The name "Macnab" (however spelt) is
from the Gaelic "Mhic an Aba" and means "sons (or
children) of the Abbot." Originally there were lay abbots,
and according to tradition the Macnab chiefs were descended from
the younger son of Kenneth McAlpine, King of the Scots, Abbot
of Glendochart and Strathearn, who united the Scots and the Picts.
Macnabs are members of a larger clan grouping, Siol-an-Alpine
Clan Alpine, with the MacGregors, MacKinnons, Grants, Macquarries,
and MacAulays.
The early history of Clan Macnab is bound up with Saint Fillan,
the later of two so named. He was a Scot, the son of Feradach
or Feriach, who succeeded St. Mundus as Abbot of Kilmun, then
moved to Glendochart. The ruins of his chapel are at Kirkton in
Strathfillan; his "pool" and "stone bed,"
supposed to cure the insane, are still there. Other relics of
St. Fillan, important to the Clan, still exist. His pastoral staff,
or crozier, (the Quigrich), which was carried before the Clan
in battle, and his bell are in the National Museum in Edinburgh.
His "healing stones" are at the Tweed Mill, Dochart
Bridge, Killin. He died on 9 January, 703 A.D.
Macnab country stretched from Tyndrum west into Argyll, and east
down Glendochart to Killin, where the seat of the Clan was Macnab
Castle on Eilan Ran, an island on the north bank of the River
Lochay. This was at the western end of Loch Tay, a point of great
importance when there were no roads and water was the quickest
means of transport.
The surname "Macnab" was first found in a document dated
1124 AD in the reign of David I. Angus Macnab, incensed by the
murder of his brother-in-law, The Red Comyn, by Robert the Bruce,
joined the Red Comyn's son-in-law, MacDougall of Lorn, and defeated
the Bruce at the Battle of Dalrigh in Strathfillan. The Bruce
then defeated MacDougall and Macnab at the Pass of Brander, 1308,
and Bannockburn, 1314. The Macnab lands were forfeited, but in
1336, Gilbert of Bovain received a charter from King David II,
and is regarded by the Lord Lyon as the first chief.
The Macnabs moved slowly down the River Dochart. Before Bannockburn,
the Chief probably lived at Innishewan; Gilbert, the first Chief,
lived at Bovain. About 1400, Macnab lands included Ardchyle, Invermonichele,
Bovain, and Downich. The eighth Chief, Finlay, who died in 1525
at Eilan Ran and is buried at Killin, granted lands of Ewer and
Leiragan to his wife, Mariat Campbell, for her lifetime. His eldest
son was probably killed at Flodden in 1513.
Finlay's second son, John, succeeded him and died in 1558. He
and his wife rest in the burial enclosure on the Isle of Inchbuie
at Killin. Owing to the death of his son before him, Finlay was
succeeded by his brother, Alexander, whose extravagances depleted
the family fortunes.
Alexander had two sons, Finlay and Patrick Mor of Acharn. Finlay
was the father of "Smooth John," famous warrior, and
Duncan, by his first wife, Katherine, daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell
of Glenorchy. By a second wife, Alexander had ten more sons; from
the eldest of these, John Roy or Baine, the present Chief is descended.
Trouble with the Clan Neish produced the Chief's crest, "a
savage's head erased," and the motto, "Dread nought,"
or in Latin, Timor Omnis Abesto. Smooth John led his brothers
in a raid against the Neishes in reprisal for the latter's raids,
in particular taking a pack train of provisions at Christmas 1612.
The brothers carried a boat through snow over a 2,000 foot pass
from the head of Loch Tay to the head of Glen Achern, and down
the glen to the shore of Loch Earn. They rowed to the Neishes'
lair and despatched them. Back at Eilan Ran Smooth John answered
the lookout's challenge with "Fear Nought" (in Gaelic).
From a sack on his shoulder he rolled out the heads of some of
the Neishes, including the old Chief. There was no more trouble
from the Neishes.
Smooth John led the fighting men of Macnab in support of the Duke
of Montrose in the Civil War. They played a notable part in the
victory of Kilsyth, but John was captured after unsuccessfully
defending Montrose's own Castle Kincardine. He escaped under a
sentence of death in Edinburgh and led 300 clansmen to crushing
defeat at Worcester on 3 September 1651. John survived the battle
but died not long afterwards, killed by marauding members of the
Commonwealth army.
The castle of Eilan Ran was burnt by the English in 1654. Smooth
John's widow married Malcolm MacGregor and took the lands of Ewer
in exchange for Kinnell, which became the seat of the family.
Robert, 14th Chief, refused to rise for the Stuarts in 1715, but
many of the Clan did.
John, 15th Chief, was a major in the English army and was taken
prisoner at Prestonpans on 21 September 1745. Some of the Clan
supported the Rising, but most felt that after Worcester they
had done enough for the Stuarts and had received little thanks
for their efforts. John's brother-in-law, Francis Buchanan, accompanied
Prince Charlie to the last, and received his ruby ring and a sword.
The ring was subsequently presented to the National Museum in
Edinburgh by Miss Sarah Anne Macnab of Macnab, 18th Chief. The
sword went with her father, Archibald, 17th Chief, to Canada,
was bought by Donald, brother of James William, the 19th Chief,
and is in family hands.
Francis, 16th Chief (1734-1814) is the best known Macnab because
of the famous portrait of him by Raeburn. He was a man large of
body and of appetites. He lived to the end like an old-fashioned
chief at Kinnell House, and died 35,000 pounds in debt.
Francis left the Macnab lands to his nephew, Archibald (17th Chief),
but the lands were hopelessly encumbered and Archibald could do
nothing to save them. Some of the land was sold off but no buyer
could be found for the remainder. In 1823 a writ of foreclosure
was issued. Archibald fled to Canada, where he obtained a grant
of 81,000 acres in the Ottawa River Valley. He was followed in
1825 by 500 men, women, and children of the Clan. By 1838 he was
unsuccessful in his dream of reestablishing the family fortune
and repurchasing ancestral lands. He finally left Canada in 1853,
moved about, and died in 1860 at Lannion, Cotes d'Armor, in France.
His daughter, Sarah Anne (b 1803), maintained the old line as
18th Chief until her death in Florence in 1894 extinguished it.
The succession to the chiefship was left in doubt after Sarah
Anne's death. The Lord Lyon finally recognized James William Macnabb,
of the Macnabbs of Arthurstone, as 19th Chief. He was succeeded
on his death in 1915 by his son, the Rev. James Frederick, 20th
Chief, for many years rector of Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire.
James Alexander Macnabb, OBE, TD, 21st Chief, was educated at
Eton and Cambridge. He was famous in rowing circles, winning a
Blue at Cambridge and a Gold Medal at the Paris Olympic Games.
He served in WW II in the Royal Artillery in West Africa and Burma,
reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1949, Archibald Corrie Macnabb, son of James Frederick, 20th
Chief, bought back Kinnell House and 7,000 acres from the Breadalbane
Estate. In 1954 James Alexander surrendered his claim to the succession
in favor of his uncle, and Archibald Corrie was recognized by
the Lord Lyon as 22nd
Chief.
Archibald Corrie was born in London in 1886, educated at Eton
and Balliol College, Oxford. He served in the Indian Civil Service,
mostly in the Punjab, from 1911 until 1950. He died in 1970 and
is buried in the old Macnab Burial Ground on the Island of Inchbuie.
James Charles, the present (23rd) Chief, is the son of James Alexander,
21st Chief. He was born in 1926, educated at Radley College and
at Ashbury College, Ottawa, Canada. He served in the RAF and Scots
Guards 1944-45. In 1945 he was commissioned into the Seaforth
Highlanders and served in India, Java, and Singapore. In 1948
he joined the Colonial Service and served in the Federation of
Malaya Police Force as Assistant and Deputy Superintendant. He
retired in 1957 and farmed at Kinnell until he had to sell it
and move to West Kilmany. He now works with an international financial
conglomerate, the Hill Samuel Group.
The Island of Inchbuie, containing the ancient Macnab Burial Ground,
is the only remaining Clan land in Clan hands. The Chief retained
it when he sold Kinnell, and recently conveyed it to Clan Macnab.
To that end a Clan trust has been set up to assure its possession
to the Clan in perpetuity, and as a burial place for Chiefs and
their families.
Cadet (junior) houses of Clan Macnab:
Septs of Clan Macnab:
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