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The clan Quarrie or Macquarrie is a clan held by
Skene to belong to the ancient stock of Alpine, their possessions being the small island
of Ulva, and a portion of Mull.
The Gaelic MS of 1450 deduces their descent from Guarie or Godfrey, called by the Highland
Sennachies, Gor or Gorbred, said to have been "a brother of Fingon, ancestor of the
Mackinnons, and Anrias or Andrew, ancestor of the Macgregors". This is the belief of
Mr Skene, who adds, "The history of the Macquarries resembles that of the Mackinnons
in many respects; like them they had migrated far from the head-quarters of their race,
they became dependent on the Lords of the Isles, and followed them as if they had become a
branch of the clan".
Mr Smibert, however, thinks this origin highly improbable, and is inclined to believe that
they constituted one branch of the Celto-Irish immigrants. "Their mere name", he
says, "connects them strongly with Ireland - the tribe of the Macquarries, Macquires,
Macquires (for the names are the same), being very numerous at this day in that island,
and having indeed been so at all times". We do not think he makes out a very strong
case in behalf of this origin.
According to a history of the family, by one of its members, in 1249 Cormac Mohr, then
"chief of Ulva's Isle", joined Alexander II, with his followers and three
galleys of sixteen oars each, in his expedition against the westerm islands, and after
that monarch's death in the Island of Kerrera, was attacked by Haco of Norway, defeated
and slain. His two sons, Allan and Gregor, were compelled to take refuge in Ireland, where
the latter, surnamed Garbh or the rough, is said to have founded the powerful tribe of the
MacGuires, the chief of which at one time possessed the title of Lord Inniskillen. Allan
returned to Scotland, and his descendant, Hector Macquarrie of Ulva, chief in the time of
Robert the Bruce, fought with his clan at Bannockburn.
The first chief of whom there is any notice in the public records was John Macquarrie of
Ulva, who died in 1473. His son, Dunslaff, was chief when the last Lord of the Isles was
forfeited twenty years afterwards. After that event, the Macquarries, like the other
vassal tribes of the Macdonalds, became independent. In was, however, they followed the
banner of their neighbour, Maclean of Dowart. With the latter, Dunslaff supported the
claims of Donald Dubh to the Lordship of the Isles, in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, and in 1504, "Macgorry of Ullowaa" was summoned, with some other
chiefs, before the Estates of the kingdom, to answer for his share in Donald Dubh's
rebellion.
His son, John Macquarrie of Ilva, was one of the thirteen chiefs who were denounced the
same year for carrying on a traitorous correspondence with the king of England, with the
view of transferring their allegiance to him.
Allan Macquarrie of Ulva was slain, with most of his followers, at the battle of
Inverkeithing against the English parliamentary troops, 20th July 1651, when the Scots
army was defeated, and a free passage opened to Cromwell to the whole north of Scotland.
According to tradition one of the chiefs of Ulva preserved his life and estate by the
exercise of a timely hospitality under the following circumstances:- Maclean of Dowart had
a natural son by a beautiful young women of his own clan, and the boy having been born in
a barn was named, from his birth-place, Allan-a-Sop, or Allan of the straw. The girl
afterwards became the wife of Maclean of Torloisk, residing in Mull, but though he loved
the mother he cared nothing for he boy, and when the latter came to see her, he was very
unkind to him. One morning the lady saw from her window her son approaching and hastened
to put a cake on the fire for his breakfast. Her husband noticed this, and snatching the
cake hot from the gridle, thrust in into his stepson's hands, forcibly clasping them on
the burning bread. The lad's hands were severely burnt, and in consequence he refrained
from going again to Toroisk. As he grew up Allan became a mariner, and joined the Danish
pirates who infested the western isles. From his courage he soon got the command of one
galley, and subsequently of a flotilla, and made his name both feared and famous. Of him
it may be said that:
"Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away,
He scoured the seas for many a day,
And now, grown rich with plunder'd store,
He steers his way for Scotland's shore".
The thought of his mother brough him back once more to the island of Mull, and one morning
he anchored his galleys in from of the house of Torloisk. His mother had been long dead,
but his stepfather hastened to the shore, and welcomed him with apparent kindness. The
crafty old man had a feud with Macquarrie of Ulva, and thought this a favourable
opportunity to execute his vengeance on that chief. With this object he suggested to Allan
that it was time he should settle on land, and said that he could easily get possession of
the island of Ulva, by only putting to death the laird, who was old and useless. Allan
agreed to the proposal, and, setting sail next morning, appeared before Macquarrie's
house. The chief of Ulva was greatly alarmed when he saw the pirate galleys, but he
resolved to receive their commander hospitably, in the hope that good treatment would
induce him to go away, without plundering his house or doing him any injury. He caused a
splendid feast to be prepared, and welcomed Allan to Ulva with every appearance of
sincerity. After feasting together the whole day, in the evening the pirate-chief, when
about to retire to his ships, thanked the chief for his entertainment, remarking, at the
same time, that is had cost him dear. "How so?" said Macquarrie, "when I
bestowed this entertainment upon you in free good will". "It is true", said
Allan, who, notwithstanding his being a pirate, seems to have been of a frank and generous
disposition, "but it has disarranged all my plans, and quite altered the purpose for
which I came hither, which was to put you to death, seize your castle and lands, and
settle myself here in your stead". Macquarrie replied that he was sure such a
suggestion was not his own, but must have originated with his stepfather, old Torloisk,
who was his personal enemy. He then reminded him that he had made an indifferent husband
to his mother, and was a cruel stepfather to himself, adding, "Consider this matter
better, Allan, and you will see that the estate and harbour of Torloisk lie as
converniently for you as those of Ulva, and if you must make a settlement by force, it is
much better you should do so at the expense of the old churl, who never showed you
kindness, than of a friend like me who always loved and honoured you".
Allan-a-Sop, rememebering his scorched fingers, straightaway sailed back to Rorloisk, and
meeting his stepfather, who came eagerly expecting to hear of Macquarrie's death, thus
accosted him: "You hoary old villan, you instigated me to murder a better man than
yourself. Have you forgotten how you scorched my fingers twenty years ago with a burning
cake? The day has come when that breakfast must be paid for". So saying, with one
stroke of his battle-axe he cut down his stepfather, took possession of his castle and
property, and established there that branch of the clan Maclean afterwards represented by
Mr Clephane Maclean.
Hector, brother of Allan Macquarrie of Ulva, and second son of Donald the twelfth chief of
the Macquarries, by his wife, a daughter of Lauchlan oig Maclean, founder of the Macleans
of Torloisk, obtained from his father the lands of Ormaig in Ulva, and was the first of
the Macquarries of Ormaig. This family frequently intermarried with the Macleans, both of
Lochbuy and Dowart. Lauchlan, Donald's third son, was ancestor of the Macquarries of
Laggan, and John, the fourth son, of those of Ballighartan.
Lauchlan Macquarrie of Ulva, the sixteenth chief in regular succession, was compelled to
dispose in regular succession, was compelled to dispose of his lands for behoof or his
creditors, and in 1778, at the age of 63, he entered the army. He served in the American
war, and died in 1818, at the age of 103, without male issue. He was the last chief of the
Macquarries, and was the proprietor of Ulva when Dr Samuel Johnson and Mr Boswell visited
that island in 1773.
A large portion of the ancient patrimonial property was repurchased by General Macquarrie,
long governor of New South Wales, and from whom Macquarie county, Macquarrie river, and
Port Macquarrie in that colony, Macquarrie's harbour, and Macquarrie's island in the South
Pacific, derive their name. He was the eldest cadet of his family, and was twice married,
first, to Miss Baillie of Jerviswood, and secondly, to a daughter of Sir John Campbell of
Airds, by whom he had an only son, Lauchlan, who died without issue.
Another Account of the Clan
BADGE: Giuthas (pinus
sylvestris) pine.
SLOGAN: An t-Arm breac dearg.
PIBROCH: An t-Arm breac dearg.
 IN
Scottish school-books there used to be, and perhaps there is yet, no more
popular poem than "Lord Ullin’s Daughter." One would seek far
for a Scotsman who does not know the lines:
A chieftain to the Highlands
bound
Cries, "Boatman, do not tarry,
And I’ll give thee a silver pound
To row us o’er the ferry."
"Now who be ye, would
cross Lochgyle,
This dark and stormy water? "
"O I’m the chief of Ulva’s isle,
And this Lord UIlin’s daughter."
Thomas Campbell got the inspiration for the
poem when resident as a tutor near Crinan on the west coast of Knapdale,
where every day before his eyes raged the stormy waters of the Sound of
Jura, and he could almost hear the roar of the famous whirlpool of
Corrievreckan. Whether he had in his mind any actual tradition of these
legend-haunted shores is not known, but, so far as the present writer is
aware, there is no incident to correspond with the poem in the actual
history of the MacQuaries, who were " Chiefs of Ulva’s Isle."
The island of Ulva itself, with its
wonderful columnar terraces, lies on the west coast of Mull, in the great
bay which has for its inner continuation the beautiful Loch na Real,
immortalised as Lochgyle in Campbell’s poem. From time immemorial this
island was the home of the MacQuarie chiefs. Like the MacGregors of the
central Highlands, whose exploits and sufferings are so much better known,
those chiefs could make the proud boast, "Is Rioghal mo dhream,"
"my race is royal," for both traced their descent from Gregor,
son of Alpin, king of Scots, who was beheaded by the Picts, in sight of
his own army, on Dundee Law in the year 837. The second son of Gregor was
named Cor or Gor-bred, Latinised as Godfredus or Godfrey, and transmitted
by the Culdee chroniclers as MacGotherie, MacGofra, and MacGorrie. The
proper Gaelic spelling is said to be MacGuarai, and from this are derived
the common modern forms of MacQuarie in Scotland and MacGuaran or MacGuire
in Ireland.
In the chapel of St. Oran
on lona is still to be seen the effigy of one of the ancient MacQuarie
chiefs. It is of unknown date, but is executed in superior style, and the
mere fact of its existence among the tombs of kings and chiefs in that
most sacred shrine declares that at one period the MacQuaries were among
the notables of first importance in the Western Isles.
The great man of the race
in early times appears to have been Cormac Mor, who was Chief in the reign
of Alexander II. When that king was making his great endeavour, in the
middle of the thirteenth century, to overthrow the Norwegian power in the
Western Highlands and Isles, he was joined by Cormac with a force of three
birlinns or galleys of sixteen oars each. This loyalty to the Scottish
king brought disaster upon the MacQuarie chief. On Alexander’s death at
Dalrigh in the island of Kerrera in 1249, his great expedition to
"plant his standard on the walls of Thurso " was abandoned, and
those among the islesmen who had taken his side were left to the vengeance
of their neighbours who supported Norway. MacQuarie was attacked,
defeated, and slain, and his island domain subjected to all the horrors of
western savagery of that time. From the general slaughter and ruin the
chief’s two sons, Alan and Gregor, found refuge in Ireland. The latter
settled in that country, and the name of his descendants there is said
alternatively to be derived from the personal characteristic from which he
was surnamed, of "garbh," or the rough. This Irish branch
afterwards, under the Earls of Enniskillin, became exceedingly powerful in
the sister isle.
Meantime in Scotland itself
the tables had been turned by the defeat of the Norwegian King Hakon at
the battle of Largs in 1263, and the MacQuarie chief was enabled to come
to his own again. In the wars of Bruce for the independence of Scotland,
Eachuin, or Hector, who was chief at that time, consistently with the
tradition of his family, took the patriotic side, and led his clan at the
battle of Bannockburn. The same thing cannot be said, however, of the
later chiefs of the sixteenth century. Another Eachuin, who was chief in
the days of James IV., was among the turbulent islesmen whom that king was
forced to take strong measures to bring to obedience, and made more than
one personal expedition to the Hebrides to subdue. The judicial records of
1504 contain repeated summonses to "MacCorry of Ullowaa" to
appear before Parliament to answer a charge of rebellion. MacQuarry, in
his distant island fastness, laughed at these summonses, and no serious
effort to arrest him seems ever to have been made by Government. In 1517,
four years after the battle of Flodden and the death of James, when the
country was occupied by the bickerings of the Douglases and other families
who sought power by obtaining possession of the person of the Queen-Mother
and the boy-king James V., Lachlan MacLean of Duart took occasion to
secure a remission for his misdeeds, and at the same time stipulated for a
similar favour to the Chief of Ulva’s Isle."
This chief married a
daughter of MacNiel of Tainish, and the bride’s dowry, which remains on
record, reflects a curious light on the tastes and social circumstances of
the time. It consisted of a piebald horse, with two men and two women. The
latter appear to have kept somewhat to themselves amid their new
surroundings on Ulva, and their descendants were long recognised there as
a separate race.
In 1545, during the
childhood of Queen Mary, when Henry VIII. was making a strong effort to
harass and overthrow the Scottish Government, Donald MacQuarie, son of the
last-named Chief, was one of thirteen heads of clans denounced for
entering into traitorous correspondence with the English king. Henry’s
schemes, however, came to nothing, and in the disturbed state of Scotland
at that time nothing appears to have been done to punish the island chief.
It was probably during that
troubled century that the incident occurred which is still commemorated in
the name of a wild headland on the south coast of Mull. One of the
Maclaine chiefs of Lochbuie, the tradition runs, had seized a certain
Gorry or MacGorrie, and inflicted upon him an unusually severe punishment
by flogging. When the punishment was over, and MacGorrie was restored to
liberty, he took a fearful vengeance. Seizing Lochbuie’s infant son and
heir he rushed to the top of the precipice, where he threatened to throw
the child over unless Lochbuie consented to undergo the same chastisement
as he had suffered. In the midst of all his clansmen the agonised parent
was forced to bare his back and submit to the torture, his exulting enemy,
when the blows slackened, constantly shouting out "More! More! "
When at last Maclaine sank fainting under the stripes, and MacGorry’s
vengeance seemed complete, he turned, and, the boy in his arms, with a
yell leapt over the precipice to destruction. From this incident the
headland is still known as Gorrie’s Leap.
To the same period belongs
the story of the famous pirate of the Island seas, Alan a Sop. Alan was
the natural son of Maclean of Duart by a beautiful girl of his clan. She
afterwards married Maclean of Torloisk on the western coast of Mull.
Torloisk treated his stepson badly, and on one occasion thrust into his
hands a burning cake which his mother was baking for him, so that he fled
from the house. Years afterwards, having become the chief of a pirate
flotilla, and hearing his mother was dead, he returned to avenge himself
on his cruel stepfather. The crafty Torloisk, however, received him well,
and, gaining his goodwill, suggested that he should attack and slay
Macquarie of Ulva, and seize that island. By this means he hoped to get
rid of Macquarie, against whom he had a grudge. The Chief of Ulva,
however, also received Alan hospitably, and when the latter, on leaving,
said the hospitality had cost him dear, and confessed what his errand had
been, Macquarie turned the tables on his enemy, Torloisk, by reminding
Alan of the incident of the burning cake, and suggesting this as a proper
object of vengeance. Thereupon the pirate returned to Mull, brained
Torloisk with a battle-axe as he came down the beach to hear of Macquarie’s
death, and took possession of his estate.
In the seventeenth century
Donald’s son, Alan, took part on the side of Charles II. in the attempt
of that young monarch to recover for himself his father’s throne in
Scotland. After the defeat of the Covenanting army by Cromwell at Dunbar,
Charles had been crowned by Argyll at Scone, and assuming personal command
of the Scottish army, had held Cromwell at bay before Stirling for a
month. The Protector then tried the plan of turning the Scottish flank by
sending a force under Colonel Overton into Fife. To defeat this attempt
Charles sent forward a contingent under two officers, Holborn and Brown,
and a battle took place on the north shore of the Forth at Inverkeitbing.
In that encounter Holborn showed himself a knave and perhaps a traitor,
and though Brown fought bravely, he was defeated and his force was cut to
pieces. Among those who fell was Alan MacQuarie, with most of his
followers from far-off Ulva.
From that time the fortunes
of the MacQuarie Chiefs seem to have taken a downward turn. The last of
the line to inherit Ulva was Lachlan, the sixteenth chief. In 1778,
finding his financial embarrassments overpowering, he sold his estates to
pay his debts, and though sixty-three years of age, entered the army. He
died in 1818 at the great age of 103.
The greatest of the race,
however, was still to play his part in history. Major-General Lachlan
MacQuarie was either the eldest son or the nearest cadet of the sixteenth
Chief. Entering the army in 1777 he saw active service in India as the
sieges of Cannanore and Seringapatam, and from 1809 till 1821 was Governor
of New South Wales. There he became famous by encouraging exploration, by
ameliorating the condition of the convicts, by the erection of public
buildings and works, and by laying out the town of Sydney. In his honour
the rivers Lachlan and Macquarie received their names, as well as an
island south of Tasmania discovered in 1811. His policy regarding the
convicts, however, was severely criticised in the House of Commons, and he
was recalled in 1821. Then he bought back Ulva, and when he died in London
in 1824 his body was carried north and buried with his ancestors. He
married, first, Miss Baillie of Jerviswood, and secondly, a daughter of
John Campbell of Airds, and he was succeeded by Lachlan, his son by the
latter. Lachlan, however, died without issue, and the estate of Ulva
passed to another name.
Septs of Clan MacQuarie:
MacCorrie, MacGauran, MacGorrie, MacGuire, Macquaire, Macquhirr, Macquire,
MacWhirr, Wharrie. |
