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Grant


Mr Skene says of the clan Grant, "Nothing certain is known regarding the origin of the Grant. They have been said to be of Danish, English, French, Norman, and of Gaelic extraction; but each of these suppositions depends for support upon conjecture alone, and amidst so many conflicting opinions it is difficult to fix upon the most probable. It is maintained by the supporters of their Gaelic origin, that they are a branch of the Macgregors, and in this opinion they are certainly borne out by the ancient and unvarying tradition of the country; for their Norman origin, I have upon examination entirely failed in discovering any further reason than that their name may be derived from the French, grand or great, and that they occasionally use the Norman form of de Grant. The latter reason, however, is not of any force, for it is impossible to trace an instance of their using the form de Grant until the 15th century; on the contrary, the form invariably Grant or le Grant, and on the very first appearance of the family it is 'dictus Grant'. It is certainly not a territorial name, for there was no ancient property of that name, and the peculiar form under which it invariably appears in the earlier generations, proves that the name is derived from a personal epithet. It so happens, however, that there was no epithet so common among the Gael as that of Grant, as a perusal of the Irish annals will evince; and at the same time Ragman's Roll shows that the Highland epithets always appear among the Normal signatures with the Norman 'le' prefixed to them. The clan themselves unanimously assert their descent from Gregor Mor Macgregor, who lived in the 12th century; and this is supported by their using to this day the same badge of distinction. So strong is this belief in both the clans of Grant and Macgregor, that in the early part of the last century a meeting of the two was held in the Blair of Athole, to consider the policy of re-uniting them. Upon this point all agreed, and also that the common surname should be Macgregor, if the reversal of the attainder of that name could be got from the government. If that could not be obtained it was agreed that either MacAlpine or Grant should be substituted. This assembly of the clan Alpine lasted for fourteen days, and was only rendered abortive by disputes as to the chieftainship of the combined clan. Here then is as strong an attestation of a tradition as it is possible to conceive, and when to this is added the utter absence of the name in the old Norman rolls, the only trustworthy mark of a Norman descent, we are warranted in placing the Grants among the Siol Alpine".

With Mr Smibert we are inclined to think that, come the clan designation whence it may, the great body of the Grants were Gael of the stock of Alpine, which, as he truly says, is after all the main point to be considered.

The first of the name on record in Scotland is Gregory de Grant, who, in the reign of Alexander II (1214-1249), was sheriff of the shire of Inverness, which then, and till 1583, comprehended Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, besides what is now Inverness-shire. By his marriage with Mary, daughter of Sir John Bisset of Lovat, he became possessed of the lands of Stratherrick, at that period a part of the province of Moray, and had two sons, namely, Sir Lawrence, his heir, and Robert, who appears to have succeeded his father as sheriff of Inverness.

The elder son, Sir Lawrence de Grant, with his brother Robert, witnessed an agreement, dated 9th Sept, 1258, between Archibald, bishop of Moray, and John Bisset of Lovat; Sir Lawrence is particularly mentioned as the friend and kinsman of the latter. Chalmers states that he married Bigla, the heiress of Comyn of Glenchernach, and obtained his father-in-law's estates in Strathspey, and a connection with the post potent family in Scotland. Douglas, however, in his Baronage, says that she was the wife of his elder son, John. He had two sons, Sir John and Rudolph. They supported the interest of Bruce against Baliol, and were taken prisoners in 1296, at the battle of Dunbar. After Baliol's surrender of his crown and kingdom to Edward, the English monarch, with his victorious army, marched north as far as Elgin. On his return to Berwick he received the submission of many of the Scottish barons, whose names were written upon four large rolls of parchment, so frequently referred to as the Ragmans Roll. Most of them were dismissed on their swearing allegiance to him, among whom was Rudolph de Grant, but his brother, John de Grant, was carried to London. He was released the following year, on condition of serving King Edward in France, John Comyn of Badenoch being his surety on the occasion. Robert de Grant, who also swore fealty to Edward I in 1296, is supposed to have been his uncle.

At the accession of Robert the Bruce in 1306, the Grants do not seem to have been very numerous in Scotland; but as the people of Strathspey, which from that period was knows as "the country of the Grants", came to form a clan, with their name, they soon acquired the position and power of Highland chiefs.

Sir John had three sons - Sir John, who succeeded him; Sir Allan, progenitor of the clan Allan, a tribe of the Grants, of whom the Grants of Auchernick are the head; and Thomas, ancestor of some families of the name. Sir John's grandson, John de Grant, had a son; and a daughter, Agnes, married to Sir Richard Comyn, ancestor of the Cummings of Altyre. The son, Sir Robert de Grant, in 1385, when the king of France, then at war with Richard II, remitted to Scotland a subsidy of 40,000 French crowns, to induce the Scots to invade England, was one of the principal barons, about twenty in all, among whom the money was divided. He died in the succeeding reign.

At this point there is some confusion in the pedigree of the Grants. The family papers state that the male line was continued by the son of Sir Robert, named Malcolm, who soon after his father's death began to make a figure as chief of the clan. On the other hand, some writers maintain that Sir Robert had no son, but a daughter, Maud or Matilda, heiress of the estate, and lineal representative of the family of Grant, who about the year 1400 married Andrew Stewart, son of Sir John Stewart, commonly called the Black Stewart, sheriff of Bute, and son of King Robert II, and that this Andrew sunk the royal name, and assumed instead the name and arms of Grant. This marriage, however, though supported by the tradition of the country, is not acknowledged by the family or the clan, and the very existence of such an heiress is denied.

Malcolm de Grant, above mentioned, had a son, Duncan de Grant, the first designed of Freuchie, the family title for several generations. By his wife, Muriel, a daughter of Mackintosh of Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, he had, with a daughter, two sons, John and Patrick. The latter, by his elder son, John, was ancestor of the Grants of Ballindalloch, county of Elgin, of whom afterwards, and of those of Tomnavoulem, Tulloch, &c; and by his younger son, Patrick, of the Grants of Dunlugas in Banffshire.

Duncan's eldest son, John Grant of Freuchie, by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir James Ogilvie of Deskford, ancestor of the Earls of Findlater, had, with a daughter, married to her cousin, Hector, son of the chief of Mackintosh, three sons - John, his heir; Peter of Patrick, said to be the ancestor of the tribe of Phadrig, or house of Tullochgorum; and Duncan, progenitor of the tribe called clan Donachie, or house of Gartenbeg. By the daughter of Baron Stewart of Kincardine, he had another son, also named John, ancestor of the Grants of Glenmoriston.

His eldest son, John, the tenth laird, called, from his poetical talents, the Bard, succeeded in 1508. He obtained four charters under the great seal, all dated 3d December 1509, of various lands, among which were Urquhart and Glenmoriston in Inverness-shire. He had three sons; John, the second son, was ancestor of the Grants of Shogglie, and of those of Corrimony in Urquhart.

The younger son, Patrick, was the progenitor of the Grants of Bonhard in Perthshire. John the Bard died in 1525.

His eldest son, James Grant of Freuchie, called, from his daring character, Shemas nan Creach, of James the Bold, was much employed, during the reign of King James V, in quelling insurrections in the northern counties. His lands in Urquhart were, in November 1513, plundered and laid waste by the adherents of the Lord of the Isles, and again in 1544 by the Clanranald, when his castle of Urquhart was taken possession of. This chief of the Grants was in such high favour with King James V that he obtained from that monarch a charter, dated 1535, exempting him from the jurisdiction of all courts of judicature, except the court of session, then newly instituted. He died in 1553. He had with two daughters, two sons, John and Archibald; the latter the ancestor of the Grants of Cullen, Monymusk, &c.

His eldest son, John, usually called Evan Baold, or the Gentle, was a strenuous promoter of the Reformation, and was a member of that parliament which, in 1560, abolished Popery as the established religion of Scotland. He died in 1585, having been twice married - first, to Margaret Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Athole, by whom he had, with two daughters, two sons, Duncan and Patrick, the latter ancestor of the Grants of Rothiemurchus; and, secondly, to a daughter of Barclay of Towie, by whom he had an only son, Archibald, ancestor of the Grants of Bellintomb, represented by the Grants of Monymusk.

Duncan, the elder son, predeceased his father in 1581, leaving four sons - John; Patrick, ancestor of the Grants of Easter Elchies, of which family was Patrick Grant, Lord Elchies, a lord of session; Robert, progenitor of the Grants of Lurg; and James, of Ardnellie, ancestor of those of Moyness.

John, the eldest son, succeeded his grandfather in 1585, and was much employed in public affairs. a large body of his clan, at the battle of Glenlivet, was commanded by John Grant of Gartenbeg, to whose treachery, in having, in terms of as concerted plan, retreated with his men as soon as the action began, as well as to that of Campbell of Lochnell, Argyll owed his defeat in that engagement. This laird of Grant greatly extended and improved his paternal estates, and is said to have been offered by James VI, in 1610, a patent of honour, which he declined. From the Shaws he purchased the lands of Rothiemurchus, which he exchanged with his uncle Patrick for the lands of Muchrach. On his marriage with Lilias Murray, daughter of John, Earl of Athole, the nuptials were honoured with the presence of King James VI and his queen. Besides a son and daughter by his wife, he had a natural son, Duncan, progenitor of the Grants of Cluney. He died in 1622.

His son, Sir John, by his extravagance and attendance at court, greatly reduced his estates, and when he was knighted he got the name of "Sir John Sell-the-land". he had eight sons and three daughters, and dying at Edinburgh in April 1637, was buried at the abbey church of Holyroodhouse.

His elder son, James, joined the Covenanters on the north side of the Spey in 1638, and on 19th July 1644, was, by the Estates, appointed one of the committee for trying the malignants in the north. after the battle of Inverlochy, however, in the following year, he joined the standard of the Maquis of Montrose, then in arms for the king, and ever after remained faithful to the royal cause. In 1663, he went to Edinburgh, to see justice done to his kinsman, Allan Granr of Tulloch, in a criminal prosecution for manslaughter, in which he was successful; but he died in that city soon after his arrival there. A patent had been made out creating him Earl of Strathspey, and Lord Grant of Freuchie and Urquhart, but in consequence of his death it did not pass the seals. The patent itself is said to be preserved in the family archives. He had two sons, Ludovick and Patrick, the latter ancestor of the family of Wester Elchies in Speyside.

Ludovick, the eldest son, being a minor, was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Colonet Patrick Grant, who faithfully discharged his trust, an so was enabled to remove some of the burdens on the encumbered family estates. Ludovick Grant of Grant and Freuchie took for his wife Janet, only child of Alexander Brodie of Lethen. By the favour of his father-in-law, the laird of Grant was enabled in 1685, to purchase the barony of Pluscardine, which was always to descend to the second son. By King William he was appointed colonel of a regiment of foot, and sheriff of Inverness. In 1700 he raised a regiment of his own clan, being the only commoner that did so, and kept his regiment in pay a whole year at his own expense. In compensation, three of his sons got commissions in the army, and his lands were erected into a baroncy. He died at Edinburgh in 1718, in his 66th year, and, like his father and grandfather, was buried in Holyrood abbey.

Alexander, his eldest son, after studying the civil law on the continent, entered the army, and soon obtained the command of a regiment of foot, with the rank of brigadier. When the rebellion broke out, being with his regiment in the south, he wrote to his brother, Captain George Grant, to raise the clan for the service of government, which he did, and a portion of them assisted at the reduction of Inverness. as justiciary of the counties of Inverness, Moray and Banff, he was successful in suppressing the bands of outlaws and robbers which infested these counties in that unsettled time. He succeeded his father in 1718, but died at Leith the following year, aged 40. Though twice married, he had no children.

His brother, Sir James Grant of Pluscardine, was the next laird. In 1702, in his father's lifetime, he married Anne, only daughter of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. By the marriage contract it was specially provided that he should assume the surname and arms of Colquhoun, and if he should at any time succeed to the estate of Grant, his second son should, with the name of Colquhoun, become proprietor of Luss. In 1704, Sir Humphrey obtained a new patent in favour of his son-in-law, James Grant, who on his death, in 1715, became in consequence Sir James Grant Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. On succeeding, however, to the estate of Grant four years after, he dropped the name of Colquhoun, retaining the baronetcy, and the estate of Luss went to his second surviving son. He had five daughters, and as many sons, viz Humphrey, who predeceased him in 1732; Ludovick; James, a major in the army, who succeeded to the estate and baronetcy of Luss, and took the name of Colquhoun; Francis, who died a general in the army; and Charles, a captain in the Royal Navy.

The second son, Ludovick, was admitted advocate in 1728; but on the death of his brother he relinquished his practice at the bar, and his father devolving on him the management of the estate, he represented him thereafter as chief of the clan. He was twice married - first, to a daughter of Sir Robert Dalrymple of North Berwick, by whom he had a daughter, who died young; secondly, to Lady Margaret Ogilvie, eldest daughter of James Earl of Findlater and Seafield, in virtue of which marriage his grandson succeeded to the earldom of Seafield. By his second wife Sir Ludovick had one son, James, and eleven daughters, six of whom survived him. Penuel, the third of these, was the wife of Hentry Mackenzie, Esq, author of Man of Feeling. Sir Ludovick died at Castle Grant, 18th March 1773.

His only son, Sir James Grant of Grant, baronet, born in 1738, was distinguished for his patriotism and public spirit. On the declaration of was by France in 1793, he was among the first to raise a regiment of fencibles, called the Grant or Strathspey fencibles, of which he was appointed colonel. after a lingering illness, he died at Castle Grant on 18th February 1811. He had married in 1763, Jean, only child of Alexander Duff, Esq, of Hatton, Aberdeenshire, and had by her three sons and three daughters. Sir Lewis Alexander Grant, the eldest son, in 1811 succeeded to the estates and earldom of Seafield, on the death of his cousin, James Earl of Findlater and Seafield, and his brother, Francis William, became, in 1840, sixth earl. The younger children obtained in 1822 the rank and precedency of an earl's junior issue.

The Grants of Ballindalloch, in the parish of Inveravon, Banffshire - commonly called the Criag-Achrochean Grants - as already stated, descend from Patrick, twin brother of John, ninth laird of Freuchie. Patrick's grandson, John Grant, was killed by his kinsman, John Roy Grant of Carron, as afterwards mentioned, and his son, also John Grant, was father of another Patrick, whose son, John Roy Grant, by his extravagant living and unhappy differences with his lady, a daughter of Leslie of Balquhain, entirely ruined his estate, and was obliged to consent to placing it under the management and trust of three of his kinsmen, Brigadier Grant, Captain Grant of Elchies, and Walter Grant of Arndilly, which gave occasion to W. Elchies' verses of "What meant the man?".

General James Grant of Ballindalloch succeeded to the estates on the death of his nephew, Major William Grant, in 1770. He died at Ballindalloch, on 13th April 1806, at the age of 86. Having no children, he was succeeded by his maternal grand-nephew, George Macpherson, Esq of Invereshie, who assumed in consequence the additional name of Grant, and was created a baronet in 1838.

The Grants of Glenmoriston, in Inverness-shire, are sprung from John More Grant, natural son of John Grant, ninth laird of Freuchie. His son, John Roy Grant, acquired the lands of Carron from the Marquis of Huntly. In a dispute about the marches of their respective properties, he killed his kinsman, John Grant of Ballindalloch, in 1588, an event which led to a lasting feud between the families. John Roy Grant had four sons - Patrick, who succeeded him in Carron; Robert of Nether Glen of Rothes; James an Tuim, or James of the hill; and Thomas.

The Glenmoriston branch of the Grants adhered faithfully to the Stuarts. Patrick Grant of Glenmoriston appeared in arms in Vicount Dundee's army at Killiecrankie. He was also at the skirmish at Cromdale against the government soon after, and at the battle of Sheiffmuir in 1715. His estate was, in consequence, forfeited, but through the interposition of the chief of the Grants, was brought back from the barons of the Exchequer. The laird of Glenmoriston in 1745 also took arms for the Pretender; but means were found to preserve the estate to the family. The families proceeding from this branch, besides that of Carron, which estate is near Elchies, on the river Spey, are those of Lynachoarn, Aviemore, Croskie, &C.

The favourite song of "Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch" (the only one she was ever known to compose), was written by a Mrs Grant of Carron, whose maiden name was Grant, born, near Aberlour, about 1745. Mr Grant of Carron, whose wife she became about 1763, was her cousin. After his death she married, a second time, an Irish physician practising at Bath, of the name of Murray, and died in that city in 1814.

The Grants of Dalvey, who possess a baronetcy, are descended from Duncan, second son of John the Bard, tenth laird of Grant.

The grants of Monymusk, who also possess a baronetcy (date of creation, December 7, 1705), are descended from Archibald Grant of Ballintomb, an estate conferred on him by charter, dated 8th March 1580. He was called Evan Baold, or the Gentle, by his second wife, Isobel Barclay. With three daughters, Archibald Grant had two sons. The youngest son, James, was designed of Tombreak. Duncan of Ballintomb, the elder, had three sons - Archibald, his heir; Alexander, of Allachie; and William, of Arndillie. The eldest son, Archibald, had, with two daughters, two sons, the elder of whom, Archibald grant, Esq of Bellinton, had a son, Sir Francis, a lord of session, under the title of Lord Cullen, the first baronet of this family.

The Grants of Kilgraston, in Perthshire, are lineally descended, through the line of the Grants of Glenlochy, from the ninth laird of Grant. Peter Grant, the last of the lairds of Glenlochy, which estate he sold, had two sons, John and Francis. The elder son, John, chief justice of Jamaica from 1783 to 1790, purchased the estates of Kilgraston and Pitcaithley, lying contiguous to each other in Strathearn; and dying in 1793, without issue, he was succeeded by his brother, Francis. This gentleman married Anne, eldest daughter of Robert Oliphant, Esq of Rossie, postmaster-general of Scotland, and had five sons and two daughters. He died in 1819, and was succeeded by his son, John Grant, the present representative of the Kilgraston family. He married - first, 1820, Margaret, second daughter of the late Lord Gray; second, 1828, Lucy, third daughter of Thomas, late Earl of Elgin. Heir, his son, Charles Thomas Constantine, born, 1831, and married, 1856, Matilda, fifth daughter of William Hay, Esq, of Dunse Castle.

The badge of the clan Grant was the pine or cranberry heath, and their slogan or gathering cry, "Stand fast, Craigellachie!" the bold projecting rock of that name ("the rocj of alarm") in the united parishes of Duthil and Rothiemurchus, being their hill of rendezvous. The Grants had a long-standing feud with the Gordons, and even among the different branches of themselves there were faction fights, as between the Ballindalloch and Carron Grants. The clan, with few exceptions, was noted for its loyalty, being generally, and the family of the chief invariably, found on the side of government. In Strathspey the name prevailed almost to the exclusion of every other, and to this day Grant is the predominant surname in the district, as alluded to by Sir Alexander Boswell, Baronet, in his lively verses:-

"Come the Grants of Tullochgorum,
Wi' their pipes gaun before 'em,
Proud the mothers are that bore 'em.

Next the Grants of Rothiemurchus,
Every man his sword and durk has,
Every man as proud's a Turk is".

In 1715, the force of the clan was 800, and in 1745, 850.

Another Account of the Clan

BADGE: Giuthas (pinus sylvestris) pine.
SLOGAN: Stand fast, Craig Elachaidh.
PIBROCH: Craigelachaidh.

GrantTHERE seems no good reason to doubt that Clan Grant was originally of the same ancient royal stock as Clan Gregor. It is true that there is a family of the same name in England, but it is of a separate and different origin, and probably derived its patronymic from the ancient name of the river Cam, which was originally the Granta, or from the ancient designation of Cambridge, which was the Caer Grant of the early Saxons. Early in the eighteenth century, when there seemed some prospect of the proscription of the name MacGregor being removed, a meeting of the MacGregors and the Grants was held in Blair Athol, and it was proposed that, in view of their ancient relationship, the two clans should adopt a common name and acknowledge a single chief. The meeting lasted for fourteen days, and, though it finally broke up without coming to an agreement, several of the Grants, like the Laird of Ballindalloch, showed their loyalty to the ancient kinship by adding the MacGregor patronymic to their name. According to the tradition of the clan, the founder of the Grants was Gregor, second son of Malcolm, chief of the MacGregors in the year 1160. It is said he took his distinguishing cognomen from the Gaelic Grannda, or "ugly," in allusion to the character of his features. It is possible, however, that this branch of Clan Alpin took its name rather from the country in which it settled. In the district of Strathspey is a wide moor known as the "griantach," or Plain of the Sun, the number of pagan remains scattered over its surface showing it to have been in early times a chief centre of the Beltane or Sun Worship. Residents here would be set down by the early monkish writers under the designation of "de Griantach" or "de Grant." This latter suggested origin of the name is supported by the crest of the Grant family, which is a Mountain in Flames, an obvious allusion to the Baal-teine or Baal-fire of the early pagan faith.

The first of the name to appear in written records was Gregor, Sheriff of Inverness in the reign of Alexander II., between 1214 and 1249. It was probably this Gregor de Grant who obtained Stratherick through marriage with an heiress of the Bisset of Lovat and Aboyne. The son of this magnate, by name Laurence or Laurin, who was witness to a deed by the Bishop of Moray in 1258, obtained wide lands in Strathspey by marrying the heiress of Gilbert Comyn of Glencharny; and the son of Laurin, Sir Ian, was a noted supporter of the patriot Wallace.

It may have been about this time that the incident happened which transferred the stronghold, now known as Castle Grant in Strathspey, from the ownership of the once powerful Comyns to that of the Grants. According to tradition a younger son of Grant of Stratherick ran away with and married the daughter of his host, the Chief of MacGregor. With thirty followers the young couple fled to Strathspey and took refuge in the fastness now known as Huntly’s Cave, a little more than a mile from the castle, at that time known as Freuchie. Comyn of Freuchie, little liking such a settlement in his immediate neighbourhood, tried to dislodge the trespassers, but without result. Then the MacGregor Chief appeared upon the scene with an armed following and demanded his daughter. He arrived at night, and was received by his astute son-in-law with much respect and hospitality. As the feast went on at the mouth of the cavern, Grant so arranged the comings and goings of his men in the torchlight and among the woods that his father-in-law was impressed with what appeared to be the considerable size of his following, and, changing his mind with regard to the desirability of the match, freely forgave the young couple. Forthwith Grant proceeded to turn his father-in-law’s friendship to account. He told him of the attacks made upon him by Comyn of Freuchie, and persuaded him to help in a reprisal. Before morning the united forces of Grant and MacGregor made an attack on Freuchie, slew the Comyn chief, and took possession of the castle. As a token and memento of the occurrence, the skull of Comyn is carefully preserved at Castle Grant to the present day.

The castle did not immediately change its name, for in a charter under the Great Seal in 1442 Sir Duncan Grant is described as "Dominus de eodem et de Freuchie." A succeeding chief, Sir Ian, joined the Earls of Huntly and Mar with his clan in 1488 in support of James III. against his rebellious nobles; so by that time the Grants had become a power to be reckoned with. Like most of the Highland clans they had their own story of fiery feud and bloody raid. One of the chief quarrels in which they were engaged remains notable from the fact that it led directly to a notorious historical event, the slaughter of the Bonnie Earl of Moray at Dunibristle on 7th February, 1592. The trouble began when the Earl of Huntly, Chief of the Gordons and of the Catholics of the north, finding himself in danger among the Protestant faction at court, retired to his estates and proceeded to erect a castle at Ruthven in Badenoch, not far from the Grant country. This seemed to the Grants and Clan Chattan to be intended to overawe their district, and difficulties arose when the members of Clan Chattan, who were Huntly’s vassals, refused to fulfil their obligations to furnish the materials for the building. About the same time John Grant, the Tutor, or trustee, of Ballindalloch, refused certain payments to the widow of the late laird, a sister of Gordon of Lesmore. In the strife which followed a Gordon was slain, and as a consequence the Tutor was outlawed and Ballindalloch was besieged and captured by Huntly. That was on 2nd November, 1590. Forthwith the Grants and. MacIntoshes sought the protection of the Earls of Athol and Moray. They refused Huntly’s summons to deliver up the Tutor, and when surprised at Forres by the sudden appearance of Huntly, fled to the Earl of Moray’s castle of Darnaway. Here another Gordon was shot by one of Moray’s servants. This bred bad blood between the two earls, and later, when the Earl of Bothwell, after an attempt on the life of Chancellor Maitland, was said to be harboured by Moray in his house of Dunibristle, Huntly willingly accepted a commission to attack that place. Here again a Gordon was mortally wounded, and, on the Earl of Moray fleeing along the shore, he was pursued by the brothers of the two slain men, and promptly put to death. Among other acts of vengeance Huntly sent a force of Lochaber men against the Grants in Strathspey, killing eighteen of them, and laying waste the lands of Ballindalloch. Afterwards, when the young Earl of Argyll was sent to attack Huntly, the Grants took part with him at the battle of Glenlivet, and Argyll’s defeat there was mainly owed to the action of John Grant of Gartenbeg, one of Huntly’s vassals, who, as arranged with Huntly, retired with his men at the beginning of the action, and thus completely broke the centre and left wing of Argyll’s army.

The most notable feature in the annals of the clan during the first half of the seventeenth century was the career of James Grant of Carron. The determining factor in the career of this notable freebooter was an event which had happened some seventy years previously. This was the murder of John Grant of Ballindalloch by John Roy Grant of Carron, a son of John Grant of Glen Moriston, at the instigation of the Laird of Grant, who, it is said, had conceived a grudge against his kinsman. A feud between the Grants of Carron and the Grants of Ballindalloch was the result. In the course of this feud, at a fair at, Elgin about the year 1625, one of the Grants of Ballindalloch knocked down and wounded Thomas Grant, one of the Carron family. The brother of Thomas, James Grant of Carron, attacked the assailant and killed him on the spot. At the instance of Ballindalloch, James Grant was cited to stand trial, and, as he did not appear, was outlawed. In vain the Laird of Grant tried to reconcile the parties, while James Grant offered money compensation, and even the exile of himself. Nothing but his blood, however, would satisfy Ballindalloch, and, driven to despair, with his life every moment in jeopardy, James Grant finally collected a band of broken men from all parts of the Highlands, and set up as an independent freebooter. His career was that of another Gilderoy, or the hero of the famous MacPherson’s Rant. Lands were wasted by him and men were slain, and Ballindalloch, having killed John Grant of Carron, the nephew of the freebooter, was himself forced to flee to the North of Scotland. At last, at the end of December, 1630, a party of Clan Chattan surprised James Grant at Auchnachayle in Strathdon by night, when after receiving eleven wounds and seeing four of his party killed, the cateran was taken prisoner, sent to Edinburgh for trial, and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle.

About the same time the famous feud occurred between Gordon of Rothiemay and Crichton of Frendraught, which ended in the burning of Frendraught, with Lord Aboyne, the Marquess of Huntly’s son, and several of his friends. Rothiemay had been helped in the feud by James Grant, and it was said the latter had been in treaty to undertake the burning of the mansion.

On the night of 15th October, 1632, the freebooter escaped from Edinburgh Castle by descending on the west side by means of ropes furnished him by his wife or son, and fled to Ireland. Presently, however, it was known that he had returned, and Ballindalloch, setting a watch upon his wife’s house at Carron, almost secured him. The freebooter, however, shot the chief assailant, one Patrick MacGregor, and escaped. Presently by a stratagem he managed to seize Ballindalloch himself, and kept him for twenty days prisoner in a kiln near Elgin. Ballindalloch finally escaped by bribing one of his warders, and as a result several of James Grant’s accomplices were sent to Edinburgh and hanged.

The cateran’s final outrage was the surprise and slaughter of two other friends of Ballindalloch, who had received money to kill him. A few days later Grant and four of his associates, finding themselves in straits in Strathbogie, entered the house of the common hangman, unaware of his profession, and asked for food. The man recognised them, and the house was surrounded; but the freebooter made a stout defence, killing three of the besiegers, and presently, with his brother Robert, effected his escape, though his son and two other associates were captured, carried to Edinburgh, and executed. This took place in the year 1636, and as no more is heard of James Grant, it may be presumed that, like Rob Roy MacGregor, a century afterwards, he finally died in bed.

A few years later, on the outbreak of the Civil War, when the Marquess of Montrose raised the standard of Charles I. in the Highlands, he was joined by James, the sixteenth Chief of the Grants, with his clan, who fought valiantly in the royal cause.

Twenty-one years later still, in 1666, occurred a strange episode which added a large number of new adherents to the "tail" of the Chiefs of Grant. As recorded in a famous ballad, the Farquharsons had attacked and slain Gordon of Brackly on Deeside. To avenge his death the Marquess of Huntly raised his clan and swept up the valley. At the same time his ally, the Laird of Grant, now a very powerful chief, occupied the upper passes of the Dee, and between them they all but destroyed the Farquharsons. At the end of the day Huntly found two hundred Farquaharson orphans on his hands. These he carried home and kept in singular fashion. A year afterwards Grant was invited to dine with Huntly, and when dinner was over, the Marquess proposed to show his guest some rare sport. He took him to a balcony overlooking the kitchen of the castle. Below they saw the remains of the day’s victuals heaped in a large trough. At a signal from the chief cook a hatch was raised, and there rushed into the kitchen like a pack of hounds, yelling, shouting, and fighting, a mob of half-naked children, who threw themselves upon the scraps and bones, struggling and scratching for the base morsels. "These," said Huntly, are the children of the Farquharsons we slew last year." The Laird of Grant, however, was a humane man; he begged the children from the Marquess, took them to Speyside, and reared them among the people of his own clan, where their descendants were known for many a day as the Race of the Trough.

At the Revolution in 1689, Ludovic, the seventeenth Chief, took the side of William of Orange, and after the fall of Dundee at Killiecrankie, when Colonel Livingstone hastened from Inverness to attack the remnants of the Jacobite army under Generals Buchan and Cannon, at the Haughs of Cromdale in Strathspey, he was joined by Grant with 600 men. The defeat of the Jacobites on that occasion, and the capture of Ruthven Barracks opposite Kingussie, gave the final blow to the cause of King James in Scotland.

Again, during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, there were 800 of the clan in arms for the Government, though they took no active part against Prince Charles Edward. The military strength of the Grants was then estimated at 850 men.

In the middle of the eighteenth century Sir Ludovic Grant, Bart., married Margaret, daughter of James Ogilvie, fifth Earl of Findlater and second Earl of Seafield, and through that alliance his grandson, Sir Lewis Alexander Grant, succeeded as fifth Earl of Seafield in 1811. Meantime Sir Ludovic’s son, Sir James Grant, had played a distinguished part on Speyside. He it was who in 1776, in connection with extensive plans for the improvement of the whole region of middle Strathspey, founded the village of Grantown, which has since become so notable a resort. The same laird in 1793, two months after the declaration of war against this country by France, raised a regiment of Grant fencibles, whose weapons now cover the walls of the entrance hall in Castle Grant.

An unfortunate circumstance in the history of this regiment was the mutiny which took place at Dumfries. The trouble arose from a suspicion that the regiment, which had been raised for service in Scotland only, was about to be dispatched overseas. A petty dispute having arisen, some of the men were imprisoned, and were released by their comrades in open defiance of the officers. This constituted a mutiny. In consequence the regiment was marched to Musselburgh, where a corporal and three privates found guilty of mutiny were condemned to death. On 16th July, 1795, the four men were marched to Gullane links. There they were made to draw lots, and two of them were shot.

On Sir Lewis Alexander Grant succeeding to the earldom of Seafield in 1811 he added the Seafield family name of Ogilvie to his own patronymic. The earldom had originally been granted to James, fourth Earl of Findlater, in 1701, in recognition of his distinguished services as Solicitor-General, Secretary of State for Scotland, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and High Commissioner to the General Assembly, and it has received additional lustre from its connection with the ancient Chiefs of Grant. [The first recipient of the title was at the time Lord Deskford, second son of George Ogilvie, third Earl of Findlater. It was he who, at the Union, when the Scottish Parliament rose for the last time, exclaimed, "This is an end of an auld sang!"]

The grandson of the first earl of the name of Grant, John Charles, who succeeded as seventh Earl in 1853, married the Honourable Caroline Stuart, youngest daughter of the eleventh Lord Blantyre. With the consent of his son he broke the entail of the Grant estates, and that son, Ian Charles, the eighth Earl, at his death unmarried, bequeathed these estates to his mother. It was the seventh and eighth Earls who carried out the vast tree-planting operations in Strathspey which have changed the whole climate of the region, restoring its ancient forest character, and rendering it the famous health resort it is at the present day. Meanwhile no fewer than three earls succeeded to the title without possession of the estates. The first of these was Lady Seafield’s brother-in-law, James, third son of the sixth Earl, who was member of Parliament for Elgin and Nairn from 1868 to 1874. Francis William, the son of this earl, born in 1847, had emigrated in early life to New Zealand. At that time the possibility of his succeeding to the title appeared exceedingly remote. On the death of the eighth Earl, the emigrant’s father succeeded to the title, and the emigrant himself became Viscount Reidhaven. He married a daughter of Major George Evans of the 47th regiment, and though he succeeded to the title of earl in 1888, it made no difference in his fortunes, and he died six months later. His son, the next holder of the title, was eleventh Earl of Seafield and twenty fourth Chief of Clan Grant. His lordship’s home-coming to Castle Grant was the occasion of an immense outburst of enthusiasm on the part of the clan, and afterwards, residing among his people, he and his countess did every thing to endear themselves to the holders of their ancient and honourable name.

The Earl died on active service in the Great War, and while his daughter succeeded to the Grant estates and the title of Seafield, his brother inherited the Barony of Strathspey and the chiefship of the clan. Lord Strathspey, with his wife, son and daughter, returned to New Zealand in 1923.

The Grant country stretches from Craigellachie above Aviemore to another Craigellachie on the Spey near Aberlour. It is a country crowded with interesting traditions. Many a time the wild bands of warriors have gathered on the shores of the little loch of Baladern on its southern border, and the slogan of "Stand fast, Craigellachie! "has been shouted in many a fierce mêlée. Even as late as 1820, during the general election after the death of George III., the members of the clan found occasion to show their mettle. Party feeling was running high, and a rumour reached Strathspey that the ladies of the Chief’s house had suffered some affront at Elgin at the instance of the rival clan Duff. Next morning there were 900 Strathspey men, headed by the factor of Seafield, at the entrance to the town, and it was only by the greatest tact on the part of the authorities that a collision was prevented. Even to the present day the old clan spirit runs strong on Speyside, and the patriotism of the race has been shown by the number of men who enlisted to defend the honour of their country in the great war of 1914 on the plains of France.

Septs of Clan Grant: Gilroy, MacIlroy, MacGilroy.

Grants of Glenmoriston

BADGE: Giuthas (pinus sylvestris) pine.

Grant of GlenmoristonOF the Siol Alpin, or Race of Alpin, descended from that redoubtable but ill-fated King of Scots of the ninth century, there are to be counted Clan Gregor, Clan Grant, Clan Mackinnon, Clan MacNab, Clan Macfie, Clan MacQuarie, and Clan MacAulay. These, therefore, have at all times claimed to be the most ancient and most honourable of the Highland clans, and have been able to make the proud boast " Is rioghal mo dhream"—Royal is my race. It was unfortunate for the Siol Alpin that at no time were all the clans which it comprised united under a single chief. Had they been thus united, like the great Clan Chattan confederacy, they might have achieved a greater place in history, and might have been saved many of the disasters which overtook them.

After the young Chief of the Grants, with the help of his father-in-law, the Chief of MacGregor, had established his headquarters at Freuchie, now Castle Grant, by the slaughter and expulsion of its former owners, the Comyns, the race of the Grants put forth more than one virile branch to root itself on fair Speyside and elsewhere. Among these were the Grants of Ballindalloch, the Grants of Rothiemurchus, the Grants of Carron, and the Grants of Culcabuck. In the days of James IV., the Laird of Grant was Crown Chamberlain of the lordship of Urquhart on Loch Ness, which included the district of Glenmoriston. In 1509, in the common progress of events, the chamberlainship was converted into a baronial tenure, and the barony was granted to John, elder son of the Chief. The change, however, instead of aggrandising the family, threatened to entail an actual loss of the territory, for John died without issue, and the barony, under its new tenure, reverted to the Crown.

A similar, but much more disastrous set-back was that which happened about the same time to the ancient family of Calder or Cawdor, near Nairn. In the latter case the old Thane resigned his whole estates to the Crown, and had them conferred anew on his second son John, and shortly afterwards John died, leaving an only child, a girl, Muriel, who ultimately, by marriage, carried the thanedom away from the Cawdors, into possession of the Campbells, its present owners.

The case of Glenmoriston was not so irretrievable, for the barony was acquired by Grant of Ballindalloch. The latter in 1548 disposed of it to his kinsman John Grant of Culcabuck, who married a daughter of Lord Lovat, and John Grant’s son Patrick established himself in the district, and became the ancestor of the Grants of Glenmoriston. It is from this Patrick Grant, first of the long line of lairds, that the clan takes its distinctive patronymic of Mac Phadruick.

Patrick’s son John, the second chief, married a daughter of Grant of Grant, and built the castle of Glenmoriston, from which fact he is known in the tradition of his family as Ian nan Caisteal—John of the Castle.

In James VI.’s time Glenmoriston had its own troubles, arising from an act which, one would have supposed, would have been looked upon by any Scotsman as a warrant against oppression. Clan Chattan, it appears, had been faithful friends and followers of the Earls of Moray, and in particular had been active in avenging against the Earl of Huntly, the death of the "Bonnie Earl" at Donibristle on the Forth. For these services they had received valuable possessions in Pettie and Strathnairn. But presently the Bonnie Earl’s son became reconciled to Huntly, and married his daughter; then, thinking he had no more need of Clan Chattan, proceeded to take back these gifts. By way of retaliation, in 1624 some 200 gentlemen and 300 followers of the clan took arms and proceeded to lay waste the estates of the grasping Moray. The latter failed to disperse them, first with three hundred men from Menteith and Balquhidder, and afterwards with a body of men raised at Elgin. He then went to London and induced James VI. to make him Lieutenant of the North. Returning with new powers, the Earl issued letters of intercommuning against Clan Chattan, prohibiting all persons from harbouring, supplying, or entertaining members of the clan, under severe penalties. Having thus cut off the clansmen’s means of support he proceeded to make terms with them, offering them pardon on condition that they should give a full account of the persons who had sheltered and helped them in their attempt. This Clan Chattan basely proceeded to do, and the individuals who had rendered them hospitality and support were summoned to the Earl’s court and heavily fined, the fines going into Moray’s own pocket. A striking account of the proceeding is furnished by Spalding the historian. He relates how "the principal male-factors stood up in judgment, and declared what they had gotten, whether meat, money, clothing, gun, ball, powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the like commodities, and also instructed the assize in each particular what they had gotten from the persons panelled—an uncouth form of probation, where the principal malefactor proves against the receiptor for his own pardon, and honest men, perhaps neither of the Clan Chattan’s kin nor blood, punished for their good will, ignorant of the laws, and rather receipting them more for their evil nor their good. Nevertheless the innocent men, under colour of justice, part and part as they came in, were soundly fined in great sums as their estates might bear, and some above their estates was fined, and every one warded within the tolbooth of Elgin, till the last mite was paid."

Among those who thus suffered was John Grant of Glenmoriston. The town of Inverness was also mulcted, and the provost, Duncan Forbes, and Grant, both went to London to lay the matter before the king. They did this without success, however, and in the end had to submit to the Earl of Moray’s exactions.

In the latter half of the seventeenth century, John, the sixth Chief of Glenmoriston, married Janet, daughter of the celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, and earned the name of Ian na Chreazan by building for himself the rock stronghold of Blary. Like Sir Ewen Cameron, his father-in-law, he raised his clan for the losing cause of James VII. and II., and fought under Viscount Dundee at Killiecrankie. The clan was also out under the Earl of Mar in the rising for "James VIII. and III." in 1715, and as a result of that enterprise the chief suffered forfeiture. The estates, however, were restored in 1733.

Patrick, the ninth chief, who married Henrietta, a daughter of Grant of Rothiemurchus, undeterred by the misfortune which had overtaken his family on account of its previous efforts in the Jacobite cause, raised his clan for Prince Charles in the autumn of 1745. He was not in time to see the raising of the Prince’s standard at Glenfinnan, but he followed hotfoot to Edinburgh, where his clansmen formed a welcome reinforcement on the eve of the battle of Prestonpans. So eager was he, it is said, to inform Charles of the force he had brought to support the cause, that he did not wait to perform his toilet before seeking an interview. Charles is said to have thanked him warmly, and then, passing his hand over the rough chin of the warrior, to have remarked merrily that he could see his ardour was unquestionable since it had not even allowed him time to shave. Glenmoriston took the remark much amiss. Greatly offended, he turned away with the remark, "It is not beardless boys that are to win your Highness’ cause!"

This, however, was not the last the Prince was to know of Glenmoriston, or the last that Glenmoriston was to suffer for the cause of the Prince. When Culloden had been fought, and the Jacobite cause had been lost for ever, Charles in the darkest hours of his fate, wandering a hunted fugitive among the glens and mountains, found a shelter with the now famous outlaws, the Seven Men of Glenmoriston. Only one of them was a Grant, Black Peter, or Patrick, of Craskie, but it was in Grant’s country, and the seven men, any one of whom could at any moment have enriched himself beyond the dreams of avarice by betraying the Prince and earning the £30,000 set by Government upon his head, proved absolutely faithful. These men had seen their own possessions destroyed by the Red Soldiers because of the Prince, and they had seen seventy of the men of Glenmoriston, who had been induced by a false promise of the Butcher Duke of Cumberland, at the intercession of the Laird of Grant, to march to Inverness and lay down their arms, ruthlessly seized and shipped to the colonies as slaves, but they treated Charles with Highland hospitality in their caves of Coiraghoth and Coirskreaoch, and for that the Seven Men of Glenmoriston will have an honourable place for ever in Scottish history.

While the Prince was in hiding in the Braes of Glenmoriston, two of the Seven Men, out foraging for provisions, met Grant of Glenmoriston himself. The chief had had his house burned and his lands pillaged for his share in the rising, and he asked the two men if they knew what had become of the Prince, who, he heard, had passed the Braes of Knoydart. Even to him, however, they did not reveal the secret of the royal wanderer’s hiding. And when they asked the Prince himself whether he would care to see Glenmoriston, Charles said he was so well pleased with his present guard that he wanted no other.

In the first bill of attainder for the punishment of those who had taken part in the rebellion the name of Grant of Glenmoriston was included, but, probably at the instance of Lord President Forbes, it was afterwards omitted, and the chief retained his estates.

Patrick Grant’s son and successor, John, held a commission in the 42nd Highlanders, and highly distinguished himself during the brilliant service of that famous regiment in India, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He died at Glenmoriston in 1801. His elder son died while a minor, and was succeeded by his brother James Murray Grant. This chief married his cousin Henrietta, daughter of Cameron of Glennevis, and in 1821 succeeded to the estate of Moy, beside the Culbin Sands in Morayshire, as heir of entail to his kinsman Colonel Hugh Grant.

Thanks to James Pringle Weavers for the following information

GRANT: This clan are presumed to descend from Sir Laurence le Grant, Sheriff of Inverness c.1258, although a continuum of chiefship cannot be established until about 1453 when Sir Duncan Grant became 1st Laird of Freuchie. Successive chiefs consolidated vast lands in Strathspey and important cadet families developed at Ballindalloch, Gartinbeg, Kinchurdie, Tullochgorm and Rothiemurchus. More independent branches flourished at Corriemony, Sheuglie, and Glenmoriston, in Inverness-shire, and at Monymusk in Aberdeenshire. The lands of the 8th Laird of Freuchie were erected into the Regality of Grant in 1694, and the family thereafter bore the form 'Grant of Grant'. By marraige, and according to the laws of tanistry, descendants of the 8th Laird inherited the chiefship of the Colquhoun on the western shores of Loch Lomond with the proviso that the respective honours should remain distinct. The chiefs espoused the Hanoverian cause in the 1715 and 1745 Risings, but the Grants of Glenmoriston, and many in Glenurquhart, supported the Jacobites. In 1793, Sir James Grant raised the 1st Fencible Regiment, and the 97th Regiment the following year. His son, Lewis Alexander, inherited the estates and honours of the Earl of Seafield, and in 1858, the 7th Earl was created Baron Strathspey. Ian, 8th Earl, was succeeded by his uncle James, who was created Lord Strathspey in 1884. In 1704 the Grant clansmen were instructed to be ready to assemble in "tartan of red and greine sett broad springed" - the first reference to the clan's rich tartan heritage, which is further evidenced by the wealth of clan portraiture depicting its use. The red tartan recorded at Lyon Court in 1946 is much older, for it appears in a pattern book of 1819 with the note that 200 yards had been ordered by Patrick Grant of Redcastle as the tartan of his clan. The Black Watch sett is also worn as a hunting or "undress" tartan, such recalling the Grant involvement at the founding of that Regiment. The Wilson pattern book of 1819 also shows a most pleasing 'Hunting' pattern well worthy of revival. 


Loch Ardinning with the campsies and Ben Lomand in the background. Looking over the lands of the Clan Graham. (117100 bytes)
Loch Ardinning with the campsies and Ben Lomand in the background.
Looking over the lands of the Clan Graham.

Another version of the clan history...

Confusion has arisen over the origin of this clan. The Grants claim to belong to Siol Alpine and to be descended from Kenneth MacAlpine King of Scotland in the 9th Century. Others believe that the family were Normans who settled in Nottinghamshire on lands ajoined to the Bissets with whom they intermarried and then came north in the service of Henry III of England. The first record of the name in Scotland was Sir Lawrence Grant, Sheriff of Inverness in 1263. Iain Ruadh (Red John) G rant, Knight and Sheriff of Inverness in 1434 is the first chief from whom there was uninterrupted succession. From his sons descend the Grant of Tullochgorm and Freuchie. In 1663 the 7th Laird of Freuchie was created Earl of Strathspey. The fortunes of the Grants reached their peak after the revolution of 1689. As a reward for serving the cause of William of Orange, the barony of Freuchie was conferred semi-royal rights and privileges. In both 1715 and 1745, they fought for the Hanovarian cause, although many of the clansmen had Jacobite leanings. Sir James Grant founded Granton-on-Spey in 1766. In 1812 Sir Lewis Grant of Grant inherited the Earldom of Seafield. The principal cadet houses of the Strathspey Grants were Ballindalloch, Tullochgorm, Corrimony, Elchies, Mony musk and Rothiemurchus. The Grants of Glenmoriston descended from Iain Mor, natural son of the Laird of Freuchie and had a rather different history. They followed the Jacobite cause and Patrick Grant of Crasky was one of the "seven men of Glenmoriston" who guarded the Prince during his flight after Culloden.

Some interesting details from Stephen Grant

There is some confusion over the origin of this clan. It has long been held that the family were Normans who settled first in Nottinghamshire on lands adjoined to the Bissets with whom they intermarried and then came north in the service of Henry III of England. Recently however, serious doubt has been cast on this theory. Others claim the Grants belong to Siol Alpin and to be descended from Kenneth MacAlpin who united Scotland in the 9th Century and became the first King. Recent research tends to confirm this claim, indicating that the Clan originated in Scotland and mixed with Norse settlers long before the Normans invaded England, later migrating south to Nottinghamshire rather than north from Normandy.

The first record of the name in Scotland was Grigor Grant who became Sheriff of Inverness in 1214. Iain Ruadh (Red John) Grant, Knight and Sheriff of Inverness in 1434 is the first chief from whom there was uninterrupted succession. From his sons descend the Grant of Tullochgorm and Freuchie. In 1663 the 7th Laird of Freuchie was created Earl of Strathspey. The fortunes of the Grants reached their peak after the revolution of 1689. As a reward for serving the cause of William of Orange, the barony of Freuchie was conferred semi-royal rights and privileges. In both 1715 and 1745, they fought for the Hanovarian cause, although many of the clansmen had Jacobite leanings. Sir James Grant founded Granton-on-Spey in 1766. In 1812 Sir Lewis Grant of Grant inherited the Earldom of Seafield. The principal cadet houses of the Strathspey Grants were Ballindalloch, Tullochgorm, Corrimony, Elchies, Mony musk and Rothiemurchus. The Grants of Glenmoriston descended from Iain Mor, natural son of the Laird of Freuchie and had a rather different history. They followed the Jacobite cause and Patrick Grant of Crasky was one of the "seven men of Glenmoriston" who guarded the Prince during his flight after Culloden.

Phil Moody kindly provided us with this information

The Viking leader Earl Haakon of Trondelag, Lord High Protector of Norway, known today as King Haakon II, earned the name Haakon the Grandt after his legendary exploits and military strategy. He ruled Norway between 970 and 995, and was given the motto 'Stand Fast' after having defended himself in an ambush - tradition has it he was armed with a tree.

His son, Hemming, was converted to Christianity and with his wife Tora, was exiled from Norway and settled in Dub Linh, the Viking settlement we know today as Dublin. Hemming and Tora had six children, two daughters and four sons. The daughters, Gurrie and Astred, married and returned to Norway, where they built two churches 'within a fathom of each other' at Grandtsogn (Grant's Parish) near Christiana, now Oslo. The four sons went to Scotland in the early part of the eleventh century, and Allan, alias Andlaw, was the progenitor of the Clan. His son, Patrick, became Sheriff of Inverness, but there is then a gap in known history until the first Grant mentioned in official Scottish records - Gregor, who became Sheriff of Inverness in 1214. His had two sons, Lawrence and Robert.

Note from Electric Scotland
It might be of interest to note that Alastair McIntyre of Electric Scotland created the very first Clan Grant pages on the Web. It was also the very first clan page on the Web. It was with regret that the Chief of Clan Grant threatened legal action unless the page was taken down as it would of been of significant historical interest.  The page was created from a leaflet about Clan Grant that was sent to us by the society for the express purpose of creating the page. We still don't understand why the Chief of the clan decided to take such action and we did write back to explain the background but never got a reply. So just for historical purposes this is just to let you know that Clan Grant was the very first Clan to have a page on the Web :-)

You might also like to have a read at the book - In the Shadows of Cairngorm - where there is additional information on the Clan Grant.


Picture of Castle Grant Farmhouse and Entry Gate taken by Charles William Burton in 2007


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