Chapter VI (2)

Donald Macnaughton, a younger son of the family, was, in 1436, elected bishop of Dunkeld, in the reign of James I.

Alexander Macnaughton of that ilk, who lived in the beginning of the 16th century, was knighted by James IV., whom he accompanied to the disastrous field of Flodden, where he was slain, with nearly the whole chivalry of Scotland. His son, John, was succeeded by his second son, Malcolm Macnaughton of Glenshira, his eldest son having predeceased him. Malcolm died in the end of the reign of James VI., and was succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander.

John, the second son of Malcolm, being of a handsome appearance, attracted the notice of King James VI., who appointed him one of his pages of honour, on his accession to the English crown. He became rich, and purchased lands in Kintyre. His elder brother, Alexander Macnaughton of that ilk, adhered firmly to the cause of Charles I., and in his service sustained many severe losses. At the Restoration, as some sort of compensation, he was knighted by Charles II., and, unlike many others, received from that monarch a liberal pension for life. Sir Alexander Macnaughton spent his later days in London, where he died. His son and successor, John Macnaughton of that ilk, succeeded to an estate greatly burdened with debt, but did not hesitate in his adherence to the fallen fortunes of the Stuarts. At the head of a considerable body of his own clan, he joined Viscount Dundee, and was with him at Killiecrankie. James VII. signed a deed in his favour, restoring to his family all its old lands and hereditary rights, but, as it never passed the seals in Scotland, it was of no value. His lands were taken from him, not by forfeiture, but “the estate,” says Buchanan of Auchmar, “was evicted by creditors for sums noways equivalent to its value, and, there being no diligence used for relief thereof, it went out of the hands of the family.” His son, Alexander, a captain in Queen Anne’s guards, was killed in the expedition to Vigo in 1702. His brother, John, at the beginning of the last century was for many years collector of customs at Anstruther in Fife, and subsequently was appointed inspector-general in the same department. The direct male line of the Macnaughton chiefs became extinct at his death.

“The Mackenricks are ascribed to the Macnaughton line, as also families of Macknights (or Macneits), Macnayers, Macbraynes, and Maceols.” The present head of the Macbraynes is John Burns Macbrayne, Esq. of Glenbranter, Cowel, Argyleshire, grandson of Donald Macbrayne, merchant in Glasgow, who was great-grandson, on the female side, of Alexander Macnaughton of that ilk, and heir of line of John Macnaughton, inspector-general of customs in Scotland. On this account the present representative of the Macbraynes is entitled to quarter his arms with those of the Macnaughtons.

There are still in Athole families of the Macnaughton name, proving so far what has been stated respecting their early possession of lands in that district. Stewart of Garth makes most honourable mention of one of the sept, who was in the service of Menzies of Culdares in the year 1745. That gentleman had been “out” in 1715, and was pardoned. Grateful so far, he did not join Prince Charles, but sent a fine charger to him as he entered England. The servant, Macnaughton, who conveyed the present, was taken and tried at Carlisle. The errand on which he had come was clearly proved, and he was offered pardon and life if he would reveal the name of the sender of the horse. He asked with indignation if they supposed that he could be such a villain. They repeated the offer to him on the scaffold, but he died firm to his notion of fidelity. His life was nothing to that of his master, he said. The brother of this Macnaughton was known to Garth, and was one of the Gael who always carried a weapon about him to his dying day.[214]

* * * * *

Under the subordinate head of Siol O’Cain, other two clans are included in the Maormordom of Moray, viz., clan Roich or Munro, and clan Gillemhaol or Macmillan.

MUNRO.

The possessions of the clan Monro or Munro, situated on the north side of Cromarty Firth, were generally known in the Highlands by the name of Fearrann Donull or Donald’s country, being so called, it is said, from the progenitor of the clan, Donald the son of O’Ceann, who lived in the time of Macbeth. The Munroes were vassals of the Earls of Ross, and may be regarded as a portion of the native Scottish Gael. According to Sir George Mackenzie, they came originally from the north of Ireland with the Macdonalds, on which great clan “they had constantly a depending.” Their name he states to have been derived from “a mount on the river Roe,” county Derry. Clan tradition, probably not more to be relied upon than tradition generally, holds that they formed a branch of the natives of Scotland who, about 357, being driven out by the Romans, and forced to take refuge in Ireland, were located for several centuries on the stream of the Roe, and among the adjacent mountains. In the time of Malcolm II., or beginning of the 11th century, the ancestors of the Munroes are said to have come over to Scotland to aid in expelling the Danes, under the above named Donald, son of O’Ceann, who, for his services, received the lands of East Dingwall in Ross-shire. These lands, erected into a barony, were denominated Foulis, from Loch Foyle in Ireland, and the chief of the clan was designated of Foulis, his residence in the parish of Kiltearn, near the mountain called Ben Uaish or Ben Wyvis. So says tradition.

MUNRO OF FOULIS.

Another conjecture as to the origin of the name of Munro is that, from having acted as bailiffs or stewards to the Lords of the Isles in the earldom of Ross, they were called “Munrosses.” Skene, as we have said, ranks the clan as members of a great family called the Siol O’Cain, and makes them out to be a branch of the clan Chattan, by ingeniously converting O’Cain into O’Cathan, and thus forming Chattan. Sir George Mackenzie says the name originally was Bunroe.

Hugh Munro, the first of the family authentically designated of Foulis, died in 1126. He seems to have been the grandson of Donald, the son of O’Ceann above mentioned. Robert, reckoned the second baron of Foulis, was actively engaged in the wars of David I. and Malcolm IV. Donald, heir of Robert, built the old tower of Foulis. His successor, Robert, married a daughter of the Earl of Sutherland. George, fifth baron of Foulis, obtained charters from Alexander II. Soon after the accession of Alexander III., an insurrection broke out against the Earl of Ross, the feudal superior of the Munroes, by the clans Ivor, Talvigh, and Laiwe, and other people of the province. The earl having apprehended their leader, and imprisoned him at Dingwall, the insurgents seized upon his second son at Balnagowan, and detained him as a hostage till their leader should be released. The Munroes and the Dingwalls immediately took up arms, and setting off in pursuit, overtook the insurgents at Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferrandonald and Loch Broom, where a sanguinary conflict took place. “The clan Iver, clan Talvigh, and clan Laiwe,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “wer almost uterlie extinguished and slain.” The earl’s son was rescued, and to requite the service performed he made various grants of land to the Munroes and Dingwalls.

Sir Robert Munro, the sixth of his house, fought in the army of Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn. His only son, George, fell there, leaving an heir, who succeeded his grandfather. This George Munro of Foulis was slain at Halidonhill in 1333. The same year, according to Sir Robert Gordon, although Shaw makes the date 1454, occurred the remarkable event which led to a feud between the Munroes and Mackintoshes, and of which an account is given under the former date in the General History.

Robert, the eighth baron of Foulis, married a niece of Eupheme, daughter of the Earl of Ross, and queen of Robert II. He was killed in an obscure skirmish in 1369, and was succeeded by his son, Hugh, ninth baron of Foulis, who joined Donald, second Lord of the Isles, when he claimed the earldom of Ross in right of his wife.

The forfeiture of the earldom of Ross in 1476, made the Munroes and other vassal families independent of any superior but the crown. In the charters which the family of Foulis obtained from the Scottish kings, at various times, they were declared to hold their lands on the singular tenure of furnishing a ball of snow at Midsummer if required, which the hollows in their mountain property could at all times supply; and it is said that when the Duke of Cumberland proceeded north against the Pretender in 1746, the Munroes actually sent him some snow to cool his wines. In one charter, the addendum was a pair of white gloves or three pennies.

Robert, the 14th baron, fell at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. Robert More Munro, the 15th chief, was a faithful friend of Mary, queen of Scots. Buchanan states, that when that unfortunate princess went to Inverness in 1562, “as soon as they heard of their sovereign’s danger, a great number of the most eminent Scots poured in around her, especially the Frasers and Munroes, who were esteemed the most valiant of the clans inhabiting those countries.” These two clans took for the Queen Inverness castle, which had refused her admission.

With the Mackenzies the Munroes were often at feud, and Andrew Munro of Milntown defended, for three years, the castle of the canonry of Ross, which he had received from the Regent Moray in 1569, against the clan Kenzie, at the expense of many lives on both sides. It was, however, afterwards delivered up to the Mackenzies under the act of pacification.

The chief, Robert More Munro, became a Protestant at an early period of the Scottish Reformation. He died in 1588. His son, Robert, sixteenth baron of Foulis, died without issue in July 1589, and was succeeded by his brother, Hector Munro, seventeenth baron of Foulis. The latter died 14th November 1603.

Hector’s eldest son, Robert Munro, eighteenth chief of Foulis, styled “the Black Baron,” was the first of his house who engaged in the religious wars of Gustavus Adolphus, in the 17th century. In 1626 he went over with the Scottish corps of Sir Donald Mackay, first Lord Reay, accompanied by six other officers of his name and near kindred. Doddridge says of him, that “the worthy Scottish gentleman was so struck with a regard to the common cause, in which he himself had no concern but what piety and virtue gave him, that he joined Gustavus with a great number of his friends who bore his own name. Many of them gained great reputation in this war, and that of Robert, their leader, was so eminent that he was made colonel of two regiments at the same time, the one of horse, the other of foot in that service.” In 1629 the laird of Foulis raised a reinforcement of 700 men on his own lands, and at a later period joined Gustavus with them. The officers of Mackay’s and Munro’s Highland regiments who served under Gustavus Adolphus, in addition to rich buttons, wore a gold chain round their necks, to secure the owner, in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or payment for future ransom. In the service of Gustavus, there were at one time not less than “three generals, eight colonels, five lieutenant-colonels, eleven majors, and above thirty captains, all of the name of Munro, besides a great number of subalterns.”

The “Black Baron” died at Ulm, from a wound in his foot, in the year 1633, and leaving no male issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Hector Munro, nineteenth baron of Foulis, who had also distinguished himself in the German wars, and who, on his return to Britain, was created by Charles I. a baronet of Nova Scotia, 7th June 1634. He married Mary, daughter of Hugh Mackay of Farr, and dying in 1635, in Germany, was succeeded by his only son, Sir Hector, second baronet, who died, unmarried, in 1651, at the age of 17. The title and property devolved on his cousin, Robert Munro of Opisdale, grandson of George, third son of the fifteenth baron of Foulis.

During the civil wars at home, when Charles I. called to his aid some of the veteran officers who had served in Germany, this Colonel Robert Munro was one of them. He was employed chiefly in Ireland from 1641 to 1645, when he was surprised and taken prisoner personally by General Monk. He was subsequently lieutenant-general of the royalist troops in Scotland, when he fought a duel with the Earl of Glencairn. Afterwards he joined Charles II. in Holland. After the Revolution he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland.

Sir Robert Munro, third baronet of Foulis, died in 1688, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John, fourth baronet, who, in the Scottish convention of estates, proved himself to be a firm supporter of the Revolution. He was such a strenuous advocate of Presbyterianism, that, being a man of large frame, he was usually called “the Presbyterian mortar-piece.” In the Stuart persecutions, previous to his succession to the title, he had, for his adherence to the covenant, been both fined and imprisoned by the tyrannical government that then ruled in Scotland. He died in 1696. His son, Sir Robert, fifth baronet, though blind, was appointed by George I. high sheriff of Ross, by commission, under the great seal, dated 9th June 1725. He married Jean, daughter of John Forbes of Culloden, and died in 1729.

His eldest son, Sir Robert, twenty-seventh baron and sixth baronet of Foulis, a gallant military officer, was the companion in arms of Colonel Gardiner, and fell at the battle of Falkirk, 17th January 1746.

In May 1740, when the Independent companies were formed into the 43d Highland regiment (now the 42d Royal Highlanders), Sir Robert Munro was appointed lieutenant-colonel, John Earl of Crawford and Lindsay being its colonel. Among the captains were his next brother, George Munro of Culcairn, and John Munro, promoted to be lieutenant-colonel in 1745. The surgeon of the regiment was his youngest brother, Dr James Munro.[215]

The fate of Sir Robert’s other brother, Captain George Munro of Culcairn, was peculiar. He was shot on the shores of Loch Arkaig among the wild rocks of Lochaber, on Sunday, 31st August 1746, by one of the rebels named Dugald Roy Cameron, or, as he is styled in tradition, Du Rhu. After the Rebellion, an order was issued to the Highlanders to deliver up their arms. Dugald, accordingly, sent his son to Fort-William with his arms to be delivered up. When proceeding down Loch Arkaig, the young man was met by an officer of the name of Grant, who was conducting a party of soldiers into Knoydart, and being immediately seized, was shot on the spot. His father swore to be revenged, and learning that the officer rode a white horse, he watched behind a rock for his return, on a height above Loch Arkaig. Captain Munro had unfortunately borrowed the white horse on which Grant rode, and he met the fate intended for Grant. Dugald Roy escaped, and afterwards became a soldier in the British service.

Sir Robert left a son, Sir Harry Munro, seventh baronet and twenty-fifth baron of Foulis, an eminent scholar and a M.P.

His son, Sir Hugh, eighth baronet, had an only daughter, Mary Seymour Munro, who died January 12, 1849. On his decease. May 2, 1848, his kinsman, Sir Charles, became ninth baronet and twenty-seventh baron of Foulis. He was eldest son of George Munro, Esq. of Culrain, Ross-shire (who died in 1845), and lineal male descendant of Lieut.-General Sir George Munro, next brother to the third baronet of this family. He married--1st, in 1817, Amelia, daughter of Frederick Browne, Esq., 14th dragoons; issue, five sons and two daughters; 2d, in 1853, Harriette, daughter of Robert Midgely, Esq. of Essington, Yorkshire. Charles, the eldest son, was born in 1824, married in 1847, with issue.

The military strength of the Munroes in 1715 was 400, and in 1745, 500 men. The clan slogan or battle cry was “Caisteal Foulis na theine”--Castle Foulis in flames.

MACMILLAN.

Of the origin and history of the Macmillans, little seems to be known. According to Buchanan of Auchmar, they are descended from the second son of Aurelan, seventh laird of Buchanan. According to Mr Skene, the earliest seat of the Macmillans appears to have been on both sides of Loch Arkaig, and he thinks this confirmatory of a clan tradition, that they are connected with the clan Chattan. The Macmillans were at one time dependent on the Lords of the Isles, but when Loch Arkaig came into possession of the Camerons, they became dependent on the latter. “Another branch of this clan,” says Skene, “possessed the greater part of southern Knapdale, where their chief was known under the title of Macmillan of Knap; and although the family is now extinct, many records of their former power are to be found in that district.” We take the liberty of quoting further from Mr Skene as to the history of the Macmillans.

“One of the towers of that fine ancient edifice, Castle Sweyn, bears the name of Macmillan’s Tower, and there is a stone cross in the old churchyard of Kilmoray Knap, upwards of twelve feet high, richly sculptured, which has upon one side the representation of an Highland chief engaged in hunting the deer, having the following inscription in ancient Saxon characters underneath the figure:--Hæc est crux Alexandri Macmillan.’ Although the Macmillans were at a very early period in Knapdale, they probably obtained the greater part of their possessions there by marriage with the heiress of the chief of the Macneills, in the 16th century. Tradition asserts that these Knapdale Macmillans came originally from Lochtay-side, and that they formerly possessed Lawers, on the north side of that loch, from which they were driven by Chalmers of Lawers, in the reign of David II.

“As there is little reason to doubt the accuracy of the tradition, it would appear that this branch of the Macmillans had been removed by Malcolm IV. from North Moray, and placed in the crown lands of Strathtay. Macmillan is said to have had the charter of his lands in Knapdale engraved in the Gaelic language and character upon a rock at the extremity of his estate; and tradition reports that the last of the name, in order to prevent the prostitution of his wife, butchered her admirer, and was obliged in consequence to abscond. On the extinction of the family of the chief, the next branch, Macmillan of Dunmore, assumed the title of Macmillan of Macmillan, but that family is now also extinct.

“Although the Macmillans appear at one time to have been a clan of considerable importance, yet as latterly they became mere dependants upon their more powerful neighbours, who possessed the superiority of their lands, and as their principal families are now extinct, no records of their history have come down to us, nor do we know what share they took in the various great events of Highland history. Their property, upon the extinction of the family of the chief, was contended for by the Campbells and Macneills, the latter of whom were a powerful clan in North Knapdale, but the contest was, by compromise, decided in favour of the former. It continued in the same family till the year 1775, when, after the death of the tenth possessor, the estate was purchased by Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverniel.”

There have been a considerable number of Macmillans long settled in Galloway, and the tradition is that they are descendants of an offshoot from the northern Macmillans, that went south about the time the Knapdale branch migrated from Lochtay side. These Macmillans are famous in the annals of the Covenanters, and are mentioned by Wodrow as having acted a prominent part during the times of the religious persecution in Scotland. Indeed, we believe that formerly, if not indeed even unto this day, the modern representatives of the Covenanters in Galloway are as often called “Macmillanites” as “Cameronians.”

FOOTNOTES:

[202] Gregory’s _Highlands and Isles of Scotland_, p. 75.

[203] A view of Locharkaig will be found at p. 709, vol. i.

[204] As to Mr Skene’s theory of the captainship of a clan, see the account of clan Chattan.

[205] Although Sir Ewen, with his clan, had joined Lord Dundee in the service of the abdicated king, yet his second son was a captain in the Scots Fusileers, and served with Mackay on the side of the government. As the general was observing the Highland army drawn up on the face of a hill to the westward of the great pass, he turned round to young Cameron, who stood near him, and pointing to his clansmen, said, “There is your father with his wild savages; how would you like to be with him?” “It signifies little,” replied Cameron, “what I would like; but I recommend it to you to be prepared, or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer to you before night than you would like.” And so indeed it happened.--Stewart’s _Sketches_, vol. i. p. 66.

[206] For the foregoing account of the achievements of Sir Ewen Cameron we have been chiefly indebted to General Stewart’s valuable work on the Highlanders and Highland Regiments.

[207] The portrait of the “gentle Lochiel” will be found at p. 519, vol. i.

[208] For details, see account of the 92d Regiment.

[209] _Highlands and Isles of Scotland_, p. 259.

[210] _History of the Origin of the Clans_, p. 84.

[211] _Heraldry_, vol. i. p. 419.

[212] Vol. i. p. 577.

[213] See account of the Macdougals.

[214] Smibert’s _Clans_.

[215] See the History of the 42d Regiment, in Part Third.