History Editor of the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

The ancestors of Norman Bethune (1890– 1939) traced back to the Bethunes of Skye, leading members of the MacBeth/Beaton medical dynasty

1A Munro, 2IMC Macintyre 1Retired Surgeon and Personal Chair, University of Aberdeen at the Centre for Health Science, Inverness, UK; 2Retired Surgeon and History Editor of the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

ABSTRACT Norman Bethune became famous through his work in the Spanish Civil Correspondence to I Macintyre War, his advocacy of socialised medicine in North America and his association with 20 Lygon Road Edinburgh EH16 5QB Mao Zedong’s revolutionary movement in China. It has been suggested that he may UK have been descended from the Bethune or Beaton medical dynasty, who for generations served as physicians to kings of Scotland, the Lords of the Isles and to tel. +44 (0)131 466 0095 some of the larger Scottish clans. This paper traces his lineage back to the Isle of e-mail Skye. In the absence of old parish records as aids to tracing genealogy, other available [email protected] evidence has confirmed that Bethune was indeed in the direct line of descent from the Bethunes or Beatons of Husabost, in Skye, one of the largest branches of this medical kindred, who were physicians to the MacLeods of Dunvegan.

Keywords Ancestors, Beaton/Bethune medical kindred genealogy, Norman Bethune

Declarations of Interests Iain Macintyre is the History Editor of The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. This article was submitted to, and handled exclusively by, the JRCPE’s Editor and has been peer-reviewed in line with usual JRCPE procedures.

The Canadian surgeon Henry Norman Bethune (1890– 1939) (Figure 1) was once described as ‘the world’s best known surgeon.’1 His fame resulted initially from his promotion of free medical care in Canada, from his work on mobile blood transfusion units during the Spanish Civil War, but most especially from Mao Zedong’s appreciation of the work he did to develop surgical training and mobile surgical units for the Eighth Route army after the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Bethune died while working as a surgeon in Mao’s army and the story of his heroism and dedication (what Mao called ‘Comrade Bethune’s spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self’)2 became required reading in Chinese schools. Although he was idolised in China, his standing in the West was tainted by his difficult personality, his membership of the communist party in Canada and his advocacy of socialised medicine in North America. It was many years before his reputation in the West was rehabilitated as a result of changing attitudes and the publication of a number of books and films about his remarkable life. history Bethune qualified MD in Toronto in 1916 and after figure 1 Norman Bethune, characteristically defiant, service as a surgeon sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy in smoking while a patient in the Trudeau Sanitorium in New York State. Image courtesy of Roderick Stewart. the First World War he remained in Britain for surgical

262 history 263 Norman Bethune senior (1822–92). Anatomist, Anatomist, (1822–92). Bethune senior Norman

The ancestorsThe of Norman (1890–1939) Bethune A combination of inability his finances to manage figure 2 figure surgeon and Norman Bethune’s grandfather, who despite his who despite grandfather, Bethune’s Norman and surgeon courtesy Image his grandson. by respected was flaws LibraryOntario Legislative of print collection. Archives Toronto School of Medicine before travelling back to travelling School of Medicine before Toronto the Royal of a Fellow he became Edinburgh where medicine in He practised in 1860. Surgeons College of held to Canada, on returning Edinburgh until 1869 and, until Toronto later surgerya chair of medicine and in 1881. university his of loss the to led abuse alcohol and but Unstable, of his family. the breakup and appointment his it was perhaps vision, of man a without doubt that Henrygrandfather in mind Bethune had Norman all for Yet ancestors. his unstable about when he wrote in Bethune held his grandfather the younger his failings, it is so achievements, his undoubted high esteem for important for further to look tree back in his family inherited. he had qualities he believed those (1783–1858) Bethune Angus Bethune Angus Bethune (senior), Norman The father of West Northjoined the man young a as had (1783–1858), to near in Montreal whose headquarters were Company, and his parents like were, leaders Its up. he grew where a 2 Influenced Influenced 2,3 y Norman Bethune in 2013; 43:262–9 2013; He was born in Moose Factory, Ontario, Ontario, Factory, in Moose born was He 3,4 ors of Henr J R Coll Physicians Edinb Coll Physicians J R © 2013 RCPE by the evangelical movement of Moody and Sankey of Moody and Sankey movement the evangelical by serving Presbyterian a as clergyman, a became he were sermons his where Ontario in minister an emphasis on the dangers of alcohol for renowned of seen at first hand the results He had abuse. alcohol excess in his father. (1822–92) Bethune Norman 2), Bethune (1822–92) (Figure Norman father, Malcolm’s of a number for in his family had been the first doctor generations. where his father had been chief factor for the Hudson’s the Hudson’s for been chief factor had his father where at artsan After completing degree (HBC). Company Bay he studied at the College’s Toronto in College King’s Edinburgh at subsequently and in 1845–6 School Medical London, in Hospital Guy’s and College King’s and While in Edinburgh he met and qualifying MRCS in 1848. small the from came who Nicolson Janet married where from in northern of Husabost community Skye, their roots. trace could ancestors his own in establishing involved was he Toronto to returning After School Canada Upper the School, Medical third city’s the the Faculty of the Medical became which of Medicine, Faculty the of Dean became He College. Trinity Anglican at the anatomy later taught of Medicine in 1855 and quotation which has been interpreted as referring to his as referring been interpreted quotation which has he that suggested have Biographers ancestry. Scottish dynastic a Beatons, the from been descended have may 18th century, the the 14th to from who medical family, chiefs and other landed to clan served as physicians and of Scotland Islands and families in the Highlands the detail of the Yet Scots. of to the kings physicians were Henrylink between Bethune and the Beatons Norman the been published and not to our knowledge has this connection. to explore undertaken was study present Ancest (1857–1932) Bethune Nicholson Malcolm Rev America ancestry Northin HenryBethune’s Norman established. well and is researched has been extensively Malcolm Nicholson Bethune (1857–1932), Rev His father, the son of a doctor. Toronto, was born in AmericaNorth training. This included time in Edinburgh where he met he where Edinburgh time in included This training. whom he would Frances Penney, girl, local a married and he 1922 In again. divorce and remarry divorce, later a as him, before done had his grandfather as qualified, Edinburgh. of Surgeons College of of the Royal Fellow ‘I come of a race of men, that Bethune once claimed wrong- and convictions of passionate unstable, violent, it all a vision of truth and with yet intolerant, headedness, it as it leads, though carryto it even to on them drive a destruction’, to their own family, in my has done A Munro, IMC Macintyre

forebears, Highland Scots. He rose to become a partner Bethune devoted the remainder of his life to his family in the company and a successful explorer, fur trader and of six sons and three daughters and to his ministry businessman who travelled throughout Canada and even among the Highland settlers in Glengarry County, Upper to China.5 He went on to become a chief factor of the Canada. His ability to preach in Gaelic placed him in HBC and a director of the Bank of Upper Canada.6 good standing with his new flock, and the welcome he received was repaid with years of dedicated service. He Yet he too seemed to have some of the unfavourable died on 23 September 1815 in Williamstown, Glengarry, characteristics that Henry Norman Bethune attributed Ontario. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography describes to his ancestors. Sir George Simpson (c.1787–1860), the him as ‘the most honored and respected of Canada’s Dingwall-born governor of the HBC, gave this unflattering pioneer Church of Scotland ministers’.10 We know description: ‘a very poor creature, vain, self sufficient something of his life in Scotland before he emigrated. and trifling, who makes his own comfort his principal study; possessing little Nerve and no decision in anything: of a snarling vindictive disposition, and neither liked nor respected by his associates, Servants [HBC workers] or Indians.’7 Rev Dr John Bethune (c.1751–1815) in Canada Angus Bethune’s father, Rev Dr John Bethune (c.1751– 1815), provides the link between Bethune’s forebears in North America and those in Scotland. He arrived in North Carolina from Skye in 1773 as a licentiate minister of the Church of Scotland. Two years later he was recruited as chaplain to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants, a regiment of émigré Highland Scots loyal to the Crown during the American War of Independence. The first battalion had been raised by Colonel Allan Maclean to defend present-day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from attack by American Revolutionaries. After the defeat of the Royal Highland Emigrants at the battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in February 1776, Bethune was imprisoned by the victorious rebels, along with hundreds of other émigré Scottish figure 3 Rev John Bethune, c1751–1815, who emigrated Highlanders. For a time he was held in a Philadelphia from Skye to North America. 41 prison before being released by the Continental Congress and making his way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Highland Emigrants Ancestors of Henry Norman Bethune in was stationed.8 Skye, Scotland

There he was appointed chaplain to the regiment by Tracing ancestry in Skye before 1800 is made particularly Captain MacDonald who described him as ‘a young difficult because of the lack of old parish records, the man of very good character, tho’ a Presbyterian’.8 usual source of information about births, deaths and Subsequently he moved with other Empire Loyalists to marriages in Scotland in the years before statutory Montreal, where, in the absence of a Presbyterian records began in 1855. Two principal sources, however, church, he attended the services conducted by the are available: Whyte and Bannerman. Rev Thomas Whyte Anglican rector of Montreal, David Delisle, who (c.1718–89) was minister of Liberton Kirk in Edinburgh conducted his marriage to Véronique Waddens in and had married into the Bethune family. In 1778 he September 1782. published An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Bethunes of the Island of Sky [sic].11 Whyte’s account gives By 1786, Rev John Bethune had enough parishioners detailed genealogy but rarely gives dates. The Scottish to form the first Presbyterian congregation in Canada. historian John Bannerman (1932–2008) who analysed He continued to minister to his small congregation until the genealogy in Whyte’s account concluded that it was May 1787 when on the invitation of a group of Highland ‘on the whole accurate’ as the period concerned was settlers he moved to Glengarry County at the ‘well within the capabilities of the contemporary kin- easternmost area of the province, soon to become based genealogist’.12 Bannerman himself published what history Upper Canada.9 has become the standard work of reference on the topic, The Beatons: a Medical Kindred in the Classical Gaelic

264 J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2013; 43:262–9 © 2013 RCPE history 265 Whyte Whyte records The date of his of The date 11 11 9,20 RIVER SNIZORT SKEABOST 8 GESTO EDINBANE 11 BREABOST BRACADALE DUNVEGAN Outline map of Skye showing locations where locations where showing of Skye Outline map

HUSABOST The ancestorsThe of Norman (1890–1939) Bethune figure 4 figure some of Norman Bethune’s ancestors were known to to known ancestors were some of Norman Bethune’s lived. have death is not known, but his wife Christian died in Moore Christian died in Moore but his wife death is not known, 85. in 1784 or County Farquhar Bethune Farquhar (or called Farquhar was of Skeabost The father of John used in this and in widely a forename Fearchar), in Gaelic, was Farquhar other branches of the Bethune family. son of the 17th century, years born in the early probably member of the a well-known Angus’, ‘second Dr of the was not a doctor and one of Farquhar medical dynasty. a medicalpursuing not him for by given the reasons 27 to study for was that his father had required career as’ a physician. ‘appeared he before years John Bethune of Brebost and John Bethune of Bethune John and of Brebost Bethune John Skeabost the son of John Angus was Whyte, to According century) of the 17th later years Bethune (born in the a small community ‘held the title of Brebost’, who in northernwhich lies near the village of Edinbane Skye (or tack the held he that suggests This 4). (Figure spelt (subsequently Brebost of land) the rented Margaret He married the landowner. from Breabost) is but little more in central Skye, MacLeod of Gesto, was Bethune of Skeabost His father John of him. known centurymid-17th the in born a married too he and is a community Skeabost Marguerite. MacLeod of Gesto, at the mouth of the river to the south of Breabost lying to appears Bethunes Neither of these John Snizort. been a doctor. have that he was ‘a wise and judicious man’. that he was Angus Bethune (born c.1722)(born Bethune Angus his wife and Bethune Angus were parents Bethune’s John about Angus was born Campbell of Scalpay. Christian to his son he followed and in Skye 1722 in Breabost livingfirst in Cumberland America in 1776, North in 1789 during and North Carolina, County, Ontario. Glengarry, Charlottenburgh,

15 11 After After 13 (Surprisingly (Surprisingly 16 in Whyte’s account Whyte’s in 14 John Bethune is found Bethune is found John 3,10,19 17,18 2013; 43:262–9 2013; By studying relevant Gaelic documents he was Gaelic he documents relevant By studying This was a time of mass emigration from the emigration from mass of time a This was 12 14 . It is important to note that his name is given as It is important as to note that his name is given 8 J R Coll Physicians Edinb Coll Physicians J R © 2013 RCPE in Whyte’s family history, written only five years after his his after years five only written history, family Whyte’s in having as him describes Whyte America. for departure in Colonel ‘a chaplain America and become to gone thus clearly Highland Emigrants’, Royal McLean’s Bethune John same the was he that establishing described above. and in Canadian biographies. His wife Flora MacDonald, the Jacobite heroine, wrote of wrote the Jacobite heroine, Flora MacDonald, His wife ‘the where island’ miserable ‘this poor on privation the their follow to ready making are inhabitants its of best can promise …we in Skye America… because friends to oppression’. and but poverty ourselves In 1773 John Bethune emigrated to North Carolina, a a Bethune emigrated to NorthIn 1773 John Carolina, a who had established Highland emigrants, for haven He settled in of colonial settlements there. number to County, Moore in what is now Creek McLendon’s join his mother Christian and his maternal grandparents emigrated all had who Campbell, Katherine and Donald earlier. Tradition both MacDonalds were ardent loyalists, prominent in prominent loyalists, ardent were both MacDonalds Allan After Highland Emigrants. the Royal for recruiting both Bridge, Creek Moore’s at capture MacDonald’s Scotia before in Nova Bethune to stay like moved Skye.) to returning led by largely The emigrations to North Carolina, bound were the Bethunes, tacksmen (land tenants) like of with the disintegration and collapse up intimately the traditional clan-based society of which the component had been a key Bethune/Beaton kindred generations. many for island of Skye, particularly to North America. A letter America. particularly to North island of Skye, 1,700 some that suggests MacDonald Allan from 1771–3. between the island from individuals emigrated asti EcclesiaeFasti in Bethune Scotanae, graduating with the degree of BAof in MA of and in 1769 degree the with graduating a made was and Skye to returned Bethune 1772, Presbytery the by minister Scotland of licentiate Church Skye. of able to assign some dates to events associated with associated events to dates some assign able to the of explanation (An members. family of the many is Beaton Bethune and the names between relationship below.) given (c.1751–1815) Bethune Dr John Rev Skye in America and Bethune (c.1751–1815) in John life whose section was, has been described in the previous Canada Bethunes/Beatons the from descended below, shown as most and largest the of one in Skye, Husabost of born was He kindred. medical the of influential branches in northern in the parish of Duirinish Skye in Breabost he where Aberdeen of the University at studied and The study. of bursarya obtained year third in his £5 family his granted Glenelg of Synod the year following his education. to help meet expenses for A Munro, IMC Macintyre

Angus Bethune, the ‘second Dr Angus’ Beaton of Husabost ‘five generations previously’. The His father, the ‘second Dr Angus’, is known to have second Dr Angus’s father, ‘Farquhar senior’ seems the trained at Dunollie near Oban with Duncan Ó most likely candidate as that early owner of the volume. Conchobhair (O’Conacher or O’Connor), a member of The note goes on to attest to the value which Farquhar another dynastic medical family who were physicians to placed on the Lilium Medicinae, saying that ‘when he the MacDougalls of Dunollie. Dr Angus is known to trusted himself to a boat to attend to any patient in have written a compendium of medical treatises Dunvegan, he sent his servant by land for the greater between 1611 and 1614, a substantial document running security, with the Lilium Medicinae.’25 Whyte seems to have to 476 pages, now in the National Library of Scotland been wrong in his suggestion about the authorship of the as Gaelic manuscript MSS LX (Adv.MS.72.2.10).21 These book and similarly there is no evidence to support his treatises may well have formed part of his training, as a statement that the second Dr Angus studied at Montpelier. note by him on 11 January 1613 includes the phrase (in Farquhar Bethune senior Gaelic) ‘it is Duncan [Ó Conchobhair] who gave me this book to write’. The manuscript includes translations Angus’s father, Farquhar Bethune (‘Farquhar senior’), was into Gaelic of classical medical works including The also a physician, and although his birthdate is not known Book of Prognostics from the Hippocratic Corpus, which he it is likely that he was ‘Fergardus Leich’ (Fergus the finished in August 1611 and Galen’s Anatomia, which he Doctor) who witnessed an instrument of sasine in 1541 completed the following January. The treatises cover a described in the Dunvegan muniments.22 His designation wide range of topics, including urine examination, fevers, as ‘Fergardus Leich’ in this context indicates that he was diseases of the eye, bullet wounds and there are a physician to the MacLeods of Dunvegan, one of the number on diet and drugs.22 largest and most powerful of the Scottish clans. Whyte describes Farquhar senior as ‘a grave judicious man, and The Lily of Medicine of good skill in physic’. He was said to have ‘the gravity By 1624 Dr Angus had become physician to Sir Ruari of the Divine, as well as skill of the Physician’.11 Mor MacLeod of Dunvegan (who died in 1626).22 Angus Bethune, ‘the first Dr Angus’ According to Whyte, the second Dr Angus ‘wrote a system of physic, entitled the Lily of Medicine, which he The father of Farquhar senior was Angus Bethune, ‘the finished at the foot of Montpelier, after he had studied first Dr Angus’. He was also physician to the MacLeods physic twenty-eight years’.11 Whyte states that this was of Dunvegan, having signed himself ‘Angusius Leich’ in a written in Irish, probably meaning in this context a form legal document in November 1540.22 Whyte records of Classical Gaelic. No such volume survives and it is that he was ‘a prudent man and of good esteem in the more likely that this was in fact a Scots Gaelic country, and tho’ the M’Donalds and M’leods, the most translation of an earlier Lily of Medicine published in powerful clans in the country, were often at variance, 1307 by the influential physician Bernard de Gordon yet he was loved and much caressed by both sides’.11 (1270–ca.1330), who was professor of medicine at Montpelier. Some writers have suggested he was a Tracing the genealogy back further than the first Dr Scot,23 but it is more likely that he was French.24 The Lily Angus (Figure 5) becomes controversial. Whyte claims of Medicine was an extensive compendium of medical a line of forebears extending to the Bethunes of Balfour practice in which de Gordon questioned Galenic in Fife, but more recent studies do not support this. The dogma. In a major change to conventional thinking he physician and Gaelic scholar HC Gillies,26,27 Donald not only described clinical features of disease, but MacKinnon, Professor of Celtic Language and Literature crucially related these to anatomical changes in organs, at Edinburgh University,25,28,29 and the historian John some 400 years before Morgagni, who is generally Bannerman12 who all studied the relevant original Gaelic credited as the originator of this organ-based approach. manuscripts, concluded that this was not so. These In addition, the Lily gave a practical guide to treatment. authors suggest that the Bethune medical dynasty Translating its 163 chapters would have been a described above was descended from the MacBeths of monumental task, but provided Gaelic practitioners Islay, whose roots can be traced back to the 14th with arguably the most valuable text of its day. century and who came originally from Ireland. Ireland had a long established tradition of physicians, educated A copy of the Husabost Bethune family’s Gaelic in the great European medical schools such as Louvain translation of the Lily of Medicine is now in the National and Padua, and serving noble families. The MacBeths are Library of Scotland (Lilium Medicinae MS 2076), having likely to have emerged from this tradition. been donated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1784 by Rev Donald MacQueen, minister of Kilmuir in Skye, who had inherited it from a Bethune history predecessor.25,28,39 MacQueen wrote an accompanying note, stating that the book had been owned by Farquhar

32 267 In 1386 the In 1386 the 31 where there was a long long a was there where 30 12, 25–27 12, It is likely that they had learned learned had they that likely is It 29

36 In 1609 a charter by James VI of VI of 1609 a charterIn James by 26,27,34,35 The ancestorsThe of Norman (1890–1939) Bethune ONS AND BETHUNES their medicine in Ireland in medicine their The anglicisation, or more correctly, latinisation, of the latinisation, correctly, or more The anglicisation, began members of the kindred some by name to Beaton century, 15th early in the documents in seen be to recorded The first Beaton in non-Gaelic contexts. initially with his signed witnessed, who Beaton Fergus is in Islay a up a charter recording drew probably name and own in 1408, Isles the of Lord Donald, from land of grant The name Bethune derives ultimately from ‘de Béthune’ ‘de from ultimately derives Bethune name The indicating that the MacBeths/Beatons had become had become indicating that the MacBeths/Beatons The that date. the Isles by of to the Lords physicians in Isles the of surviveddynasty Lords the of the demise their retain able to the late fifteenth centurywere and surgeon A Gilchrist MacBeth, physicians. as royal status tenant crown as is listed Surrigus’), (‘Gilchristus McVaig, royal a suggests context that in which 1506, in appointment. BEAT the mid-17th century 18 or so of the From all but two surviving the name used the clan families of medical The exceptions Beaton in all English and Latin contexts. whom from the Bethunes of Husabost in Skye, were and the Henry Norman Bethune was descended, who both adopted in Ross-shire Bethunes of Culnaskea that they believing of the name, the Bethune form Fife, in of Balfour, Bethunes the descended from were Whyte’s by belief family a as confirmed opinion an as explained above, likely, seems more It now account. or France but were did not originate in Fife that they Ireland from originally the MacBeths, descended from and Beaton to their name changed had who to Bethune.subsequently Scotland describes Fergus MacBeth of Islay as physician- MacBeth of Islay Scotland describes Fergus in-chief in the Isles. king made him a further grant of the islands of Jura king made him a further grant of the islands of Jura Sanda and other smaller isles Calwa, Oldany), (now of the northlying and northwest coast of Scotland. established tradition of dynastic Celtic medicine. The The of dynastic Celtic medicine. established tradition to the kings of Scots when in became physicians family Robert1379 Melness in lands of grant a confirmed II Ferchard MacBeth, and Hope in Sutherland to an early ‘medicus noster’. who was styled Leiche, The early genealogy is made more difficult to interpret interpret to difficult genealogy early The more made is name of the occupational the use in some documents by meaning Leich or Leiche (in Gaelic léigh), lighiche or A further difficulty is the surname. the only as doctor, English Latin and Gaelic, the spelling of in wide variation and MacBeth which includes name the of variants variants. MacVay the medical dynasty of MacBeth of The first branch of in the in Islay became established aware are which we to initially there from and spread Parish of Kilchoman islands. Scottish other , the Macbeths, y of of Dunvegan) 17th century) 17th century) 17th century] Angus [fl.1540] 2013; 43:262–9 2013; Farquhar [fl.1541] Farquhar or Angus [fl.1610–24] Norman (1822–92) Angus (1783–1858) Physician and surgeon Physician Presbyterian clergyman Presbyterian MacLeods of Dunvegan) MacLeods of Dunvegan) MacLeods of Dunvegan) MacLeods of Dunvegan) Rev Malcolm (1857–1932) Rev (‘a wise and judicious man’) Surgeon and political activist Emigrated to North America Emigrated to North Henry Norman (1890–1939) Farquhar [probably born early born early [probably Farquhar = Margaret MacLeod of Gesto = Margaret Factor, Hudson’s Bay Company Bay Hudson’s Factor, = Christian Campbell of Scalpay = Marguerite MacLeod of Gesto Angus (born c.1722 in Breabost) (‘Farquhar senior’. Physician to the Physician senior’. (‘Farquhar The direct line of male ancestors of Henry male ancestors line of The direct John of Skeabost (born around mid- (born around of Skeabost John (‘Second Dr Angus’. Physician to the Physician Angus’. (‘Second Dr John of ‘Brebost’ (born later years of (born later years ‘Brebost’ of John

Rev John (born c.1751 in Breabost, d 1815) (born c.1751 in Breabost, John Rev (‘First Dr Angus’. Physician to the MacLeods Physician Angus’. (‘First Dr ons and Bethunes figure 5 figure Norman Bethune, extending back over 11 generations to 11 generations over back extending Bethune, Norman in square Dates in Skye. Husabost of the Bethunes/Beatons indicating legal documents from obtained dates are brackets the time. at alive the individual was that J R Coll Physicians Edinb Coll Physicians J R © 2013 RCPE Beat ly hist The early to Ireland from came originally MacBeths The Macbheatha or Macbethad name Gaelic Their Scotland. patronymic being not in unusual is life’ of ‘son meaning – most clan names honour a famous or eponymous a for is appropriate ‘life’ A name embodying ancestor. connection the and physicians, of hereditaryfamily not be coincidental. may A Munro, IMC Macintyre

which originated in northern France, in the town and 18th century the Beaton/Bethune kindred were no arrondissement of Bethune in the Pas-de-Calais area of longer dynastic physicians, as the increasingly anglicised Normandy. It is likely that the forebears of Robert de clan chiefs turned to lowland doctors trained by formal Bethune (died 1148), Bishop of Hereford, came from apprenticeship or to graduates from the newly France with the Norman conquest,32 and a sept of the established university medical schools. family became established in the counties of Fife and Angus sometime in the 13th century.36,37 In the late 15th Conclusion century a Robert de Bethune married into the Balfour family of that ilk, establishing the lineage of Bethunes of It has been possible to establish that Henry Norman Balfour. In Scotland from the 15th century, some Bethune is indeed descended from the famous Bethune/ Bethune families began to anglicise the name to Beton Beaton medical kindred. His roots have been traced or Beaton, although some, like the Balfour sept in Fife, back to the Husabost component of the family, which is continued to use the original Bethune spelling, but probably the best known branch of the kindred. His pronounced the name as ‘Beaton’. direct ancestors served as physicians to the MacLeods of Dunvegan, one of the largest and most powerful of The many families of medical Beatons/Bethunes the Scottish clans. Although his claim that he was practising in Gaelic Scotland have been described in descended from an unstable and wrongheaded race detail by Bannerman12 who identified 76 Beaton/Bethune may have applied to some of his family, such as his physicians between 1300 and 1750. It is likely that there grandfather and great-grandfather, many of his earlier were even more medical Beatons who used the generic ancestors were clearly men of vision and drive who occupational surname Leich or Leiche rather than their were part of an extraordinary dynastic medical kindred surname. institution that lasted for 450 years and may well be unique in Western medicine. The MacBeth/Beaton/Bethune medical kindred were Acknowledgements much more than practitioners of folk medicine in the oral tradition. They had access to the corpus of The genealogical information about the Skye Bethunes European medical knowledge and used many of the was validated by Norma MacLeod of Skye Roots great works of classical medicine, including those by (www.skye-roots.co.uk), who also provided valuable Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, Averroes and Joannes de genealogical advice. We are grateful to Roderick Vigo and de Gordon, many of which were translated Stewart for helpful comments and suggestions about into Gaelic and survive today in libraries around the the Bethunes in Canada. The genealogy research was world.38 The large collection of Gaelic manuscripts in aided by a grant to one of the authors (AM) from the the National Library of Scotland, which contains many Douglas Guthrie Fund. that were owned or written by the Beatons, has been described in detail by Comrie.39,40 By the start of the

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