The Scottish Clans

Gaelic Name: Mac Ghillieláidir
Motto: Invictus maneo (I remain unvanquished)
Lands: Liddesdale
Origin of Name: Strong arm

Associated Names and Septs (with spelling variations):
Armestrang Armstrang Armstrong Armystrang Crosar Crosier Crozer Fortenbras Harmestrang

History

The Armstrongs are a significant border clan whose origins lie in Cumberland, south of the frontier between Scotland and England that was officially established in 1237. The Armstrong name has a mythological origin, in that it is said their heroic progenitor, Fairbairn, saves his king of Scotland in battle, and not from a wild beast as is the case with another Border clan – the Turnbulls.

It is said that, dressed in full armour, he lifted the king onto his own horse with one arm after the King’s horse had been killed under him in battle. The family crest records this act of heroism that was to be rewarded with a grant of lands in the Borders and the famous Armstrong name.

The first specific reference locating them in Liddesdale, which would become their family seat, is in 1376. Liddesdale was also the seat of their unquestioned power in the region that allowed them to expand into Annandale and Eskdale to accommodate their growing population. It is reputed that by 1528 they were able to put 3000 horsemen in the field.

The Armstrongs’ relationship with subsequent Scottish kings was turbulent to say the least. The most notorious event in this uneasy relationship occurred in 1530. John Armstrong, known in history as ‘Gilnockie’, was persuaded to attend a meeting at Carlingrigg with King James V who, unknown to Gilnockie, had the malicious intent to silence the rebellious Borderers. The ruse succeeded as Gilnockie and fifty followers were captured.

The Royal order to hang them was issued and despite several pleas for the King to be lenient in exchange for obedience, it was carried out. Defiant to the last, Gilnockie said these words directly to King James V:

“I am but a fool to seek grace at a graceless face, but had I known you would have taken me this day, I would have lived in the Borders despite King Harry and you both.” His defiance is commemorated and echoed in the soulful popular Border ballad, “Johnie Armstrong”:

“Farewell! my bonny Gilnock Hall
Where on Esk side thou standest stout !
Gif I had lived but seven yeirs mair
I wad a gilt thee round about
John Murdered was at Carlinrigg
And all his gallant companie;
But Scotland’s heart was ne’er sae wae
To see sae mony brave men die.”

In 1587 an act was passed by the Scottish parliament “for the quieting and keeping in obediance of the inhabitants of the Borders, Highland and Isles …” That contained a roll of Chieftains and clans that confirms the status of Border families as an important part of clan history, and the Armstrongs as perhaps the most significant Border clan.

The clan’s authority resided intact at Mangerton in Liddesdale, a succession of Armstrongs retaining the ‘Laird of Mangerton’ title, until 1610 when Archibald Armstrong was ‘put to the horn’ as a rebel.

After this, the Armstrong lands passed into the hands of the Scotts.

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Motto: Laus Deo (“Praise be to God”)
Origin of Tartan: registered by Lord Lyon in 1962, based on Black Watch tartan
Origin of name: From the place name Aberbothenoth

Associated Names and Septs (with spelling variations):
Aberbothenoth Aberbuthenoth Aberbuthno Aberbuthnocht Abirbuthenott Arbuthnat Arbuthnet Arbuthneth Arbuthnot Arbuthnoth Arbuthnott

History

The name Arbuthnot originates from the ancient lands of Arbuthnot in Kincardineshire. These lands came in to the possession of the Swinton family through the marriage of Hugh, to the daughter of Osbert Olifard (or Oliphant) ‘The Crusader’. THe lands were granted to Olifard by William the Lion around 1175 and the family adopted the name. Early documents refer to the area as ‘Aberbothenoth’, and this has been translated as either the ‘mouth of the stream below the noble house’ or ‘meeting of the small stream with the river’.

The first record of the family using the name Arbuthnot is in 1355 with Philip de Arbuthnott.

The Arbuthnot’s most infamous moment came around 1420 when Phillips son Hugh was part of a gang implicated in the murder of the local sheriff John Melville of Glenbervie, Melville was a strict authoritarian and his hard line had made him extremely unpopular with many local lairds. The Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland at the time no doubt tiring of the stream of complaints was alleged to have said “sorrow gin that sheriff were sodden and supped in broo”. The Lairds of Mather, Arbuthnott, Pitarrow and Halkerton took his comments all too literally with alarming results!

Inviting the sheriff to hunt with them in the Forest of Garvock they arranged an ambush. He was reputedly killed by being cast into boiling water. once the Sheri had been well and truly poached each conspirator took a drink from the resulting broth. Arbuthnott was pardoned for his involvement and died in 1446.

Alexander Arbuthnot, was a leading figure in the Church of Scotland becoming Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1577. in 1583 after pressure from the assembly he complained to James VI of Scotland about various ‘popish practices’ still permitted by the King. The king did not take this complaint too well however and he was held at St Andrews under house arrest. The downturn in his fortunes leading to an untimely death later that year.

The Arbuthnot family fortunes however rose again when Sir Robert Arbuthnott was made 1st Viscount of Arbuthnott and Baron Inverbervie by Charles I of England no doubt in an attempt to gain some support north of the border.

Another Arbuthnot who’s fortunes were improved by royal association was Dr John Arbuthnot. In this case however it was more to do with being in the right place at the right time. While visiting Epsom races in 1705 Prince George of Denmark, husband of Anne of Great Britain was taken ill. Dr Arbuthnot was rushed to attend to him, the prince fortunately recovered and Arbuthnott was appointed a royal physician. His position gained the confidence and friendship of the queen and many leading figures including Dr Samuel Johnson who said of him; ‘a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination’

The eighth Viscount of Arbuthnott was Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire and a representative peer for Scotland in Parliament from 1818 to 1847. The present chief has been awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Order of the British Empire. In 1997 he was created a Knight of the Thistle.

This Arbuthnot land has been in the hands of the same family for more than twenty-four generations up to the present Viscount of Arbuthnott. Arbuthnott House lies just a few miles south-west of Stonehaven.

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Motto: Periissem ni periissem (I would have perished had I not persisted)
Origin of Name: From the town of Anstruther

Associated Names and Septs (with spelling variations):

History

Early in the 12th century Alexander I of Scotland granted the lands of Anstruther to William de Candela. There has been several theories as to his origin but recent research suggests he may have been a Norman from Italy. There is evidence that William I of England, William the Conqueror, sought assistance from William, Count of Candela. He sent his son (or possibly his grandson). It may be this was the William de Candela, who received the grant of land from Alexander.

William de Candela’s son, another William, was a benefactor to the monks of Balmerino Abbey. The original site now occupied by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther was a gift from him. The de Candela name was dropped in the next generation, Henry is described as ‘Henricus de Aynstrother dominus ejusdem’ in a charter confirming grants of land to Balmerino Abbey. His son, Also called Henry was a companion of Louis IX in his crusades to the Holy Land and also swore fealty to Edward I in 1292 and again in 1296.

In 1483, Andrew Anstruther of Anstruther confirmed the barony and fought at Flodden in 1513. He married Christina Sandilands a descendant of Sir James Sandilands of Calder and Princess Jean, daughter of Robert II. His son, David served with Francis I of France in the French Scots Regiment, fighting at Pavia in 1520. This line of the family continued until 1928 where it ended with the death of the last Baron d’Anstrude in that year.

Andrew’s great-great-grandson was companion to the young James VI of Scotland. James appointed him Hereditary Grand Carver, a title still held by the head of the family to this day. In 1595 he became Master of the Household. His son, William, accompanied James to London following the Union of the Crowns in 1603. At James Coronation he was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath. He also held the title of Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James VI, a title he shared with his younger brother, Sir Robert.

His son Sir Phillip fought on the royalist side in the civil war. He was taken prisoner at Worcester and his property was seized until the Restoration. His third son, Robert, was made a baronet in 1694 and acquired Balcaskie in 1698. His eldest son was a Privy Councilor and Lord of Session, Lord Anstruther. Lord Anstruther’s son, John, married Lady Margaret Carmichael, daughter of the second Earl of Hyndford. A fifth brother Sir Alexander Anstruther, married the Hon. Jean Leslie, granddaughter of the civil war general, David Leslie.

Robert, elder son of the third Baronet of Balcaskie, served in the Scots Fusilier Guards and took part in the French Revolutionary wars, Abercromby’s Egyptian Campaign and the Peninsular War. He was in command of a brigade at Vimiero in 1808 and the rear guard during the retreat to Corunna, where he died in 1809. Later generations continued in the political and military traditions of their ancestors serving as members of parliament and in many British regiments such as the Grenadier Guards, the Royal Engineers, the Black Watch, and the Coldstream Guards. 7th Baronet, Sir Ralph Anstruther was awarded the Military Cross during WWII.

The chief’s seat is still at Balcaskie in Fife.

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Gaelic Name: Mac Ghille Aindrais
Motto: Stand sure
Badge: An Oak Tree
Lands: Badenoch
Origin of Name: Son of Andrew

Associated Names and Septs (with spelling variations):
Aindrea Anderson Anderson Anderson Andersone Andersonne Andersoun Andersoune Anderston Andesoune Andie Andirsoone Andirsoune Andirston Andirstoun Andison Andree Andreson Andresoun Andrew Andrewes Andrews Andrewson Andro Androe Androson Androsone Androsoun Androsoune Androw Andrson Andson Andy Andyrson Anndra Enderson Endherson Endirsone MacAindreis MacAndrew MacAndrie MacAndro MacAndy MacKandrew Makandro

History

The name of ‘son of Andrew’ is widespread in Scotland in different forms. In the Highlands it was rendered as MacAndrew, more commonly in the lowlands as Anderson. They share the same Gaelic derivation of ‘Gilleaindreas’ – literally a servant of St. Andrew, Scotland’s patron saint.

Though it is said there is no exact place of origin, the Kinrara manuscript contains details of a claim that the MacAndrews came to Badenoch from Moidart c.1400 The tales of the vengeance of Iain beg MacAindrea on cattle lifters who raided Badenoch may confirm this. However, there is no disputing the intellectual pedigree that his kin folk subsequently established.

The tradition of scholarly erudition has significant roots in Anderson clan history throughout all the disciplines. This tradition was first established by Alexander Anderson who published works on geometry and algebra in Paris between 1612 and 1619. His cousin, David Anderson of Finshaugh, shared a similar skill in mechanics and mathematics that he applied to removing a large rock that had obstructed the entrance to Aberdeen harbour.

This achievement earned him the nick-name ‘Davie-Do-a’-Things.’

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Motto: Consilio non impetu (By wisdom not by force)

Associated Names and Septs (with spelling variations):
Aggnew Agneaux Agneli Agnew Agnewe Agnex Aignell Angnew Aygnel Slavan

History

The ancestry of the name Agnew is not unusual in that it appears to have two possible sources; The most accepted version is that the name is French in origin, coming from the Barony d’Agneaux in Normandy who settled first in England and then migrated north to Liddesdale around the 12th century. The other possibility is that they were connected to one of the tribes of Ulster, maybe as a sept of of O’Gnimh (pronounced O’New). This name would have gone through many variations; O’Gnive, O’Gnyw, MacGnive, and finally Agnew. This version of events would relate Agnew to Somerled and the Lords of the Isles (clan Donald). Indeed many Agnews are found in Ireland so there may be some truth in this theory.

Reliable records begin in the 12th Century when Sir John de Courcy was accompanied by Agneau, an Anglo-Norman knight who was witness to a borders charter between Ranulf de Soulis and Jedburgh Abbey. The Agnews of Lochnaw were appointed sheriffs of Galloway by David II In 1363 and rose to power in this area.

In 1375 The Agnew Lord of Larne accompanied Edward Bruce, younger brother of King Robert the Bruce to Ireland where he had been invited by the Irish Lords to help rid them of the English and rule in their place. Agnew stayed with Edward for three years while he attempted to establish his power.

In 1426 Andrew Agnew was appointed Constable of Lochnaw Castle. and later in 1451, Sheriff of Wigtown. His great grandson Patrick Agnew, was a contemporary of of Queen Mary and James VI. While the Agnews rise to power in the south west of Scotland had been under the Douglasses when this clan fell from the Kings favour the Agnews in Galloway in fact benefited. However this then brought them into conflict with the MacKies and MacClellans.

Patrick Agnew’s son was 7th Sheriff of Wigton and was created a baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I. His son, Andrew was MP for Wigtounshire and was knighted and created Sheriff of Kirkcudbright. He married Anne Stewart, daughter of the first Earl of Galloway.

Sir Andrew, the fifth Baronet commanded the 21st Foot, (Scots Fusiliers) at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743, the last time a British monarch, George II, commanded troops in person. Sir Andrew held Blair Castle against the forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, led by Lord George Murray in 1746. The garrison had been virtually starved out when Murray was called away to tackle the approaching Cumberland.

The present chief of the name and family of Agnew is Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw. Sir Crispin is the appointed Rothesay Herald at the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms.

Lochnaw Castle near Stranraer was bought by an Australian Miss Del Agnew in the 1950′s and is now run for the trust.

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