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Home | CLAN MOTTO : STAND SURE | A branch of Clan Chattan, the Andersons are also known as the MacAndrews as their name
relates them to St. Andrew, and they have been connected with the Ross Clan, whose Gaelic name is
Clann Andrias, or Andrews Clan. Many Andersons lived in the region of Aberdeenshire. A famous Anderson
was 'Little' John MacAndrew, an expert bowman. In 1670 he followed and killed all but one of a group of
cattle raiders from Lochaber. That man returned home and the Lochaber men swore to kill him, although
they never managed it. |
| CLAN MOTTO : UNITE | The Brodies are an ancient Pictish
family from Moray and they are connected with Scotland's
earliest kings. Robert the Bruce gave lands to Michael,
Thane of Brodie, in 1311, just before the Battle of
Bannockburn. In 1640, the fanatically Presbyterian
Alexander Brodie of Brodie led an attack on Elgin
Cathedral, destroying many fine paintings and carvings.
In revenge, Lord Lewis Gordon burned down Brodie Castle,
in Forres, and so the clan records were lost. The rebuilt
castle is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
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| CLAN MOTTO : WE HAVE BEEN | Robert the Bruce was a Norman knight
from Brix in France who came to England in 1066. His son
became Lord of Annandale when David I became king, but
gave up his lands when David declared war on England. At
the Battle of the Standard in 1138, Robert's son took his
own son prisoner. The Bruces gained their claim to the
kingship of Scot- land when the 5th Lord married David's
great- granddaughter. The famous Robert the Bruce became
king in 1306 and defeated the English at the Battle of
Bannockburn in 1314.
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| MOTTO: HENCE THE BRIGHTER HONOUR | The Buchanans are a Pictish family from
Strathclyde and the name Buchanan comes from the Gaelic both-chanain, which means 'canon's house'. Their lands lay around Loch
Lomond, opposite the island of Clairinch, which was used
as a gathering place for the clan during wartime. The
island was first given to Absalon of Buchanan by the Earl
of Lennox in 1225. It is now a nature reserve. James
Buchanan (1791-1868) was the fifteenth President of the
United States.
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| CLAN MOTTO : UNITE | The name Cameron probably comes from
the Gaelic cam shrun, a crooked nose. At one
time the Camerons were subjects of the Lord of the Isles,
and they fought for him under their chief, Donald Dubh,
at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. At Harlaw they fought
alongsiide the Mackintosh clan, but an argument over land
led to a feud with them that lasted for more than two
centuries. Sir Ewen Cameron (1629-1719) killed the last
wolf in Scotland. His grandson, Donald Cameron, the 'Gentle
Lochiel', was wounded at Culloden in 1746, but escaped to
France.
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| CLAN MOTTO : FORGET NOT | The Campbells, known as the 'race of
Diarmid' from a legendary Scottish hero, have always been
a powerful clan. Their name comes from the Gaelic cam
beul which means 'crooked mouth'. They held lands
near Loch Awe from the 13th century and the Argyll
Campbells descend from Sir Colin of Lochow, who was
knighted in 1280 and was known as Great Colin or Cailean
Mor. Ever since, the chief has always been called Mac
Cailean Mor. A later Colin Campbell was made Earl of
Argyll by James II, in 1457 and the 10th Earl was made a
duke in 1701.
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| CLAN MOTTO : I AM FIERCE WITH THE FIERCE | In the 14th century Robert de Chisholme
inherited a title and lands as the Constable of Castle
Urquhart on Loch Ness. On becoming Sheriff of Inverness,
Sir Robert also inherited lands in Moray. By the 17th
century the clan chief had come to be known as An
Siosalach, or the Chisholm. The clan fought for
Prince Charles at Culloden, where the chief's son was
killed by cannon fire. After the battle, three of the 'men
of Glenmoriston', who helped the Prince to escape, were
Chisholms.
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| CLAN MOTTO : COURAGE | Robert de Comyn came to England in 1066,
becoming Earl of Northumberland in 1069. His grandson
married the granddaughter of King Donald Bane and their
son became Earl of Buchan. By 1286 the Comyns, or
Cummings, were a very powerful family and, in 1306,
Robert the Bruce met the Comyn chief, John, 'the Red
Comyn', in a Dumfries church to talk about their rival
claims to the throne. Robert stabbed John Comyn and his
followers finished him off. As king, Robert tried to
destroy the Comyns, taking away most of their lands.
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| CLAN MOTTO : NEVER BEHIND | William de Duglas, lived at the end of
the 12th century. His grandson, who was known as 'the
Black Douglas', was Robert the Bruce's right-hand man at
the Battle of Bannockburn. Later, he died in Spain
fighting the Moors while taking Robert's heart to the
Holy Land. The family split into two branches when the
title Earl of Douglas was taken by the Black Douglas's
illegitimate son, Archibald the Grim, and that of Earl of
Angus taken by the illegitimate son of the previous earl,
the Black Douglas's nephew, William. |
| CLAN MOTTO : GO CAREFULLY |
A man called Maelcolum Beg, or Little
Malcolm, is the first recorded Drummond. Robert the Bruce
gave his grandson lands in Perthshire as a reward for
spreading caltrops - spikes for crippling horses - at the
Battle of Bannockburn. Margaret Drummond married David II
in 1369, while Annabella Drummond married Robert III.
Another Margaret Drummond was to have become the wife of
James IV but was poisoned, with her sisters, in 1501. The
Drummonds lost their estates after the Battle of Culloden,
but regained them in 1785.
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