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FORTINGALL has an early
Chronicle extending from
1400 till 1579, begun by Sir James Macgregor,
vicar of Fortingall, and his brother Duncan, and
continued by a Macgregor curate, whose name we
do not know. But the records of the post-Reformation period down to Mr Macara's induction have
been lost. It would seem that Mr Robertson, the
minister who was deposed in 1716 for reading rebel
documents from the pulpit, kept the older parish
books, as many more of the displaced Jacobite
ministers did when not compelled by legal pressure
to hand them over. As for the books kept in the
time of Mr Fergus Ferguson, they and some later
ones perished or disappeared when, at the beginning
of the war with France, a mob of furious women
from Glenlyon and Rannoch, with a number of old
men, surprised and mobbed the parish schoolmaster,
Thomas Butter, as well as the local magistrates,
with a view of preventing the making out of lists
for militia enrolments. Militia riots were numerous
at that time, but this particular one was due to an
alleged attempt to hand over to the East India
Company a regiment raised for service in the
American War, and which should have been disbanded, as indeed it had to be, after mutiny and
much discussion in Parliament at the end of that
war. It was a pity that the parish records were
wrecked because of the attempted and frustrated
breach of faith. And immediately afterwards who were
so ready as the mobbers' sons and grandsons to enlist in the Highland regiments, and to join militia, fencibles, and volunteers? The early Chronicle of Fortingall, written by the three Roman Catholics,
contained most of the surnames which the Fortingall
people bore in my time, such as Macnaughtons,
Robertsons, Macdougals, Menzieses, Macgregors,
Stewarts, Maclellaus, Campbells, Irvines. The
introduction of most of these surnames could be
traced by the procession of proprietors. John of
Lorne, who received Glenlyon as tocher with his
wife, the neice of King David Bruce, was not indeed
proprietor of Fortingall, but he was the "toiseach"
or King's representative, and upliffcer of his rents
and dues until the next reign, when the Wolf of
Badenoch, who placed an eagle's nest up at Garth,
"intromitted" with his charge, and got the heiress
of Fortingall, Janet Menzies, married to his son
James. John of Lorne placed a Macgregor vicar in
Fortingall, and introduced Macdougal clansmen of
his own there. The Stewarts began to come in
with the Wolfs usurpation, and afterwards had
additions from the Appin-Innermeath line. They
were divided into the "Stiubhartaich Dubh-Shuil-each" and "Na Stiubhartaich Gorm-Shuileach" -
that is to say, the black-eyed and the blue-eyed
Stewarts. Huntly, on the forfeiture of Neil Ruadh
of Garth, had temporary hold of the superiority of
that place, and introduced the Irvines. The Macnaughtons, many of whom were called Mackay
that is, the Children of Aodh were transported
from the North to the banks of the Tay by William
the Lion. The Chief of the old Atholl clan
afterwards called Robertsons and Fergus, son of
Aod or Aoidh, were lessees of Fortingall and other
thanages before John of Lome appeared on the
scene. As for the Maclellans, named after St
Fillan, they came at a later date to Fortingall from
Glenlyon. I think the Macnaughtons and Robertsons are the people of longest descent in Fortingall.
The Macintyres were late comers from Argyll, and
the Andersons and Fishers were also late comers
from Breadalbane. So were the Campbells from
Glenlyon and Breadalbane, and also the much
scattered Clan Charles Campbell branch of the
Black Dougal of Craignish stock. With the
variations of a small kind which a long period of
time must bring about anywhere, the Fortingall
population had retained the same complexion and
composition for four hundred years.
The Militia riot, in which
the Fortingall people
took no part, was an abnormal incident due to a
particular cause. Law-abiding as the Highlanders
had become since Culloden, they had lost nothing of
the warrior instincts and qualities of their race.
The parish of Fortingall as yet undivided was behind none of the
Gaelic-speaking places in sending forth its sons to fight Napoleon by land
and sea, and to establish British supremacy in India. While many of those
who went forth to fight in their country's cause fell on battle-fields or
died of wounds and fever, a goodly number returned home with medals and
pensions to keep the military fire alive among boys of the next two
generations. Although the number of our veterans was much reduced when the
Crimean war broke out, several still survived to gloat and glory over the
achievements of the Highlanders at Alma and Balaclava, and to read with sad
and angry feelings about the insufficiencies of organisation and the
sufferings of the troops during the horrible winter of storms, and the
disappointments which nearly culminated into fatal disasters.
I was at that time treating myself to the unwonted
luxury of a daily newspaper, and before I could
scarcely glance over it, a veteran who had fought
under Abercromby in Egypt would come to hear the
news and to ask for the paper when I had read it.
This was John Campbell, called "Iain Caimbeul a
Chlaidh" John Campbell of the Churchyard
because his house stood near the famous old yew
tree and at the churchyard gate. John was a reader
of history and a critic of military affairs. Sir Colin
Campbell was at that time the hero of all Scotland;
but when, on the death of Lord Raglan, people said
that Sir Colin should have been made Commander-in-Chief, John, rising above clannishness, thought
that it was a wise decision to select another, and
that Sir Colin, however good in the open field,
would not have been the most fitting man for a
siege. After Sir Colin had quelled the Indian
Mutiny, John came to the conclusion that he was fit
for any military achievement whatever. A gloom
fell over Fortingall when the news came that
General Sir John Campbell, whom all the population
of the village knew intimately, was killed in the
brave but abortive attack in the Redan. Sir John's
father, General Sir Archibald Campbell, who was a
descendant of the Duneaves family, bought the
estate of Garth, which he sold again ten years later
to the trustees of Macdonald of St. Martin's. Sir
Archibald and his wife were Gaelic-speaking people
who belonged to the parish by race, and whose
children were well known to the Fortingall people.
Sir John's death was deeply and universally
regretted, but yet some consolation was drawn from
the fact that his body was found in advance of those
of the others who fell in that assault. They all
praised the Russian Commander-in-Chief for chivalrously restoring to the family the ancestral sword
which Sir John was wearing when he fell. We
were expecting to hear of the fall of Sevastopol two
days before the news of it reached us. Postal and
telegraph arrangements then were far from being
what they are now. But at last the news did come,
and so late at night that many people had gone
to bed before the mail came in. But when the
announcement was read out to the people who were
waiting for it, a rush was made to the church, the
bell was rung furiously, and from different places, at
some distance from each other, bonfires blazed up to
show that the message of the bell was understood
and welcomed. All next Sunday's sermons were of
a thanksgiving character. |
