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MACQUARRIE (Clann
Guarie), the name of a minor clan which possessed the small island
of Ulva, one of the Argyleshire Hebrides, with a portion of mull,
and the badge of which was the pine. The Gaelic M> of 1450 deduces
their descent from Guarie of Godfrey, called by the Highland
Sennachies, Gor or Gorbred, said to have been “a brother of Fingon,
ancestor of the Mackinnons, and Anrias or Andrew, ancestor of the
Macgregors.” This is the belief of Mr. Skene, who adds, “The history
of the Macquarries resembles that of the Mackinnons in many
respects; like them they had migrated far from the head-quarters of
their race; they became dependent on the lords of the Isles, and
followed them as if they had become a branch of the clan.”
According to a
history of the family, by one of its members, in 1249 Cormac Mhor,
then “chief of Ulva’s isle,” joined Alexander II., with his
followers and three galleys of sixteen oars each, in his expedition
against the western islands, and after that monarch’s death in the
island of Kerrera, was attacked by Haco of Norway, defeated and
slain. His two sons. Allan and Gregor, were compelled to take refuge
in Ireland, where the latter, surnamed Carbh or the rough, is said
to have founded the powerful tribe of the MacGuires, the chief of
which at one time possessed the title of Lord Inniskillen. Allan
returned to Scotland, and his descendant, Hector Macquarrie of Ulva,
chief in the time of Robert the Bruce, fought with his clan at
Bannockburn.
The first chief of
whom there is any notice in the public records was John Macquarrie
of Ulva, who died in 1473. (Reg. of Great Seal, 31, No. 159.) His
son, Dunslaff, was chief when the last lord of the Isles was
forfeited twenty years afterwards. After that event, the Macquarries,
like the other vassal tribes of the Macdonalds, became independent.
In war, however, they followed the banner of their neighbour Maclean
of Dowart. With the latter, Dunslaff supported the claims of Donald
Dubh to the lordship of the Isles, in the beginning of the 16th
century, and in 1504, “MacGorry of Ullowaa” was summoned, with some
other chiefs, before the Estates of the kingdom to answer for his
share in Donald Dubh’s rebellion. The submission of Maclean of
Dowart, in the following year, implied also that of Macquarrie, and
in 1517, when the former chief obtained his own remission, he
stipulated for that of the chief of Ulva and two other chiefs.
Dunslaff married a daughter of Macneill of Taynish, the bride’s
tocher or dower consisting of a piebald horse, with two men and two
women.
His son, John
Macquarrie of Ulva, was one of the barons and council of the Isles
who in 1545 supported the pretensions of Donald Dubh, on his second
escape from his forth years’ imprisonment. He was also one of the
thirteen chiefs, who were denounced the same year for carrying on a
traitorous correspondence with the king of England, with the view of
transferring their allegiance to him. In 1609 Gillespock Macquarrie
of Ulva was one of the island chiefs present in the island of Iona
when the nine “Statutes of Icolmkill” were passed. Allan Macquarrie
of Ulva was slain, with most of his followers, at the battle of
Inverkeithing against the English parliamentary troops, 20th July
1651, when the Scots army was defeated, and a free passage opened to
Cromwell to the whole north of Scotland.
According to
tradition one of the chiefs of Ulva preserved his life and estate by
the exercise of a timely hospitality under the following
circumstances; Maclean of Dowart had a natural son by a beautiful
young woman of his own clan, and the boy having been born in a barn
was named, from his birth-place. Allan-a-Sop, or Allan of the straw.
The girl afterwards became the wife of Maclean of Torloisk, residing
in Mull, but though he loved the mother he cared nothing for her
boy, and when the latter came to see her, he was very unkind to him.
One morning the lady saw from her window her son approaching and
hastened to put a cake on the fire for his breakfast. Her husband
noticed this, and snatching the cake hot from the girdle, thrust it
into his stepson’s hands, forcibly clasping them on the burning
bread. The lad’s hands were severely burnt, and in consequence he
refrained from going again to Torloisk. As he grew up Allan became a
mariner, and joined the Danish pirates who infested the western
isles. From his courage he soon got the command of one galley, and
subsequently of a flotilla, and made his name both feared and
famous. Of him it may be said that –
“Sir Ralph the Rover
sailed away,
He scoured the seas for many a day,
And now, grown rich with plunder’d store,
He steers his way for Scotland’s shore.”
The thought of his
mother brought him back once more to the island of Mull, and one
morning he anchored his galleys in front of the house of Torloisk.
His mother had been long dead, but his stepfather hastened to the
shore, and welcomed him with apparent kindness. The crafty old man
had a feud with Macquarrie of Ulva, and thought this a favourable
opportunity to execute his vengeance on that chief. With this object
he suggested to Allan that it was time he should settle on land, and
said that he could easily get possession of the island of Ulva, by
only putting to death the laird, who was old and useless. Allan
agreed to the proposal, and, setting sail next morning, appeared
before Macquarrie’s house. The chief of Ulva was greatly alarmed
when he saw the pirate galleys, but he resolved to receive their
commander hospitably, in the hope that good treatment would induce
him to go away, without plundering his house or doing him any
injury. He caused a splendid feast to be prepared, and welcomed
Allan to Ulva with every appearance of sincerity. After feasting
together the whole day, in the evening the pirate-chief, when about
to retire to his ships, thanked the chief for his entertainment,
remarking, at the same time, that it had cost him dear. “How so?”
said Macquarrie, “when I bestowed this entertainment upon you in
free good will.” “It is true,” said Allan, who, notwithstanding his
being a pirate, seems to have been of a frank and generous
disposition, “but it has disarranged all my plans, and quite altered
the purpose for which I came hither, which was to put you to death,
seize your castle and lands, and settle myself here in your stead.”
Macquarrie replied that he was sure such a suggestion was not his
own, but must have originated with his stepfather, old Torloisk, who
was his personal enemy. He then reminded him that he had made but an
indifferent husband to his mother, and was a cruel stepfather to
himself, adding, “Consider this matter better, Allan, and you will
see that the estate and harbour of Torloisk lie as conveniently for
you as those of Ulva, and if you must make a settlement by force, it
is much better you should do so at the expense of the old churl, who
never showed you kindness, than of a friend like me who always loved
and honoured you.”
Allan-a-Sop,
remembering his scorched fingers, straightway sailed back to
Torloisk, and meeting his stepfather, who came eagerly expecting to
hear of Macquarrie’s death, thus accosted him: “You hoary old
villain, you instigated me to murder a better man than yourself.
Have you forgotten how you scorched my fingers twenty years ago with
a burning cake? The day has come when that breakfast must be paid
for.” So saying, with one stroke of his battle-axe he cut down his
stepfather, took possession of his castle and property, and
established there that branch of the clan Maclean afterwards
represented by Mr. Clephane Maclean.
Hector, brother of
Allan Macquarrie of Ulva, and second son of Donald the 12th chief of
the Macquarries, by his wife, a daughter of Lauchlan Oig Maclean,
founder of the Macleans of Torloisk, obtained from his father the
lands of Ormaig in Ulva, and was the first of the Macquarries of
Ormaig. This family frequently intermarried with the Macleans, both
of Lochbuy and Dowart. Lauchlan, Donald’s third son, was ancestor of
the Macquarries of Laggan, and John, the fourth son, of those of
Ballighartan.
Lauchlan Macquarrie
of Ulva, the 16th chief in regular succession, was compelled to
dispose of his lands for behoof of his creditors, and in 1778, at
the age of 63, he entered the army. He served in the American war,
and died in 1818, at the age of 103, without male issue. He was the
last chief of the Macquarries, and the proprietor of Ulva when Dr.
Samuel Johnson and Mr. Boswell visited that island in 1773.
The room where the
Doctor spent the night is yet shown in the old mansion of the
Macquarries. Dr. Johnson and the chief, whom he was surprised to
find a person of great politeness and intelligence, had a
conversation about the usage known by the name of Mercheta mulierum,
which formerly existed in Ulva, and was a fine paid to the chief by
his vassals on the marriage of a virgin. In answer to the doctor’s
reference to Blackstone, who has expressed his disbelief that any
such claim on the part of landlords ever existed, Macquarrie
informed the English sage that the eldest children of marriages were
not esteemed amongst the Gael as among other nations, most of whom
adhered to distinct laws of primogeniture, on account of the
parentage of the eldest child, from the above-mentioned custom,
being rendered doubtful; hence, brothers were very commonly
preferred to the proper heirs apparent. He likewise told him that he
himself had been in the habit of demanding a sheep, on occasion of
every marriage in Ulva, for which he had substituted a fine of five
shillings in money. Dr. Johnson was very forcibly impressed with the
following instance of second sight related to him by the Macquarrie
chief. He said that once when he was in Edinburgh, an old female
domestic of the family in Ulva foretold that he would return home on
a certain day, with a new servant in a livery of red and green,
which he accordingly did; but he declared that the idea of the
servant and the livery occurred to him only when he was in
Edinburgh, and that the woman could know nothing of his intentions
at the time.
A large portion of
the ancient patrimonial property was repurchased by General
Macquarrie, long governor of New south Wales, and from whom
Macquarrie county, Macquarrie river, and Port Macquarrie in that
colony, Macquarrie’s harbour, and Macquarrie island in the South
Pacific, derive their name. He was the eldest cadet of his family,
and was twice married, first, to Miss Baillie of Jerviswood, and
secondly, to a daughter of Sir John Campbell of Airds, by whom he
had an only son, Lachlan, who died without issue.
The island of Ulva is
about two miles long, averaging a mile and a quarter in breadth, and
contains about 600 inhabitants. The name is derived from the
Scandinavian Ulffur, and means the island of wolves, these animals
having anciently abounded there. |
