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Clan MacMillan

I LEARN TO SUCCOUR THE DISTRESSED


Originally located in Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands, the MacMillans can claim descent from the followers of ancient Celtic church.

Although they supported King Robert the Bruce in the fight for Scottish independence, they opposed the crown in favour of the Lord of the Isles. The clan was divided when it came to the 18th century Jacobite uprising, with some supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie and some not taking an active part in the rebellion.

The MacMillan clan motto is "Miseris succurrere disco" (I learn to succour the unfortunate) and the clan crest is a dual-wielded sword.

Scottish History

of Clan MacMillan


Men of God

The Macmillans, like the Macphersons (“sons of the parson”) and the Macnabs (“sons of the abbot”), have an ecclesiastical origin.

In Gaelic, maol means bald or tonsured, so MacMhaollein is “son of the bald or tonsured one”. Baldness in olden days was common, so to name a family after such an ordinary feature would have been unlikely.

However, ordination into the priesthood was much more unusual, so the ecclesiastical origin seems the likelier.

The name is therefore ancient, as the tonsured one in question would have been a monk of the Columban church. This was named after St Columba, who founded it on Iona in the 6th century.

The Columban church predates Roman Catholicism in Scotland, and prized celibacy as a virtue within its priesthood. However, it was never insisted upon, and many priests married.

This tonsure was not the one we know today, where the crown of the head is shaved, leaving a fringe of hair. It consisted of shaving the hair in front of a line drawn across the skull from ear to ear.

It was called St John’s tonsure, and was the subject of a great argument between the Columban church and the Roman Catholic church in the 7th and 8th centuries. Eventually Roman practice prevailed.

The first instance we have of a name sounding like Macmillan is also ecclesiastical. Within The Book of Deer, written by Columban monks in the ninth century, is a list of local clans and families. One of the names is Maolan.

Deer was a monastery at Old Deer in Aberdeenshire, and it is thought that these are the lands where the Macmillans originally came from.

In some areas of Argyll the Macmillans were called Na Belaich, “the Bells”. The word “beld” means bald in Scots, and here again we find a connection with the tonsure.

Some people claim that the family is a sept of the Buchanans or Munros, or that they belong to Clan Chattan. Certainly there has always been a close relationship between the Macmillans and the Buchanans.

We will probably never know for certain how the Macmillans, the “sons of the bald or tonsured one”, came into being all these years ago.

What we do know is that the clan eventually spread, not just throughout the Highlands, but into the Lowlands as well.

Spreading the seed

Whatever the origins of the clan, we know that by the 12th century they had settled around Loch Arkaig, north of Fort William. From there they established small colonies in Muir Lagan, Glen Spean, Caillie, Glen Urquhart and Lochaber.

These areas are close to Cameron territory, and the Macmillans of Lochaber in particular were loyal followers of Cameron of Lochiel, though occasional skirmishes between the two clans were not unknown.

In those days, the king had absolute power, and he could move people about at will. In the 12th century, Malcolm IV uprooted most of the original Loch Arkaig Macmillans and resettled them near Loch Tay in Perthshire.

The colony became known as Mac-na- Maoile, and its lands included Ben Lawers. In the 14th century most were driven out once again, this time by members of the Chalmers family.

Some went to Knapdale in Argyllshire, and some went to Galloway. The Knapdale Macmillans became a powerful family whose head was known as Macmillan Mòr of Knap.

On the shores of Loch Sween is Castle Sween, said to be one of the oldest stone castles in Scotland. It had been built by the MacSweens, though it was later owned by the Macneills.

Alexander Macmillan, in 1472, was the first of his family to occupy it. He gained the castle by inheritance. His father-in-law had been Hector Macneill, last keeper of the castle for the Macneills.

No doubt Archibald viewed Castle Sween as a fitting and permanent abode for someone who ruled such a thriving area. As we shall see, this was not to be.

Knapdale probably held ten times the population it does today. You can still see evidence of artistic endeavour in its old carved stones and monuments. This suggests not only the wealth to have them done, but a certain amount of leisure time.

One of the monuments is called Macmillan’s Cross, which stands within the ruins of Kilmory Chapel. It was commissioned by Alexander Macmillan himself, and has an inscription in Latin to this effect.

It shows, on one side, the Crucifixion, with Mary on one side of the cross and St John on the other, holding the Gospel. This may be a deliberate reference to St John’s tonsure.

On the other side is a Highland chief hunting a deer, and this chief could be Macmillan Mòr himself.

There’s a tradition that the son of a Macmillan Mòr once slew a man in Knapdale, and fled back to Lochaber with some companions to place himself under the protection of Cameron of Lochiel.

Cameron did indeed offer him protection, and one of the companions subsequently returned to Argyll and established the Macmillans of Glenshira at the head of Loch Fyne.

Another interesting tale is told of one Archibald Macmillan who sought sanctuary in the Campbell stronghold of Inveraray Castle after killing someone.

He changed clothes and hid in the kitchen, where he began to knead dough. His pursuers failed to recognise him, and Archibald made good his escape after they left.

He eventually settled in Glendarual, where his sons became known as Mac-baxtear, “son of the baker”. “Mac” was eventually dropped, and the Baxter family, a sept of the Macmillans, was established.

The overlord in Knapdale was the Lord of The Isles – someone who was almost a king in his own right. The Lord at that time was John MacDonald.

In 1473 John forfeited Knapdale to James III when that monarch at last succeeded in asserting his rule on the west coast. The king, now in absolute control of the area, granted Knapdale and Castle Sween to Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, in 1481.

Alexander therefore lost his castle, and in 1645 it was burned and dismantled by Royalist forces led by Alexander MacDonald. However, the ruins have now been consolidated, and are open to the public.

It is said that the Macmillans’ right to Knapdale was bestowed by the Lords of the Isles in writing, and that this writing was on a boulder.

There are many large, glacial boulders in Knapdale, some as big as a house. The site of this particular one was supposed to have been at the Point of Knap, though it has now long gone.

It was known as a choir Mhic Mhaoilan air a Chnap, or “Macmillan’s title-deed to Knap”. On it, in Gaelic, were the words, “While streams shall run and winds shall blow, Macmillan’s right to Knap thou’lt know”.

The family of Macmillan Mor eventually became extinct, and the chieftainship passed through various branches of the family.

Some Macmillans, in the meantime, spread south down to Kintyre, from where they crossed to Arran and eventually Ayrshire. None of these branches of the clan, nor those in Galloway, achieved any real influence. Some individual members, however, achieved greatness.

Most of the Macmillans who settled in Galloway did so within the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. There they flourished, though not in the cohesive way they would have done in the Highlands. This was, after all, the Lowlands, and loyalty to clan was not as pronounced as it was further north.

The leading families in Galloway were the Macmillans of Brockloch and of Carsphairn. The latter hadn’t in fact moved there from Perthshire, but from Knapdale.

The founder was a younger brother of one of the Macmillan Mòrs, and had no doubt been drawn to Galloway because of the Macmillans already settled there.

In those days, younger brothers had to make their own way in the world, and no doubt this particular Macmillan saw coming to Galloway as a way of seeking his fortune.

It was the Macmillans of Brockloch who were considered to be the chiefs of the Galloway Macmillans. In 1662, a member of the family was fined £360 – a crippling amount then – for refusing to acknowledge an episcopacy within the Church of Scotland.

Some of the Arran Macmillans, having crossed from Kintyre, then crossed to Ayrshire, and a few isolated settlements grew up there.

So the Macmillans were eventually to be found in many areas of Scotland. All, however, can look to the tonsured priest of Deer as the founder of the clan.

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Family History Mini Book


We hope you enjoyed reading this excerpt from this mini book on the Scottish history of the MacMillan family.

You can buy the full book for only
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121 Clan MacMillan

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The Crests

of Clan MacMillan

Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan
Clan MacMillan

69 Clan MacMillan

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Divisions

of MacMillan

Baxter
Bell
Blue
Brown
MacNamell
Walker

Spellings

of MacMillan

MacMilane
MacMilland
MacMillen
MacMillin
MacMillon
MacMolan
MacMolane
MacMolland
MacMulan
MacMulane
MacMullan
MacMullen
MacMullin
MacMullon
MacMylan
MacMyllan
MacMyllane
Makmilane
Makmillem
Makmulane
Makmullane
Makmylan
Makmyllan
Makmyllane
Makmyllen
MacKmillan
MacMhaolain

188 Clan MacMillan

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