| Clan Anstruther | |
|---|---|
 Crest: Two arms in armour holding a pole-axe with both hands gauntleted Proper | |
| Motto | Periissem ni periissem (I would have perished had I not persisted) |
| Profile | |
| Region | Lowlands |
| District | Fife |
| Chief | |
 | |
| Tobias Alexander Anstruther of that Ilk [1] | |
| Chief of the Name and Arms of Anstruther | |
| Seat | Balcaskie House. [2] |
Clan Anstruther is a Scottish clan. [3]
The clan originated from the town of Anstruther, which was adopted as a familial name. The name is Gaelic in origin: "an" (the) + "sruthair" (little stream).[ citation needed ]
Alexander I of Scotland granted the lands of Anstruther to William de Candela in the early 12th century. [3] There are a number of suggested origins for William but research points to the Normans in Italy. [3] It is known that William I of England sought assistance from William, Count of Candela, who sent his son. [3] It is likely that this son was William de Candela, who received the grant of land from Alexander. [3]
William de Candela's son, also William, was a benefactor to the monks of Balmerino Abbey. [3] The site now occupied by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther was a gift from William. [3] The next generation of the family, Henry, no longer styled himself, de Candela, being described as 'Henricus de Aynstrother dominus ejusdem' in a charter confirming grants of land to Balmerino Abbey. [3]
Henry Anstruther accompanied Louis IX of France to the crusades and swore fealty to King Edward I of England in 1292 and again in 1296. [3]
In 1483, Andrew Anstruther of Anstruther confirmed the right to a barony and fought against the English at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. [3] Andrew Anstruther married Christina Sandilands who was descended from Princess Jean or Joanna, daughter of Robert II of Scotland. [3] His second son, David, fought at the Battle of Pavia in 1520 in the service of Francis I of France in the French Scots Regiment. [3] This line ended with the death of the last Baron d'Anstrude in 1928. [3]
Andrew's great-great-grandson, Sir James Anstruther was chosen as a companion to the young James VI of Scotland, who appointed him Hereditary Grand Carver, [4] [5] a title still held by the head of the family today. [3] In 1595 he became Master of the Household. [4]
William, the elder son of Sir James Anstruther, accompanied Sir James to London following the Union of the Crowns in 1603 where he was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath. [3] Sir James's second son, Sir Robert, served as a diplomat for both James I and Charles I. [6]
Sir Phillip Anstruther, the second son of Sir Robert fought as a royalist during the civil war, and received Charles II at Dreel Castle after his coronation at Scone in 1651. [3] Phillip Anstruther was later taken prisoner after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. [3] [6] He was excluded from Cromwell's Act of Grace and his estates were confiscated. They were restored to him after the restoration of the monarchy by Charles II. [7] Phillip's brother Sir Alexander Anstruther married the Hon. Jean Leslie, daughter of the General David Leslie, Lord Newark. [3]
The Chief of Clan Anstruther is Tobias Alexander Campbell Anstruther of that Ilk and of Balcaskie, younger son of Sir Ian Anstruther. [1] [8]
The clan chief's seat remains at Balcaskie in Fife which was probably built in around 1670 by Sir William Bruce. [3] Airdrie House and Newark Castle in Fife also belong to the Anstruthers.
David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark was a Scottish cavalry officer. He fought for the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. He had entered Swedish service in 1630, serving as a captain in the regiment of Alexander Leslie. He returned to Scotland just before the end of the Bishops' War, and participated in the English Civil War and Scottish Civil Wars.
Anstruther is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and 9 mi (14 km) south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a stream, the Dreel Burn. With a population of 3,500, it is the largest community on the Firth of Forth's north-shore coastline known as the East Neuk. To the east, it merges with the village of Cellardyke.
The Master Carver or Hereditary Carver is a member of the Royal household of Scotland. A Crown Charter of 1704 ratified by Parliament in 1705, erected Sir William Anstruther's land into the Barony of Anstruther and conferred upon him the heritable offices of Master Carver and one of the Masters of the Household. It is not clear why the office was created, except that the family appears to have held similar offices from 1585 onwards. The current holder of the office is Sir Sebastian Anstruther of Balcluskie.
The Clan Ruthven is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton was a Scottish General and Member of Parliament (MP) in the British Parliament. He was also the Clan Chief of the Clan Montgomery. Montgomerie fought in the Seven Years' War, where he served with George Washington. He also was the patron of the poet Robert Burns.
There have been three baronetcies created for members of the Anstruther family, two in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. Two of the creations are extant while one is extinct.
Sir John Anstruther, 4th Baronet and 1st Baronet PC was a Scottish politician.
Sir John Anstruther, 1st Baronet was a Scottish politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1702 to 1707, and in the British House of Commons from 1708 to 1741.
Sir John Anstruther, 2nd Baronet was a Scottish industrialist and politician.
Clan Leslie is a Lowland Scottish clan. The progenitor of the Clan, Bartolf, was a nobleman from Hungary, who came to Scotland in 1067. He built a castle at Lesselyn, from which the clan name derives.
There have been five baronetcies of the United Kingdom created for a person with the surname Erskine, two in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations are extant as of 2010.
Clan Scrymgeour is a Highland Scottish clan.
Thomas Alexander Fraser, 12th Lord Lovat and 1st Baron Lovat, KT was a Scottish nobleman. He was the 21st Chief MacShimidh of the Clan Fraser of Lovat, succeeding the notorious Jacobite Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat.
Clan Strange, also known as Clan Strang, is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Balcaskie is a 17th-century country house in Fife, Scotland. It lies around 2 km north of St Monans, and is notable chiefly as the home and early work of architect Sir William Bruce.
Sir Robert Anstruther, 1st Baronet, of Wrae, Linlithgow, and Balcaskie, Fife, was a Scottish politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland between 1681 and 1707 and in the British House of Commons from 1709 to 1710.
Anstruther Wester in Fife was a royal burgh, created in 1587, that returned one commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland and to the Convention of Estates.
Before the Acts of Union 1707, the barons of the shire of Kinross elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of the Estates.
Sir Philip Anstruther, 2nd Baronet of Balcaskie, Fife was a Scottish advocate and landowner.
Sir Robert Anstruther, 3rd Baronet of Balcaskie, Fife was a Scottish advocate and landowner.