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Clan Drummond

GANG WARILY


Clan Drummond are believed to take their name from the lands of Drymen near Stirling. The first clan chief appearing on records was Malcolm Beg, Chamberlain of Lennox, in the 13th century.

Despite early clan chiefs swearing fealty to the English crown, during the Scottish Wars of Independence the Drummonds strongly supported the cause of Scottish independence. Malcolm Drummond is credited with deploying a number of caltrops on the battlefield during the Battle of Bannockburn, which proved to be catastrophic for the English forces.

The Drummonds are commonly associated with the area of Perthsire, after they were gifted land following Bannockburn. The Earldom of Perth was conferred on the 4th Baron Drumming in 1488.

The Drummond clan motto is "Gang warily" (Go warily) and the clan crest is a goshawk.

Scottish History

of Clan Drummond


The blood is strong

The history of the Drummond Clan is one of the most romantic and exciting of all of Scotland’s great families. The name is believed to have originated in the 13th century from the lands of Drymen, near Loch Lomond and to the west of Stirling. To this day the chief of the clan, The 18th Earl of Perth, is known as “an Drumanach Mor” or “The Great Man of Drymen”.

However the dynasty had a more dramatic beginning in the 11th century when Edgar Atheling (meaning Prince), his mother, two sisters and members of his court fled from England to escape from William the Conqueror after the battle of Hastings. Resigning his briefly declared role as King of England, he secretly set sail for his home in Hungary but was overtaken be a furious storm and shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland. They came ashore in the Firh of Forth at a place now called Saint Margaret’s Hope.

In the best tradition of romantic stories, a handsome and powerful King was waiting at the rescue. Malcolm III, Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, heard of the plight of the ship and her passengers and sent messengers to investigate. They returned with word of “The stateliness of the older men, the good sense of the younger, the ripe womanhood of the matrons and the loveliness of the young girls.” Margaret, the sister of Edward Atheling, was described as a “matchless beauty”. Malcolm Canmore, who had known her as a child, fell in love with the woman and then made her his wife. They were married in the King’s town of Dunfermline and celebrated with great splendour and magnificence. Margaret and Malcolm had two daughters and six sons, three of whom became Kings of Scotland. Queen Margaret of Scotland died in Edinburgh Castle in 1093 following the news of the deaths of Malcolm and her son Edward in battle. She was canonised in 1249 and her body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey in 1250.

Tradition suggests that Maurice, the pilot of the ill fated ship and the youngest son of the King of Hungary, married Margaret’s maid-of-honour and that the lands of Drymen were conferred on him. It was from here that the name, Drummond, first evolved. Two theories exist as to the derivation of the name. One is from the Gaelic ‘Dromainn’ meaning a ridge or high ground. The second derivation is from the Latin ‘dromont’ – the captain of a swift ship. In those days, when the use of surnames was just beginning, it is not unlikely that Maurice’s family would become known as the ‘Captains’ family.

The first recorded Drummond was the son of ‘Malcolm Begg’ or Little Malcolm’ who was probably named because of his small stature. In 1225, Malcolm was Steward to the Earl of Lennox. Although he did not adopt the surname of Drummond, his younger son Eion of Drummond’s tombstone in the ruined church on the romantic island of Inchmahone in the Lake of Mentieth is inscribed “Johannes de Drvmod filius. Molqalmi de Drvmod”.

The grandson of this first Drummond, Sir Malcolm, fought with Robert Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314. He is credited with the strewing of caltrops in pits prepared on the battlefield. The caltrops were vicious four pointed metal spikes which, however they were thrown, would land with one point uppermost. They were concealed in the path of the English cavalry where they pierced the horses hooves when they charged the Scots army. These frightening pieces of ironmongery probably won the day for the Scots and this is why the caltrops form part of the Chief’s Coat of Arms and the Drummond motto is “Gang Warily”. For his bravery and his part in securing a victory for the Scots, Sir Malcolm was awarded land in Perthshire.

Besides the unpleasant caltrops, a Drummond is also credited with the introduction of the thumbscrews to Scotland. General Sir William Drummond who was later to become the 1st Viscount Strathallan brought the invention back from Smolensk in Muscovy where he had been Governor. Sir William and the notorious Tam Dayell of the Binns used the thumbscrews to agonising effect during their persecution of the Covenanters in 1678.

The Drummonds gained more land in Perthshire in 1345 when the Chief, John Drummond, married an heiress of the Montfichets and became John Drummond of Stobhall. Stobhall is a beautiful mansion in which David Drummond the 17th Earl of Perth lived. John Drummond of Stobhall’s sister, Margaret, his daughter, Annabella, were renowned for their beauty and both captured the hearts of kings.

Margaret married King David II the son of Robert Bruce in 1364 and was divorced in 1370. The marriage ended a year before David’s death and there were no children.

Annabella Drummond became Queen to Robert III, the second Stewart King. Queen Annabella was a lady of the most exquisite beauty and intelligence. She was celebrated as one of the best Scottish queens and her death in 1401 was regarded as a great loss.

The romantic attachments of the Drummond men, were sometimes less successful. Queen Annabella’s eldest brother, Sir Malcolm Drummond of Stobhall was kidnapped by a gang of fierce Highlanders “who maltreated him in prison until he perished”.

A royal romance

Almost a century later a third Drummond lady became involved in a royal romance and lost her life as a result. Margaret Drummond, the eldest daughter of Sir John Drummond, was a lady of “rare perfection and singular beauty”. She captured the heart of the young King James IV, and it was rumoured that they had become secretly engaged.

Such were the politics of the time that every possible obstacle was put in their way by the nobility and the church, both of whom desired an alliance between James and Margaret Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VII of England. So long as Margaret Drummond lived, the Scottish King would entertain no thoughts of marriage to another. He was crowned in 1488 and did not marry until a year after her death in 1501 when he was nearly 30.

Margaret Drummond’s death was deeply suspicious and it is believed that she was served a poisonous potion with her breakfast. Sadly, the lady was sharing her meal with her twin sisters and her maid and all four of them were killed. One story suggests that the poison was administered at Mass by way of the communion cup.

The sisters were buried together in Dunblane Cathedral in “a curious vault covered in three fair blue marble stanes joined close together.” This original tomb has now gone and a brass plaque in the choir is all that remains to commemorate the three sisters and terrible deeds that took place.

James IV’s marriage to Margaret Tudor was an alliance of the Thistle and the Rose which later was to lead to the union of the Scottish and English crowns.

The First Lord Drummond acquired the lands of Concraig near Crieff in Strathearn in 1487. He began building a castle at Concraig, that is now called Drummond Castle. This first lord was reputed to be a “peppery old gentleman” and from his bad temper stems the Perthshire prayer “from the ire of the Drummonds, good Lord deliver us.” When he was seventy six he was imprisoned for striking the Lord Lyon King of Arms who he thought disrespectful to his grandson, the Red Douglas, second husband of Queen Margaret Tudor. Perhaps one can understand his bad temper when one sees that besides losing his daughter Margaret and her sister, he also lost his youngest son David Drummond who was executed in 1490 for burning a number of their old rivals, the Murrays, in the church at Monzievaird.

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Family History Mini Book


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The Crests

of Clan Drummond

Clan Drummond
Clan Drummond (Lord Drummond)
Clan Drummond
Clan Drummond
Clan Drummond

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Divisions

of Drummond

Begg
Brewer
Cargill
Dock
Doig
Drummond of Fingask
Drummond of Perth
Drummond of Strathallan
MacGregor
MacRobbie
Mushet

Spellings

of Drummond

Drommonde
Drummont
Drummot
Drummyn
Drumon
Drumont
Drumman
Droumound
Dromund
Dromounde
Drominth
Dromonde
Drumund
Droman
Drommount
Dormondy
Drumunde
Dreumond
Dormond

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