Clan Stewart

It is not our intention here by any means to enter into the general history of the Stewarts but simply to give a short account of those branches of the family which were located in the Highlands, and to a certain extent were regarded as Highland clans. With regard to the origin of the Stewarts generally, we shall content ourselves with making use of Mr Fraser's excellent summary in the introduction to his "Red Book of Grandtully".

Walter, the son of Alan or Fitz-Alan, the founder of the royal family of the Stewarts, being the first of that family who established himself in Scotland, came from Shropshire, in England. Walter's elder brother, William, was progenitor of the family of Fitz-Alan, Earls of Arundel. Their father, a Norman, married, soon after the Norman Conquest, the daughter of Warine, sheriff of Shropshire. He acquired the manor of Ostvestrie or Oswestry in Shropshire, on the Welsh border. On the death of Henry I of England, in 1135, Walter and William strenuously supported the claims of the Empress Maud, thus raising themselves high in the favour of her uncle, David I, king of Scots. When that king, in 1141, was obliged to retire to Scotland, Walter probably then accompanied him, encouraged, on the part of the Scottish monarch, by the most liberal promises, which were faithfully fulfilled; whilst his brother William remained in England, and was rewarded by Maud's son, Henry II of England. From the munificence of King David I Walter obtained large grants of land in Renfrewshire and in other places, together with the hereditary office Senescallus Scocioe, lord high-steward of Scotland, an office from which his grandson, Walter, took the name Stewart, which the family ever afterwards retained. King Malcolm IV, continuing, after the example of his grandfather, King David, to extend the royal favour towards this English emigrant, confirmed and ratified to Walter and his heirs the hereditary office of high steward of Scotland, and the numerous lands which King David I had granted. In the annals of the period, Walter is celebrated as the founder, probably about 1163, of the monastry of Paisley, in the barony of Renfrew. At or after the time of his establishing himself in Scotland, Walter was followed to that kingdom by many English families from Shropshire, who settling in Renfrewshire, obtained lands there as vassals of the Stewarts. Walter married Eschina de Londonia, Lady of Moll, in Roxburghshire, by whom he had a son, Alan; and dying in 1177, he was succeeded in his estates and office as hereditary steward of Scotland by that son.

Having thus pointed out the true origin of the family of Stewarts, our subject does not require us to trace the subsequent history of the main line.

Walter's son and successor, Alan, died in 1204, leaving a son, Walter, who was appointed by Alexander II justiciary of Scotland, in addition to his hereditary office of high-steward. He died in 1246, leaving four sons and three daughters. Walter, the third son, was Earl of Menteith. The eldest son, Alexander, married Jean, daughter and heiress of James, lord of Bute, and, in her right, he seized both the Isles of Bute and than of Arran.

Alexander had two sons - James, his successor, and John, known as Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, who fell at the battle of Falkirk in 1298. Sir John Stewart had seven sons. 1. Sir Alexander, ancestor of the Stewarts, Earls of Angus; 2. Sir Alan of Dreghorn, of the Earls and Dukes of Lennox, of the name of Stewart; 3. Sir Walter, of the Earls of Galloway; 4. Sir James, of the Earls of Athole, Buchan, and Traquair, and the Lords of Lorn and Innermeath; 5. Sir John, killed at Halidonhill in 1333; 6. Sir Hugh, who fought in Ireland under Edward Bruce; 7. Sir Robert of Daldowie.

James, the elder son of Alexander, succeeded as fifth high-steward in 1283. On the death of Alexander III in 1286, he was one of the six magnates of Scotland chosen to act as regents of the kingdom. He died in the service of Bruce, in 1309.

His son Walter, the sixth high-steward, when only twnty-one years of age, commanded with Douglas the left wing of the Scots army at the battle of Bannockburn. King Robert bestowed his daughter, the Princess Marjory, in marriage upon him, and from them the royal house of Stuart and the present dynasty of Great Britain are descended.

His son, Robert, seventh lord-high-steward, had been declared heir presumptive to the throne in 1318, but the birth of a son to Bruce in 1326 interrupted his prospects for a time. From his grandfather he received large possessions of land in Kintyre. During the long and disastrous reign of David II the steward acted a patriotic part in the defence of the kingdom. On the death of David, without issue, February 22d, 1371, the steward, who was at that time fifty-five years of age, succeeded to the crown as Robert II, being the first of the family of Stewart who ascended the throne of Scotland.

The direct make line of the elder branch of the Stewarts terminated with James V, and at the accession of James VI, whose descent on his father's side was through the Earl of Lennox, the head of the second branch, there did not exist a male offset of the family which had sprung from an individual later than Robert II. Widely as some branches of the Stewarts have spread, and numerous as are the families of this name, there is not a lineal male representative of any of the crowned heads of the race, Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, who died in 1807, having been the last.

The male representation or chiefship of the family is claimed by the Earl of Galloway; as also, by the Stewarts of Castlemilk.

The first and principal seat of the Stewarts was in Renfrewshire, but branches of them penetrated into the Western Highlands and Perthshire, and acquiring territories there, became founders of distinct families of the name. Of these the principal were the Stewarts of Lorn, the Stewarts of Athole, and the Stewarts of Balquhidder, from one or other of which all the rest have been derived. How the Stewarts of Lorn acquired that district is told in our account of clan Macdougall. The Stewarts of Lorn were descended from a natural son of John Stewart, the late Lord of Lorn, who, with the assistance of the MacLarens, retained forcible possession of part of his father's estates.

From this family sprang the Stewarts of Appin, who, with the Athole branches, were considered in the Highlands as forming the clan Stewart. The badge of the original Stewarts was the oak, and of the royal Stuarts the thistle.

In the end of the fifteenth century, the Stewarts of Appin were vassals of the Earl of Argyll in his lordship of Lorn. In 1493 the chief was Dougal Stewart, the natural son of John Stewart, the last Lord of Lorn, and Isabella, eldest daughter of the first Earl of Argyll. The assassination of Campbell of Calder, guardian of the young Earl of Argyll, in February 1592, caused a feud between the Stewarts of Appin and the Campbells, the effects of which were long felt. During the civil wars, the Stewarts of Appin ranged themselves under the banners of Montrose, and at the battle of Inverlochy, 2d February 1645, rendered good service. They and the cause which they upheld were opposed by the Campbells, who possessed the north side of the same parish, a small rivulet called Con Ruagh, or red bog, being the dividing line of their lands.

The Stewarts of Appin, under their chief, Robert Stewart, engaged in the rebellion of 1715, when they brought 400 men into the field. They were also "out" in 1745, under Stewart of Ardshiel, 300 strong; some lands in Appin were forfeited then, but were afterwards restored. The principal family is extinct, and their estate has passed to others, chiefly to a family of the name of Downie. There are still, however, many branches of this tribe remaining in Appin. The chief cadets are the families of Ardshiel, Invernahyle, Auchnacrone, Fasnacloich, and Balachulish.

Between the Stewarts of Invernahyle and the Campbells of Dunstaffnage there existed a bitter feud, and about the beginning of the sixteenth century the former family were all cut off but one child, the infant son of Stewart of Invernahyle, by the chief of Dunstaffnage, called Cailein Uaine, "Green Colin". The boy's nurse fled with him to Ardnamurchan, where her husband, the blacksmith of the district, resided. The latter brought him up to his own trade, and at sixteen years of age he could wield two forehammers at once, one in each hand, on the anvil, which acquired for him the name of Domhnull nan ord "Donald of the hammers". Having made a two-edged sword for him, his foster-father, on presenting it, told him of his birth and lineage, and of the event which was the cause of his being brought to Ardnamurchan. Burning with a desire for vengeance, Donald set off with twelve of his companions, for each of whom, at a smithy at Corpach in Lochaber, he forged a two-edged sword. He then proceeded direct to Dunstaffnage, where he slew Green Colin and fifteen of his retainers. Having recovered his inheritance, he ever after proved himself "the unconquered foe of the Campbell". The chief of the Stewarts of Appin being, at the time, a minor, Donald of the hammers was appointed tutor of the clan. He commanded the Stewarts of Appin at the battle of Pinkie in 1547, and on their return homewards from that disastrous field, in a famishing condition, they found in a house at the church of Port of Menteith, some fowls roasting for a marriage party. These they took fro the spit, and greedily devoured. They then proceeded on their way. The Earl of Monteith, one of the marriage guests, on being apprised of the circumstance, pursued them, and came up with them at a place called Tobernareal. To a taunt from one of the earl's attendants, one of the Stewarts replied by an arrow through the heart. In the conflict that ensued, the earl fell by the ponderour arm of Donald of the hammers, and nearly all his followers were killed.

The Stewarts of Athole almost entirely of the descendants, by his five illegitimate sons, of Sir Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, called, from his ferocity, "The wolf of Badenoch", the fourth son of Robert II, by his first wife, Elizabeth More. One of his natural sons, Duncan Stewart, whose disposition was as ferocious as his father's, at the head of a vast number of wild Catherans, armed only with the sword and target, descended from the range of hills which divides the counties of Aberdeen and Forfar, and began to devastate the country and murder the inhabitants. Sir Walter Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, immediately collected a force to repel them, and a desperate conflict took place at Gasklune, near the water of Isla, in which the former were overpowered, and most of them slain.

James Stewart, another of the Wolf of Badenoch's natural sons, was the ancestor of the family of Stewart of Garth, from which proceed almost all the other Athole Stewarts. The Garth family became extinct in the direct line, by the death of General David Stewart, author of "Sketches of the Highlanders". The possessions of the Athole Stewarts lay mainly on the north side of Loch Tay.

The Balquhidder Stewarts derive their origin from illegitimate branches of the Albany family.

The Stewarts or Steuarts of Grandtully, Perthshire, are descended from James Stewart of Pierston and Warwickhill, Ayrshire, who fell at Halidon Hill in 1333, fourth son of Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, son of Alexander, fourth lord-high-steward of Scotland, who died in 1283.

James Stewart's son was Sir Robert Stewart of Shambothy and Innermeath, whose son, Sir John Stewart, was the first of the Stewarts of Lorn. The fourth son of the latter, Alexander Stewart, was ancestor of the Stewarts of Grandtully. "On the resignation of his father, Sir John (apparently the first Stewart of Grandtully), he received a charter from Archibald, Earl of Douglas, of the ands of Grandtully, Kyltilich, and Aberfeldy, 30th March 1414. He married Margaret, sister of John Hay of Tulliebodie".

Of this family was Thomas Stewart of Balcaskie, Fifeshire, a lord of session, created a baronet of Nova Scotia, June 2, 1683. He was cousin, through his father, of John Stewart, thirteenth of Grandtully, who died without issue in 1720, and was succeeded by Sir Thomas's son, Sir George Stewart, who also died without issue. He was succeeded by his brother, Sir John Stewart, third baronet, an officer of rank in the army, who married, 1st Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir James Mackenzie of Royston, and had by her an only surviving son, Sir John, fourth baronet; 2dly, Lady Jane Douglas, only daughter of James Marquis of Douglas, and his son, by her, Archibald Stewart, after a protracted litigation, succeeded to the immense estates of his uncle, the last Duke of Douglas, and assuming that name, was created a peer of the United Kingdom, by the title of Baron Douglas. Sir John Stewart married, 3dly, Helen, a daughter of the fourth Lord Elibank, without issue. He died in 1764.

His son, Sir John, fourth baronet, died in 1797.

Sir John's eldest son, Sir George, fifth baronet, married Catherine, eldest daughter of John Drummond, Esq., of Logie Almond, and died in 1827, leaving five sons and two daughters.

The eldest son, Sir Johm, sixth baronet, died without issue, May 20, 1838.

His brother, Sir William Drummond Steuart, born December 26, 1795, succeeded as seventh baronet. He married in 1830, and had a son William George, Captain 93d Highlanders, born in February 1831, and died October 1868. Sir William died April 28, 1871, and was succeeded by his youngest brother Archibald Douglas, born August 29, 1807.

The Stewarts of Drumin, Banffshire, now Belladrum, Inverness-shire, trace their descent from Sir William Stewart of Strathaven, knighted for his services at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, one of the illegitimate sons of the Wold of Badenoch, and consequently of royal blood.

The Stewarts of Ardvoirlich, Perthshire, are descended from James Stewart, called James the Gross, fourth and only surviving son of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, beheaded in 1425. On the ruin of his family he fled to Ireland, where, by a lady of the name of Macdonald, he had seven sons and one daughter. James II created Andrew, the eldest son, Lord Avandale.

James, the third son, ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvoirlich, married Annabel, daughter of Buchanan of that ilk.

His son, William Stewart, who succeeded him, married Mariota, daughter of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, and had several children. From one of his younger sons, John, the family of Stewart of Glenbuckie, and from another, that of Stewart of Gartnaferaran, both in Perthshire, were descended.

His eldest son, Walter Stewart, succeeded his father, and married Euphemia, daughter of James Reddoch of Cultobraggan, comptroller of the household of James IV.

His son, Alexander Stewart of Ardvourlich, married Margaret, daughter of Drummond of Drummond Erinoch, and had two sons, James, his successor, and John, ancestor of the Perthshire families of Stewart of Annat, Stewart of Ballachallan, and Stewart of Craigtoun.

The family of Steuart of Dalguise, Perthshire, are descended from Sir John Stewart of Arntullie and Cardneys, also designed of Dowallie, the youngest natural son of King Robert II of Scotland, by Marion or Mariota de Cardney, daughter of John de Cardney of that ilk, sister of Robert Cardney, bishop of Dunkeld from 1396 to 1436.

The Steuarts of Ballechin, in the same county, are descended from Sir John Stewart, an illegitimate son of King James II of Scotland. Having purchased the lands of Sticks in Glenquaich from Patrick Cardney of that ild, he got a charter of those lands from King James III, dated in december 1486. The family afterwards acquired the lands of Ballechin.

There are many other Stewart families throughout Scotland, but as we are concerned only with these which can be considered Highland, it would be beyond our province to notice any more. The spelling of this name seems very capticious: the royal spelling is Stuart, while most families spell it Stewart, and a few Steuart and Steuard. We have endeavored always to give the spelling adhered to by the various families whom we have noticed.

Another Account of the Clan

BADGES: Royal—Cluaran (carduus) thistle. Clan—Darach (Quercus robur) oak.
SLOGAN: Creag-an-Sgairbh.
PIBROCH: Earrach an ‘aigh’s a’ ghleann, and Creag-an-Sgairbh.

WHEN Shakespeare, in writing Macbeth, paid his great compliment to King James VI. and I., he was drawing attention to the popular tradition that the monarch’s lineage was at least as far descended as that of the English nobiliity whose ancestors "came over with William the Conqueror." Whether the Stewarts were really descended from Banquo, Thane of Lochaber in the eleventh century, may be disputed, but there can be no question of their descent from Walter Fitz-Alan, the Shropshire knight whom David I. settled at Renfrew about the year 1138. [Walter’s elder brother William was the progenitor of the Earls of Arundel; his younger brother, Simon, of the Boyds, Earls of Kilmarnock and now Earls of Erroll.]

For exactly another hundred years the great struggle went on, till in 1263, Walter’s great-grandson, Alexander, now Lord High Steward of Scotland, finally overthrew the Norsemen under their king Hakon, at the battle of Largs.

Alexander’s son James, who died in 1309, was the fifth High Steward or Stewart. From his brother, Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, who fell fighting along with Wallace for the cause of Scottish independence at the battle of Falkirk in 1298, a number of famous Scottish families took their origin. The line of his eldest son, Sir Alexander, became Earls of Angus, and ended in a female who carried the earldom to the Douglases, who are Earls of Angus and Dukes of Hamilton at the present day. From his second son, Sir Alan Stewart of Darnley, descended the Stewart Earls of Lennox, whose heir, Lord Darnley married Mary Queen of Scots, and became ancestor of the later Stewart kings. From Sir Alan also descended the Earls of Galloway, who are chiefs of the Stewarts at the present hour. From Bonkyl’s fourth son came the Stewarts of Innermeath in Strathearn, from whom descended the Stewart Lords of Lorn, the Stewarts of Murthly and Grandtully, the Stewart Earls of Athol, and the Stewarts of Appin. And from Bonkyl’s sixth son, Sir Robert, came the Stewarts of Allanton and their cadets.

Meantime Bonkyl’s nephew, Walter, the sixth High Stewart, had greatly distinguished himself in the cause of King Robert the Bruce, at the great battle of Bannockburn, and at the heroic defence of Berwick, and as a reward had received the hand of Bruce’s only daughter, the Princess Marjory. Their married life was short. As she rode by the Knock between Renfrew and Paisley, Marjory was thrown from her horse and killed, and the life of her infant was only saved by the cesarean operation. The spot was long marked by a monolith known as Queen Bleary’s Stone. The boy lived, however, and though he inherited his mother’s weakness of the eyes, played a heroic part in Scottish history. From that old possession of his family, the island of Bute, which his ancestor had won from the Norsemen, he sallied forth to attack Dunoon and overthrow the entire conquest of Edward Baliol, and when he came to the throne as King Robert II. in 1371 he had earned it by his sword almost as heroically as his grandfather Robert the Bruce himself.

It is a point which has not been sufficiently noted by Scottish historians that from the two marriages of Robert II. a large proportion of the later troubles of the Stewart kings and of the kingdom of Scotland took rise. For centuries it was questioned whether his first union, with Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan, had ever been legitimised. In consequence the descendants of his second wife, Euphemia Ross, again and again made claim to the throne. From this cause arose directly the murder of King James I. in 1437 and the Douglas wars against James II. in 1450. James I. was slain by the descendants of King Robert’s second wife, whom he had dispossessed of the royal earldom of Strathearn; and the ambition of the Earls of Douglas was directly stimulated by the fact that they had inherited the claims of the family of Euphemia Ross and of the earlier great house of Comyn.

Other of the troubles of Scotland arose from the family arrangements of King Robert II. in another way. One of his daughters, Margaret, he married to John, Lord of the Isles, and as John was already married to his cousin Amy, he made him put her away, granted him a charter of her lands, and made the title and great possessions of the Lord of the Isles to descend to his own grandchildren, Margaret’s sons. From this arrangement came endless trouble. Not even yet has it been settled absolutely whether Glengarry or Clanranald, the descendants of John’s first wife, or Macdonald of the Isles, the descendant of his second wife, is the rightful Chief of the Macdonalds. From the first also there was trouble among the sons and grandsons of Robert II. His eldest son, King Robert III., whose real name was John, was practically displaced by his brother Robert, Duke of Albany, who first starved the king’s eldest son to death at Falkland, and then secured the capture and imprisonment of the second son in England. And by way of reprisals, when he returned from his captivity, that second son, James I., sent to the block the Duke’s son and grandsons who had succeeded to Albany’s usurpation. Meanwhile the north of Scotland had been laid waste by the wars between the Duke of Albany and his sister a son, Donald of the Isles, for possession of the rich Earldom of Ross—wars which only came to an end with the terrific and bloody battle of Harlaw, fought near Aberdeen in 1411.

The leaders in that conflict were Donald of the Isles himself and his cousin Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar. The latter had obtained his earldom by slaying the husband of Isabel, Countess of Mar, and then marrying the lady. He was a natural son of the fierce "Wolf of Badenoch," Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, third son of King Robert II., who is remembered solely by his lawless deeds in the north, the burning of Forres and Elgin, and countless other oppressions. He had many illegitimate children, and many of the name of Stewart in Atholl and Banffshire are his descendants.

A notable Stewart family in the south, that of Bute, is directly descended from Robert II. himself. On succeeding to the throne, that king appointed his natural son, Sir John Stewart of Dundonald, known as the Red Stewart, to be Constable of Rothesay Castle and Hereditary Sheriff of Bute, thus handing to his son and that son’s descendants in perpetuity the islands which had been captured by the sword of his ancestor, Walter Fitz-Alan, the first of the Stewarts. After the execution of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and two of his sons at the instance of James I. in 1425, a third son who had escaped took vengeance by burning Dunbarton, and in it this same Red Stewart of Dundonald, uncle of the king. But Sir John Stewart’s direct descendant is Marquess of Bute at the present hour.

Two of the sons of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, also left natural sons. Of them, Walter Stewart of Morphy, son of Sir Walter Stewart, beheaded at Stirling, became ancestor of the Earls of Castle-Stuart in Ireland, and also, by the marriage of a descendant to the daughter of the Regent Earl of Moray, half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots, became ancestor of the Earls of Moray of to-day. Another of Duke Murdoch’s sons, Sir James Mohr Stewart, had a natural son, James "beg" Stewart of Baldorran, who became ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich on Lochearnside, whose family history is recounted by Sir Walter Scott in A Legend of Montrose.

Most romantic of all the memories of the Stewarts, however, is probably that connected with the settlement of the race in Lorn, Appin, and Atholl. On the death of Ewen, Lord of Lorn, of the days of Robert II., his estates passed to his daughters and co-heiresses. These daughters had married two brothers, John and Robert Stewart of Innermeath, descendants of the fourth son of Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, already referred to. These two brothers made a bargain. Robert gave up his wife’s share of Lorn in exchange for his brother’s share of Innermeath. Sir John Stewart who thus relinquished his share of Innermeath and became Lord of all Lorn, had a second son Sir James, known as the Black Knight of Lorn. After the assassination of James I. at the Charterhouse of Perth in 1437, this Black Knight married the widowed Queen Joan, and they had a son, John, who was of course half-brother to the king, James II. When that king in 1450 finally overthrew the last Earl of Douglas, he found a fair Lady on his hands. This lady, known from her beauty as the Fair Maid of Galloway, was the heiress to all the great Douglas estates, and, as a child, had been married in succession by William, Earl of Douglas, whom James stabbed in Stirling Castle, and his brother, Earl James, who was overthrown at Arkinholme. While Earl James fled into exile in England, from which he was only to return to die a monk at Lindores, the king procured a divorce for his fair young wife, and married her to his own half-brother, John, son of Queen Joan and the Black Knight of Lorn. He conferred upon the pair the Douglas lordship of Balveny, and they became presently Earl and Countess of Atholl. The Earl played a distinguished part in three reigns. On the death of the fifth Stewart Earl of Atholl, in 1595, the title passed first to Stewart of Innermeath, and afterwards, on the Innermeath line becoming extinct, to John Murray, son of the eldest daughter of the fifth Earl, by his marriage with the second Earl of Tullibardine. The direct descendant of that union is Duke of Atholl at the present day.

The Chief of the Appin Stewarts is now Robert Bruce Stewart, a lawyer in London.

From Alexander, younger brother of the Black Knight of Lorn, are descended the Stewarts of Grandtully below Aberfeldy in Perthshire. It was Sir James Stewart of Grandtully who, before he succeeded to the family title and estates, ran away with Lady Jane, sister of the first and last Duke of Douglas, and whose son by her was the claimant in the great Douglas Cause. The House of Lords declared Archibald Stewart to be really Lady Jane’s son, and he accordingly came into possession of the great Douglas estates, and was created Lord Douglas by George III.

Of the main line of the Stewarts, as represented by the kings of that name, the history is too well known to need recounting here. Of two of its members, Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie, the careers are among the most romantic and moving in the world’s annals. From first to last these Stewart kings were consistently unfortunate, yet their lives give a brilliance and glamour to history that is entirely lacking from the sedate annals of other dynasties. Their legitimate male line came to an end with Henry, Cardinal York, the younger brother of Prince Charles, who died in 1807, but three of the great ducal houses of the country, those of Buccleuch, Richmond and Gordon, and St. Albans, are directly descended from natural sons of King Charles II.

The spelling of the name Stuart, used by the royal family and the Marquess of Bute was probably introduced by Queen Mary on her return from France.

Septs of the Royal Stewarts: Boyd, France, Garrow, Lennox, Menteith, Monteith.
Septs of the Stewarts of Appin: Carmichael, Combich, Livingston, Livingstone, MacCombich, Mackinlay, Maclae, Maclay, Maclea, Macleay, MacMichael.
Septs of the Stewarts of Atholl: Crookshanks, Cruickshanks, Duilach, Gray, Macglashan.
Septs of the Stewarts of Bute: Bannatyne, Fullarton, Fullerton, Hunter, Jameson, Jamieson, MacCamie, McCloy, MacCaw, MacKirdy, MacLewis, MacMutrie.
Septs of the Stewarts of Galloway: Carmichael, MacMichael.

Another account of the Stewarts...

The Stewarts of Appin are a West Highland clan descended from Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, the son of Alexander, High Steward of Scotland. His younger son, Sir James fought at Bannockburn and was eventually killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. His grandson gained the Lordship of Lorn through marriage to the heiress. A later descendant, Sir John Stewart was murdered at Dunstaffnage castle in 1463 and his son Dugald became the first chief of Appin. He unsuccessfully tried to recover the Lordship of Lorn and was supported by the Maclarens of Balquidder. The clan fought at Flodden in 1513 and Pinkie in 1547; during the 1644-45 campaign they supported the Marquis of Montrose. Because of this the chief of Appin was outlawed and had his lands forfeited. These were later returned at the Restoration. The clan joined Dundee's campaign in 1688 and supported the Jacobites in the Risings of 1715 and 1745. After the battle of Culloden in which over 100 of the clan were killed the banner of the Appin Regiment was one of the few saved from destruction. Clan feuds with the Campbells continued even after the rebellion was quashed. Colin Roy Campbell was murdered in Appin in 1752 ; this was the famous Appin murder on which R L Stevenson based his novels "Kidnapped" and "Catriona". Since the Campbells demanded blood for this outrage, James Stewart of the Glens was hanged although clearly innocent. This was the last death in Scotland resulting from a clan feud; a cairn marks the site of his execution. Dugald, 9th chief sold Appin in 1765 and on his death was succeeded by his cousin, Duncan Stewart, 6th of Ardshiel who became 10th Chief of Appin. The chiefship remains in this line today.