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Clan Ogilvie

TO THE END


The name Ogilvie (also spelled Ogilvy) derives from the Brythonic "Ocel-fa", which translate as "high plain". The traditional Ogilvie lands are situated in Angus. The clan became the hereditary Sheriffs of Angus in 1365.

The clan fought against the invading Earl of Buchan during the Raid of Angus, a battle which saw the Ogilvies and their allies suffer heavy losses.

The Ogilvie clan motto is "A fin" (To the end) and the clan crest is a woman holding up a portcullis.

Scottish History

of Clan Ogilvie


Knights and sheriffs

Famed for their unswerving loyalty to the Royal House of Stuart, the Ogilvies can also claim a descent that can be traced back to a mysterious Celtic institution known as the Seven Earls of Scotland.

These earls, who ruled in the seven provinces north of the Forth, enjoyed special privileges based on an ancient tradition that included the right to ‘make’ a king and place him on the seat of royalty known as the Stone of Destiny.

One of these powerful earls, Earl Gillechrist of Angus, was granted the Barony of Ogilvie, in the parish of Glamis, Forfarshire, by William the Lyon in 1163. He gave these lands to his younger son, Gillebride, in 1177.

Gillebride, who later anglicised his name to Gilbert, took the name of Ogilvie, or Ogilvy, from these lands.

The Ogilvies are known as the ‘Siol Gilchrist’, the race, or posterity, of Gilchrist, indicating their descent from Gillechrist, Earl of Angus, while ‘Ogilvie’ stems from ‘Ocel-fa’, meaning ‘high plain.’

From this land of the high plain, the Ogilvies accumulated honours and titles as the centuries progressed. In 1429, Sir Walter Ogilvie was appointed the first Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, under James I.

The eighth Baron Ogilvie obtained a charter for the lands and castle of Airlie in 1459, and his son, Sir James, was elevated to the peerage in 1491 as Lord Ogilvie of Airlie.

In 1639 James, the eighth Lord Airlie, was created Earl of Airlie by Charles I.

The main branches of the family are the Ogilvies of Airlie and the Ogilvies of Inverquharity, while cadet branches of the family became Earls of Findlater in 1638 and Seafield in 1701.

The Earls of Airlie are recognised as chiefs of the Ogilvies, and there is a legend that a ghostly drummer boy can be heard beating his drum whenever an Earl of Airlie is about to die.

Sir Patrick Ogilvie was one of the many Scottish magnates who were compelled to sign a humiliating treaty of fealty, known as the Ragman Roll, to the conquering Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, in 1296.

Signed by 1,500 earls, bishops, and burgesses, the parchment is known as the Ragman Roll because of the ribbons that dangle from the seals of the signatories.

This humiliation for the Ogilvies was avenged, however, when Sir Patrick’s sons fought with distinction for the cause of the great warrior king Robert the Bruce, victor of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Recognised as hereditary sheriffs of Angus, it was Sir Walter Ogilvie of Auchterhouse who in 1391, in his capacity of sheriff, bravely attempted to defend the shire of Angus from the ravages of the battle-hardened Duncan Stewart, a son of Alexander, Earl of Buchan, better known as the Wolf of Badenoch.

Heavily outnumbered, Sir Walter, a number of other lairds, and about 60 of their followers were slaughtered at Glen Brierachan.

Sir Walter’s eldest son, Alexander, is remembered to this day as the ‘the gracious gude Lord Ogilvie’, in a ballad which commemorates the bloody Battle of Harlaw, fought on July 24, 1411, just north of Aberdeen.

Also known as the Battle of Red Harlaw, it was one of the most savage battles ever fought on Scottish soil, and in the end no side emerged victorious.

Donald Macdonald, 2nd Lord of the Isles, had mustered about 6,000 of his best clansmen and burned Inverness after crossing to the mainland and marching up the Great Glen.

His strength swelled to 10,000 after other clans (including Camerons, Chattans, MacIntoshes, and MacLeods) joined him. Promising them rich pickings, Macdonald marched them towards Aberdeen.

The Earl of Mar hastily assembled a force that included northeast lairds such as Ogilvie, while the Provost of Aberdeen also raised men.

The opposing forces met just north of Aberdeen, and battle was joined shortly after the summer sun had risen.

The fearless and ferocious clansmen repeatedly charged the ranks of the Earl of Mar and his men, only to be cut down in swathes, but not before exacting their own toll in blood.

As the sun sank low in the west, both sides were exhausted and had to retire from the fray, leaving behind a battlefield littered with the corpses of at least 1,000 clansmen and 600 of Mar’s men, including Sir Alexander Ogilvie and his eldest son, George.

Aberdeen had been saved, but at terrible cost to the Ogilvies.

The Year of Miracles

The Battle of Harlaw does not appear to have dampened the Ogilvie’s martial ardour, however, for in 1429 we find the Vicomte d’ Angus, none other than Sir Patrick Ogilvie, Sheriff of Angus, commanding the Scottish forces in France who fought with Joan of Arc against the English.

Sixteen years later, in 1445, Alexander Ogilvie of Inverquharity was killed in a battle with Alexander Lindsay, better known as the ‘Tiger’ Earl of Crawford, or Earl Beardie, as the earl rampaged through his lands.

The feud had centred on the fact that the Tiger Earl had been deposed as justiciar of the monastery of Arbroath and Ogilvie put in his place.

Sir Alexander Seton of Gordon, later the Earl of Huntly, had been a guest in Ogilvie’s house while making his way to Strathbogie, and an ancient custom demanded that for as long as the food he had eaten in the house remained in his stomach, he and his followers were obliged to ‘defend their hosts from all hurt, even to the shedding of their blood and losing of their lives for them.’

Seton fought bravely, but had to flee for his life, leaving not only his host but also his own son dead on the battlefield.

The Ogilvies were among the leading Scottish nobles who formed the ‘band’ that supported the ill-starred Mary, Queen of Scots, and their loyalty to the Stuart cause cost them dear during the bitter wars between Crown and Covenant that wracked Scotland.

In 1640, the ruling Committee of Estates of Scotland issued the Campbell Earl of Argyll with a savage writ of ‘fire and sword’ against the Ogilvies and others who had proven to be ‘enemies of religion’, because they had refused to sign the National Covenant of 1638.

Argyll set about his bloody task with zeal, raising 4,000 men to ravage the northeast.

The ballad known as The Bonnie House o’Airlie records how this proud stronghold of the Ogilvies was ransacked and burned to the ground, despite a desperate plea from a pregnant Lady Ogilvie for mercy.

The House of Airlie was rebuilt after its destruction, and remains in the Ogilvie family possession, although their main seat today is Cortachy Castle, in Angus.

The Ogilvies were at the side of the Royalist James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, during his great campaigns from 1644 to 1645, a year that became known as the Year of Miracles because of Montrose’s brilliant military successes.

The Ogilvies gained revenge for the Earl of Argyll’s merciless harrying of their lands and property at the Battle of Inverlochy, on February 2, 1645, when the Earl was forced to ignominiously flee in his galley after 1,500 of his Covenanters were wiped out in a surprise attack.

What makes Montrose’s victory all the more notable is that his hardy forces had arrived at Inverlochy after an exhausting 36-hour march south through knee-deep snow from the area of the present-day Fort Augustus.

The Ogilvies also shared in Montrose’s great victory at Kilsyth on August 15, 1645, but also shared in his final defeat at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, less than a month later.

Sir Alexander Ogilvie of Airlie’s son, James, taken prisoner at Philiphaugh, was sentenced to death by the vengeful Covenanters but made his escape from prison in St Andrews the night before the sentence was due to be carried out, dressed in his sister’s clothes.

His brave sister, allowed to visit him, had exchanged her clothes with her brother, giving him enough time to escape before his captors realised they had been duped.

Ogilvie of Inverquharity, however, Sir Robert Spottiswood, was beheaded by the ‘Maiden’, or guillotine, in Edinburgh in January 1646 for supporting Montrose, who met the same grim fate four years later.

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Family History Mini Book


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112 Clan Ogilvie

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The Crests

of Clan Ogilvie

Clan Ogilvie
Clan Ogilvie (Earl of Findlater)
Clan Ogilvie
Clan Ogilvie
Clan Ogilvie
Clan Ogilvie

65 Clan Ogilvie

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Divisions

of Ogilvie

Airlie
Fothy
Futhie
Ogilvie of Airlie
Ogilvie of Inverarity
Ogilvie of Strathallan
Storrie

Spellings

of Ogilvie

Ogilvy
Ogilby
Ogelvie
Ogilvey
Ogelvy
Ogilbe
Ogilbie
Ogilve
Ogilwe
Ogilwie
Ogilwye
Oglevy
Ogylbe
Ogyllwe
Ogylvi
Ogylvy
Ogylwe
Ogylwye

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