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In the 13th century Iver Crom possessed some
lands in Argyllshire and it is claimed he conquered the lands of Cowal for King Alexander
II. He possessed the lands of Asknish, Lergachonzie and Glassary in Cowal. His son or
grandson, Malcolm MacIver had lands in 1292 and about 1500 Iver MacIver of Lergachonzie
was chief of the clan. He had three sons; Duncan, Charles and Iver Ban. A descendant of
Charles was chief about 1572 and was designated "of Asknish and Stronshiray".
His son, Iver was forfeited in 1685 for his part in the rebellion by Archibald, 9th Earl
of Argyll. After the Revolution in 1688 the 10th Earl restored the estates of the Clan
Iver to Duncan, son of Iver, on the condition that he and the heirs of the family of
MacIver should assume the name and bear the arms of Campbell. Sir Humphray Trafford
Campbell who died in 1818 was the last male descendant of Duncan MacIver of Stronshiray.
Other families of MacIvers assumed the name of Campbell including the MacIvers of
Ardlarach who also adopted the name at about 1688, the MacIvers of Pennymore on Loch Fyne,
the MacIvers of Glassary and the MacIvers of Ballochyle. The MacIvers in the Gairloch
region descend from a MacIver from the Argyll area, some of the MacIvers of this area
remained MacIvers while others changed their name to Campbell. A sept of MacIver Campbells
were found in Glenlyon and about 1580 a number moved to Caithness (where they feuded with
the Gunns) and to Lewis.
Another account of the Clan
BADGE: Garbhag an t-sleibh
(lycopodium selago) fir club moss.
 ACCORDING
to Highland record and tradition the great Clan Campbell took its origin
about the beginning of the twelfth century with the marriage of Gillespie
Campbell with Eva, daughter of the Treasurer of Scotland, Paul O’Duin,
Chief of the race of the famous Diarmid. This marriage made the Campbells
lords of Lochow. Half a century later, in the reign of Malcolm IV., Duncan
Campbell of Lochow had a younger son, Iver, who became the ancestor of the
separate clan of that name. This was a hundred years before the birth of
the great Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, knighted by Alexander III., and
slain on the Sraing of Lorne, from whom the Campbell chiefs to-day take
the patronymic of MacCailein Mor. A different origin is given in Principal
Campbell’s book Clan Iver, published about 1870. That author
makes out that the Maclvers were holding lands as a distinct and separate
clan in Argyll prior to any Campbells being known there, having come from
Glenlyon in Perth-shire about 1222 and having been awarded lands in return
for services rendered in the conquest of Argyll at that period. The
Maclvers, however, maintained allegiance to the House of Argyll. In turn
they were regarded with high affection and were entrusted with such posts
as the Keepership of Inveraray Castle after that stronghold was built in
the middle of the fifteenth century.
In 1564 Archibald,
fifth Earl of Argyll, he who commanded Queen Mary’s forces at the battle
of Langside, recognised the separate authority of the Maclver chiefs. By
formal deed the Earl resigned all direct claim upon the Maclver
dependants. The document declared that the Earl relinquished for ever, to
his cousin Iver Maclver and his successors, of "his awin frie motife,
uncompellit, and for special cause and favours," all "ryght,
title, and kyndnes, quhatsomever, we, or our predecessoris had, has, or in
any manner of way may claim, of the calpis aucht and wont to come to our
house, of the surname of MacEver, with power to use, uplift, intromit, and
uptak the said calpis to thair awin utilitie and profit; and to dispone
thairupon as they sail think expedient, as anie uther freehalder, and as
we was wont to do of before, providing that we haif the said Ever’s
calpe."
The "calpe," it
should perhaps be mentioned, was a death duty, in the shape of a horse,
cow, ox, or other chattel, payable to a chief out of the possessions of a
deceased clansman. The fact that the calpe of Maclver himself remained to
be paid to Argyll, was an acknowledgment that the Maclvers were a branch
or sept of the Campbell clan.
The original possessions of
the Maclvers were Lergachonzie, Ashnish on Loch Melfort, and certain lands
in Cowal. To these they made great additions, while branches of the family
settled as far afield as Caithness, Inverness-shire, and the Lewis. They
are said to have been expelled from Glen Lyon in the end of the fourteenth
century by Cuilean Cursta, the fierce Wolf of Badenoch. The Chiefs also
held the honourable office of Crowner within a certain district. In the
middle of the seventeenth century, however, the properties of the Maclvers
suffered considerable alienation. A Chief of that time, Gillespie Ban
Maclver, had an only daughter, whom he married to Campbell of Barchbeyan,
ancestor of the Campbells of Craignish, and by way of dowrie he bestowed
on her the lands of Lergachonzie and others. From that date the Maclver
Chiefs were known as of Ashnish only. At the same time Gillespie Ban,
having no male heir, resigned the rest of the family possessions to his
cousin, "a man of remarkable courage and intrepidity." The
latter was heir-male to Duncan Maclver of Stronshira, and so the two
estates of Stronshira and Ashnish came into the same hands.
In the latter part of the
same century the Maclvers suffered a still more serious eclipse. It was
the time of the Solemn League and Covenant. The Marquess of Argyll, as
head of the Covenanters and opponent of King Charles I., had misused his
powers for the extinction of the hereditary rivals of his house, such as
the Macdonalds of Kintyre, and Macdougalls of Gylen and Dunolly, and the
Lamonts of Cowal, and at the Restoration he had been brought to trial and
executed. His son Archibald, the ninth Earl, who was restored to the
family estates and honours in 1663, got into similar trouble eighteen
years later. In 1681 he refused to sign the Test Act, was found guilty of
treason, and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution in Edinburgh
Castle he contrived to escape disguised as a page, holding up the train of
his stepdaughter, Lady Sophia Lindsay, and reached Holland.
Four years later,
simultaneously with the rising of the Duke of Monmouth in the south of
England, Argyll landed in the Kyles of Bute and raised the standard of
rebellion against James VII. and II. He was promptly joined by Iver
Maclver, chief of that clan, at the head of a hundred men. After crossing
the Water of Leven, however, the expedition went to pieces. in a night
march over Dunbarton Muir, and the Earl was captuted at Inchinnan, and
carried to Edinburgh, to sleep the "last sleep of Argyll." The
Argyll estates were then forfeited to the Crown, and MacIver’s
possessions suffered the same fate. After the Revolution in 1689, however,
the Argyll forfeiture was rescinded, and Maclver obtained a new grant of
his lands from Archibald, the tenth Earl and first Duke of Argyll. This
grant contained a serious stipulation. In the deed of 1564 by which the
fifth Earl recognised the chiefship, it had been stipulated that the heads
of the house should be known, not as Campbells but as Maclvers. The new
grant changed this. For his favour the Duke imposed the condition that
Maclver’s son, Duncan, and his heirs, should assume the name of
Campbell, and should quarter the Campbell arms with their own.’
This Duncan Maclver or
Campbell of Ashnish, who was the eighth Chief, married a daughter of
MacAlastair of Loup, and distinguished himself in the early years of the
eighteenth century by his well-directed exertions to "civilise"
the Highlanders. His second son and successor married Catherine Campbell,
daughter of the Captain of Dunstaffnage, and his son and heir, again,
Angus Campbell of Ashnish, the tenth Chief, who was spoken of for a
century afterwards with great respect, married Elizabeth, daughter of
MacLachlan of Craigentary, and had six sons, all of whom attained
honourable positions in life, as well as four daughters who married well,
and all had families. The eldest of these sons, Robert Campbell of Ashnish,
attained an excellent reputation as an advocate in the Court of Session.
He married in 1769 a daughter of Mail of Maghide in Lancashire, but had
only one daughter.
Meanwhile, apart from the
main body of the clan, a branch which had settled in Lochaber had attached
itself to the following of Macdonald of Keppoch. From the patrimony of its
progenitors in Argyll it was often referred to as the race of Maclver
Glasrich, which name in time was shortened to MacGlasrich. In the keen
spirit of clanship this race maintained its separate identity, and at the
battle of Culloden, though acting under Keppoch, they insisted on being
drawn up as a separate clan, under their own officers. They also, mindful
of their origin and of the fact that they wore the Campbell tartan and
carried the Campbell colours, refused to be marshalled in such a position
as would have compelled them to engage the Argyll militia.
In his first great romance
of Waverley Sir Walter Scott introduced as a tragic figure the
handsome young Fergus Maclver, who looked to a success of the Jacobite
cause to enable him to realise certain dreams of setting up an independent
chiefship and founding a clan. It is usually supposed that Scott’s model
for this personage was the handsome young Glengarry, whose visits to the
Scottish capital in full Highland panoply and with a formidable
"tail" of clansmen created something of a sensation at that
time. But Scott could not have been unaware of the existence of an actual
Maclver Chief, and of the disabilities under which he lay in being
compelled to use the name Campbell. This seems a much more likely
suggestion for the character of Fergus Maclver than that which has been
commonly accepted.
In August, 1919, Captain
Maclver Campbell of Ballochyle wrote from Vancouver as follows: "As
far as my family is concerned our title deeds were all in the name of
Maclver until 1599, when they appear as Maclver or Campbell
and then gradually as Campbell only. My father, the late
Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Rose Campbell of Ballochyle, when entailing the
property, made it imperative that the laird should take the name of
Maclver-Campbell so as to preserve the ancient patronymic of the
family."
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