The Clan Grant Society
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The Clan Grant Society |
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Chief's Welcome
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A Brief History of Clan GrantOrigins DNA evidence established in 2007 has now conclusively vindicated the Grant Seannachies of the past who were unanimous that the original Grant Chiefs were of Viking stock. The Chiefs’ ancestral lines go back to Håkon the Mighty, protector of Norway (970-995), Grig, (“Gregory the Great”) Regent of Scotland (878-889), Heming the Great, King of Denmark (fl. 810) and Alfred the Great of Wessex! Our patriarch, Olav Hemingsson came North with Malcolm III around 1057. The Clan’s plant badge, the “Seedling Scots Pine, fructed proper”, echoes the Norse origins of the first Chiefly line. The Crowns on the Chief’s Arms represent the Spirit of Victory. In the tinctures (the colours), the vassalage to Malcolm is acknowledged. These ancestors of the Grants were in Strathspey during the reign of Malcolm III, their main tasks being to ensure that the beacon atop Craigelachie (by Aviemore) was lit to warn the king – and the rest of Lowland Scotland – if danger threatened from the North. Our crest, the “Burning Hill proper” reflects this as does the War Cry “Craigelachie”; our Motto, “Stand Fast” reflects our attitude towards any attack coming from that direction. These lands, together with others round Loch Freuchie near Dunkeld, were lost after 1098 when the usurping king Edgar seized the throne with Norman support and Olav was executed; but 50 years later our pre-Grant ancestors were re-established on the banks of Loch Ness at Boleskine, becoming Lords of Stratherrick for some 180 years. Several heads of the family at this time served as Sheriff of Inverness in that post’s various guises. The name Grant was adopted as surname about 1175, although it was almost certainly a by-name from 1060. Its basic meaning is “Gritty” – and the Grants have always shown “true Grit”. Early Diaspora Stratherrick was not sufficiently rich to sustain younger sons in much style and soon many of those who did not stand to inherit were to be found in England and Ireland and as townspeople throughout the islands. Among these Richard Grant left Scotland to become Chancellor of Lincoln and subsequently Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Grant was the English King’s visor at York, William Grant the English King’s messenger in Ireland and another William Grant had the honour of acting as the protector of the English princess Margaret when she came to be Alexander III’s queen in Scotland. His son David was Sheriff of Stirling. Return to Strathspey and consolidation there In 1316 Robert the Bruce rewarded the Grants for their loyalty with the barony of Inverallan – after a gap of over 200 years they were back in Strathspey. Gradually they consolidated their position, eventually disposing of Stratherrick where the last tract of land was given up in 1420. The ordinary Clansmen – beyond the chiefly family itself – adopted the surname when they marched off to assist the king at Berwick in 1482. But not all Grants have acquired their name in this way. Some were originally MacGregor kinsmen who adopted the name when their own was proscribed, while others, the so-called Trochie Grants were originally Farquharsons – descending from children who had been orphaned as a result of battle between Grants and Gordons on one side and Farquharsons on the other. As time went by the landholdings in Strathspey were consolidated until they stretched “between the Two Craigelachies” on both sides of the river. Controlling the crossing of the river was a major source of income and employment. As the lands were consolidated and extended, there was room for more and more cadets (younger sons of the Chiefs). Apart from Glenmoriston and Corriemony (for Glenurquhart) mentioned below, the major subdivisions of the clan include Ballindalloch, Rothiemurchus, Monymusk, Tullochgorm, and Dalvey and the major groups from even earlier times: the Clan Allan and the Clan Ciaran. There are several other cadet lines. The Grants were so prevalent in the Strathspey area that the use of our surname was often not a great help – thus many were commonly known by by-names or nicknames or by the names of the lands they held. This was especially true of the major cadet lines mentioned. It seems that it was not long after this that one enterprising Grant brought well bred Highland Horses (the so-called Strathavon Horse) to England and this has led to various niche breeding sites in England and even America – and, by the by was the reason that a John Grant played a part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and was hanged for his pains. New lands in the West King James IV called upon the Grants to try to bring peace and order to the wilds of the West Highlands making them Royal Chamberlains in Glenurquhart and Glenmoriston. In 1509 this valued service was recognised when the lands were converted into Free Baronies. [2009 marks the Quincentenary of this event – and to commemorate
it, Clan Grant Society members have raised over £1000 to help
the charity Trees for Life which has a major reforestation project in
the area.] Politics…politics The Grant Chief supported the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and was rewarded by his lands being turned into a Regality in 1694, giving him power of “pit and gallows” and earning him the nickname of “The Highland King”. The integration of the Chiefs of Grant with their clansmen is well illustrated by the famous pictures of the Champion, the Piper, the Henwife, the Fool and others which all date from this time. At the same time Grant Chiefs came to the conclusion that the political union with England was vital to economic survival – and Grants played a significant part in orchestrating this. The Chief was unswerving in his support for the Government during the ’15. But the government did not even begin to compensate him for the expenses he had incurred at that time and so the clan stayed as neutral as it could during the ’45. But the lairds of Glenmoriston were surrounded by and had intermarried with natural Jacobites, so they took the Jacobite cause in the ’15, resulting in his lands being forfeit for his pains, but the young Ludovick, later to be Chief, bought them all back and gave them back to his cadet, doing much the same thing for several other Siol Alpin kinsmen of different clans in a similar position. In the wake of the Jacobite defeat at Culloden after the ’45 rising, The “Seven Men of Glenmoriston” led by “Black Peter” Patrick Grant of Craskie were crucial in keeping Bonnie Prince Charlie safe from Government hands despite a reward amounting to £30 000 - tens of millions of Pounds in today’s money. Hanoverian troops scoured the area committing many atrocities. But many of the Glenurquhart men in particular had been forced to join the Jacobite side and Ludovick was able to secure a pardon for them provided they handed themselves in. They placed themselves in Ludovick’s charge and marched to Inverness where Government officials renegued on the undertaking given and they were put on board a prison ship whence to Barbados. Of the 80 condemned in this way only 7 ever returned to Scotland. This betrayal has been the cause of much only too understandable bitterness and it is sad that some of this was misdirected to Ludovick who, ever after, rued the way things had turned out so differently to what he had thought he had managed to negotiate. Like most other clans in Scotland, Grants were represented in the colonies – through the East India Company and through Slavery in the Americas. While not condoning this practice in any way, it has to be said that there is good evidence that Grant slaves were treated with more humanity than many if not most others. Foundation Stones of Scottish Culture * It is to be noted that the earliest extant reference to a standard clan Tartan is of the Grant Tartan and belongs to the very early 1700s * One result of profits to Scotland derived from the slave trade was the agricultural revolution initiated by Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk – who, inter alia, introduced the turnip to the country. And so it can be said that the now traditional Scottish meal of Haggis neeps and tatties is substantially down to the Grants. * And, of course we have not yet even mentioned the Water of Life. The Scotch Whisky trail is basically all about Grant lands – and Grant brands! * Similarly the Grants can lay claim to a major tranche of Scottish country music – the Strathspey time signature. After the demise of the Clan System The defeat of the Jacobites saw the end of the Clan System as it had been understood and the end of the privileges of Regality for the Chief of Grant. But Grant lairds largely avoided the cruelty of clearance so widely practised elsewhere – the “Good” Sir James Grant founding Grantown in 1765 (first training the masons by having them work on an extension to Castle Grant) to provide an alternative way of earning a living to the poverty which had been so widespread for too long. The Chiefs’ money problems continued - relieved in part by marriage to the Seafield heiress, Sir Lewis Alexander Grant inheriting the Earldom through his mother only a few months after he had inherited the chiefship of the clan from his father, both in 1811. The estates were disentailed in the 1880s and then the Dowager Countess in effect exiled the Chiefs in New Zealand for some years. Another consequence of the disentailing was that when the Chiefship of the clan was separated from the Earldom of Seafield, the estates, including Castle Grant, went with the latter. And so it is that only since the year 2000 has the current (33rd) chief, Sir James Grant of Grant, Lord Strathspey, been re-establishing himself in Strathspey – only 120 years later this time! In the autumn of 2005 Lord Strathspey appointed Adrian Grant as
Clan Seannachie.
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