The ancestry of Donald Duart MacLean (1913-1983) - infamous member of the ‘Cambridge Five’ spies

The spy Donald Duart MacLean had Tiree roots. His grandfather, John McLean, was born at Kilmoluaig on 27 May 1833. He left Tiree and ended up being a successful bootmaker in England, employing several men. Donald Duart’s father, also Donald MacLean, was born 1864 in Farnworth, Lancashire. He became a prominent Liberal Party Politician, becoming Sir Donald MacLean for his services. Donald Duart MacLean ‘Spy’ was born 25 May 1913 Marylebone, London, and died 6 Mar 1983.

John McLean, shoemaker, Kilmoluaig (b. 1833) John McLean is thought to have been born at "Taigh or Tobhta Eòghainn ’ic Eòghainn" (the house of Hugh son of Hugh), map reference Kilmoluaig 'u' in the Tiree place names website http://www.tireeplacenames.org/kilmoluaig/tobhta_eoghainn_ic_eoghainn/. The house is now a ruin. Google Earth coordinates: 56°30'12.63"N 6°55'9.43"W

John McLean was born 27 May 1833 at Kilmoluaig, son of Hugh McLean (1794 Kenovay - 2 May 1867 Kilmoluaig) and Catherine McDonald (1799 Hough - 24 Apr 1886 Kilmoluaig). John’s father, Hugh, was a crofter. His parents were Hugh McLean Crofter b1749 Cornaigmore and Margaret McLean born c1757 Cornaigbeg. Margaret McLean was the daughter of Alexander McLean born c1732 of Cornaigbeg and Mary McNaughton (Reid) b1736 Kirkapol. John was the 3rd of 8 children born to Crofter Hugh McLean 1794-1867 & his wife Catherine MacDonald 1799-1886 who were married 4 Feb 1829 in Tyree. John was the eldest son. He had a younger brother named Hugh born 1837 who died in infancy. Another brother named Hugh was born 11 Jun 1841. John had 5 sisters. Hugh & Catherine may have adopted the Baptist Faith, their last child Catherine was born about 1844. Unlike her siblings, her birth & baptism do not appear in the Tyree Old Parish Register (the Old Parish Register was only used for Church of baptisms). 1851 Census Kilmoluaig shows Catherine aged 7 with her parents & siblings. John is aged 17. As the elder son, John would have inherited his father's small croft but he chose to leave Tyree for the mainland. John married Agnes MacMillan in Blythswood Glasgow on 1 Jun 1860. Agnes was born at Easdale on the Isle of , to Donald MacMillan & Margaret Brown. Donald was a slater.

So what was life in Tiree like for John McLean before he left the island? Tyree had enjoyed the kelp industry boom in the early 19th century, during which there was a large influx of people to the island for the work. After Waterloo in 1815, the kelp industry began to decline. The Duke of decreed that as the peat beds on Tyree were exhausted, his Tenants were given permission to travel to other parts of Argyll Estate, such as the Ross of Mull, for the purpose of cutting peats to bring back to Tyree. By 1831, the population of Tyree had exploded. The 1792 List of Inhabitants shows the population at nearly 2500, a huge number for a small island. John's father Hugh was born at Kenovay at that time (in 1794). At the 1792 census, Kenovay was the most populated township, with 199 persons. Kilmoluaig was somewhat smaller with 51 inhabitants. The cover page of the 1792 List records that the population had increased by 583 since 1779, when the population was 1881. When the Minister of Tyree, Rev Archibald McColl, compiled a Catechists List in 1787, he estimated the population at around 2306. The population explosion continued and, like other parts of the Highlands, emigration began on a large scale. Some interesting conclusions on island life in the early 19th century can be drawn from The Emigration Committee hearings of 1827, published in the London newspaper The Morning Chronicle on Wed 10 Oct 1827. Alex Hunter, Esq. W.S. of Edinburgh, was giving evidence on the 1826 emigration of some 300 persons from the Isle of Rum. He had been employed to supervise & manage the emigration. Hunter states that the island's Proprietor - MacLean, Laird of , had many tenants who were in arrears, and no means to pay for their passage. MacLean therefore paid for the emigration of these 300 people, by giving them their arrears in cash and a little more. (This practice backfired on the Laird of Coll. In the 1840's he bemoaned that the Coll emigrants included the 'class' of people he wished to keep on the island - Carpenters, Blacksmiths, those with a trade. Instead, many of the Cottars did not emigrate, and of course Cottars did/could not pay rent.) Hunter states that had the Rum emigration not taken place "The Population would have gone on increasing, and of course....the rents would diminish" The inference is that overcrowding would inevitably lead to destitution and starvation. Although Rum differs from Tyree, in that Rum was mainly sheep farming, with little or no land for arable crops, the huge population on Tyree could not be sustained on such a small island, just 12 miles long by 3 miles wide. Hunter is asked: "State to the Committee your views with regard to the excess of the population in some parts of Scotland?" He answers: "To give the Committee an idea of the population in some of the islands, I shall mention the island of Tiree, belonging to the Duke of Argyle. The island contains about 15,000 English acres, including lakes, rocks, &c. The population is about six thousand**. There are 431 tenants or crofters, whose rents are from £1.1d. to £40, averaging £7.5s.6d.; and there are four large tenants, whose rents are from £102 to £150, averaging £123; and under these large tenants are a great number of small crofters. In this island there is a good deal of kelp made; about 350 tons. The Duke is bound by the leases to take the kelp from the tenants at £7 per ton, by giving credit for which sum the rental of the small tenants is discharged; in fact it is paid in full; what they promise to pay as rent, he receives in kelp, and they pay no rent. This year, I believe, he got about £4 per ton for the kelp, so I understood. If you take the average of each family, they average very high in the Highlands; but if you take them at seven, it will give 3,045 souls living on crofts, and paying rent, that is, including children; but then one half of the people have no crofts at all, they are living upon the bounty of their friends." Question "Do they fish?" Answer "Very Little, there are about ten boats, five men to each" Question "Then one half of the population is a burden on the other half?" Answer "Yes, or upon the Proprietor ultimately" Hunter then points out that the system in the Highlands "is very much like the Irish: the son or daughter of a Crofter marries, and the father allows the newly weds to build a hut at the end of his land, and gives them a cow &c.:he is not a Tenant or Crofter at all, he is living on the bounty of others" Question " Do you think that money might be well expended in removing this population?" Answer "I think it might very well indeed; I don't know that it would put much money into the landlord's pocket to be at the expence because the farms would then become much larger, and any person who had money to stock a large farm, would expect to live a little better; he would eat up the spare produce, and indulge in a few luxuries. Question "Don't you think the increased rent that would be derived from the land, would more than pay the interest of the money required?" Answer "I mentioned that the rent would not increase much, because there would be introduced a different class of tenants, who would have a little capital, and who would live on luxuries compared with the present crofters, who live on potatoes and a little oatmeal. Question "Is there any other estate you can mention?" Answer "There is Macdonald, of Clanronald, the Islands of and Benbicula. This is a large island; I do not know the extent of it. The population is about 6,000. There are 489 small tenants or crofters, who pay rents from £1 to £21, averaging £6.17s.4d.; fourteen large tenants, who pay rents from £32 to £400; there is one man pays £400; these average £86.15s. Under these 14 large tenants there are 207 sub-tenants. There are annually manufactured about 1,200 tons of kelp on Clanronald's estate at Uist." Question "In this island?" Answer "Yes, of Uist, which belongs principally to Clanronald; the kelp does not belong to the tenants, as in the Duke of Argyle's case, for the manufacturing of which they receive from 50s. to 60s. per ton, which as nearly as possible discharges their rent. On this estate about one-third of the population possess no lands." Later, Hunter is asked "Do the same circumstances of difficulty attend the population of Coll as the islands of Tiree and Uist?" Answer "Certainly not, because the proprietor of Coll, having lived very much upon the island, has kept down the population. I believe, at one time, about forty years ago, that the population of Coll and Tiree was very nearly the same." Question "Why has the population of Coll not increased in proportion to other islands?" Answer "The proprietor has lived upon the island, and saw the difficulties from an increasing population, and therefore used every means in his power to keep the population down. The means he used were, that he would not allow a young man, a son of one of the crofters, to be married without his consent; he said, if you marry without my consent, you must leave the island." **Hunter is exaggerating the population of Tyree at 6000.

Go forward a decade to the Great Famine, when the potato crops failed first in Ireland, then Scotland. By the time of the 1851 Census when John McLean was a young man of 17, the blight was over, but times were still very hard on Tyree. 1851 records 3702 persons on the census, compared to 4898 in 1841. The 1841 Census was the only census to have been taken during the month of June. Traditionally, peat cutting would begin late May/early June, so in 1841 around 445 people were absent from the island. Therefore there were many Tyree people enumerated in Coll, and the Ross of Mull. The Coll Enumerator's remarks tell us that there were many extra persons on the island for the peat (most of these would be Tyree folks), sleeping in barns, outhouses etc, and that he had done his best, but concedes that he may have missed some. There were also a great number of workmen & engineers busy in the construction of Stevenson's Lighthouse. In the 1841 Census of Tyree the population was estimated 4898, whereas it had been 4453 in 1831, an increase of 445. Several Tyree folks, "Tirisdeachs", had emigrated to Australia in the years 1838-1840. Between 1846 & 1854 the HIES paid for assisted passage for thousands of Scots emigrating to North America (Canada) & Australia. A large number of Tirisdeachs who were recorded on the island in 1851, emigrated in July 1851, and subsequently were recorded in the 1851 Canada census (carried out in early 1852). In the 1850's, great numbers of Tyree folk also left the island for the mainland, like John MacLean, to seek work, many disappearing into the Glasgow slums. By 1861 the island's population had decreased to just over 3000. (In the last available census, 1911, the population is 1822) Today, the island has 600-650 inhabitants. So, John MacLean would have seen great suffering around him, having been born 1833, he would have experienced the severe overcrowding, witnessed the Famine first-hand, and seen many fellow islanders leave their ancestral homes for ever.

John's father, Hugh McLean In 1841, John's father Hugh is enumerated as a Cottar, i.e. landless, but by 1851, he has 16 acres, reduced to just 10 acres in 1861. Hugh died in 1867. In 1871, Hugh’s widow Catherine is recorded at Kilmoluaig with son Hugh aged 30. Hugh is the head of the family and stated to be a Shoemaker. The family have no land. Hugh MacLean was baptised 6 Sep 1794 at Kenovay. He was the 6th of 9 children born to Hugh MacLean Cottar & Margaret MacLean. There is no record of marriage in Tyree for this couple, but we know that the marriage/baptism records for this period were incomplete for various reasons. They may well have married elsewhere in Argyll and possibly Hugh was not born in Tyree, but there is no proof either way. We first see Hugh (born c1753) & wife Margaret (born c1756) at Cornaigmore in 1779. Hugh is listed as a Cottar. Their first child, Catherine is baptised 29 Oct 1779 at Cornaigbeg. It was common for a first child to be born at the mother's home and it is likely the birth took place at the croft of Margaret's parents’ home, Alexander MacLean & Mary MacNaughton (the surname MacNaughton was often given the alias of Reid). Several children follow, Archibald in 1784, Alexander 1786 (died in infancy), Mary 1788, another Alexander 1791. By 1792 the family are living at Kenovay where Hugh is born in 1794, followed by Mary in Feb 1797, John in Sep 1799 (died in infancy) and another John in Dec 1801. John 1801 was their last child, the only child born at Kilmoluaig. In Turnbull's 1768 Map of Tyree, we can see how close together the townships of Kilmoluaig, Cornaigbeg, Cornaigmore & Kenovay are. Looking at the children of Hugh MacLean & Margaret MacLean, and if they adhered to the naming convention, we might speculate as to who Hugh's parents were, although in Tyree, the naming convention was not followed as closely as in other parts of Scotland. It is possible that Hugh's parents were Archibald & Catherine, but that cannot be proven. Margaret MacLean c1756, is recorded with her parents and siblings at Cornaigbeg in 1776.

Eric Cregeen writes of Tyree in Argyll Estate Instructions 1771-1805 (page xxii Introduction) '..."Small Tenants continued the ancient Celtic practice of sharing their holding of land among all their children and near relatives. This no doubt contributed to discouraging emigration. It certainly led to the fragmentation of tenants’ holdings and was regarded by the Estate as a major obstacle to improvement. As a potential military danger the clan was no longer formidable, even though as late as the 1750s, clan organisation had been kept intact in a state of preparedness in the neighbouring forfeited estates of Lochiel, Barrasdale and Kinlochmoidart. But clan sentiment remained extremely strong among the small Tenants of Mull & Tyree and found a ready focus in the MacLean tacksmen. An official and authoritative report made for the 5th Duke in 1771 leaves the matter in no doubt. "The small Tenants of Tiry are dis-affected to the family of Argyll. In this disposition it's thought that long leases might render them too much independent of them and encourage the people to that sort of insolence and outrage to which they are naturally prone, and much incited by their chieftains of the MacLean gentry." In his census list of 1776, the Chamberlain noted those Tenants ‘well-affected’ to the family (of Argyll) and those ‘dis-affected’. The same official reporter was even more specific in speaking of the Duke's Estate in Mull, which extended to approximately half of this large island. "The bulk of the common Tenants on this estate are natives of the country and followers of the MacLeans.".....' Small wonder then, that when a lease or tack held by a 'disaffected' MacLean expired, the tack might be awarded to a new Campbell Tenant, often an incomer. After John’s McLean’s marriage in 1860 to Agnes McMillan, John & Agnes move to England, where they are recorded on the 1861 Census at Chester Street, Hulme, in Manchester. They have a daughter, Margaret, aged 1 month. By 1871, John & Agnes & family, are recorded at Market Street, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, including son Donald who would later become Sir Donald MacLean, Liberal Politician. John's mother, Catherine McDonald, was born Dec 1799 at Hough Tyree, the 7th of 8 children born to John MacDonald & Christina MacDonald, at Hough. Catherine died 24 Apr 1886 at Kilmoluaig of “Natural Decay”, Informant Hugh MacLean, son. John's only surviving brother Hugh remained in Tyree. He married his 2nd cousin Mary MacLean of Gortendonnel, Tyree on 26 Jun 1872 at Moss Church Tyree (Mary's paternal grandfather Archibald, was brother to Margaret - Hugh's paternal grandmother). Hugh & Mary had 4 children, born in Kilmoluaig: Flora Ann in 1873, Catherine in 1875, Alexander in 1879 and Hugh Alexander in 1883. In the 1911 census, Hugh and Mary are recorded at Kilmaluaig, and that, of the 4 children born alive in the marriage, all 4 are still alive.

Compiled by Flo Straker, Genealogist, An Iodhlann, August 2019