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t ^ ^Mq^ I T le. 3^ THE HOUSE OF ARGYLL ^ AND THE COLLATEEAL BEANCHES OP THE CLAN Campbell; FROM THE YEAR 420 TO THE PRESENT TIME. J 1 > I ) ,' GEAS'GOW:' • '^ JOHN TWEED, 11 ST. ENOCH SQUARE. HOULSTON & SON, PATEENOSTEE ROW, LONDON. ^ JOHN MENZIES & CO., EDINBURGH. f\ a 1871. ^ b ,^' f 'Y i 'tui: y ^^^'- • • « t * '• •* • ... i«' > • • c « » • » < I 4 • • • • • • • • « • • .*. X X -cD 5 c -c 13 / / PREFACE. In presenting this volume to the public, the Editor feels that very little need be said by him by way of preface. The House of Argyll, as the head of the Clan Campbell, holds such a prominent place in our national history, its records are so intimately blended with every struggle for religious and political freedom, the actions of its chiefs have shed such lustre on our annals, that any fresh fact connected with their history cannot fail to be acceptable to the public. Most of the matter herein contained has never before been published. Of the extracts from the Argyll papers in the Appendix, there were only fifty copies printed, while the body of the work is taken from some old manuscripts, long in the possession of the family of Archibald MacNab, Esq. of Penmore, Isle of Mull; these, as well as the ancient family tree of the Craignish Campbells, he has most kindly placed at our disposal. We have collated and compared these old documents with other authentic records to substantiate their facts and verify their dates, but the language of the writers we have left untouched. We are well aware that a few Gaelic scholars would, in some instances, have used other words, but we have adhered to the MSS. as giving the old and popular version of these names, as from the position of Neil IV PREFACE. MacEwen, as genealogist to the family, and the here- of ditary connection of his forefathers with the House Argyll, he was likely to know the correct meaning attached to these phrases in that district. These old MSS., though never before pubhshed, have been ^* alluded to by other writers. Buchanan, in his Inquiry into Ancient Scottish Surnames," speaks of his having F. seen them, and quotes the opening sentence. J. Campbell, Esq., in his ''West Highland Tales," thus '' speaks of them:— The following is taken from a MS. which came from Cawdor Castle, and is at present in my possession. It is called genealogical abridgment : — of the very ancient and noble family of Argyll, 1779 "'In the following account we have had regard to the gene- alogical tree done by Mel MacEwen, as he received the same from Eachern MacEwen, his ffather, as he had the same from Arthur MacEwen, his grandfather, and their ancestors and predecessors, senachies and pensioners to great ffamilys, who, for many ages were employed to make up and keep such Eecords in their accustomed way of Irish Khymes; and the account left by Mr. Alexander Colvin, who had access to the papers of the ffamily, and Pedro Mexva, a Spaniard, who wrote the origin of diverse and sundry nations, in his book entitled the Treasury of Antiquities.'" In the continuation of the work, as well as in the notices of the younger branches of the Clan, we have freely availed ourselves of those works on the Peerage that could tend to render this volume authentic, without making it too voluminous. To the favourable con- sideration of the public we commend it, as containing, in a compendious form, the fullest account yet pub- lished of the whole of the branches of the Clan Camp- bell. Our difficulty has been, not to find materials PREFACE. V for the work, but to compress them into an ordinary volume. To justly recount the works of the eminent men of the name of Campbell who have left their impress in the pages of the world's history, would take up far more space than we have devoted to the whole subject. In the Appendix, we have barely given the names of a few of the most celebrated of the Clan; without that list our work would hardly be complete, appearing, as it does, shortly before the happy event that is to shed additional lustre on their already bright escutcheon. When a Royal Princess, endowed with beauty and accomplishments of the highest rank, is about to be united to the heir of the House of Argyll, who inherits the statesmanlike qualities of the most celebrated of his ancestors; and while he is highly honoured by having gained the affections of the Prin- cess, the sanction of the Queen, and the approbation of the country, his royal bride will not have to blush for the connexion she is forming; for we make bold to say, that no other family can show a more numerous and illustrious roll of names than the Campbells. If an aristocratic connexion alone had been desired for the Princess, where could we find a family more extensively connected with the highest nobility by its intermarriages than the House of Argyll—and the Campbells can boast that of their own name, inde- pendent of collateral branches. They have at present six members of the British Peerage, and twenty-two Bar- onets, each of whom have been raised to their respective rank, like the last, Lord Clyde, for their own conspicu- ous merit. Of the true nobility, that of mind, we can VI PREFACE. point to many bright examples amongst their clans- men who have been foremost in social, political, edu- cational, and religious movements. / No race has more freely offered up their lives in their country's service, both by sea and land. In the various arts, manufac- tures, and commerce, they have produced men equal to any of their compeers. They have been eminent in the pulpit and the press, the synod and the senate, distinguished alike at the bar and on the bench, in the camp and at the court. They have acquired fame as architects, musicians, and sculptors. They have shone alike as poets, philosophers, and philanthropists, doctors, and divines. It is the consideration of these facts that has caused the well informed portion of the nation to rejoice at the decision of the Queen to break through the antiquated state policy that prohibited the marriage of a scion of the royal house with a subject of the realm. To promote this feeling of satisfaction on the part of the public, by diffusing more informa- tion on this subject; to enable them to obtain at a glance a comprehensive idea of the antiquity, power, worth, and extensive ramifications of the great family of which the Marquis of Lome will be the future head and chief, is the main object of this history of the House of Argyll and the Clan Campbell. Glasgow, Feb., 1871. CONTENTS. PAGE Introductory, 1 The House of Argyll, 9 The House of Craignish, 85 The House of Breadalbane, 127 The House of Cawtdor, 143 The House of Loudon, 153 The Campbells of Lochnell, 165 The Campbells of Asknish, 172 The Campbells of Auchinbreck, 179 The Campbells of Aberuchill, 185 Appendlx, . 192 THE CLAN CAMPBELL. INTRODUCTORY. The curiosity entertained by civilised nations of inquiring into the characters and achievements of their ancestors, as well as the vanity inseparable from human nature, have occasioned researches into the origin of ancient and illustrious families by genealo- gists. They may be deemed in some respects laudable as a tribute due in gratitude to the memory of amiable characters, whose shining virtues and great actions have been productive of general good to man- kind, both in civil and religious matters. They may afford entertainment to the disinterested spectator, by the varying passions found naturally to agitate the bosom of descendants as the pedigree becomes bright or obscure, and are apt to excite a generous emulation among them to maintain the honour and dignity of their ancestors, by imitating their- virtuous and worthy B 2 THE CLAN CAMPBELL. actions, and may therefore be admitted as justifiable and useful. But in general most of the pedigrees that have yet appeared begin either with a great statesman or a renowned warrior of dignified rank, and are so blended with fabulous detail, as scarce to leave room for the conjecture, that the noble founder of the family ever had a father. In matters, however, of remote antiquity in Scotland, where no authentic histories are extant, owing either to the late period at which writing was introduced into it, or to its historical monuments being carried away or destroyed by the vicious policy of Edward the First • of the must be England ; investigation admitted to be extremely difficult, nay, impracticable, without recourse to the fragments of the Bards or Sana- chies, who, it is well known, were the ancient heralds of Britain, and preserved in their songs or lyric odes the memory of Families, the Chiefs of which had dis- tinguished themselves in war, and they transmitted an account of their descents with the most scrupulous accuracy. By these, as well as all the biographies which have hitherto appeared in Britain, the ancient and noble Family in Scotland, of which his Grace the Duke of Argyll is Chief, is universally admitted to be of very great antiquity, of which the difficulty that occurs in INTRODUCTOEY. 3 tracing the origin of this illustrious line is a strong proof. It is not, however, pretended that they were originally distinguished, as now, by the surname of Campbell, but, on the contrary, were known to the world by the name of O'Dwibhn, or rather O'Dwin, or MacDwine.