Loading
Loading

Clan MacQuarrie

AN T’ARM BREAC DEARG


Clan MacQuarrie are a Highland clan, known for holding large amounts of land in the Inner Hebrides. They are one of the seven clans making up the family of Siol Alpin, claiming descent from the King of the ancient territory of Dál Riata. The MacQuarries are one of the four oldest clans in the history of Scotland.

Fierce advocates of Scottish independence, clan MacQuarrie fought in the Scottish Wars of Independence and supported Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The MacQuarrie clan motto is "Turris Fortis Meus Mihi Deus" (God is a strong tower to me) and the clan crest is an armoured arm emerging from a tower, clutching a dagger.

Scottish History

of Clan MacQuarrie


The blood is strong

The name Macquarrie derives from the Gaelic personal name, Guaire, meaning “noble” or “proud”. The clan’s ancestral home is the island of Ulva off the west coast of Mull. The clan claims royal descent, from Gregor son of Scots king Alpin, who succeeded to the Scottish throne in 834 and died three years later in a battle at Dalmellington, Ayrshire.

The MacQuarries then were always fiercely loyal to the Scottish crown and during the reign of Alexander II (b1198-d1249) paid dearly for that policy. Alexander tried to take control of the Western Isles, which at that time were under Norwegian control. He tried negotiating a settlement and when that failed attempted to buy them from the Norwegian king, Haakon IV, without success. Alexander then approached Ewen, son of Duncan Lord of Argyll. But when that was rejected he decided that force was the only option and Alexander sailed with an army to try to conquer the isles. On the way he suffered a fever at the Isle of Kerrera and died there in 1249.

The chief of the MacQuarries at that time was Cormac Mor, who joined Alexander with a force of three birlinns or galleys of 16 oars each. On Alexander’s death his followers were attacked by those loyal to Norway and were massacred. Cormac was killed and his wife and two sons were forced to flee to Ireland. One of the boys, Gregor, earned the nickname “Garbh” otherwise known as “The Rough” and remained in Ireland. It’s said that he became the founder and leader of the MacGuire tribe and that his descendant became Lord Inniskillen. The other MacQuarrie son, Alan, returned to Scotland.

Fourteen years after the MacQuarries were slain, Haakon was defeated at the Battle of Largs. The king of Norway, worried about another Scottish attempt to wrest Argyll and the isles from his control decided on a pre-emptive strike. In July 1263 he left the port of Bergen with 200 ships and by the time he reached the western isles of Scotland his forces had been swelled further. Haakon attacked the mainland with initial success before the Scots began negotiating with him. This was a delaying tactic to enable them to mobilise their forces. During the talks a major storm erupted just off Largs. This forced the Norwegians to attempt to shelter on dry land. The combination of terrible weather and difficult terrain left them wide open to attack and they were unable to re-organise themselves into a fighting force. Consequently the Norsemen suffered a heavy defeat. This was great news for the MacQuarries whose Scottish enemies now no longer enjoyed the protection of the Norwegians.

During the wars of independence against England, the MacQuarries again proved their loyalty. This time Eachuin, or Hector, who was chief, joined up with Robert the Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The Scottish victory against an army three times its size was the decisive moment of the war and led to independence, although it took 14 years before it became official with the signing of the Treaty of Northampton.

But the clan wouldn’t always bow to the Crown. The Lords of the Isles were a powerful group of families which had ruled the west coast of Scotland from the middle ages. The three main clans were McRuari, MacDougall and Donald. The latter became the dominant force. They were supported by other families, including the MacQuarries of Ulva. The Lords of the Isles acted in their own best interests at all time, only obeying the kings of Scotland if it suited their purposes. It was a time when Gaelic culture was at its peak. King James IV tried several times to limit their control but was unsuccessful. At one point the powers that be summoned the clan chief from Ulva to answer charges of rebellion. But he just ignored them, knowing it would be almost impossible for the authorities to act against him. Eventually, though, King James relieved the Lords of the Isles of their title and power and the MacQuarries aligned themselves with the MacLeans of Duart, who dominated the neighbouring isle of Mull. After James died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 Lachlan MacLean of Duart negotiated a pardon for himself and the chief of Ulva. However, without the Clan Donald’s power and no effective government rule in the remote north and west it was a time of lawlessness and bloody feuds and the MacQuarries were in the thick of things.

They were in big trouble again in the middle of the sixteenth century when they were accused of being among 13 clans secretly dealing with King Henry VIII of England who was trying to take control of Scotland. But the chief of Ulva, like his immediate predecessor, escaped punishment.

It was around this time that the legend of Alan a Sop was born.

Alan’s mother was unmarried when he was born. His real father was Maclean of Duart. His mother, who was from the same clan, went on to marry Maclean of Torloisk, who mistreated his step-son. One day his mother was baking and the father took the boy’s hands and stuffed them into the burning cake, causing him great suffering. So much so, young Alan ran away from home. He grew up to become a notorious but highly-successful pirate chief. He returned to Mull on hearing his beloved mother had died and was met on the beach by his evil step-father, who was involved in a feud with MacQuarrie of Ulva. Maclean of Torloisk convinced Alan to cross the water and kill MacQuarrie. But the chief of Ulva was crafty and when Alan arrived at his home he welcomed him with great hospitality. Alan, overwhelmed by his host’s generosity, then confessed his mission. MacQuarrie seized the opportunity to remind Alan of the burning cake incident of his childhood. By the time he left Ulva Alan’s mind was made up. He returned to Torloisk and cut him down with an axe before taking possession of his land.

Another legend of the time concerns a headland on the south coast of Mull. Maclaine of Lochbuie had punished a man whose name was Gorrie or MacGorrie with a terrible flogging. The name MacGorrie was the predecessor of MacQuarrie. When the punishment ended MacGorrie grabbed Maclaine’s baby son and heir and threatened to cast him off a cliff unless Maclaine submitted to the same punishment he had just meted out. Maclaine had no option but to agree and was whipped on his bare back. When MacGorrie’s revenge was complete, instead of handing the boy back, he ran to the cliff-top and jumped off, killing himself and the baby. To this day the spot is known as Gorrie’s Leap.

In the late sixteenth century King James VI made it a priority to bring the area back under his control and introduced a number of legal reforms aimed at achieving this. But it was slow progress and in 1609 the king took drastic measures. He arranged for the kidnapping of more than a dozen Highland chiefs, including Gillespie MacQuarrie, and held them captive first on a ship and then in prisons across central Scotland until they agreed to adhere to the Statutes of Iona. These were designed to destroy Gaelic culture, weaken the power of the local chiefs and take over their land. In particular, the act limited the movement of bards and musicians who travelled between chiefs. It’s thought the government saw them as responsible for inciting wars. Also prohibited were the bearing of arms and drunken revelry. But the worst condition, from the chief’s perspective, was the law which insisted that a chief’s oldest son, and therefore heir, should be educated away from home in the Lowlands of Scotland. This meant that future chiefs would not be able to follow the Gaelic way of life as they would have little knowledge or experience of it during their formative years. In many cases, this also meant a change of religion. The isles were mainly Catholic, but the Lowlands were Protestant.

In the seventeenth century the close relations they enjoyed with the Maclaines would prove disastrous for the MacQuarries, when they fought with them at the Battle of Inverkeithing. It took place on July 20, 1651 and was fought between Oliver Cromwell’s English Parliament army and Scottish soldiers loyal to King Charles II. It ended with a heavy defeat for the Scots and the deaths of Chief Alan MacQuarrie and most of his clansmen from Ulva.

It was the beginning of the end of the MacQuarries as influential landowners, or so it seemed at the time. The last of them to inherit Ulva was Lachlan, the sixteenth chief. In 1773 he entertained James Boswell and Dr Samuel Johnson in his home. The pair were travelling through the northwest and would later write about their experiences. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland was the title of Johnson’s book in 1775, while Boswell’s version, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, was published in 1786. Yet barely five years after hosting them he was forced to sell the clan estates to pay off debts. At that stage he was 63. And although that was old for that time, he was clearly young at heart. He entered the army became a captain and fought against the Americans in their war of independence. He survived, left the army in 1783 and went on to live to the grand of age of 103, dying in 1818 on Mull without a male heir, leading to the extinction of the family line.

However, it wasn’t long before the lands were back in MacQuarrie control, thanks to the astonishing rise from humble beginnings of another Lachlan MacQuarie, whose legacy lives on strongly to this day.

The father of Australia

Lachlan Macquarie, who is revered as the founder of Australia, was born on Ulva in 1761. His father was a carpenter but tried his hand at farming.

When Lachlan was 11 the family moved to Mull where they rented land. At the age of 14 he left home. It is said that he was then educated at the Royal High School of Edinburgh, paid for by an uncle, although there is some dispute about this. In 1776 he volunteered for the 84th Regiment of Foot, known as the Royal Highland Emigrants because it consisted of a mixture of Scots and recruits from British colonies, and served in North America, India and Egypt. He enjoyed a distinguished military career. By 1802 he had been promoted to Major and shortly after, while in London, he was presented to the king and queen and hobnobbed with the aristocracy. By now he was a widower. In 1793 he’d married Jane Jarvis, daughter of the wealthy landowner Thomas Jarvis, who was Chief Justice of the island of Antigua. Unfortunately, just three years later and before she could bear children, she died of tuberculosis in Macao, China. Her death left him a wealthy man and along with his military earnings he was able to buy a 10,000 acre estate on Mull which he named Jarviswood in her memory. By 1805 had been promoted yet again to lieutenant-colonel in charge of the 73rd Regiment of Foot, an infantry regiment known as MacLeod’s Highlanders after its founder Lord MacLeod. That same year he became secretly engaged to Elizabeth Henrietta Campbell, who was a distant relative. They married in 1807 and the following year their daughter, Jane, was born. But tragedy struck again when the baby died less than three months later.

Read more

Family History Mini Book


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

You can buy the full book for only
$5.08

111 Clan MacQuarrie

Tartan Products

The Crests

of Clan MacQuarrie

Clan MacQuarrie
Clan MacQuarrie (of Ulva)
Clan MacQuarrie
Clan MacQuarrie

30 Clan MacQuarrie

Crest Products

Spellings

of MacQuarrie

MacCorrie
MacCorry
MacGorrie
MacGorry
MacCoirry
MacCory
MacGorie
MacGorre
MacGory
MacGuarrie
MacOuhir
MacQuaire
MacQuarie
MacQuhirr
MacQuarrey
MacQuharrie
MacQuharry
MacQuorie
MacQuorrie
MacWarie
MacWharrie
MacWhirrie
Makcorry
Makcory
Makquharie
Makquharry
MacQuarrane
Makquhary
Makquhory
Makquoyrie
MacGury
MacQuary
MacQuhore
MacQuhorre
MacQurrie
MacGurrie
M'guirey
Quarry
Wharrie
Quharrie
Quharry
Quherrie
Gorie