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Clan Guthrie (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Guthrie

Gaelic Name: Gutraidh

Clan Crest: A dexter arm holding a drawn sword, Proper

Clan Motto: Sto Pro Veritate (I stand for the truth)

Origin of Name: Gaelic, ‘gaothairach’, ‘windy place’

Lands :Angus

Historic Seat: Guthrie Castle, Angus

Clan Chief: Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie

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Guthrie Clan History

This family appears to have derived its name from the region of Angus in the north-east of Scotland. There are several theories as to how the name came to be. One unlikely theory was that it came from a Scottish king when a local fisherman 'gut three' fish for him to eat. A more plausible explanation is that it comes from the Gaelic word for "Windy Place," 'gaothairach." This would undoubtedly fit the North East of Scotland.

The early Guthries were royal falconers who bought the Guthrie lands from estates granted to the Abbey of Arbroath by King William the Lion in 1178.

William Wallace fled to France to rally support after the disastrous Battle of Falkirk in 1298. The Laird of Guthrie traveled to France in 1299 to persuade him to return. Wallace agreed, and they arrived in Montrose.

The signatures of Guthries first appear on charters in 1442, but many earlier records have been lost. Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie purchased Kincaldrum near Forfar in 1446, and Sir David Guthrie of Guthrie, the king's armour bearer, was appointed Lord Treasurer of Scotland in 1461. Later that year, in 1468, he began building a castle at Guthrie and was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Scotland in 1473. Sir Alexander, Sir David's eldest son, was killed at the Battle of Flodden.

The Guthries backed the young King James VI against his own mother, Mary Queen of Scots, who was portrayed as a threat to his authority as King. Around this time, Alexander Guthrie was murdered as a result of a feud with the neighboring Gardynes that lasted until 1618.

In 1636, John Guthrie was appointed as the eleventh chief. He was appointed minister of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1621. His rise continued when he was appointed Bishop of Moray two years later. His views on religious reforms differed from the king's, resulting in the bishop's home, Spynie Castle, being taken by force in 1640.

Andrew, the bishop's third son, accompanied the Marquis of Montrose on his campaign. After being captured at the Battle of Philiphaugh, he was transported to Edinburgh and beheaded by the city's infamous 'Maiden'. The French guillotine in miniature. This macabre device is still on display at the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

James Guthrie was a minister who supported the Covenanters after being ordained as a minister of Lauder in 1638. When he moved to Stirling in 1649, he openly opposed the king's religious beliefs. The Church of Scotland stripped him of his position, but he carried on unaffected until his arrest in 1661, when he was executed later that year after a quick trial.

Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Guthrie of Guthrie Castle was the last chief to live there. Born in 1886, he rose through the ranks to command the 4th Battalion of the Black Watch and was awarded the Military Cross.

The current chief now resides in England, and Guthrie Castle has been sold.

Guthrie Places & People

Clan Guthrie People

Guthrie, Thomas

Guthrie, Thomas (1803–1873)

Scottish philanthropist born in Angus, Brechin. He studied for the ministry and was ordained in Edinburgh. With a commanding presence and voice, as well as a remarkably effective and picturesque oratory style, he became perhaps Scotland's most popular preacher of his day, and was associated with many forms of philanthropy, particularly temperance and ragged schools, of which he was the founder.

He was a Free Church of Scotland leader who raised more than £100.95,000 for ministers' mansions. The Gospel in Ezekiel, Plea for Ragged Schools, and The City, its Sins and Sorrows are among his works.

His statue on Princes Street in Edinburgh bears the following inscriptions:

"An eloquent gospel preacher." Founder of the Edinburgh Original Ragged Industrial Schools and an outspoken advocate for the movement elsewhere. One of the first temperance activists. "A friend of the oppressed and the poor."

Malcolm Guthrie was born in 1903 and died in 1972.

Malcolm Guthrie was born in the English town of Hove to a Scottish father and a Dutch mother. He is best known as a Bantu professor for his classification of these languages. Although not without controversy, the classification remains the most widely used.

Guthrie's magnum opus, Comparative Bantu, was published in four volumes in 1967, 1970, and 1971. The four volumes provide not only a genetic classification, but also a reconstruction of Proto-Bantu as the Bantu language family's Proto-language.

Guthrie also wrote extensively about Bantu languages such as Lingala, Bemba, Mfinu, and Teke.

General Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, GCB, LVO, OBE (born 1938) is a British general.

Between 1997 and 2001, he was Chief of the Defence Staff, and between 1994 and 1997, he was Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army. He serves on the House of Lords' cross-bench. After retiring as Chief of the Defence Staff, he was made a life peer. He was one of several retired Chiefs of Defence Staff who spoke out in the House of Lords about the risk of servicemen being held accountable for their actions - for which politicians are ultimately responsible - before the International Criminal Court, particularly in relation to the Iraq invasion. He holds the title of Knight of Malta.

Guthrie Tartans

Guthrie Historic

Guthrie Contemporary

Guthrie Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Guthrie Crest

Proper crest: A dexter arm holding a drawn sword.

Coats of Arms of Guthrie

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.