The Scottish Clans

Motto:
Origin of Tartan:

History
In the county of Angus in the North-East of Scotland appear to be where this family took its name. There are a few different ideas regarding the origin of the name. One rather unlikely suggestion was that it came from a Scottish king when a local fisherman ‘gut three’ fish to serve to him. A more plausible suggestion is that its from the Gaelic for ‘Windy Place’ ‘gaothairach’. This would certainly fit with the North East of Scotland.

Early Guthries were royal falconers and they purchased the lands of Guthrie from estates granted to the Abbey of Arbroath by King William the Lion in 1178.

After the disastrous Battle of Falkirk in 1298 William Wallace had fled to France to rally support. In 1299 the Laird of Guthrie traveled to France to persuade him to return. Wallace accepted and they landed at Montrose,

Guthries’ signatures appear on a charters in 1442, alas many earlier records have been lost. Kincaldrum near Forfar was acquired by Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie in 1446 and in 1461 Sir David Guthrie of Guthrie, armour bearer to the king was appointed Lord Treasurer of Scotland. Later in 1468 he began the construction of a castle at Guthrie and was elevated to Lord Chief Justice of Scotland in 1473. Sir David’s eldest son Sir Alexander was killed at the Battle of Flodden.

The Guthries were supporters of the young King James VI against his own mother Mary Queen of Scots who had been portrayed as a challenge to his authority as King. It was around this time that Alexander Guthrie was murdered following a feud with the neighboring Gardynes which continued until 1618.

In 1636, John Guthrie, became the eleventh chief. In 1621 he became minister of St Giles cathedral in Edinburgh. His rise continued when 2 Years later he was made Bishop of Moray. His views regarding religious reforms were not in line with the kings views and this led to the bishops home, Spynie castle being taken by force in 1640.

The bishops third son Andrew followed the campaign of the Marquis of Marquis of Montrose. He met a not dissimilar fate, after being taken at the Battle of Philiphaugh he was transported to Edinburgh and beheaded by Edinburgh infamous ‘Maiden’ A smaller version of the French guillotine. This macabre device is still on display in Edinburgh’s Museum of Antiquities.

James Guthrie was a minister, ordained minister of Lauder in 1638 he supported the Covenanters. When he moved to Stirling in 1649 he preached openly against the king’s religious views. The Church of Scotland stripped him of his office but he carried on unperturbed until his arrest in 1661, after a swift trial he was executed later that year.

Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Guthrie of Guthrie was the last chief to live at Guthrie Castle. Born in 1886 he became a distinguished soldier, commanding the 4th Battalion the Black Watch and was awarded the Military Cross.

The present chief lives in England and Guthrie Castle has since been sold.

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Gaelic Name: Guinne
Motto: Aut pax aut bellum (Either peace or war)
Badge: Juniper
Lands: Caithness and Sutherland
Origin of Name: Norse, Gunn-arr
Pipe Music: The Gunn’s Salute

History
The Norse word gunnr means war. Living between Caithness and Sutherland, the Gunns were descended from the Norsemen, some think possibly from Olaf the Black himself, and their name foretold their destiny.

The ferocious Gunns were continually at enmity with neighbouring clans, especially the Keiths. Gunn lands were constantly being encroached upon from the North, South and West.

Helen, only daughter of Lachlan Gunn of Braemor, was celebrated for her great beauty and was due to marry her cousin Alexander. Dugald Keith, a retainer of Keith of Ackergill, had tried to woo her, been rejected, and responded jealously. On her wedding day, he paid a surprise visit to her father’s house, surrounding it with armed members of his own family, who then began slaying the unsuspecting Gunns.

Keith took Helen and imprisoned her in Ackergill. Eventually, to escape his sexual abuse, she went to the top of the tower and jumped to her death. The feud that ensued was very long and bloody, with continuing attacks upon each clan. One costly but indecisive battle was at Harpsdale, near Thurso, in 1426.

Eventually, in 1464, the war-weary chiefs of the two clans agreed to meet at the Chapel of St Tears to lay their grievances to rest. The chief of the Gunns was George. He held the important office of crowner, and wore the magnificent brooch of the post. He arrived at the chapel on horseback with eleven other riders, as agreed.

The Keiths arrived on twelve horses also, but with two men to a horse, and slaughtered the Gunns. The brooch of the crowner was taken from dead Gunn’s body. A century later, William MacKames, George’s grandson, avenged his kinsmen with the life of George Keith of Akergill, his son and twelve others in a bloodbath at Drummoy in Sutherland.

In other times the clan found themselves in conflict with the MacKays and the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland. In 1585, although outnumbered, they successfully held off a joint attack by the Earls, taking 140 enemy lives before darkness stemmed the slaughter.

The clan took a heavy defeat at Lochbroom from Sutherland but it was the Highland clearances by the Gordons which finally moved the Gunns off their long-held lands.

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Motto:
Origin of Tartan:

History
It was thought the the name Grierson was derived from Gregor, or MacGregor however no relationship has been found to support this. The family are first recorded to have settled on the lands of Lag around 1408. Gilbert Grierson was recorded as ‘armour bearer’ to the Earl of Douglas in 1420. He was related to the Douglas Clan through marriage. his wife Janet was great grand-daughter of the fourth Earl of Douglas and Princess Margaret.

Vedast Grierson of Lag who had built a strong defensive tower had a son Roger. He was killed at Sauchieburn in 1488. Subsequent lairds were also killed at Flodden. As well as the powerful Douglas clan the Griersons also had a close relationship with the Maxwell family. This alliance was neccesary when they both took on the Johnstones at the Battle of Dryfe Sands in 1593.

William Grierson of Lag was knighted by James VI around 1608. He had a son Robert who’s cousin (also Robert) followed in succession and became the first Baronet of Lag. Sir Robert was particulary dilligent in attempting to crush the Covenanters who worshipped illegally in south west Scotland. He was involved in a near massacre in Kirconnell and gained a fearsome reputation that almost cost him his life. Sir Robert married Lady Henrietta Douglas, sister of the Duke of Queensberry, strengthening the bonds between these two lowland families. He was arrested in 1689 and later accused of conspiracy to counterfeit money. Sir Robert’s life became the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott’s Red Gauntlet.

His eldest son, William, died without an heir, and his brother, Sir Gilbert, succeeded to the title.

Several Griersons had a distinguished military career, Thomas Grierson, fought at the siege of Delhi in 1857, the eighth Baronet, Sir Alexander Grierson of Lag, was an officer in the 78th Ross-shire Highlanders and the tenth Baronet, Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, served in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers during the Great War.

Sir George Abraham Grierson had a talent for languages. he became an expert in the languages and dialects of india and published a Linguistic Survey of India with information on around 364 of them. for his work he was knighted in 1912

Dr John Grierson was a pioneer of documentary film-making. Educated in Glasgow and Chicago he helped set up the National Film Board of Canada in 1939 and was also a director of UNESCO and later film controller for the British Central Office of Information until 1950.

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Gaelic Name: Grannd
Motto: Craig Elachie (The rock of alarm)
Badge: Pine
Lands: Strathspey, Glen Urquhart, Glen Moriston and Loch Ness
Origin of Name: French, grand (great)
Pipe Music: Stand fast Craigellachie

History
After the Normans had established themselves in England, the name Grant became widespread, appearing in many documents from various areas, which are with us today. In the French and Gaelic languages, the word has the similar meanings of big and more.

The earliest recordings of Grants in Scotland, however, are from the mid-thirteenth century, and describe the acquisition of Stratherrick land through the marriage of a Grant to Sir John Bisset’s daughter Mary. One of their two children was Sir Laurence le Grand, who became the Sheriff of Inverness.

The family supported Robert the Bruce towards his acquisition of the Scottish crown.

At the Battle of Dunbar in 1296, both Randolph and John de Grant were overcome and imprisoned for a time.

The family continued to acquire lands in Glen Urquhart and Glenmoriston, and with Bruce’s victory came rewards and endorsement of Strathspey property such that the Grants were soon to develop into a key power in the Highlands.

Marriage brought yet more power for the Grants when Sir John Grant married Maud, the daughter of Gilbert of Glencairnie. Maud was heiress of the cadet branch of the ancient Celtic Stathearn dynasty, an Earldom older than written records. Their eldest son was the first of the Grants of Freuchie, while a younger son was the progenitor of the Tullochgorm branch

The Grants consistently supported Royalty. James V rewarded their support by granting James Grant of Freuchie, known as James the Bold, with a charter placing him outwith the authority of all royal courts except the Supreme Court of Edinburgh.

Ludovick Grant, 8th Earl of Freuchie, supported William of Orange, and in 1694 his barony of Freuchie was raised to a regality, effectively giving him the power of a king in his own Highland kingdom.

In the years of the Jacobite risings, again all but a few of the Grants were on the side of the Royalists.

The family reaches out into many branches today. The Grants of Rothiemurchus are one of the principal branches and are landowners around Aviemore.

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Gaelic Name: Greumach
Motto: Ne oublie (Do not forget)
Badge: Laurel
Lands: Loch Katrine, Perthshire, Dundee and Montrose
Origin of Name: Old English, graeham (greyhome)
Pipe Music: Killiecrankie

History
There is a legend that says the Antonine Wall was broken by Greme, a great Caledonian chief, as he drove the Roman legions out of his country. This, unfortunately, might never be proven. From the records available, the first Graham known in Scotland was Sir William de Graham, a knight who accompanied David I, England’s premier baron, on his journey north to claim the Scottish crown.

In 1128 he witnessed the foundation charter of the Abbey of Holyrood. Sir William’s name can be traced back to the English manor of Grey Home, which is recorded in William the Conqueror’s Doomsday Book.

The first Earl of Montrose was created in 1504 of William, 3rd Lord Graham, who died fighting at Flodden in 1513.

But it was the 5th Earl and first Marquis, James Graham, who made the name legendary across Europe as one of the greatest generals ever. In 1644 and 1645, with the smallest of forces, he managed to effectively stop the terror of the Calvinists and Campbells. Pushing over the border, however, his tiny army was taken by surprise on the 13th September 1645. Although he escaped, his men and their families, who accompanied in those days, surrendered and were rounded up. At first General David Lesley was prepared to spare their lives, but the Calvinists persuaded him to slaughter every man, woman and child.

In Europe, Montrose was made a mareschal by the Germans, and a similar honour by the French, but he returned to Orkney in 1650 to recover Scotland for Charles II. He was betrayed and executed in Edinburgh like a criminal, with every possible degradation. His body parts were displayed in cities across the kingdom for ten years, till Charles II was restored and arranged for him Scotland’s greatest ever State funeral.

As well as a fighter, he was a poet and scholar, and on the eve of his death he wrote:-

Let them bestow on every airt a limb,
Then open all my veins that I may swim
To Thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake;
Then place my parboiled head on a stake,
Scatter my ashes, strew them in the air.-
Lord! Since Thou knowest where all these atoms are,
I’m hopeful Thou’lt recover once my dust,
And confident Thou’ll raise me with the just.

A later thorn in the side of the Calvinists was John Graham of Claverhouse, Bonnie Dundee to his friends, Bloody Claverhouse to his enemies. He died fighting in the pass of Killiecrankie in 1689 for the last Stewart King.

In 1782, James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, persuaded Parliament to remove the law forbidding Scots to wear their tartan.

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