Donald Nicolson | |
---|---|
Occupation | Reverend |
Theological work | |
Tradition or movement | Episcopalian |
The Reverend Donald Nicolson of Scorrybreac (died between 1698 and 1702) was an Episcopalian minister of Kilmuir in the Isle of Skye and head of the Clan MacNeacail, or MacNicol.
The origins of Clan MacNeacail are mysterious. The traditional account (as relayed, for example, by the Rev. John Morison of Bragar in Lewis in about 1680) holds them to have been the ancient proprietors of Lewis, but they lost much of their power and prestige when the Macleods succeeded to the island by marriage to a MacNicol heiress. Hebridean tradition claims that this was a forced marriage, with the bride seized and the warriors of the Clan MacNicol attacked, with their vessels sunk by the MacLeods off the coast of the island. By 1450, however, the MacNicols were firmly established in the Trotternish peninsula in Skye, serving as members of the Council of the Lordship of the Isles. By the end of the eighteenth century, the clan would become distinguished by the large number of clergymen within its roll call, present in parishes across the Western Isles and northern Scotland, and the ecclesiastical tradition appears to have been laid down by their Medieval ancestors. The MacNicols were the principal benefactors of the Cathedral Church of St. Columba at Snizort on Skye, where tradition holds that one hundred leading men of the clan received burial.
Rev. Donald was the son of Malcolm MacNicol of Scorrybreac, tenth chief of the clan, and, according to family genealogies, the nephew of Sorley MacNicol of Drumuie, who had fought in the royalist armies of the Marquis of Montrose in the Civil War. He was brought up in the household of Sir James MacDonald of Sleat, as servitor to Sir James's son and heir. Donald graduated from Edinburgh University in 1659 (as recorded in the Catalogue of students in the faculties of the arts, divinity and law), and it is possible that it was his experience in the south of Scotland that prompted him to Anglicise the clan name as 'Nicolson'.
The number of the Reverend Donald's wives is uncertain, but he is generally credited with twenty-three children, through whom he is a common ancestor of many Skye families.[ citation needed ] He himself was a man of substantial means, appearing in the 1690s as a significant creditor of Macleod of Dunvegan. 'The Great Song of Scorrybreac', a Gaelic ballad composed in celebration of the marriage of Donald's son Malcolm to a daughter of MacLeod of Raasay records the affluence and splendour of the Nicolson household, and the success of the young men of the clan in 'wooing maidens' and 'winning wagers'.
In 1689, the settlement following the Glorious Revolution remodelled the Scottish Church in a Presbyterian form and required ministers to swear an oath of loyalty to the new king, William III. Those Episcopalian 'Non-Jurors' who refused were branded as Jacobites and ejected from their livings, and Skye tradition records Rev. Donald Nicolson as one of the most forthright among their number, being eventually driven from his parish in 1697. His son Malcolm, who concluded his studies at Edinburgh in 1689, had been originally intended for the church, but also refused to accept the new establishment, and never served as a minister. The close association of the Nicolsons of Scorrybreac with Skye's leading Jacobite families, the MacDonalds of Sleat and the MacLeods of Rassay, makes it altogether credible to count Donald and Malcolm among the ranks of the Non-Jurors.
On his death, the Reverend Donald was succeeded by his son Malcolm, who married Margaret Macleod of Raasay. A large number of his descendants (including at least two of his younger sons) entered the Church. [1] These included two grandsons, Reverend Malcolm Nicolson of the parish of Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, who served as a military chaplain with the Fraser Highlanders in the British capture of Quebec in 1759, and John Nicolson, minister of Portree for over forty-years before his death in 1796, whose pastoral devotion was long remembered in Skye, and whose character was warmly recorded in Thomas Pennant's journal of his 1769 tour of Scotland. Notable descendants of Rev. Donald outside the church include Alexander MacDonald of Kingsburgh, who masterminded the sheltering of the fugitive Young Pretender Charles Edward Stuart on Skye in 1746, and Major Malcolm Hassels Nicolson (1843–1904), a veteran of the British campaigns in India and Afghanistan, who was promoted to ADC to Queen Victoria, and married the poet Adela Florence Nicolson.
Rona, sometimes called South Rona to distinguish it from North Rona, is a small inhabited island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies between the Sound of Raasay and the Inner Sound just north of the neighbouring island of Raasay and east of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. It has a total area of 930 hectares (3.6 sq mi) and a population of 3.
Clan MacLeod is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the MacLeods of Harris and Dunvegan, whose chief is MacLeod of MacLeod, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Tormoid ; the Clan MacLeod of Lewis and Raasay, whose chief is MacLeod of The Lewes, are known in Gaelic as Sìol Torcaill. Both branches claim descent from Leòd, who lived in the 13th century.
Trotternish or Tròndairnis is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Its most northerly point, Rubha Hùinis, is the most northerly point of Skye.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed in 1893. The Church identifies itself as the spiritual descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The Church web-site states that it is 'the constitutional heir of the historic Church of Scotland'. It is occasionally referred to by the pejorative term the Wee Wee Frees. Although small, the church has congregations on five continents.
Clan Nicolson is a Lowland Scottish clan. The clan claims descent from an Edinburgh lawyer who lived in the 16th century and from a distinguished line of Aberdeen merchants who preceded him. During the mid-1980s David Nicolson, 4th Baron Carnock was recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms as the chief of Clan Nicolson. Around the same time, a Nicolson who claimed descent from the Highland clan of "Nicolsons" historically centred on Skye, petitioned the Lord Lyon King of Arms to be recognised as chief of his own clan. The Lord Lyon King of Arms accepted this man's petition on the condition he took the surname MacNeacail. In consequence there are two Scottish clans with similar names—the lowland Clan Nicolson and the highland Clan MacNeacail.
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.
Clan MacKinnon or Clan Fingon is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the islands of Mull and Skye, in the Inner Hebrides.
Clan Macdonald of Sleat, sometimes known as Clan Donald North and in Gaelic Clann Ùisdein[kʰl̪ˠan̪ˠ ˈuːʃtʲɛɲ], is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald — one of the largest Scottish clans. The founder of the Macdonalds of Sleat was Ùisdean, or Hugh, a 6th great-grandson of Somerled, a 12th-century Lord of the Isles. The clan is known in Gaelic as Clann Ùisdein, and its chief's Gaelic designation is Mac Ùisdein, in reference to the clan's founder. Both the clan and its clan chief are recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, who is the heraldic authority in Scotland.
Clan MacLeod of The Lewes, commonly known as Clan MacLeod of Lewis, is a Highland Scottish clan, which at its height held extensive lands in the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland. From the 14th century up until the beginning of the 17th century there were two branches of Macleods: the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris ; and the Macleods of the Isle of Lewis. In Gaelic the Macleods of Lewis were known as Sìol Thorcaill, and the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris were known as Sìol Thormoid.
The MacCrimmons were a Scottish family, pipers to the chiefs of Clan MacLeod for several generations. The MacCrimmon kindred was centred at Borreraig near the Clan MacLeod seat at Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. At Borreraig the MacCrimmons conducted one of the best known "piping colleges" in the Highlands of Scotland.
Waternish or Vaternish is a peninsula approximately 12 kilometres long on the island of Skye, Scotland, situated between Loch Dunvegan and Loch Snizort in the northwest of the island, and originally inhabited and owned by Clan MacNeacail/MacNicol/Nicolsons.
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although it has been suggested that Sgitheanach describes a winged shape there is no definitive agreement as to the name's origins.
Páll, son of Bálki, or Paal Baalkeson, was a 13th-century Hebridean lord who was an ally of Olaf the Black, king of Mann and the Isles. He was long remembered in Gaelic tradition and is traditionally the progenitor of certain families with roots in the Hebrides. Páll is recorded as being a "sheriff" of Skye, a post which had earlier been held by another Páll, son of Bálki, who was possibly an ancestor. This earlier sheriff was said to have been a close friend of Godred II, King of Mann and the Isles.
William Cleireach MacLeod is considered to be 5th Chief of Clan MacLeod. He was a younger son of chief Iain Ciar and was originally intended to enter the church, as his nickname shows; however, on the death of his elder brother, William Cleireach became the heir to the chiefship. As chief of the clan, he led his followers in attacks against the Frasers and defended his lands against the MacDonalds. He did not live a long life and was said to have been buried on the isle of Iona with his predecessors.
Alasdair Crotach MacLeod is considered to be the 8th Chief of Clan MacLeod. He was the son of the 7th Chief of Clan MacLeod, William Dubh, and succeeded his father in 1480, following William Dubh's death at the Battle of Bloody Bay. He was the first MacLeod chief not to be buried on the island of Iona.
Roderick Macleod, also known as Old Rory, was the chief of Clan Macleod of Lewes in the later half of the 16th century.
Norman MacLeod (1705–1772), also known in his own time and within clan tradition as The Wicked Man, was an 18th-century politician, and the 22nd Chief of Clan MacLeod.
The Reverend Neil MacKinnon was the first Protestant minister on the island of Skye, being for many years in the 17th century the Episcopalian minister of first Strath and subsequently Sleat.
Clan MacLeod of Raasay, commonly known as Clan MacLeod of Raasay, is a Highland Scottish clan, which at its height held extensive lands on the Isle of Raasay and west coast of Scotland. From the 14th century up until the beginning of the 17th century there were two branches of Macleods: the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris ; and the Macleods of Lewis. In Gaelic the Macleods of Lewis were known as Sìol Thorcaill, and the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris were known as Sìol Thormoid.
Donald MacQueen was a Church of Scotland minister in the Isle of Skye and a notable scholar, who made a favourable impression on Dr Johnson and James Boswell on their tour of the Hebrides in 1773.