CHAPTER V.

Clan Chattan--Chiefship--Mackintoshes--Battle of North Inch --Macphersons--MacGillivrays--Shaws--Farquharsons--Macbeans --Macphails--Gows--MacQueens--Cattanachs.

THE CLAN CHATTAN.[183]

Of the clan Chattan little or nothing authentic is known previous to the last six hundred years. Their original home in Scotland, their parentage, even their name, have been disputed. One party brings them from Germany, and settles them in the district of Moray; another brings them from Ireland, and settles them in Lochaber; and a third makes them the original inhabitants of Sutherland and Caithness. With regard to their name there is still greater variety of opinion: the _Catti_, a Teutonic tribe; _Catav_, “the high side of the Ord of Caithness;” _Gillicattan Mor_, their alleged founder, said to have lived in the reign of Malcolm II., 1003-1033; _cat_, a weapon,--all have been advanced as the root name. We cannot pretend to decide on such a matter, which, in the entire absence of any record of the original clan, will no doubt ever remain one open to dispute; and therefore we refrain from entering at length into the reasons for and against these various derivations. Except the simple fact that such a clan existed, and occupied Lochaber for some time (how long cannot be said) before the 14th century, nothing further of it is known, although two elaborate genealogies of it are extant--one in the MS. of 1450 discovered by Mr Skene; the other (which, whatever its faults, is no doubt much more worthy of credence) compiled by Sir Æneas Macpherson in the 17th century.

Mr Skene, on the authority of the MS. of 1450, makes out that the clan was the most important of the tribes owning the sway of the native Earls or Maormors of Moray, and represents it as occupying the whole of Badenoch, the greater part of Lochaber, and the districts of Strathnairn and Strathdearn, holding their lands in chief of the crown. But it seems tolerably evident that the MS. of 1450 is by no means to be relied upon; Mr Skene himself says it is not trustworthy before A.D. 1000, and there is no good ground for supposing it to be entirely trustworthy 100 or even 200 years later. The two principal septs of this clan in later times, the Macphersons and the Mackintoshes, Mr Skene, on the authority of the MS., deduces from two brothers, Neachtan and Neill, sons of Gillicattan Mor, and on the assumption that this is correct, he proceeds to pronounce judgment on the rival claims of Macpherson of Cluny and Mackintosh of Mackintosh to the headship of clan Chattan.

Mr Skene, from “the investigations which he has made into the history of the tribes of Moray, as well as into the history and nature of Highland traditions,” conceives it to be established by “historic authority,” that the Macphersons are the lineal and feudal representatives of the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan, and “that they possess that right by blood to the chiefship, of which no charters from the crown, and no usurpation, however successful and continued, can deprive them.” It is not very easy to understand, however, by what particular process of reasoning Mr Skene has arrived at this conclusion. For supposing it were established “beyond all doubt,” as he assumes it to be, by the manuscript of 1450, that the Macphersons and the Mackintoshes are descended from Neachtan and Neill, the two sons of Gillichattan-more, the founder of the race, it does not therefore follow that “the Mackintoshes were an usurping branch of the clan,” and that “the Macphersons alone possessed the right of blood to that hereditary dignity.” This is indeed taking for granted the very point to be proved, in fact the whole matter in dispute. Mr Skene affirms that the descent of the Macphersons from the ancient chiefs “is not denied,” which is in reality saying nothing to the purpose; because the question is, not whether this pretended descent has or has not been denied, but whether it can now be established by satisfactory evidence. To make out a case in favour of the Macphersons, it is necessary to show--first, that the descendants of Neachtan formed the eldest branch, and consequently were the chiefs of the clan; secondly, that the Macphersons _are_ the lineal descendants and the feudal representatives of this same Neachtan, whom they claim as their ancestor; and, lastly, that the Mackintoshes are really descended from Neill, the second son of the founder of the race, and not from Macduff, Earl of Fife, as they themselves have always maintained. But we do not observe that any of these points has been formally proved by evidence, or that Mr Skene has deemed it necessary to fortify his assertions by arguments, and deductions from historical facts. His statement, indeed, amounts just to this--That the family of Macheth, the descendants of Head or Heth, the son of Neachtan, were “identical with the chiefs of clan Chattan;” and that the clan Vurich, or Macphersons, were descended from these chiefs. But, in the first place, the “identity” which is here contended for, and upon which the whole question hinges, is imagined rather than proved; it is a conjectural assumption rather than an inference deduced from a series of probabilities: and, secondly, the descent of the clan Vurich from the Macheths rests solely upon the authority of a Celtic genealogy (the manuscript of 1450) which, whatever weight may be given to it when supported by collateral evidence, is not alone sufficient authority to warrant anything beyond a mere conjectural inference. Hence, so far from granting to Mr Skene that the hereditary title of the Macphersons of Cluny to the chiefship of clan Chattan has been clearly established by him, we humbly conceive that he has left the question precisely where he found it. The title of that family may be the preferable one, but it yet remains to be shown that such is the case.

Tradition certainly makes the Macphersons of Cluny the male representatives of the chiefs of the old clan Chattan; but even if this is correct, it does not therefore follow that they have now, or have had for the last six hundred years, any right to be regarded as chiefs of the clan. The same authority, fortified by written evidence of a date only about fifty years later than Skene’s MS., in a MS. history of the Mackintoshes, states that Angus, 6th chief of Mackintosh, married the daughter and only child of Dugall Dall, chief of clan Chattan, in the end of the 13th century, and with her obtained the lands occupied by the clan, with the station of leader, and that he was _received_ as such by the clansmen. Similar instances of the abrogation of what is called the Highland law of succession are to be found in Highland history, and on this ground alone the title of the Mackintosh chiefs seems to be a good one. Then again we find them owned and followed as captains of clan Chattan even by the Macphersons themselves up to the 17th century; while in hundreds of charters, bonds and deeds of every description, given by kings, Lords of the Isles, neighbouring chiefs, and the septs of clan Chattan itself, is the title of captain of clan Chattan acceded to them--as early as the time of David II. Mr Skene, indeed, employs their usage of the term Captain to show that they had no right of blood to the headship--a right they have never claimed, although there is perhaps no reason why they should not claim such a right from Eva. By an argument deduced from the case of the Camerons--the weakness of which will at once be seen on a careful examination of his statements--he presumes that they were the oldest cadets of the clan, and had usurped the chiefship. Ho doubt the designation captain was used, as Mr Skene says, when the actual leader of a clan was a person who had no right by blood to that position, but it does not by any means follow that he is right in assuming that those who are called captains were _oldest cadets_. Hector, _bastard son_ of Ferquhard Mackintosh, while at the head of his clan during the minority of the actual chief, his distant cousin, is in several deeds styled _captain_ of clan Chattan, and he was certainly not oldest cadet of the house of Mackintosh.

It is not for us to offer any decided opinion respecting a matter where the pride and pretensions of rival families are concerned. It may therefore be sufficient to observe that, whilst the Macphersons rest their claims chiefly on tradition, the Mackintoshes have produced, and triumphantly appealed to charters and documents of every description, in support of their pretensions; and that it is not very easy to see how so great a mass of written evidence can be overcome by merely calling into court Tradition to give testimony adverse to its credibility. The admitted fact of the Mackintosh family styling themselves captains of the clan does not seem to warrant any inference which can militate against their pretensions. On the contrary, the original assumption of this title obviously implies that no chief was in existence at the period when it was assumed; and its continuance, unchallenged and undisputed, affords strong presumptive proof in support of the account given by the Mackintoshes as to the original constitution of their title. The idea of usurpation appears to be altogether preposterous. The right alleged by the family of Mackintosh was not direct but collateral; it was founded on a marriage, and not derived by descent; and hence, probably, the origin of the secondary or subordinate title of captain which that family assumed. But can any one doubt that if a claim founded upon a preferable title had been asserted, the inferior pretension must have given way? Or is it in any degree probable that the latter would have been so fully recognised, if there had existed any lineal descendant of the ancient chiefs in a condition to prefer a claim founded upon the inherent and indefeasible right of blood?

Further, even allowing that the Macphersons are the lineal male representatives of the old clan Chattan chiefs, they can have no possible claim to the headship of the clan Chattan of later times, which was composed of others besides the descendants of the old clan. The Mackintoshes also repudiate any connection by blood with the old clan Chattan, except through the heiress of that clan who married their chief in 1291; and, indeed, such a thing was never thought of until Mr Skene started the idea; consequently the Macphersons can have no claim over them, or over the families which spring from them. The great body of the clan, the _historical_ clan Chattan, have always owned and followed the chief of Mackintosh as their leader and captain--the term captain being simply employed to include the whole--and until the close of the 17th century no attempt was made to deprive the Mackintosh chiefs of this title.

Among many other titles given to the chief of the Mackintoshes within the last 700 years, are, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, those of _Captain of Clan Chattan_, _Chief of Clan Chattan_, and _Principal of Clan Chattan_. The following on this subject is from the pen of Lachlan Shaw, the historian of Moray, whose knowledge of the subject entitled him to speak with authority. It is printed in the account of _the Kilravock Family_ issued by the Spalding Club. “Eve Catach, who married MacIntosh, was the heir-female (Clunie’s ancestor being the heir-male), and had MacIntosh assumed her surname, he would (say the MacPhersons) have been chief of the Clanchatan, according to the custom of Scotland. But this is an empty distinction. For, if the right of chiftanry is, _jure sanguinis_, inherent in the heir-female, she conveys it, and cannot but convey it to her son, whatever surname he takes; _nam jura sanguinis non prœscribunt_. And if it is not inherent in her, she cannot convey it to her son, although he assume her surname. Be this as it will, MacIntosh’s predecessors were, for above 300 years, designed Captains of Clanchatan, in royal charters and commissions, in bonds, contracts, history, heraldrie, &c.; the occasion of which title was, that several tribes or clans (every clan retaining its own surname) united in the general designation of Clanchatan; and of this incorporated body, MacIntosh was the head leader or captain. These united tribes were MacIntosh, MacPherson, Davidson, Shaw, MacBean, MacGilivray, MacQueen, Smith, MacIntyre, MacPhail, &c. In those times of barbarity and violence, small and weak tribes found it necessary to unite with, or come under the patronage of more numerous and powerful clans. And as long as the tribes of Clanchatan remained united (which was till the family of Gordon, breaking with the family of MacIntosh, disunited them, and broke their coalition), they were able to defend themselves against any other clan.”

In a MS., probably written by the same author, a copy of which now lies before us, a lengthened enquiry into the claims of the rival chiefs is concluded thus:--“In a word, if by the chief of the clan Chattan is meant the heir of the family, it cannot be doubted that Cluny is chief. If the heir whatsoever is meant, then unquestionably Mackintosh is chief; and whoever is chief, since the captaincy and command of the collective body of the clan Chattan was for above 300 years in the family of Mackintosh, I cannot see but, if such a privilege now remains, it is still in that family.” In reference to this much-disputed point, we take the liberty of quoting a letter of the Rev. W. G. Shaw, of Forfar. He has given the result of his inquiries in several privately printed brochures, but it is hoped that ere long he will place at the disposal of all who take an interest in these subjects the large stores of information he must have accumulated on many matters connected with the Highlands. Writing to the editor of this book he says, on the subject of the chiefship of clan Chattan:--

“Skene accords too much to the Macphersons in one way, but not enough in another.

“(_Too much_)--He says that for 200 years the Mackintoshes headed the clan Chattan, but only as _captain_, not as chief. But during these 200 years we have bonds, &c., cropping up now and then in which the Macphersons are _only_ designated as (_M._ or _N._) _Macpherson of Cluny_. Their claim to _headship_ seems to have been thoroughly in abeyance till the middle of the 17th century.

“(_Too little_)--For he says the Macphersons in their controversy (1672) before the Lyon King, pled _only_ tradition, whereas they pled the _facts_.

“_De jure_ the Macphersons were chiefs; _de facto_, they _never_ were; and they only _claimed_ to use the _title_ when clanship began to be a thing of the past, in so far as _fighting_ was concerned.

“The Macphersons seem to have been entitled to the chieftainship by right of birth, but _de facto_ they never had it. The _might_ of ‘the _Macintosh_’ had made his _right_, as is evidenced in half-a-hundred bonds of manrent, deeds of various kinds, to be found in the ‘Thanes of Cawdor,’ and the Spalding Club Miscellany--_passim_. He is always called Capitane or Captane of clan Quhattan, the spelling being scarcely ever twice the same.”

Against _Mackintosh’s_ powerful claims supported by deeds, &c., the following statements are given from the _Macpherson MS._ in Mr W. G. Shaw’s possession:--

I. In 1370, the head of the Macphersons disowned the head of the Mackintoshes at Invernahavon. Tradition says Macpherson withdrew from the field without fighting, _i.e._, he mutinied on a point of precedence between him and Mackintosh.

II. Donald More Macpherson fought along with Marr at Harlaw, _against_ Donald of the Isles with _Mackintosh_ on his side, the two chiefs being then on different sides (1411).

III. Donald Oig Macpherson fought on the side of Huntly at the battle of Corrichie, and was killed; Mackintosh fought on the other side (1562).

IV. Andrew Macpherson of Cluny held the Castle of Ruthven, A.D. 1594, against Argyll, Mackintosh fighting on the side of Argyll.[184]

This tends to show that when the Macphersons joined with the Mackintoshes, it was (they alleged) _voluntarily_, and not on account of their being bound to follow Mackintosh as chief.

In a loose way, no doubt, Mackintosh may sometimes have been called _Chief of Clan Chattan_, but _Captain_ is the title generally given in deeds of all kinds. He was chief of the Mackintoshes, as Cluny was chief of the Macphersons--by _right of blood_; but by agreement amongst the Shaws, Macgillivrays, Clarkes, (Clerach), Clan Dai, &c., renewed from time to time, Mackintosh was recognised as _Captain of Clan Chattan_.

We cannot forbear adding as a fit moral to this part of the subject, the conclusion come to by the writer of the MS. already quoted:--“After what I have said upon this angry point, I cannot but be of opinion, that in our day, when the right of chieftanrie is so little regarded, when the power of the chiefs is so much abridged, when armed convocations of the lieges are discharged by law, and when a clan are not obliged to obey their chief unless he bears a royal commission,--when matters are so, ’tis my opinion that questions about chieftainrie and debates about precedency of that kind, are equally idle and unprofitable, and that gentlemen should live in strict friendship as they are connected by blood, by affinity, or by the vicinity of their dwellings and the interest of their families.”

The clan Chattan of history, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh of Drummond,[185] was composed of the following clans, who were either allied to the Mackintoshes and Macphersons by genealogy, or who, for their own protection or other reasons, had joined the confederacy:--The Mackintoshes, Macphersons, Macgillivrays, Shaws, Farquharsons, Macbeans, Macphails, clan Tarril, Gows (said to be descended from Henry the Smith, of North Inch fame), Clarks, Macqueens, Davidsons, Cattanachs, clan Ay, Nobles, Gillespies. “In addition to the above sixteen tribes, the Macleans of Dochgarroch or clan Tearleach, the Dallases of Cantray, and others, generally followed the captain of clan Chattan as his friends.” Of some of these little or nothing is known except the name; but others, as the Mackintoshes, Macphersons, Shaws, Farquharsons, &c., have on the whole a complete and well-detailed history.

MACKINTOSH.

According to the Mackintosh MS. Histories (the first of which was compiled about 1500, other two dated in the 16th century, all of which were embodied in a Latin MS. by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara about 1680), the progenitor of the family was Shaw or Seach, a son of Macduff, Earl of Fife, who, for his assistance in quelling a rebellion among the inhabitants of Moray, was presented by King Malcolm IV. with the lands of Petty and Breachly and the forestry of Strathearn, being made also constable of the castle at Inverness. From the high position and power of his father, he was styled by the Gaelic-speaking population Mac-an-Toisich, _i.e._, “son of the principal or foremost.” _Tus_, _tos_, or _tosich_, is “the beginning or first part of anything,” whence “foremost” or “principal.” Mr Skene says the _tosich_ was the oldest cadet of a clan, and that Mackintosh’s ancestor was oldest cadet of clan Chattan. Professor Cosmo Innes says the _tosich_ was the administrator of the crown lands, the head man of a little district, who became under the Saxon title of Thane hereditary tenant; and it is worthy of note that these functions were performed by the successor of the above mentioned Shaw, who, the family history says, “was made chamberlain of the king’s revenues in those parts for life.” It is scarcely likely, however, that the name Mackintosh arose either in this manner or in the manner stated by Mr Skene, as there would be many tosachs, and in every clan an oldest cadet. The name seems to imply some peculiar circumstances, and these are found in the son of the great Thane or Earl of Fife.

Little is known of the immediate successors of Shaw Macduff. They appear to have made their residence in the castle of Inverness, which they defended on several occasions against the marauding bands from the west. Some of them added considerably to the possessions of the family, which soon took firm root in the north. Towards the close of the 13th century, during the minority of Angus MacFerquhard, 6th chief, the Comyns seized the castle of Inverness, and the lands of Geddes and Rait belonging to the Mackintoshes, and these were not recovered for more than a century. It was this chief who in 1291-2 married Eva, the heiress of clan Chattan, and who acquired with her the lands occupied by that clan, together with the station of leader of her father’s clansmen. He appears to have been a chief of great activity, and a staunch supporter of Robert Bruce, with whom he took part in the battle of Bannockburn. He is placed second in the list of chiefs given by General Stewart of Garth as present in this battle. In the time of his son William the sanguinary feud with the Camerons broke out, which continued up to the middle of the 17th century. The dispute arose concerning the lands of Glenlui and Locharkaig, which Angus Mackintosh had acquired with Eva, and which in his absence had been occupied by the Camerons. William fought several battles for the recovery of these lands, to which in 1337 he acquired a charter from the Lord of the Isles, confirmed in 1357 by David II., but his efforts were unavailing to dislodge the Camerons. The feud was continued by his successor, Lauchlan, 8th chief, each side occasionally making raids into the other’s country. In one of these is said to have occurred the well-known dispute as to precedency between two of the septs of clan Chattan, the Macphersons and the Davidsons. According to tradition, the Camerons had entered Badenoch, where Mackintosh was then residing, and had seized a large “spreagh.” Mackintosh’s force, which followed them, was composed chiefly of these two septs, the Macphersons, however, considerably exceeding the rest. A dispute arising between the respective leaders of the Macphersons and Davidsons as to who should lead the right wing, the chief of Mackintosh, as superior to both, was appealed to, and decided in favour of Davidson. Offended at this, the Macphersons, who, if all accounts are true, had undoubtedly the better right to the post of honour, withdrew from the field of battle, thus enabling the Camerons to secure a victory. When, however, they saw that their friends were defeated, the Macphersons are said to have returned to the field, and turned the victory of the Camerons into a defeat, killing their leader, Charles MacGillonie. The date of this affair, which took place at Invernahavon, is variously fixed at 1370 and 1384, and some writers make it the cause which led to the famous battle on the North Inch of Perth twenty-six years later.

As is well known, great controversies have raged as to the clans who took part in the Perth fight, and those writers just referred to decide the question by making the Macphersons and Davidsons the combatant clans.[186]

Wyntoun’s words are--

“They three score ware clannys twa, Clahynnhe Qwhewyl and Clachinyha, Of thir twa kynnys war thay men, Thretty again thretty then, And thare thay had thair chiftanys twa, SCHA FARQWHARIS SONE wes ane of thay, The tother CHRISTY JOHNESONE.”

On this the Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar remarks,--“One writer (Dr Macpherson) tries to make out that the clan Yha or Ha was the clan Shaw. Another makes them to be the clan Dhai or Davidsons. Another (with Skene) makes them Macphersons. As to the clan Quhele, Colonel Robertson (author of ‘Historical Proofs of the Highlanders,’) supposes that the clan Quhele was the clan Shaw, partly from the fact that in the Scots Act of Parliament of 1392 (vol. i. p. 217), whereby several clans were forfeited for their share in the raid of Angus [described in vol. i.], there is mention made of Slurach, or (as it is supposed it ought to have been written) Sheach[187] _et omnes clan Quhele_. Then others again suppose that the clan Quhele was the clan Mackintosh. Others that it was the clan Cameron, whilst the clan Yha was the Clan-na-Chait or clan Chattan.

“From the fact that, after the clan Battle on the Inch, the star of the Mackintoshes was decidedly in the ascendant, there can be little doubt but that they formed at least a section of the winning side, whether that side were the clan Yha or the clan Quhele.

“Wyntoun declines to say on which side the victory lay. He writes--

‘Wha had the waur fare at the last, I will nocht say.’

“It is not very likely that subsequent writers knew more of the subject than he did, so that after all, we are left very much to the traditions of the families themselves for information. The Camerons, Davidsons, Mackintoshes, and Macphersons, all say that they took part in the fray. The Shaws’ tradition is, that their ancestor, being a relative of the Mackintoshes, took the place of the aged chief of that section of the clan, on the day of battle. The chroniclers _vary_ as to the names of the clans, but they all _agree_ as to the name of _one_ of the leaders, viz., that it was Shaw. Tradition and history are agreed on this _one point_.

“One thing emerges clearly from the confusion as to the clans who fought, and as to which of the modern names of the contending clans was represented by the clans Yha and Quhele,--_one thing emerges_, a Shaw leading the victorious party, and a race of Shaws springing from him as their great--if not their first--founder, a race, who for ages afterwards, lived in the district and fought under the banner of the Laird of Mackintosh.”[188]

As to the Davidsons, the tradition which vouches for the particulars of the fight at Invernahavon expressly says that the Davidsons were almost to a man cut off, and it is scarcely likely that they would, within so short a time, be able to muster sufficient men either seriously to disturb the peace of the country or to provide thirty champions. Mr Skene solves the question by making the Mackintoshes and Macphersons the combatant clans, and the cause of quarrel the right to the headship of clan Chattan. But the traditions of both families place them on the winning side, and there is no trace whatever of any dispute at this time, or previous to the 16th century, as to the chiefship. The most probable solution of this difficulty is, that the clans who fought at Perth were the clan Chattan (_i.e._, Mackintoshes, Macphersons, and others) and the Camerons. Mr Skene, indeed, says that the only clans who have a tradition of their ancestors having been engaged are the Mackintoshes, Macphersons, and _Camerons_, though he endeavours to account for the presence of the last named clan by making them assist the Macphersons against the Mackintoshes.[189] The editor of the _Memoirs of Lochiel_, mentioning this tradition of the Camerons, as well as the opinion of Skene, says,--“It may be observed, that the side allotted to the Camerons (viz. the _unsuccessful_ side) affords the strongest internal evidence of its correctness. Had the Camerons been described as victors it would have been very different.”

The author of the recently discovered MS. account of the clan Chattan already referred to, says that by this conflict Cluny’s right to lead the van was established; and in the meetings of clan Chattan he sat on Mackintosh’s right hand, and when absent that seat was kept empty for him. Henry Wynde likewise associated with the clan Chattan, and his descendants assumed the name of Smith, and were commonly called Sliochd a Gow Chroim.

[Music: THE MACKINTOSH’S LAMENT[190]

_Arranged for the Bagpipes by_ PIPE-MAJOR A. M’LENNAN, _Highland Light Infantry Militia, Inverness_.]

[Music: VARIATION 1ST.

DOUBLING OF VARIATION 1ST.]

Lauchlan, chief of Mackintosh, in whose time these events happened, died in 1407, at a good old age. In consequence of his age and infirmity, his kinsman, Shaw Mackintosh, had headed the thirty clan Chattan champions at Perth, and for his success was rewarded with the possession of the lands of Rothiemurchus in Badenoch. The next chief, Ferquhard, was compelled by his clansmen to resign his post in consequence of his mild, inactive disposition, and his uncle Malcolm (son of William Mac-Angus by a second marriage) succeeded as 10th chief of Mackintosh, and 5th captain of clan Chattan. Malcolm was one of the most warlike and successful of the Mackintosh chiefs. During his long chiefship of nearly fifty years, he made frequent incursions into the Cameron territories, and waged a sanguinary war with the Comyns, in which he recovered the lands taken from his ancestor. In 1411 he was one of the principal commanders in the army of Donald, Lord of the Isles, in the battle of Harlaw, where he is by some stated incorrectly to have been killed. In 1429, when Alexander, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross; broke out into rebellion at the head of 10,000 men, on the advance of the king into Lochaber, the clan Chattan and the clan Cameron deserted the earl’s banners, went over to the royal army, and fought on the royal side, the rebels being defeated. In 1431, Malcolm Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, received a grant of the lands of Alexander of Lochaber, uncle of the Earl of Ross, that chieftain having been forfeited for engaging in the rebellion of Donald Balloch. Having afterwards contrived to make his peace with the Lord of the Isles, he received from him, between 1443 and 1447, a confirmation of his lands in Lochaber, with a grant of the office of bailiary of that district. His son, Duncan, styled captain of the clan Chattan in 1467, was in great favour with John, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, whose sister, Flora, he married, and who bestowed on him the office of steward of Lochaber, which had been held by his father. He also received the lands of Keppoch and others included in that lordship.

On the forfeiture of his brother-in-law in 1475, James III. granted to the same Duncan Mackintosh a charter, of date July 4th, 1476, of the lands of Moymore, and various others, in Lochaber. When the king in 1493 proceeded in person to the West Highlands, Duncan Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, was one of the chiefs, formerly among the vassals of the Lord of the Isles, who went to meet him and make their submission to him. These chiefs received in return royal charters of the lands they had previously held under the Lord of the Isles, and Mackintosh obtained a charter of the lands of Keppoch, Innerorgan, and others, with the office of bailiary of the same. In 1495, Farquhar Mackintosh, his son, and Kenneth Oig Mackenzie of Kintail, were imprisoned by the king in Edinburgh castle. Two years thereafter, Farquhar, who seems about this time to have succeeded his father as captain of the clan Chattan, and Mackenzie, made their escape from Edinburgh castle, but, on their way to the Highlands, they were seized at Torwood by the laird of Buchanan. Mackenzie, having offered resistance, was slain, but Mackintosh was taken alive, and confined at Dunbar, where he remained till after the battle of Flodden.

Farquhar was succeeded by his cousin, William Mackintosh, who had married Isabel M’Niven, heiress of Dunnachtan: but John Roy Mackintosh, the head of another branch of the family, attempted by force to get himself recognised as captain of the clan Chattan, and failing in his design, he assassinated his rival at Inverness in 1515. Being closely pursued, however, he was overtaken and slain at Glenesk. Lauchlan Mackintosh, the brother of the murdered chief, was then placed at the head of the clan. He is described by Bishop Lesley[191] as “a verrie honest and wyse gentleman, an barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole ken, friendes and tennentis in honest and guid rewll.” The strictness with which he ruled his clan raised him up many enemies among them, and, like his brother, he was cut off by the hand of an assassin. “Some wicked persons,” says Lesley, “being impatient of virtuous living, stirred up one of his own principal kinsmen, called James Malcolmson, who cruelly and treacherously slew his chief.” This was in the year 1526. To avoid the vengeance of that portion of the clan by whom the chief was beloved, Malcolmson and his followers took refuge in the island in the loch of Rothiemurchus, but they were pursued to their hiding place, and slain there.

Lauchlan had married the sister of the Earl of Moray, and by her had a son, William, who on his father’s death was but a child. The clan therefore made choice of Hector Mackintosh, a bastard son of Farquhar, the chief who had been imprisoned in 1495, to act as captain till the young chief should come of age. The consequences of this act have already been narrated in their proper place in the General History. On attaining the age of manhood William duly became head of the clan, and having been well brought up by the Earls of Moray and Cassilis, both his near relatives, was, according to Lesley, “honoured as a perfect pattern of virtue by all the leading men of the Highlands.” During the life of his uncle, the Earl of Moray, his affairs prospered; but shortly after that noble’s death, he became involved in a feud with the Earl of Huntly. He was charged with the heinous offence of conspiring against Huntly, the queen’s lieutenant, and at a court held by Huntly at Aberdeen, on the 2d August 1550, was tried and convicted by a jury, and sentenced to lose his life and lands. Being immediately carried to Strathbogie, he was beheaded soon after by Huntly’s countess, the earl himself having given a pledge that his life should be spared. The story is told, though with grave errors, by Sir Walter Scott, in his _Tales of a Grandfather_.[192] By Act of Parliament of 14th December 1557, the sentence was reversed as illegal, and the son of Mackintosh was restored to all his father’s lands, to which Huntly added others as assythment for the blood. But this act of atonement on Huntly’s part was not sufficient to efface the deep grudge owed him by the clan Chattan on account of the execution of their chief, and he was accordingly thwarted by them in many of his designs.

In the time of this earl’s grandson, the clan Chattan again came into collision with the powerful Gordons, and for four years a deadly feud raged between them. In consequence of certain of Huntly’s proceedings, especially the murder of the Earl of Moray, a strong faction was formed against him, Lauchlan, 16th chief of Mackintosh, taking a prominent part. A full account of these disturbances in 1624 has already been given in its place in the General History.

In this feud Huntly succeeded in detaching the Macphersons belonging to the Cluny branch from the rest of clan Chattan, but the majority of that sept, according to the MS. history of the Mackintoshes, remained true to the chief of Mackintosh. These allies, however, were deserted by Huntly when he became reconciled to Mackintosh, and in 1609 Andrew Macpherson of Cluny, with all the other principal men of clan Chattan, signed a bond of union, in which they all acknowledged the chief of Mackintosh as _captain and chief_ of clan Chattan. The clan Chattan were in Argyll’s army at the battle of Glenlivat in 1595, and with the Macleans formed the right wing, which made the best resistance to the Catholic earls, and was the last to quit the field.

Cameron of Lochiel had been forfeited in 1598 for not producing his title deeds, when Mackintosh claimed the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, of which he had kept forcible possession. In 1618 Sir Lauchlan, 17th chief of Mackintosh, prepared to carry into effect the acts of outlawry against Lochiel, who, on his part, put himself under the protection of the Marquis of Huntly, Mackintosh’s mortal foe. In July of the same year Sir Lauchlan obtained a commission of fire and sword against the Macdonalds of Keppoch for laying waste his lands in Lochaber. As he conceived that he had a right to the services of all his clan, some of whom were tenants and dependents of the Marquis of Huntly, he ordered the latter to follow him, and compelled such of them as were refractory to accompany him into Lochaber. This proceeding gave great offence to Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, the marquis’s son, who summoned Mackintosh before the Privy Council, for having, as he asserted, exceeded his commission. He was successful in obtaining the recall of Sir Lauchlan’s commission, and obtaining a new one in his own favour. The consequences of this are told in vol. i. ch. x.

During the wars of the Covenant, William, 18th chief, was at the head of the clan, but owing to feebleness of constitution took no active part in the troubles of that period. He was, however, a decided loyalist, and among the Mackintosh papers are several letters, both from the unhappy Charles I. and his son Charles II., acknowledging his good affection and service. The Mackintoshes, as well as the Macphersons and Farquharsons, were with Montrose in considerable numbers, and, in fact, the great body of clan Chattan took part in nearly all that noble’s battles and expeditions.

Shortly after the accession of Charles II., Lauchlan Mackintosh, to enforce his claims to the disputed lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig against Cameron of Lochiel, raised his clan, and, assisted by the Macphersons, marched to Lochaber with 1500 men. He was met by Lochiel with 1200 men, of whom 300 were Macgregors. About 300 were armed with bows. General Stewart says:--“When preparing to engage, the Earl of Breadalbane, who was nearly related to both chiefs, came in sight with 500 men, and sent them notice that if either of them refused to agree to the terms which he had to propose, he would throw his interest into the opposite scale. After some hesitation his offer of mediation was accepted, and the feud amicably and finally settled.” This was in 1665, when the celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron was chief, and a satisfactory arrangement having been made, the Camerons were at length left in undisputed possession of the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, which their various branches still enjoy.

In 1672 Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, having resolved to throw off all connexion with Mackintosh, made application to the Lyon office to have his arms matriculated as laird of Cluny Macpherson, and “the only and true representative of the ancient and honourable family of the clan Chattan.” This request was granted; and, soon afterwards, when the Privy Council required the Highland chiefs to give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans, Macpherson became bound for his clan under the designation of the lord of Cluny and chief of the Macphersons; as he could only hold himself responsible for that portion of the clan Chattan which bore his own name and were more particularly under his own control. As soon as Mackintosh was informed of this circumstance, he applied to the privy council and the Lyon office to have his own title declared, and that which had been granted to Macpherson recalled and cancelled. An inquiry was accordingly instituted, and both parties were ordered to produce evidence of their respective assertions, when the council ordered Mackintosh to give bond for those of his _clan_, his vassals, those descended of his family, his men, tenants, and servants, and all dwelling upon his ground; and enjoined Cluny to give bond for those of his name of Macpherson, descended of his family, and his men, tenants, and servants, “without prejudice always to the laird of Mackintosh.” In consequence of this decision, the armorial bearings granted to Macpherson were recalled, and they were again matriculated as those of Macpherson of Cluny.

Between the Mackintoshes and the Macdonalds of Keppoch, a feud had long existed, originating in the claim of the former to the lands occupied by the latter, on the Braes of Lochaber. The Macdonalds had no other right to their lands than what was founded on prescriptive possession, whilst the Mackintoshes had a feudal title to the property, originally granted by the lords of the Isles, and, on their forfeiture, confirmed by the crown. After various acts of hostility on both sides, the feud was at length terminated by “the last considerable clan battle which was fought in the Highlands.” To dispossess the Macdonalds by force, Mackintosh raised his clan, and, assisted by an independent company of soldiers, furnished by the government, marched towards Keppoch, but, on his arrival there, he found the place deserted. He was engaged in constructing a fort in Glenroy, to protect his rear, when he received intelligence that the Macdonalds, reinforced by their kinsmen of Glengarry and Glencoe, were posted in great force at Mulroy. He immediately marched against them, but was defeated and taken prisoner. At that critical moment, a large body of Macphersons appeared on the ground, hastening to the relief of the Mackintoshes, and Keppoch, to avoid another battle, was obliged to release his prisoner. It is highly to the honour of the Macphersons, that they came forward on the occasion so readily, to the assistance of the rival branch of the clan Chattan, and that so far from taking advantage of Mackintosh’s misfortune, they escorted him safely to his own territories, and left him without exacting any conditions, or making any stipulations whatever as to the chiefship.[193] From this time forth, the Mackintoshes and the Macphersons continued separate and independent clans, although both were included under the general denomination of the clan Chattan.

At the Revolution, the Mackintoshes adhered to the new government, and as the chief refused to attend the Viscount Dundee, on that nobleman soliciting a friendly interview with him, the latter employed his old opponent, Macdonald of Keppoch, to carry off his cattle. In the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, the Mackintoshes took a prominent part. Lauchlan, 20th chief, was actively engaged in the ’15, and was at Preston on the Jacobite side. The exploits of Mackintosh of Borlum, in 1715, have been fully narrated in our account of the rebellion of that year.

Lauchlan died in 1731, without issue, when the male line of William, the 18th chief, became extinct. Lauchlan’s successor, William Mackintosh, died in 1741. Angus, the brother of the latter, the next chief, married Anne, daughter of Farquharson of Invercauld, a lady who distinguished herself greatly in the rebellion of 1745. When her husband was appointed to one of the three new companies in Lord London’s Highlanders, raised in the beginning of that year, Lady Mackintosh traversed the country, and, in a very short time, enlisted 97 of the 100 men required for a captaincy. On the breaking out of the rebellion, she was equally energetic in favour of the Pretender, and, in the absence of Mackintosh, she raised two battalions of the clan for the prince, and placed them under the command of Colonel Macgillivray of Dunmaglass. In 1715 the Mackintoshes mustered 1,500 men under Old Borlum, but in 1745 scarcely one half of that number joined the forces of the Pretender. She conducted her followers in person to the rebel army at Inverness, and soon after her husband was taken prisoner by the insurgents, when the prince delivered him over to his lady, saying that “he could not be in better security, or more honourably treated.”

At the battle of Culloden, the Mackintoshes were on the right of the Highland army, and in their eagerness to engage, they were the first to attack the enemy’s lines, losing their brave colonel and other officers in the impetuous charge. On the passing of the act for the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions in 1747, the laird of Mackintosh claimed £5,000 as compensation for his hereditary office of steward of the lordship of Lochaber.

In 1812, Æneas Mackintosh, the 23d laird of Mackintosh, was created a baronet of the United Kingdom. He died 21st January 1820, without heirs male of his body. On his death, the baronetcy expired, and he was succeeded in the estate by Angus Mackintosh, whose immediate sires had settled in Canada. Alexander, his son, became Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and died in 1861, his son, Alexander Æneas, now of Mackintosh, succeeding him as 27th chief of Mackintosh, and 22d captain of clan Chattan.

The funerals of the chiefs of Mackintosh were always conducted with great ceremony and solemnity. When Lauchlan Mackintosh, the 19th chief, died, in the end of 1703, his body lay in state from 9th December that year, till 18th January 1704, in Dalcross Castle (which was built in 1620, and is a good specimen of an old baronial Scotch mansion, and has been the residence of several chiefs), and 2000 of the clan Chattan attended his remains to the family vault at Petty. Keppoch was present with 220 of the Macdonalds. Across the coffins of the deceased chiefs are laid the sword of William, twenty-first of Mackintosh, and a highly finished claymore, presented by Charles I., before he came to the throne, to Sir Lauchlan Mackintosh, gentleman of the bedchamber.

The principal seat of The Mackintosh is Moy Hall, near Inverness. The original castle, now in ruins, stood on an island in Loch Moy.

The eldest branch of the clan Mackintosh was the family of Kellachy, a small estate in Inverness-shire, acquired by them in the 17th century. Of this branch was the celebrated Sir James Mackintosh. His father, Captain John Mackintosh, was the tenth in descent from Allan, third son of Malcolm, tenth chief of the clan. Mackintosh of Kellachy, as the eldest cadet of the family, invariably held the appointment of captain of the watch to the chief of the clan in all his wars.

MACPHERSON.

The Macphersons, the other principal branch of the clan Chattan, are in Gaelic called the clan Vuirich or Muirich, from an ancestor of that name, who, in the Gaelic MS. of 1450, is said to have been the “son of Swen, son of Heth, son of Nachtan, son of Gillichattan, from whom came the clan Chattan.” The word Gillichattan is supposed by some to mean a votary or servant of St Kattan, a Scottish saint, as Gillichrist (Gilchrist) means a servant of Christ.

The Macphersons claim unbroken descent from the ancient chiefs of the clan Chattan, and tradition is in favour of their being the lineal representatives of the chiefs of the clan. However, this point has been sufficiently discussed in the history of the Mackintoshes, where we have given much of the history of the Macphersons.

It was from Muirich, who is said to have been chief in 1153, that the Macphersons derive the name of the clan Muirich or Vuirich. This Muirich was parson of Kingussie, in the lower part of Badenoch, and the surname was given to his descendants from his office. He was the great-grandson of Gillichattan Mor, the founder of the clan, who lived in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, and having married a daughter of the thane of Calder, had five sons. The eldest, Gillichattan, the third of the name, and chief of the clan in the reign of Alexander II., was father of Dougal Dall, the chief whose daughter Eva married Angus Mackintosh of Mackintosh. On Dougal Dall’s death, as he had no sons, the representation of the family devolved on his cousin and heir-male, Kenneth, eldest son of Eoghen or Ewen Baan, second son of Muirich. Neill _Chrom_, so called from his stooping shoulders, Muirich’s third son, was a great artificer in iron, and took the name of Smith from his trade. Farquhar Gilliriach, or the Swift, the fourth son, is said to have been the progenitor of the MacGillivrays, who followed the Mackintosh branch of the clan Chattan; and from David Dubh, or the Swarthy, the youngest of Muirich’s sons, were descended the clan Dhai, or Davidsons of Invernahavon.[194]

One of the early chiefs is said to have received a commission to expel the Comyns from Badenoch, and on their forfeiture he obtained, for his services, a grant of lands. He was also allowed to add a hand holding a dagger to his armorial bearings. A MS. genealogy of the Macphersons makes Kenneth chief in 1386, when a battle took place at Invernahavon between the clan Chattan and the Camerons, details of which and of the quarrel between the Macphersons and the Davidsons will be found in the general history, and in the account of the Mackintoshes.

In 1609 the chief of the Macphersons signed a bond, along with all the other branches of that extensive tribe, acknowledging Mackintosh as captain and chief of the clan Chattan; but in all the contentions and feuds in which the Mackintoshes were subsequently involved with the Camerons and other Lochaber clans, they were obliged to accept of the Macphersons’ aid as allies rather than vassals.

Andrew Macpherson of Cluny, who succeeded as chief in 1647, suffered much on account of his sincere attachment to the cause of Charles I. His son, Ewen, was also a staunch royalist. In 1665, under Andrew, the then chief, when Mackintosh went on an expedition against the Camerons, for the recovery of the lands of Glenluy and Locharkaig, he solicited the assistance of the Macphersons, when a notarial deed was executed, wherein Mackintosh declares that it was of their mere good will and pleasure that they did so; and on his part it is added, “I bind and oblige myself and friends and followers to assist and fortify and join, with the said Andrew, Lauchlan, and John Macpherson, all their lawful and necessary adoes, being thereunto required.” The same Andrew, Lauchlan, and John, heads of the three great branches of the Macphersons, had on the 19th of the preceding November given a bond acknowledging Mackintosh as their chief. In 1672 Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, Andrew’s brother, made application to the Lyon office to have his arms matriculated as laird of Cluny Macpherson, and “the only and true representative of the ancient and honourable family of the clan Chattan.” This application was successful; but as soon as Mackintosh heard of it, he raised a process before the privy council to have it determined as to which of them had the right to the proper armorial bearings. After a protracted inquiry, the council issued an order for the two chiefs to give security for the peaceable behaviour of their respective clans, in the terms given in the account of Mackintosh. The same year Cluny entered into a contract of friendship with Æneas, Lord Macdonnell, and Aros, “for himself and takeing burden upon him for the haill name of Macpherson, and some others, _called Old Clan-chatten_, as cheefe and principall man thereof.”

It is worthy of note that this same Duncan made an attempt, which was happily frustrated by his clansmen, to have his son-in-law, a son of Campbell of Cawdor, declared his successor.

On the death, without male issue, of Duncan Macpherson, in 1721 or 1722, the chiefship devolved on Lauchlan Macpherson of Nuid, the next male heir, being lineally descended from John, youngest brother of Andrew, the above-named chief. One of the descendants of this John of Nuid was James Macpherson, the resuscitator of the Ossianic poetry. Lauchlan married Jean, daughter of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel. His eldest son, Ewen, was the chief at the time of the rebellion of 1745.

In the previous rebellion of 1715, the Macphersons, under their then chief Duncan, had taken a very active part on the side of the Pretender. On the arrival of Prince Charles in 1745, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny, who the same year had been appointed to a company in Lord Loudon’s Highlanders, and had taken the oaths to government, threw up his commission, and, with 600 Macphersons, joined the rebel army after their victory at Prestonpans. The Macphersons were led to take an active part in the rebellion chiefly from a desire to revenge the fate of two of their clansmen, who were shot on account of the extraordinary mutiny of the Black Watch (now the 42d regiment) two years before, an account of which is given in the history of that Regiment.

Ewen Macpherson, the chief, at first hesitated to join the prince; and his wife, a daughter of Lord Lovat, although a staunch Jacobite, earnestly dissuaded him from breaking his oath to government, assuring him that nothing could end well that began with perjury. Her friends reproached her for interfering--and his clan urging him, Cluny unfortunately yielded.

At the battle of Falkirk, the Macphersons formed a portion of the first line. They were too late for the battle of Culloden, where their assistance might have turned the fortune of the day; they did not come up till after the retreat of Charles from that decisive field. In the subsequent devastations committed by the English army, Cluny’s house was plundered and burnt to the ground. Every exertion was made by the government troops for his apprehension, but they never could lay their hands upon him. He escaped to France in 1755, and died at Dunkirk the following year.

Ewen’s son, Duncan, was born in 1750, in a kiln for drying corn, in which his mother had taken refuge after the destruction of their house. During his minority, his uncle, Major John Macpherson of the 78th foot, acted as his guardian. He received back the estate which had been forfeited, and, entering the army, became lieutenant-colonel of the 3d foot guards. He married, 12th June 1798, Catherine, youngest daughter of Sir Ewen Cameron of Fassifern, baronet; and on his death, 1st August 1817, was succeeded by his eldest son, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny, the present chief.

In Cluny castle are preserved various relics of the rebellion of 1745; among the rest, the Prince’s target and lace wrist ruffles, and an autograph letter from Charles, promising an ample reward to his devoted friend Cluny. There is also the black pipe chanter on which the prosperity of the house of Cluny is said to be dependent, and which all true members of the clan Vuirich firmly believe fell from heaven, in place of the one lost at the conflict on the North Inch of Perth.

The war-cry of the Macphersons was “Cragi Dhu,” the name of a rock in the neighbourhood of Cluny Castle. The chief is called in the Highlands “Mac Mhurich Chlanaidh,” but everywhere else is better known as Cluny Macpherson.

Among the principal cadets of the Macpherson family were the Macphersons of Pitmean, Invereshie, Strathmassie, Breachachie, Essie, &c. The Invereshie branch were chiefs of a large tribe called the _Siol Gillies_, the founder of which was Gillies or Elias Macpherson, the first of Invereshie, a younger son of Ewen Baan or Bane (so called from his fair complexion) above mentioned. Sir Eneas Macpherson, tutor of Invereshie, advocate, who lived in the reigns of Charles II. and James VII., collected the materials for the history of the clan Macpherson, the MS. of which is still preserved in the family. He was appointed sheriff of Aberdeen in 1684.

George Macpherson of Invereshie married Grace, daughter of Colonel William Grant of Ballindalloch, and his elder son, William, dying, unmarried, in 1812, was succeeded by his nephew George, who, on the death of his maternal grand-uncle, General James Grant of Ballindalloch, 13th April 1806, inherited that estate, and in consequence assumed the name of Grant in addition to his own. He was MP. for the county of Sutherland for seventeen years, and was created a baronet 25th July 1838. He thus became Sir George Macpherson-Grant of Invereshie, Inverness-shire, and Ballindalloch, Elginshire. On his death in November 1846, his son, Sir John, sometime secretary of legation at Lisbon, succeeded as second baronet. Sir John died Dec. 2, 1850. His eldest son, Sir George Macpherson-Grant of Invereshie and Ballindalloch, born Aug. 12, 1839, became the third baronet of this family, He married, July 3, 1861, Frances Elizabeth, younger daughter of the Rev. Roger Pocklington, Vicar of Walesby, Nottinghamshire.

We can refer only with the greatest brevity to some of the minor clans which were included under the great confederacy of the clan Chattan.

MACGILLIVRAY.

The Macgillivrays were one of the oldest and most important of the septs of clan Chattan, and from 1626, when their head, Ferquhard MacAllister, acquired a right to the lands of Dunmaglass, frequent mention of them is found in extant documents, registers, etc. Their ancestor placed himself and his posterity under the protection of the Mackintoshes in the time of Ferquhard, fifth chief of Mackintosh, and the clan have ever distinguished themselves by their prowess and bravery. One of them is mentioned as having been killed in a battle with the Camerons about the year 1330, but perhaps the best known of the heads of this clan was Alexander, fourth in descent from the Ferquhard who acquired Dunmaglass. This gentleman was selected by Lady Mackintosh to head her husband’s clan on the side of Prince Charlie in the ’45. He acquitted himself with the greatest credit, but lost his life, as did all his officers except three, in the battle of Culloden. In the brave but rash charge made by his battalion against the English line, he fell, shot through the heart, in the centre of Barrel’s regiment. His body, after lying for some weeks in a pit where it had been thrown with others by the English soldiers, was taken up by his friends and buried across the threshold of the kirk of Petty. His brother William was also a warrior, and gained the rank of captain in the old 89th regiment, raised about 1758. One of the three officers of the Mackintosh battalion who escaped from Culloden was a kinsman of these two brothers,--Farquhar of Dalcrombie, whose grandson, Niel John M’Gillivray of Dunmaglass, is the present head of the clan.

The M’Gillivrays possessed at various times, besides Dunmaglass, the lands of Aberchallader, Letterchallen, Largs, Faillie, Dalcrombie, and Daviot. It was in connection with the succession to Faillie that Lord Ardmillan’s well-known decision was given in 1860 respecting the legal _status_ of a clan.

In a Gaelic lament for the slain at Culloden the MacGillivrays are spoken of as

“The warlike race, The gentle, vigorous, flourishing, Active, of great fame, beloved, The race that will not wither, and has descended Long from every side, Excellent MacGillivrays of the Doune.”

SHAW.[195]

The origin of the Shaws, at one time a most important clan of the Chattan confederation, has been already referred to in connection with the Mackintoshes. The tradition of the Mackintoshes and Shaws is “unvaried,” says the Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar, that at least from and after 1396, a race of Shaws existed in Rothiemurchus, whose great progenitor was the Shaw Mor who commanded the section of the clan represented by the Mackintoshes on the Inch. The tradition of the Shaws is, that he was Shaw, the son of James, the son or descendant of Farquhar; the tradition of the Macintoshes--that he was Shaw-_mac_-Gilchrist-_mac_-Ian-_mac_-Angus-_mac_-Farquhar,--Farquhar being the ancestor according to _both_ traditions, from whom he took the name (according to Wyntoun) of Sha Farquharis Son.[196] The tradition of a James Shaw who ‘had bloody contests with the Comyns,’ which tradition is fortified by that of the Comyns, may very likely refer to the James, who, according to the genealogies both of the Shaws and Mackintoshes, was the son of Shaw Mor.

Mr Shaw of Forfar, who is well entitled to speak with authority on the subject, maintains “that prior to 1396, the clan now represented by the Mackintoshes, had been (as was common amongst the clans) sometimes designated as the clan Shaw, after the successive chiefs of that name, especially the first, and sometimes as the clan of the Mac-an-Toisheach, _i.e._, of the Thane’s son. Thus, from its first founder, the great clan of the Isles was originally called the clan Cuin, or race of Constantine. Afterwards, it was called the clan Colla, from his son Coll, and latterly the clan Donald, after one of his descendants of that name. So the Macleans are often called clan Gilleon after their founder and first chief; and the Macphersons, the clan Muirich, after one of the most distinguished in their line of chiefs. The Farquharsons are called clan Fhiunla, after their great ancestor, Finlay Mor. There is nothing more probable, therefore--I should say more certain--than that the race in after times known as Mackintoshes, should at first have been as frequently designated as Na Si’aich, ‘The Shaws,’ after the Christian _name_ of their first chief, as Mackintoshes after his _appellative description_ or designation. It is worthy of remark, that the race of Shaws is never spoken of in Gaelic as the ‘clan Shaw,’ but as ‘Na Si’aich’--The Shaws, or as we would say Shawites. We never hear of Mac-Shaws--sons of Shaw, but of ‘Na Si’aich--The Shaws.’ Hence prior to 1396, when a Shaw so distinguished himself as to found a family, under the wing of his chief, the undivided race, so to speak, would sometimes be called ‘Mackintoshes,’ or followers of the Thane’s sons, sometimes the clan Chattan, the generic name of the race, sometimes ‘clan Dhugaill,’ (Quehele) after Dougall-Dall, and sometimes ‘Na Si’aich,’ the Shaws or Shawites, after the numerous chiefs who bore the name of Shaw in the line of descent. Hence the claim of both Shaws and Mackintoshes to the occupancy of Rothiemurchus. After 1396, the term Na Si’aich was restricted, as all are agreed, to the clan developed out of the other, through the prowess of Shaw Mór.”

Shaw “Mor” Mackintosh, who fought at Perth in 1396, was succeeded by his son James, who fell at Harlaw in 1411. Both Shaw and James had held Rothiemurchus only as tenants of the chief of Mackintosh, but James’s son and successor, Alister “Ciar” (_i.e._, brown), obtained from Duncan, 11th of Mackintosh, in 1463-4, his right of possession and tack. In the deed by which David Stuart, Bishop of Moray, superior of the lands, confirms this disposition of Duncan, and gives Alister the feu, Alister is called “Allister Kier _Mackintosh_.” This deed is dated 24th September 1464. All the deeds in which Alister is mentioned call him Mackintosh, not Shaw, thus showing the descent of the Shaws from the Mackintoshes, and that they did not acquire their name of Shaw until after Alister’s time.

Alister’s grandson, Alan, in 1539, disponed his right to Rothiemurchus to Edom Gordon, reserving only his son’s liferent. Alan’s grandson, of the same name was outlawed for the murder of his stepfather, some fifty years later, and compelled to leave the country. Numerous Shaws are, however, still to be found in the neighbourhood of Rothiemurchus, or who can trace their descent from Alister Kier.

Besides the Shaws of Rothiemurchus, the Shaws of TORDARROCH in Strathnairn, descended from Adam, younger brother of Alister Kier, were a considerable family; but, like their cousins, they no longer occupy their original patrimony. Tordarroch was held in wadset of the chiefs of Mackintosh, and was given up to Sir Æneas Mackintosh in the end of last century by its holder at the time, Colonel Alexander Shaw, seventh in descent from Adam.

Angus MacBean vic Robert of Tordarroch signed the Bond of 1609 already mentioned. His great-grandsons, Robert and Æneas, took part during their father’s life in the rebellion of 1715; both were taken prisoners at Preston, and were confined in Newgate, the elder brother dying during his imprisonment. The younger, Æneas, succeeded his father, and in consideration of his taking no part in the ’45, was made a magistrate, and received commissions for his three sons, the second of whom, Æneas, rose to the rank of major-general in the army. Margaret, daughter of Æneas of Tordarroch, was wife of Farquhar Macgillivray of Dalcrombie, one of the three officers of the Mackintosh regiment who escaped from Culloden.

Æneas was succeeded by his eldest son, Colonel Alexander Shaw, lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man under the crown. He gave up the wadset of Tordarroch to Sir Æneas Mackintosh, and died in 1811.

From the four younger sons of Alister Kier descended respectively the Shaws of DELL (the family of the historian of Moray, the Rev. Lachlan Shaw); of DALNIVERT, the representation of it devolved in the last century on a female, who married ---- Clark; the FARQUHARSONS, who in time acquired more importance than the Shaws; and the SHAWS of HARRIS, who still retain a tradition of their ancestor, Iver MacAlister Ciar.

FARQUHARSON.

The immediate ancestor of the Farquharsons of Invercauld, the main branch, was Farquhar or Fearchard, a son of Alister “Keir” Mackintosh or Shaw of Rothiemurchus, grandson of Shaw Mor. Farquhar, who lived in the reign of James III., settled in the Braes of Mar, and was appointed baillie or hereditary chamberlain thereof. His sons were called Farquharson, the first of the name in Scotland. His eldest son, Donald, married a daughter of Duncan Stewart, commonly called Duncan Downa Dona, of the family of Mar, and obtained a considerable addition to his paternal inheritance, for faithful services rendered to the crown.

Donald’s son and successor, Findla or Findlay, commonly called from his great size and strength, Findla Mhor, or great Findla, lived in the beginning of the sixteenth century. His descendants were called MacIanla or Mackinlay. Before his time the Farquharsons were called in the Gaelic, clan Erachar or Earachar, the Gaelic for Farquhar, and most of the branches of the family, especially those who settled in Athole, were called MacEarachar. Those of the descendants of Findla Mhor who settled in the Lowlands had their name of Mackinlay changed into Finlayson.[197]

Findla Mhor, by his first wife, a daughter of the Baron Reid of Kincardine Stewart, had four sons, the descendants of whom settled on the borders of the counties of Perth and Angus, south of Braemar, and some of them in the district of Athole.

His eldest son, William, who died in the reign of James VI., had four sons. The eldest, John, had an only son, Robert, who succeeded him. He died in the reign of Charles II.

Robert’s son, Alexander Farquharson of Invercauld, married Isabella, daughter of William Mackintosh of that ilk, captain of the clan Chattan, and had three sons.

William, the eldest son, dying unmarried, was succeeded by the second son, John, who carried on the line of the family. Alexander, the third son, got the lands of Monaltrie, and married Anne, daughter of Francis Farquharson, Esq. of Finzean.

The above-mentioned John Farquharson of Invercauld, the ninth from Farquhar the founder of the family, was four times married. His children by his first two wives died young. By his third wife, Margaret, daughter of Lord James Murray, son of the first Marquis of Athole, he had two sons and two daughters. His elder daughter, Anne, married Eneas Mackintosh of that ilk, and was the celebrated Lady Mackintosh, who, in 1745, defeated the design of the Earl of Loudon to make prisoner Prince Charles at Moy castle. By his fourth wife, a daughter of Forbes of Waterton, he had a son and two daughters, and died in 1750.

His eldest son, James Farquharson of Invercauld, greatly improved his estates, both in appearance and product. He married Amelia, the widow of the eighth Lord Sinclair, and daughter of Lord George Murray, lieutenant-general of Prince Charles’s army, and had a large family, who all died except the youngest, a daughter, Catherine. On his death, in 1806, this lady succeeded to the estates. She married, 16th June 1798, Captain James Ross, R.N. (who took the name of Farquharson, and died in 1810), second son of Sir John Lockhart Ross of Balnagowan, Baronet, and by him had a son, James Farquharson, a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, representative of the family.

There are several branches of this clan, of which we shall mention the Farquharsons of WHITEHOUSE, who are descended from Donald Farquharson of Castleton of Braemar and Monaltrie, living in 1580, eldest son, by his second wife, of Findla Mhor, above mentioned.

Farquharson of FINZEAN is the heir male of the clan, and claims the chieftainship, the heir of line being Farquharson of Invercauld. His estate forms nearly the half of the parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire. The family, of which he is representative, came originally from Braemar, but they have held property in the parish for many generations. On the death of Archibald Farquharson, Esq. of Finzean, in 1841, that estate came into the possession of his uncle, John Farquharson, Esq., residing in London, who died in 1849, and was succeeded by his third cousin, Dr Francis Farquharson. This gentleman, before succeeding to Finzean, represented the family of Farquharson of Balfour, a small property in the same parish and county, sold by his grandfather.

The Farquharsons, according to Duncan Forbes “the only clan family in Aberdeenshire,” and the estimated strength of which was 500 men, were among the most faithful adherents of the house of Stuart, and throughout all the struggles in its behalf constantly acted up to their motto, “_Fide et Fortitudine_.” The old motto of the clan was, “We force nae friend, we fear nae foe.” They fought under Montrose, and formed part of the Scottish army under Charles II. at Worcester in 1651. They also joined the forces under the Viscount of Dundee in 1689, and at the outbreak of the rebellion of 1715 they were the first to muster at the summons of the Earl of Mar.

In 1745, the Farquharsons joined Prince Charles, and formed two battalions, the one under the command of Farquharson of Monaltrie, and the other of Farquharson of Balmoral; but they did not accompany the Prince in his expedition into England. Farquharson of Invercauld was treated by government with considerable leniency for his share in the rebellion, but his kinsman, Farquharson of Balmoral, was specially excepted from mercy in the act of indemnity passed in June 1747.

The MACBEANS, Macbanes, or Macbains, derive their name from the fair complexion of their progenitor, or, according to some, from their living in a high country, _beann_ being the Gaelic name for a mountain, hence Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, &c. The distinctive badge of the Macbeans, like that of the Macleods, was the red whortleberry. Of the Mackintosh clan they are considered an offshoot, although some of themselves believe that they are Camerons. It is true that a division of the MacBeans fought under Lochiel in 1745, but a number of them fought under Golice or Gillies MacBane, of the house of Kinchoil, in the Mackintosh battalion. This gigantic Highlander, who was six feet four and a-half inches in height, displayed remarkable prowess at the battle of Culloden.[198]

“In the time of William, first of the name, and sixth of Mackintosh, William Mhor, son to Bean-Mac Domhnuill-Mhor and his four sons, Paul, Gillies, William-Mhor, and Farquhar, after they had slain the Red Comyn’s steward at Innerlochie, came, according to the history, to William Mackintosh, to Connage, where he then resided, and for themselves and their posterity, took protection of him and his. No tribe of Clan Chattan, the history relates, suffered so severely at Harlaw as Clan Vean.”[199]

The MACPHAILS are descended from one “Paul Macphail, goodsir to that Sir Andrew Macphail, parson of Croy, who wrote the history of the Mackintoshes. Paul lived in the time of Duncan, first of the name, and eleventh of Mackintosh, who died in 1496. The head of the tribe had his residence at Inverarnie, on the water of Nairn.”[200]

According to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, there is a tradition that the Gows are descended from Henry, the smith who fought at the North Inch battle, he having accompanied the remnant of the Mackintoshes, and settled in Strathnairn. Being bandy-legged, he was called “Gow Chrom.” At any rate, this branch of clan Chattan has long been known as “Sliochd an Gow Chrom”. _Gow_ is a “smith,” and thus a section of the multitudinous tribe of Smiths may claim connection with the great clan Chattan.

The head of the MACQUEENS was Macqueen of Corrybrough, Inverness-shire.[201] The founder of this tribe is said to have been Roderick Dhu Revan MacSweyn or Macqueen, who, about the beginning of the 15th century, received a grant of territory in the county of Inverness. He belonged to the family of the Lord of the Isles, and his descendants from him were called the clan Revan.

The Macqueens fought, under the standard of Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, at the battle of Harlaw in 1411. On 4th April 1609, Donald Macqueen of Corrybrough signed the bond of manrent, with the chiefs of the other tribes composing the clan Chattan, whereby they bound themselves to support Angus Mackintosh of that ilk as their captain and leader. At this period, we are told, the tribe of Macqueen comprehended twelve distinct families, all landowners in the counties of Inverness and Nairn.

In 1778, Lord Macdonald of Sleat, who had been created an Irish peer by that title two years before, having raised a Highland regiment, conferred a lieutenancy in it on a son of Donald Macqueen, then of Corrybrough, and in the letter, dated 26th January of that year, in which he intimated the appointment, he says, “It does me great honour to have the sons of chieftains in the regiment, and as the Macqueens have been invariably attached to our family, to whom we believe we owe our existence, I am proud of the nomination.” Thus were the Macqueens acknowledged to have been of Macdonald origin, although they ranged themselves among the tribes of the clan Chattan. The present head of the Macqueens is John Fraser Macqueen, Q.C.

The CATTANACHS, for a long period few in number, are, according to Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, perhaps better entitled to be held descendants of Gillichattan Mor than most of the clan.

The force of the clan Chattan was, in 1704, estimated at 1400; in 1715, 1020; and in 1745, 1700.

FOOTNOTES:

[183] For much of this account of the clan Chattan we are indebted to the kindness of A. Mackintosh Shaw, Esq. of London, who has revised the whole. His forthcoming history of the clan, we have reason to believe, will be the most valuable clan history yet published.

[184] Mr Mackintosh Shaw says that, in 1591, Huntly obtained a bond of manrent from Andrew Macpherson and his immediate family, the majority of the Macphersons remaining faithful to Mackintosh. Statements II. and III. are founded _only_ on the Macpherson MS.

[185] _Antiquarian Notes_, p. 358.

[186] For details as to this celebrated combat, see vol. i. ch. v. The present remarks are supplementary to the former, and will serve to correct several inaccuracies.

[187] Every one acquainted with the subject, knows what havoc Lowland scribes have all along made of Gaelic names in legal and public documents.

[188] The Mackintosh MS. of 1500 states that Lauchlan, the Mackintosh chief, gave Shaw a grant of Rothiemurchus “for his valour on the Inch that day.”

[189] Vol. ii. pp. 175-178.

[190] THE MACKINTOSH’S LAMENT.--For the copy of the Mackintosh’s Lament here given, the editor and publishers are indebted to the kindness of The Mackintosh. In a note which accompanied it that gentleman gives the following interesting particulars:--

“The tune is as old as 1550 or thereabouts. Angus Mackay in his _Pipe Music_ book gives it 1526, and says it was composed on the death of Lauchlan, the 14th Laird; but we believe that it was composed by the famous family bard Macintyre, upon the death of William, who was murdered by the Countess of Huntly, in 1550. This bard had seen within the space of 40 years, four captains of the Clan Chattan meet with violent deaths, and his deep feelings found vent in the refrain,

‘Mackintosh, the excellent They have lifted; They have laid thee Low, they have laid thee.’

“These are the only words in existence which I can hear of.”

[191] _History of Scotland_, p. 137.

[192] Vol. ii. p. 7.

[193] Skene’s _Highlanders_, ii. 198-9.

[194] This is the genealogy given by Sir Æneas Macpherson. From another MS. genealogy of the Macphersons, and from the Mackintosh MS. history, we find that the son of Kenneth, the alleged _grandson_ of Muirich, married a daughter of Ferquhard, ninth of Mackintosh, _cir._ 1410, so that it is probable Sir Æneas has placed Muirich and his family more than a century too early.

[195] The Shaw arms are the same as those of the Farquharsons following, except that the former have not the banner of Scotland in bend displayed in the second and third quarters.

[196] The date of part of the Mackintosh MS. is 1490. It states that Lauchlan the chief gave Shaw a grant of Rothiemurchus “for his valour on the Inch that day.” It also states that the “Farquhar” above-mentioned was a man of great parts and remarkable fortitude, and that he fought with his clan at the battle of Largs in 1263. More than this, it states that Duncan, his uncle, was his TUTOR during his minority, and that Duncan and his posterity held Rothiemurchus till 1396, when Malcolm, the last of his race, fell at the fight at Perth--after which the lands (as above stated) were given to Shaw Mor.

[197] _Family MS._ quoted by Douglas in his _Baronage_.

[198] _See_ vol. i. p. 666.

[199] Fraser-Mackintosh’s _Antiquarian Notes_, p. 360.

[200] _Ibid._

[201] The present head does not now hold the property.