| Clan MacDowall or MacDouall | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac Dubhghaill | |||
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| Motto | Vincere Vel Mori (To conquer or die) [1] | ||
| Profile | |||
| Region | Lowlands | ||
| Chief | |||
 | |||
| Fergus Day Hort Macdowall of Garthland | |||
| The Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdowall | |||
| Seat | Barr Castle [2] | ||
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Clan MacDowall or MacDouall is a Lowlands Scottish clan. [3]
The name Macdowall is from the district of Galloway which itself was named after the Galli or Gaelic settlers of the seventh and eighth centuries. [3] There are many legends surrounding the foundation of the princedom of Galloway and even historian Alexander Nisbet narrated that Dovall of Galloway killed Nothatus the Tyrant in 230 BC. [3] The royal house of Galloway is said to have also resisted the Romans and Nesbit also stated that it was because of these early deeds that the lords included a fierce lion on their shield with a royal crown. [3]
The Lords of Galloway were powerful and scattered their princedom with abbeys and priories. [3] Fergus of Galloway was a Norse-Gaelic lord who flourished in the reign of David I of Scotland and he divided his princedom between his sons. [3] One of his sons or grandsons was Dougal. [3] The last native Lord of Galloway was Alan who died in about 1234. [3] Alan's daughter was Devorgilla who married Balliol, Lord of Barnard Castle. [3] Their son was John who claimed Galloway through his mother. [3] In 1295 Balliol as Lord of Galloway granted a charter of the lands of Garthland to Dougal. [3] In 1296 both Dougall and Fergus M'douall appear on the Ragman Rolls swearing fealty to Edward I of England. [3]
Dougal's grandson was Fergus, third of Garthland who during the reign of David II of Scotland was sheriff depute for Kirkcudbright. [3] His grandson was Sir Fergus Macdowall, the fifth Laird who in 1401 was taken prisoner at the Battle of Homildon by the English. [3]
Uchtred, the ninth of Garthland married Isobel Gordon of the branch of the Clan Gordon who controlled Lochinver. [3] However he and his son Thomas were both killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 along with James IV of Scotland. [3] John the eleventh Laird was also killed fighting the English at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. [3] [4]
John had passed his estates to his son, another Uchtred, before going to war. [3] This Uchtred was implicated in the Raid of Ruthven when the Earl of Gowrie and other Protestant nobles kidnapped the young James VI of Scotland in 1582 and held him at Ruthven Castle and later Edinburgh Castle. [3] Uchtred was later pardoned in 1584 for his involvement in the conspiracy and received a fresh charter from the king for the barony of Garthland and Corswall. [3]
James Macdowall and William Macdowall were the sixteenth and seventeenth Lairds respectively. [3] During the seventeenth century, they were members of the Scottish Parliament for Wigtownshire. [3] William and his wife, Grizel Beaton, had fourteen children. Their grandson, James Macdowall, became Lord Provost of Glasgow. [3]
The twenty-first Macdowall Laird, William McDowall, was an advocate at the Scottish Bar and was elected to Parliament. From 1783 to his death in 1810, he served in the House of Commons at Westminster. [3] He was succeeded by his nephew, William, who sold the clan lands of Garthland but transferred the name to his estate at Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. [3] He and his brother died unmarried and the title passed to Lieutenant General Day Macdowall. [3] At the end of the nineteenth century, the chiefly family of Macdowall emigrated to Canada. [3]
Lesser-status MacDowalls were among those who were recruited by the English for plantations in Ireland in the early 18th century and many settled there.
Prof. Fergus Day Hort Macdowall of Garthland is the current Chief of the Name and Arms. [5]
The main branches of the clan include: [8]
In 2007, Chief Fergus D. H. Macdowall of Garthland designed the Clan MacDowall tartan (the clan did not previously have one of its own, and used MacDougall or a Galloway district tartan). He registered it with the Lord Lyon King of Arms and Scottish Tartans Authority in 2008. [15] [16]
| Tartan image | Notes |
|---|---|
 | Macdowall Tartan (STA Ref: 7260) |
Stranraer, also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan, on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries and Galloway's second-largest town, with a population including the immediate surrounding area of nearly 13,000 inhabitants.
Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has formed part of Dumfries and Galloway for local government purposes. Wigtownshire continues to be used as a territory for land registration, being a registration county. The historic county is all within the slightly larger Wigtown Area, which is one of the lieutenancy areas of Scotland and was used in local government as the Wigtown District from 1975 to 1996.
Clan Fergusson is a Scottish clan. Known as the Sons of Fergus they have spread across Scotland from as far as Ross-shire in the north to Dumfriesshire in the south.
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Clan MacNeacail, sometimes known as Clan MacNicol, is a Scottish clan long associated with the Isle of Skye. Tradition states that, early in its history, the clan held the Isle of Lewis, as well as extensive territory on the north-western mainland. The earliest member of the clan on record is one 14th century John "mak Nakyl", who is recorded amongst Edward I of England's powerful West Highland supporters during the Wars of Scottish Independence. John Barbour's 1375 epic, The Brus, suggests that by 1316, the clan had switched allegiance to Robert I, and made a decisive intervention in the new theatre of Anglo-Scottish conflict in Ireland. The marriage of an heiress to the MacLeods of Lewis brought a severe loss of lands and power in the following generation, forcing the clan chiefs to relocate to the surviving estates on Skye. However, the MacNeacails retained local significant influence: serving, according to tradition, as members of the Council of the Lords of the Isles and as custodians of the cathedral church of the Western Isles at Snizort. In the 17th century, members of the clan began to Anglicise their surname from the Scottish Gaelic MacNeacail to various forms, such as Nicolson. Today the English variants of the Gaelic surname are borne by members of the clan as well as members of unrelated Scottish families, including the Lowland Clan Nicolson.
The Clan Livingstone, also known as Clan MacLea, is a Highland Scottish clan, which was traditionally located in the district of Lorn in Argyll, Scotland, and is seated on the Isle of Lismore. There is a tradition of some MacLeas Anglicising their names to Livingstone, thus the Clan Livingstone Society's website also refers to the clan as the Highland Livingstones. The current chief of Clan Livingstone was recognised by Lord Lyon as the "Coarb of Saint Moluag" and the "Hereditable Keeper of the Great Staff of Saint Moluag."
The origins of Clan MacCulloch are unknown, but there is a consensus that the family was one of the most ancient families of Galloway, Scotland, and a leading medieval family in that region. Despite the obscurity of the early history of the clan, the history and genealogies of the family are well documented in Walter Jameson McCulloch's History of the Galloway Families of McCulloch, which provides extensive footnotes for original Scottish charters, correspondence, and other primary source documentation. The latter provides family history for the following lines: Myretoun, Ardwell, Killasser, Torhouse, Drummorrell, Inshanks and Mule, Torhousekie, Cardiness, Barholm, Kirkclaugh, Auchengool, and Ardwall.
Clan Logan is a very ancient Scottish clan of celtic origin. Two distinct branches of Clan Logan exist: the Highland branch; and the Lowland branch. The clan does not have a chief recognised by Lord Lyon King of Arms, and therefore can be considered an armigerous clan.
Clan MacLennan, also known as Siol Ghillinnein, is a Highland Scottish clan which historically populated lands in the north-west of Scotland. The surname MacLennan in Scottish Gaelic is Mac Gille Fhinnein, meaning the son of the follower of St Finnan.
Port Logan, formerly Port Nessock, is a small village in the parish of Kirkmaiden in the Rhins of Galloway in Wigtownshire. The Gaelic name is Port Neasaig.
Clan MacAulay, also spelt Macaulay or Macauley is a Scottish clan. The clan was historically centred on the lands of Ardincaple, which are today consumed by the little village of Rhu and burgh of Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute. The MacAulays of Ardincaple were located mainly in the traditional county of Dunbartonshire, which straddles the "Highland Line" between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. Clan MacAulay has been considered a "Highland clan" by writers and has been linked by various historians to the original Earls of Lennox and in later times to Clan Gregor. The MacAulays of Ardincaple, like Clan Gregor and several other clans, have traditionally been considered one of the seven clans which make up Siol Alpin. This group of clans were said to have claimed descent from Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, from whom later kings of Scotland traced their descent. The chiefs of Clan MacAulay were styled Laird of Ardincaple.
Dunskey Castle is a ruined, 12th-century tower house or castle, located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of the village of Portpatrick, Rhinns, Wigtownshire, on the south-west coast of Scotland.
Clan Galbraith is a Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Because of this, the clan is considered an armigerous clan, and as such Clan Galbraith has no standing under Scots Law. The clan-name of Galbraith is of Gaelic origin, however its meaning denotes the bearer as of Brythonic origin, as opposed to Gaelic. The early Galbraiths were centred in the Lennox district, which spans the Highland and Lowland border of Scotland. The 17th chief of the clan brought ruin to the clan in the late 16th and early 17th century, and eventually lost his lands and fled Scotland for Ireland. His grandson, the 19th chief, was the last chief of Clan Galbraith.
Clan MacEwen or Clan MacEwan is a Scottish clan recorded in the fifteenth century as Clan Ewen of Otter.
Stoneykirk is an area and a village in the heart of the Rhins of Galloway, Wigtownshire, in the administrative council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland nearly 10 miles (16 km) in length and 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) in breadth, bounded on the east by the bay of Luce, and on the west by the Irish Channel, 5 miles (8 km) south of Stranraer.
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Dungal MacDouall was a fourteenth-century Scottish nobleman, and a member of the MacDouall family. He was a vigorous opponent of Robert I, King of Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence, and was knighted by Edward I, King of England for his services to the English Crown. Dungal was a close associate of John MacDougall, Lord of Argyll, who he may have regarded as a kinsman. Dungal received grants of lands in England and Ireland after losing his own in Scotland. During his career, Dungal commanded Dumfries Castle and Rushen Castle, and is described by a contemporary record as "Captain of the army of Galloway". Dungal had a large family, and was succeeded by his son, Duncan.
Old Luce is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the Machars peninsula, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish is around 10 miles (16 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) broad, and contains 40,350 acres (16,330 ha).
The Wahlfamily is a noble family originating in Scotland which later settled in the Baltic states.
