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THE original habitat of
this famous clan was in Argyll and Perth—principally the districts of
Breadalbane and Atholl. When and how some of them spread north and
obtained a footing on Deeside has been differently related. According to
popular accounts there were two branches, the Macgregors of the Smoke (Griogairich
na Smfiide) and the Macgregors of the Lime (G. an Aol). Miss Murray
Macgregor prints in her History of the Clan a MS. account of the Braemar
families of the name by “John Gregory.” The author is otherwise unknown,
and the document is undated, but from internal evidence it seems to have
been written not long after 1700. According to him the Macgregors of the
Lime came from the south under the patronage and protection of the Earls
of Mar about 1400, and soon were able to acquire “four of the best towns
in Breman—Cluny and Kilach, Dalchork and Balachbuidh,” besides Inverey.
Their nickname arose from their being the first to make use of lime for
agricultural purposes in those Highland regions. They burnt it and
applied it to the land, raising great crops, “to the inexpressible
astonishment of the whole country.” Gregory’s object is evidently to
show that his clansmen, far from being caterans and ne’er-do-weels, were
the first scientific farmers. His account is marked throughout by strong
hostility against the Farquharsons, whose founders he represents as mere
“ cow-stealers and raisers of herships,” whereas the first Macgregor
Laird of Inverey was a man of such fascination that his patron “the Earl
of Marr was never happy but when Inverey was with him.” In the course of
time, however, by force and cunning the Farquharsons succeeded in
ousting the honourable members of his clan from all their fair
possessions west of Crathie.
Most of this story is pure romance. The names of the principal
landholders in Braemar and Crathie are known about 1500,* and none that
can be identified as Macgregors are to be found there, nor do they
otherwise appear on record.
The truth is that Macgregors did not figure in Deeside history till a
much later date, and their emigration to the north was owing to the
critical experiences which they passed through in the reign of James VI.
The savage proceedings carried out by him against this clan need not be
referred to here further than to point out that large numbers of
Macgregors fled from their native seats, seeking for a living wherever
it was to be found. They gravitated most naturally to the north, where
the chronic clan feuds and quarrels had reached a height that was
indistinguishable from civil war. Some of the more disreputable went to
swell the ranks of “broken men,” living by cattle-lifting and robbery;
others sought protection and employment in a more regular way under the
northern chiefs and lords, who quietly turned a blind eye on the laws
and ordinances, pains and penalties, by which King and Council sought to
forbid landlords from having any dealings with the proscribed clan. So
far from joining or assisting the Royal boycott, these potentates would
appear to have competed with each other for the services of the
wandering Ishmaels. The particulars of one negotiation have been
preserved, t which, though it belongs to a later time than the period of
which we are speaking, illustrates the sort of arrangement that was
common both before and after, and helps to explain how the Macgregors
managed to survive in spite of the best efforts of the State to destroy
them.
Letter from the Earl of Atholl to Gregor Mcindowie [Mac-gregor] in
Gaulaurk in Strathavene:—
“Assured Freind, I am informed by Donald MacGregor that you have ane
intentione to cum and leive in this Cuntne and that you are more
desirous to leive in my lands then in any odyr man’s landis Therefor
thos are to assure you that there is no landis that I haue that can be
spairit but you shall haue it to live in. In the mean tyme I desire you
to cum and speack with me. Untill which tyme I shall remaine
Your freind
Tulimatt May ye 6, 1655.” Atholl
The result of the interview seems to have been satisfactory, for six
months later Gregor Mcindowie has a charter of the lands of Easter
Drumnacharrie in the Earldom of Atholl.
Soon after 1600, considerable bodies of Macgregors had taken refuge in
the north. Their chief protectors were the Clan Chattan and the Marquis
of Huntly. The Privy Council called the latter to account in 1611 for
sheltering them on his lands; he did not deny the fact, but pretended
that they were there against his will; and the Councillors got no
further satisfaction. In the same year they appear for the first time on
Abeigeldie, also a Gordon possession, and afterwards one of their
favourite haunts, from which the Council struggled for many years to
expel them. They make their ddbut on Deeside in highly characteristic
fashion :
“Complaint by George and James Rossis, tenants to William Gordon of
Abiryeldie of his lands of Eistoun and Loichmaynis [in Cromar] that,
albeit the reset and intercommuning ‘ with that unhappie and rebellious
race and handfull of wicked people callit the clan Gregour ’ is strictly
discharged, yet on 27th August last Nicol Davie in Muirtoun, accompanied
by ten or twelve persons of the said clan and others to the number of
fourscore persons, all armed with swords, gauntlets, platesleeves, bows,
darlochs and dirks, maist feirslie set uponn the said complenairis at
the market of St Marie’s Fair, with great rungis and battonis’ felled
them to the ground, and would have slain them if they had not been
relieved. Indeed there had been such a tumult in the fair that all the
people had dissolved without making further market” (Privy Council
Reg.1611.)
The strength of the entente cordiale established between the Gordons and
the Macgregors was revealed in 1634 when a savage vendetta arose between
the Crichtons and the Gordons consequent upon the mysterious death of
the Marquis of Huntly’s son in the conflagration of Frendraught
“Thair cam in to the countrie,” says Spalding, “about 600 Hielanders of
the Clangrigour, Clan Chamaron and utheris, and opinlie declairit thay
had takin pairt with the Gordons, the friendis of the lait brynt laird
of Rothiemay, and wold sie the samen revengit” These Macgregors belonged
to the Roro branch of the clan, and in return for this service some of
the leaders obtained settlements in Strathavon in Banffshire —at Dalnabo,
Dalvorar, and Gaulrig, where they founded families that gave some
distinguished soldiers to die British army in the succeeding centuries.*
The close connexion which they maintained with their patrons is
evidenced in a deed executed in 1711 at Gordon Castle by which with all
due formality John and James M'Grigor, sons of Grigor M(Grigor of
Delivorar, bind and oblige themselves and their heirs and successors to
call themselves Gordons for ever, “and that both in word and write.”
Close on the private Crichton feud followed the wars of the Covenant, a
struggle big enough to make the last man that Huntly could put into the
field of value. The Macgregors eagerly supported him on the Royalist
side, and their services were of such importance that, unlike most of
the King’s men, they emerged from “the Troubles” richer than they began.
Tradition says that it was at this time that the Glengaim Macgregors
became established as lairds on part of the Gordon lands there, at
Inverenzie, Dalfad and thereabout This is probably in the main correct,
but it is certain that others of the clan owed their lands to the Earls
of Mar, and at an earlier date too. There is a charter of 1633 from the
Earl of Mar to Thomas Erskine of Rinabrouch in Glengaim, the name
Erskine, we are told, being an assumed one, instead of Macgregor (in
accordance with the law of 1603 which commanded the clansmen to discard
their own surname and choose another—in this case the family name of the
Earls being taken). In the public records of the district “Erskine alias
Macgregor” occurs more than once, so that “John Gregory’s” narrative,
referred to above, contains this amount of truth that some of the
Deeside Macgregors owed their position to the favour of the Earl of Mar,
though he greatly antedates their appearance on the Dee.
At one time or other in the 17th century the following lands were in the
possession of owners bearing the name— Auchallater in Braemar; Wester
Micras in Crathie; Toma-warran in Abergeldie; Belnabo, Rinabrouch,
Richarkarie, Ardoch, Dalfad, Torran, Inverenzie in Glengaim; Ballater in
Tullich. Though these lairdships were fairly numerous, most of them were
small, and they gradually passed into the hands of the richer and bigger
lairds. Macgregors of Ballochbuie figure in most of the local
guide-books, the last of them as the hero of a quite incredible story.
He sold, it is said, his estate to one of the Farquharsons for a tartan
plaid—a transaction which is commemorated on the stone erected by Queen
Victoria on the property when it passed into her possession, “The
bonniest plaid in Scotland.” There may have been tenants of the name at
one time in this place, but public records seem to be quite silent as to
its ever having been owned by a Macgregor.
Sheltered among the mountains of Glengaim and fortified by a tenantry
mostly of the same name and blood, these Macgregor lairds were the
leaders of a little sept or miniature clan that presented a bold front
to all and sundry. In character and habits they were Highlanders to the
core— proud, spirited, and clannish, devoted to the old faith and the
old dynasty, famous for their readiness “with word and blow, but the
blow first.” Their enemies, it is true, would likely have added another
less pleasing feature of character, which may be described in the words
of Gillecallum Macpherson concerning another clan: “When at war with the
Macintoshes bolt your door once, when at peace bolt it twice.” The most
famous of the race was Malcolm, commonly known as Calum Og of Ballater,
an addition which he or an ancestor made to the Glengaim lands, but
which did not remain long in their possession. Apart from tradition, the
little that has hitherto been known of him is contained in the short
notice in Blakhats Narration (Spalding Club), but since the publication
of Miss Macgregoris researches several interesting particulars can be
added to his dossier.
In February, 1692, he is denounced as a “lawless man* (Records of
Justiciary). Four months later, “Malcolme McGregor of Balater, Alexander
McGregor in Tilliechurder are indyted along with Gordon of Abergeldie,
etc., at the instance of Robert Stewart of Innerchat [in Birse], for
burning his house,” etc. Some years afterwards he is found borrowing 700
merks from Farquharson of Invercauld and 280 from Grant of Grant.
Following on the ecclesiastical changes introduced at the Revolution,
there was held in 1704 an inquisition of Roman Catholics in Glenmuick
and the neighbourhood. The minister of the parish, the Rev. James
Robertson, in presenting to the Presbytery his list of papists, priests,
and apostates, puts Calum at the head of it for boldness and inveteracy.
He keeps mass and Popish conventicles in his house. He has sent his
eldest son to Douai to be trained for the priesthood. He has lately
erected a crucifix on a little hill near to his house to be adored by
all the neighbourhood. He is worth about 500 merks per annum, but much
of his fortune “is now adjudged upon decreits obtained against him for
robbing the Laird of Glenkindie’s house [the Strachans were a strong
anti-Stuart family and old enemies of the Macgregors], and other such
like barbarities. Only he makes a considerable deal of money by
blackmail, extorted from several low country parishes, such as Fordun,
Strachan, Fettercaim, etc., under pretence of protecting them.” One of
his escapades touched the worthy minister to the quick. Calum had
stepped over from Gaimside to Allanaquoich one day to a wedding feast
where there was a large company present, and had contributed his share
towards the entertainment of the guests in a unique manner. “After he
had at first ridiculed the protestant religion, he next went to his
knees and with a loud voice uttered a deal of horrid blasphemie,
pretending to personate protestant ministers in their prayers and then
fell a preaching, to the great astonishment of the beholders.” The
warmth of the minister’s feelings and language is no doubt due to the
fact that it was at him that Calum’s caricature was levelled. A year or
two before, the minister of the three upper parishes, an Episcopalian,
had been deposed “ for gross negligence in preaching, etc.,” and
Robertson, his successor, the first Presbyterian minister, no doubt
introduced a pulpit manner which was new to those parts, and which, if
we may judge from a contemporary satire, Scots Presbyterian Eloquence
Displayed, must have presented considerable temptations to the lively
laird of Ballater. In the narrative by John Gregory, mentioned at the
beginning of this note, Calum also figures.
“The lairds of Inverenzie,” he says, “were in opulent circumstances
until at last when one of them, young Mallcoin, one of the most valiant
men in his day, by misfortune was inveigled in a process of law before
the Court of Session, in defence of which process he almost spent his
all, so high was the spirit of this brave man. After being told by his
advocates that he would inevitably lose, unless he would sell some part
of his estate in order to maintain the cause, so much perplexed was he
that he did not know how to behave; but upon retiring to his room in
Edinburgh he betook himself to his pair of trumps and there was making a
tune to himself by way of recreation. The lawyers now finding, as they
thought, that he would be obliged to sell his estate or at least a good
part of it, they would go and advise him to advertise the same. Upon
their approaching the room they were confounded to see him in such top
spirits as he seemed to be; however, so dexterous was he at that kind of
music that the lawyers insisted on his playing on, and after some hours
play and a handsome treat no doubt, they left him without ever advising
him to dispose of any part of his estate; and next day, or a few days
after, upon considering the high spirits of such a brave man, gained his
plea.”
His descendants continued true to the traditions of their house to the
last. One of his grandsons, Captain Macgregor of Inverenzie, mustered
his little band of followers on the haugh at Dalfad and marched off to
join Lord Lewis Gordon’s regiment in the *45, and if Grant’s Legends is
to be believed two others perished in the Gaim within sight of their own
house as they were returning from a cattle-lifting expedition in the
west.
It was probably soon after this that they had to part with their
estates, a misfortune which in view of their manner of life was plainly
inevitable. In the Roman Catholic burying ground at Dalfad a rude flat
tombstone bears the inscription,
“G. M. G. 1734.
Here lies John Gnerson
Who died the 2nd day of May 1787.”
The second name is said to refer to one of
the last of the lairds. Though no longer figuring as landed men, the
race did not become extinct on Deeside, and there is, or at least there
was in existence some years ago, a manuscript account of the doings of
Captain Macgregor of Culloden fame, carefully cherished by his
descendants.
The Cateran Macgregors.—The landed Macgregors with whom we have been
dealing, wild and reckless as they were, might pass for law-abiding
citizens compared with some others of the name who kept Deeside in a
ferment about the beginning of the 17th century. These were “broken
men" of the clan, whose leader was Patrick Macgregor alias Gilderoy or
Gilroy, “the red lad,” the hero of the ballad,
Gilderoy
A Scottish Tradition by Robert S. Fittis (1866) (pdf)
“Gilderoy was a bonnie boy.” Whether the popular rhyme concerning the
burning of Culbleen and the harrying of Cromar refers to his
depredations or not, it is known that the centre of his operations was
in that neighbourhood. The so-called Rob Roy’s cave near Loch Kinnord
probably owes its name to him, and the Cairn of Gilderoy in Strathdon is
another reminiscence of this notorious freebooter. In a proclamation
issued by the Privy Council (Mar., 1636) it is stated that
“Patrick Macgregor and others hes associat and combynned themselves
togidder, hes thair residence neere to the forrests of Culblene,
Glentanar, and in the mountains of Tullich, Glengarne, Strathdie,
Strathdone and Cabrach, and from these parts they come in the darknes of
the night down to the incountrie, falls unawars upon the houses and
goods of his Majesteis poore subjects and spoyles thame of thair goods,
and, being full handed with the spoyle they goe backe agane to the
bounds forsaids where they keepe mercat of thair goods peaceablie and
uncontrolled, to the disgrace of law and justice. For the remeid whairof
the Lords of Secreit Counsell charge all landslords and heretours, where
thir brokin lymmars has thair resset, abode, and starting holes, to
rise, putt thamselffes in armes, and to hunt, follow, and persew, shout
and raise the fray, and with fire and sword to persew the saids theeves,
and never to leave aff thair persute till they be ather apprehended or
putt out of the countrie.”
Impudent and systematic spoliation like this would of course have been
impossible had the band not had supporters among the people. A fortnight
after this proclamation, another follows directed against those who
“reset, supplee, assist, maintain or defend” Gilderoy and his followers,
or who “hoord thair goods, blocke, buy or bargain with them thereanent”
More than a hundred and fifty of these resetters are mentioned by name,
the great majority belonging to the Upper Deeside parishes. The list
supplies a highly instructive example of the difficulties with which the
forces of law and order had to contend in bringing the lawless to
justice. It embraces all classes of the community, beginning with “
brewsters ” and brewster women (with whom the country seems to have been
more than well supplied) and even some representatives of the Cyprian
sisterhood, and rising up through cottars, tenants, and tacksmen to the
Laird of Abergeldie on the summit of the social pyramid. He, like his
father before him, was the chief local supporter of the Macgregors,
“broken” or unbroken; but in almost every “town” from Aboyne to Balmoral,
Gilderoy had his secret allies.
The Council go on to issue a commission to Lords Forbes and Pitsligo,
Farquharson of Invercauld and others to pursue Gilderoy, to arrest and
deal with resetters, and in short to abate the plague by any means that
seemed likely to be successful A reward of £1000 is offered “in present
and thankful payment ” for the presentation of Gilderoy and his chief
followers alive or dead, and a long series of proclamations and
fiilminations concludes with a rather amusing confession of weakness :—
“And whereas in the execution of the commissioun the saids commissioners
will be sometimes constrained to employ persons not altogidder
answerable and obedient to law and justice, and the Lords of the Council
being willing if thir person sail do anie worthie and memorable service
that they sail have some taste of his Majesties favour for thair panes,
theirfoir the saids Lords promises that if anie person will take and
bring in a more notorious and powerful lymmarnor himselffe and find
caution for good behaviour he sail have his Majesties gracious favour
and pardon for all bygane offences.”
This is the method which Spalding describes as that of “garring one
devil ding another.”
Gilderoy’s capture was finally effected by one of the chief enemies of
his race, Lord Lome afterwards Marquis of Argyle, somewhere in the west
country. He was taken, with nine of his band, to Edinburgh to be tried.
There they were speedily sentenced to “be hangit quhill they be deid;
and Patrick Gilroy and Johnne Forbes sail be hangit upon ane gibbet,
quhilk gibbet sail be advanced ane grit degrie heicher nor the gibbet
quhairupone the rest sail suffer.”
Though Gilderoy was thus well disposed of, matters were not greatly
mended on Deeside. His brother promptly served himself heir to the
leadership of the Gillean Ruadh, and when he was captured and executed
in turn, still another of the same brood stepped forward to captain the
band. Equally steadfast was the Laird of Abergeldie in his defiance of
King and Council. He again figures in a new list of resetters as one who
“has suppleed and inter-commoned with the brokin lymmars, furnished them
meate, drink, poulder, lead, lunt, and all others things necessar, keeps
intelligence with them be word, writt and message, and ministers unto
them all kynde of confort and assistance.” Deeside was at last relieved
of these Macgregor desperadoes by the outbreak of the Civil war in 1639.
They found employment with the anti-Covenanting forces, but so bad was
their character that the more moderate Royalists doubted if the credit
and strength of their cause were not injured by the presence of such
auxiliaries.
Though they left no successors who operated on quite so daring and
magnificent a scale, the trade of spulzie continued to have its devotees
on Deeside, as everywhere else in the Highlands. After the commotions of
the 17th century, when lawlessness reached its height, the forces of
order gradually proved the stronger and the business might be described
as a declining industry. Still the practice of cattle-lifting had been
an established Highland institution from the earliest times (the first
Act agamst “thift, stouthreaffe, and violent and maisterfull oppressioun
” dating from as far back as 1384), and so it continued to the last, in
fact dll the Highlanders were disarmed after Culloden. The local
caterans levied their toll on the surrounding lowlands; Deeside itself
was preyed upon by the bands whose headquarters lay further west,
especially by the Lochaber men, who were reckoned the most finished
experts in their profession. The lairds and the law did their best to
protect the industrious tenant, but never, as long as the clan system
lasted, with perfect success. In fact, the insecurity pertaining to live
stock had to be accepted as one of the unavoidable risks of ordinary
Highland life. As the Gaelic proverb had it,1 “ I took my milch-cows to
the fold; with me to-day, from me to-morrow.” Even in the cradle the
young cateran heard the praises of his future pastime and was inoculated
with the proper spirit There is a sweet lullaby, t once heard in the
Lochaber district, the first verse of which runs—
“Cagaran, cagaran, cagaran gaolach,
Cagaran foghainteach, fear de mo dhaoine;
Goididh e gobhair dhomh, goididh e caorich;
Goididh e capull is mart o na raointean.
“Hushaby, baimie, my bonnie wee laddie
When ye’re a man ye shall follow your daddie,
Lift me a coo, and a goat and a wether,
Bringing them hame to your minnie thegither.”
Such was the immemorial antiquity of the
practice of cattle-lifting, and so closely allied with the methods of
clan warfare, that the caterans almost claimed a sort of toleration from
public opinion. When Donald Cameron, the leader of what was probably the
last band in the country, was caught and condemned to death in 1752 at
Kinloch Rannoch, General Stewart records that “at his execution he dwelt
with surprise and indignation on his fate. He had never committed
murder, nor robbed man or house, or taken anything but cattle off the
grass of those with whom he was at feud.”
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