloch, setting a watch upon his wife’s house at Carron,
almost secured him. The freebooter, however, shot the chief assailant, one
Patrick MacGregor, and escaped. Presently by a stratagem he managed to
seize Ballindalloch himself, and kept him for twenty days prisoner in a
kiln near Elgin. Ballindalloch finally escaped by bribing one of his
warders, and as a result several of James Grant’s accomplices were sent
to Edinburgh and hanged.
The cateran’s final
outrage was the surprise and slaughter of two other friends of
Ballindalloch, who had received money to kill him. A few days later Grant
and four of his associates, finding themselves in straits in Strathbogie,
entered the house of the common hangman, unaware of his profession, and
asked for food. The man recognised them, and the house was surrounded; but
the freebooter made a stout defence, killing three of the besiegers, and
presently, with his brother Robert, effected his escape, though his son
and two other associates were captured, carried to Edinburgh, and
executed. This took place in the year 1636, and as no more is heard of
James Grant, it may be presumed that, like Rob Roy MacGregor, a century
afterwards, he finally died in bed.
A few years later, on the
outbreak of the Civil War, when the Marquess of Montrose raised the
standard of Charles I. in the Highlands, he was joined by James, the
sixteenth Chief of the Grants, with his clan, who fought valiantly in the
royal cause.
Twenty-one years later
still, in 1666, occurred a strange episode which added a large number of
new adherents to the "tail" of the Chiefs of Grant. As recorded
in a famous ballad, the Farquharsons had attacked and slain Gordon of
Brackly on Deeside. To avenge his death the Marquess of Huntly raised his
clan and swept up the valley. At the same time his ally, the Laird of
Grant, now a very powerful chief, occupied the upper passes of the Dee,
and between them they all but destroyed the Farquharsons. At the end of
the day Huntly found two hundred Farquaharson orphans on his hands. These
he carried home and kept in singular fashion. A year afterwards Grant was
invited to dine with Huntly, and when dinner was over, the Marquess
proposed to show his guest some rare sport. He took him to a balcony
overlooking the kitchen of the castle. Below they saw the remains of the
day’s victuals heaped in a large trough. At a signal from the chief cook
a hatch was raised, and there rushed into the kitchen like a pack of
hounds, yelling, shouting, and fighting, a mob of half-naked children, who
threw themselves upon the scraps and bones, struggling and scratching for
the base morsels. "These," said Huntly, are the children of the Farquharsons we slew last
year." The Laird of Grant, however, was a
humane man; he begged the children from the Marquess, took them to
Speyside, and reared them among the people of his own clan, where their
descendants were known for many a day as the Race of the Trough.
At the Revolution in 1689,
Ludovic,
the seventeenth Chief, took the side of William of Orange, and after the
fall of Dundee at Killiecrankie, when Colonel Livingstone hastened from
Inverness to attack the remnants of the Jacobite army under Generals
Buchan and Cannon, at the Haughs of Cromdale in Strathspey, he was joined
by Grant with 600 men. The defeat of the Jacobites on that occasion, and
the capture of Ruthven Barracks opposite Kingussie, gave the final blow to
the cause of King James in Scotland.
Again, during the Jacobite Rebellion of
1745, there were 800 of the clan in arms for the
Government, though they took no active part against Prince Charles Edward.
The military strength of the Grants was then estimated at 850 men.
In the middle of the eighteenth century Sir Ludovic
Grant, Bart., married Margaret, daughter of James Ogilvie, fifth Earl of
Findlater and second Earl of Seafield, and through that alliance his
grandson, Sir Lewis Alexander Grant, succeeded as fifth Earl of Seafield
in 1811. Meantime Sir Ludovic’s son, Sir James Grant, had played a
distinguished part on Speyside. He it was who in 1776, in connection with
extensive plans for the improvement of the whole region of middle
Strathspey, founded the village of Grantown, which has since become so notable a resort. The same laird in
1793, two months after the declaration of war against
this country by France, raised a regiment of Grant fencibles, whose
weapons now cover the walls of the entrance hall in Castle Grant.
An unfortunate circumstance in the history of this
regiment was the mutiny which took place at Dumfries. The trouble arose
from a suspicion that the regiment, which had been raised for service in
Scotland only, was about to be dispatched overseas. A petty dispute having
arisen, some of the men were imprisoned, and were released by their
comrades in open defiance of the officers. This constituted a mutiny. In
consequence the regiment was marched
to Musselburgh, where a corporal and three privates found guilty of mutiny
were condemned to death. On 16th July, 1795, the
four men were marched to Gullane links. There they were made to draw lots, and two of
them were shot.
On Sir Lewis Alexander Grant succeeding to the earldom
of Seafield in 1811 he added the Seafield family name of Ogilvie to his
own patronymic. The earldom had originally been granted to James, fourth
Earl of Findlater, in 1701, in recognition of his distinguished services as
Solicitor-General, Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Chief Baron of
the Exchequer, and High Commissioner to the General
Assembly, and it has received additional lustre from its connection with
the ancient Chiefs of Grant. [The first recipient of the title was at
the time Lord Deskford, second son of George Ogilvie, third Earl of
Findlater.
It was he who, at the Union, when the Scottish Parliament
rose for the last time, exclaimed, "This is an end of an auld sang!"]
The grandson of the first earl of the name of Grant,
John Charles, who succeeded as seventh Earl in 1853, married the Honourable Caroline Stuart, youngest
daughter of the eleventh Lord Blantyre. With the consent of his son he
broke the entail of the Grant estates, and that son, Ian Charles, the
eighth Earl, at his death unmarried, bequeathed these estates to his
mother. It was the seventh and eighth Earls who carried out the vast
tree-planting operations in Strathspey which have changed the whole
climate of the region, restoring its ancient forest character, and
rendering it the famous health resort it is
at the present day. Meanwhile no fewer than three earls succeeded to the
title without possession of the estates. The first of these was Lady
Seafield’s brother-in-law, James, third son of the sixth Earl, who was
member of Parliament for Elgin and Nairn from 1868 to 1874. Francis William, the son of this earl, born in
1847, had emigrated in early life to New Zealand. At that time the
possibility of his succeeding to the title appeared exceedingly remote.
On the death of the eighth Earl, the emigrant’s father succeeded to
the title, and the emigrant himself became Viscount Reidhaven. He
married a daughter of Major George Evans of the 47th
regiment, and though he succeeded to the title of earl in 1888, it made
no difference in his fortunes, and he died six months later. His son,
the next holder of the title, was eleventh Earl of Seafield and twenty
fourth Chief of Clan Grant. His lordship’s home-coming to Castle Grant
was the occasion of an immense outburst of enthusiasm on the part of the
clan, and afterwards, residing among his people, he and his countess did
every thing to endear themselves to
the holders of their ancient and honourable name.
The Earl died on active
service in the Great War, and while his daughter succeeded to the Grant
estates and the title of Seafield, his brother inherited the Barony of
Strathspey and the chiefship of the clan. Lord Strathspey, with his wife,
son and daughter, returned to New Zealand in 1923.
The Grant country stretches
from Craigellachie above Aviemore to another Craigellachie on the Spey
near Aberlour. It is a country crowded with interesting traditions. Many a
time the wild bands of warriors have gathered on the shores of the little
loch of Baladern on its southern border, and the slogan of "Stand
fast, Craigellachie! "has been shouted in many a fierce mêlée. Even
as late as 1820, during the general election after the death of George
III., the members of the clan found occasion to show their mettle. Party
feeling was running high, and a rumour reached Strathspey that the ladies
of the Chief’s house had suffered some affront at Elgin at the instance
of the rival clan Duff. Next morning there were 900 Strathspey men, headed
by the factor of Seafield, at the entrance to the town, and it was only by
the greatest tact on the part of the authorities that a collision was
prevented. Even to the present day the old clan spirit runs strong on
Speyside, and the patriotism of the race has been shown by the number of
men who enlisted to defend the honour of their country in the great war of
1914 on the plains of France.
Septs of Clan Grant:
Gilroy, MacIlroy, MacGilroy.
Grants of Glenmoriston
BADGE: Giuthas (pinus sylvestris) pine.
 OF
the Siol Alpin, or Race of Alpin, descended from that redoubtable but ill-fated
King of Scots of the ninth century, there are to be counted Clan Gregor, Clan
Grant, Clan Mackinnon, Clan MacNab, Clan Macfie, Clan MacQuarie, and Clan
MacAulay. These, therefore, have at all times claimed to be the most ancient and
most honourable of the Highland clans, and have been able to make the proud
boast " Is rioghal mo dhream"—Royal
is my race. It was unfortunate for the Siol Alpin that at no time were all the
clans which it comprised united under a single chief. Had they been thus united,
like the great Clan Chattan confederacy, they might have achieved a greater
place in history, and might have been saved many of the disasters which overtook
them.
After the young Chief of the Grants, with the
help of his father-in-law, the Chief of MacGregor, had established his
headquarters at Freuchie, now Castle Grant, by the slaughter and expulsion of
its former owners, the Comyns, the race of the Grants put forth more than one
virile branch to root itself on fair Speyside and elsewhere. Among these were
the Grants of Ballindalloch, the Grants of Rothiemurchus, the Grants of Carron,
and the Grants of Culcabuck. In the days of James IV., the Laird of Grant was
Crown Chamberlain of the lordship of Urquhart on Loch Ness, which included the
district of Glenmoriston. In 1509, in the common progress of events, the
chamberlainship was converted into a baronial tenure, and the barony was granted
to John, elder son of the Chief. The change, however, instead of aggrandising
the family, threatened to entail an actual loss of the territory, for John died
without issue, and the barony, under its new tenure, reverted to the Crown.
A similar, but much more disastrous set-back
was that which happened about the same time to the ancient family of Calder or
Cawdor, near Nairn. In the latter case the old Thane resigned his whole estates
to the Crown, and had them conferred anew on his second son John, and shortly
afterwards John died, leaving an only child, a girl, Muriel, who ultimately, by
marriage, carried the thanedom away from the Cawdors, into possession of the
Campbells, its present owners.
The case of Glenmoriston was not
so irretrievable, for the barony was acquired by Grant of Ballindalloch. The
latter in 1548 disposed of it to his kinsman John Grant of Culcabuck, who
married a daughter of Lord Lovat, and John Grant’s son Patrick established
himself in the district, and became the ancestor of the Grants of Glenmoriston.
It is from this Patrick Grant, first of the long line of lairds, that the clan
takes its distinctive patronymic of Mac Phadruick.
Patrick’s son John, the second
chief, married a daughter of Grant of Grant, and built the castle of
Glenmoriston, from which fact he is known in the tradition of his family as Ian
nan Caisteal—John of the Castle.
In James VI.’s time
Glenmoriston had its own troubles, arising from an act which, one would have
supposed, would have been looked upon by any Scotsman as a warrant against
oppression. Clan Chattan, it appears, had been faithful friends and followers of
the Earls of Moray, and in particular had been active in avenging against the
Earl of Huntly, the death of the "Bonnie Earl" at Donibristle on the
Forth. For these services they had received valuable possessions in Pettie and
Strathnairn. But presently the Bonnie Earl’s son became reconciled to Huntly,
and married his daughter; then, thinking he had no more need of Clan Chattan,
proceeded to take back these gifts. By way of retaliation, in 1624 some 200
gentlemen and 300 followers of the clan took arms and proceeded to lay waste the
estates of the grasping Moray. The latter failed to disperse them, first with
three hundred men from Menteith and Balquhidder, and afterwards with a body of
men raised at Elgin. He then went to London and induced James VI. to make him
Lieutenant of the North. Returning with new powers, the Earl issued letters of
intercommuning against Clan Chattan, prohibiting all persons from harbouring,
supplying, or entertaining members of the clan, under severe penalties. Having
thus cut off the clansmen’s means of support he proceeded to make terms with
them, offering them pardon on condition that they should give a full account of
the persons who had sheltered and helped them in their attempt. This Clan
Chattan basely proceeded to do, and the individuals who had rendered them
hospitality and support were summoned to the Earl’s court and heavily fined,
the fines going into Moray’s own pocket. A striking account of the
proceeding is furnished by Spalding the historian. He relates how "the
principal male-factors stood up in judgment, and declared what they had gotten,
whether meat, money, clothing, gun, ball, powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the
like commodities, and also instructed the assize in each particular what they
had gotten from the persons panelled—an uncouth form of probation, where the
principal malefactor proves against the receiptor for his own pardon, and honest
men, perhaps neither of the Clan Chattan’s kin nor blood, punished for their
good will, ignorant of the laws, and rather receipting them more for their evil
nor their good. Nevertheless the innocent men, under colour of justice, part and
part as they came in, were soundly fined in great sums as their estates might
bear, and some above their estates was fined, and every one warded within the
tolbooth of Elgin, till the last mite was paid."
Among those who thus suffered was
John Grant of Glenmoriston. The town of Inverness was also mulcted, and the
provost, Duncan Forbes, and Grant, both went to London to lay the matter before
the king. They did this without success, however, and in the end had to submit
to the Earl of Moray’s exactions.
In the latter half of the
seventeenth century, John, the sixth Chief of Glenmoriston, married Janet,
daughter of the celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, and earned the name of
Ian na Chreazan by building for himself the rock stronghold of Blary. Like Sir
Ewen Cameron, his father-in-law, he raised his clan for the losing cause of
James VII. and II., and fought under Viscount Dundee at Killiecrankie. The clan
was also out under the Earl of Mar in the rising for "James VIII. and
III." in 1715, and as a result of that enterprise the chief suffered
forfeiture. The estates, however, were restored in 1733.
Patrick, the ninth chief, who
married Henrietta, a daughter of Grant of Rothiemurchus, undeterred by the
misfortune which had overtaken his family on account of its previous efforts in
the Jacobite cause, raised his clan for Prince Charles in the autumn of 1745. He
was not in time to see the raising of the Prince’s standard at Glenfinnan, but
he followed hotfoot to Edinburgh, where his clansmen formed a welcome
reinforcement on the eve of the battle of Prestonpans. So eager was he, it is
said, to inform Charles of the force he had brought to support the cause, that
he did not wait to perform his toilet before seeking an interview. Charles is
said to have thanked him warmly, and then, passing his hand over the rough chin
of the warrior, to have remarked merrily that he could see his ardour was
unquestionable since it had not even allowed him time to shave. Glenmoriston
took the remark much amiss. Greatly offended, he turned away with the remark,
"It is not beardless boys that are to win your Highness’ cause!"
This, however, was not the last
the Prince was to know of Glenmoriston, or the last that Glenmoriston was to
suffer for the cause of the Prince. When Culloden had been fought, and the
Jacobite cause had been lost for ever, Charles in the darkest hours of his fate,
wandering a hunted fugitive among the glens and mountains, found a shelter with
the now famous outlaws, the Seven Men of Glenmoriston. Only one of them was a
Grant, Black Peter, or Patrick, of Craskie, but it was in Grant’s country, and
the seven men, any one of whom could at any moment have enriched himself beyond
the dreams of avarice by betraying the Prince and earning the £30,000 set by
Government upon his head, proved absolutely faithful. These men had seen their
own possessions destroyed by the Red Soldiers because of the Prince, and they
had seen seventy of the men of Glenmoriston, who had been induced by a false
promise of the Butcher Duke of Cumberland, at the intercession of the Laird of
Grant, to march to Inverness and lay down their arms, ruthlessly seized and
shipped to the colonies as slaves, but they treated Charles with Highland
hospitality in their caves of Coiraghoth and Coirskreaoch, and for that the
Seven Men of Glenmoriston will have an honourable place for ever in Scottish
history.
While the Prince was in hiding in
the Braes of Glenmoriston, two of the Seven Men, out foraging for provisions,
met Grant of Glenmoriston himself. The chief had had his house burned and his
lands pillaged for his share in the rising, and he asked the two men if they
knew what had become of the Prince, who, he heard, had passed the Braes of
Knoydart. Even to him, however, they did not reveal the secret of the royal
wanderer’s hiding. And when they asked the Prince himself whether he would
care to see Glenmoriston, Charles said he was so well pleased with his present
guard that he wanted no other.
In the first bill of attainder
for the punishment of those who had taken part in the rebellion the name of
Grant of Glenmoriston was included, but, probably at the instance of Lord
President Forbes, it was afterwards omitted, and the chief retained his estates.
Patrick Grant’s son and
successor, John, held a commission in the 42nd Highlanders, and highly
distinguished himself during the brilliant service of that famous regiment in
India, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He died at Glenmoriston in
1801. His elder son died while a minor, and was succeeded by his brother James
Murray Grant. This chief married his cousin Henrietta, daughter of Cameron of
Glennevis, and in 1821 succeeded to the estate of Moy, beside the Culbin Sands
in Morayshire, as heir of entail to his kinsman Colonel Hugh Grant.
Thanks to James
Pringle Weavers for the following information
GRANT: This clan are presumed to descend from Sir Laurence le Grant, Sheriff of Inverness c.1258, although a continuum of chiefship cannot be established until about 1453 when Sir Duncan Grant became 1st Laird of Freuchie. Successive chiefs consolidated vast lands in Strathspey and important cadet families developed at Ballindalloch, Gartinbeg, Kinchurdie, Tullochgorm and Rothiemurchus. More independent branches flourished at Corriemony, Sheuglie, and Glenmoriston, in Inverness-shire, and at Monymusk in Aberdeenshire. The lands of the 8th Laird of Freuchie were erected into the Regality of Grant in 1694, and the family thereafter bore the form 'Grant of Grant'. By marraige, and according to the laws of tanistry, descendants of the 8th Laird inherited the chiefship of the Colquhoun on the western shores of Loch Lomond with the proviso that the respective honours should remain distinct. The chiefs espoused the Hanoverian cause in the 1715 and 1745 Risings, but the Grants of Glenmoriston, and many in Glenurquhart, supported the Jacobites. In 1793, Sir James Grant raised the 1st Fencible Regiment, and the 97th Regiment the following year. His son, Lewis Alexander, inherited the estates and honours of the Earl of Seafield, and in 1858, the 7th Earl was created Baron Strathspey. Ian, 8th Earl, was succeeded by his uncle James, who was created Lord Strathspey in 1884. In 1704 the Grant clansmen were instructed to be ready to assemble in "tartan of red and greine sett broad springed" - the first reference to the clan's rich tartan heritage, which is further evidenced by the wealth of clan portraiture depicting its use. The red tartan recorded at Lyon Court in 1946 is much older, for it appears in a pattern book of 1819 with the note that 200 yards had been ordered by Patrick Grant of Redcastle as the tartan of his clan. The Black Watch sett is also worn as a hunting or "undress" tartan, such recalling the Grant involvement at the founding of that Regiment. The Wilson pattern book of 1819 also shows a most pleasing 'Hunting' pattern well worthy of revival.
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