Macgregor
Macgregor
Clan Macgregor of Glenstrae, Glenlochy and Glenorchy, Scotland; descended from the Pictish hereditary Abbots of Glendochart who were of royal blood. According to tradition, Gregor was the son of Kenneth Macalpin, first King of Scotland, another states he may have been Griegair, son of Dungal, who is said to have been a co-ruler of Alba AD 879 -889. The first chief was Gregor ‘of the golden bridles’, and his son, Iain Camm, One-eye, succeeded as the second chief c. 1390. Much of their land was given by Robert the Bruce to the Campbells. When Iain Macgregor of Glenstrae died without issue in 1519, the Campbells influenced the succession of elan as chief, who was married to the daughter of Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy. Elan’s son, Alistair fought at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. In 1560, Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, drove Gregor Roy Macgregor from the clan’s estates, and became an outlaw, being captured and killed by the Campbells in 1570. His son Alistair was executed with eleven other Macgregors in 1604 following the death of the king’s forester, John Drummond, who had hanged some Macgregors for poaching. In April 1603 James VI issued an edict proclaiming the name of Macgregor ‘altogidder abolisheed’, meaning that those who bore the name must renounce it or die. The clan fought for the king during the Civil War, and after the Restoration, Charles II repealed the proscription of the name, but this was reimposed by William of Orange in response to the clan’s support of James II of England. At this time, Rob Roy Macgregor 1671-1734, plundered the Highlands as an outlaw. The clan was pardoned in 1774, and General Sir John Macgregor alias, Murray, bart. of Lanrick was declared the official chief.
Arms: Argent, a sword in bend dexter azure, and an oak tree eradicated in bend sinister proper, the former supporting on its point in dexter chief canton an antique crown gules.
Crest: A lion’s head erased proper, crowned with an antique crown or.
Motto: ‘S rioghal mo dhream (My race is royal).
