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Clan Stewart of Appin (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Stewart of Appin

Clan Motto: Quihidder Wil Zie (Whither will ye)

Clan Badge: Darag (Oak)

Lands: Appin Duror, West Coast Scotland, above Oban, below Ballaculish

Historic Seat: Castle Stalker

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Stewart of Appin Clan History

The Appin Stewarts, also known as "The Loyal Clan," are Clan Stewart's West Highland branch. Since the 15th century, the Stewarts of Appin have been considered a Clan in their own right rather than just a branch. The Chiefs of Stewart of Appin are descended from Sir James Stewart of Perston, the grandson of Alexander Stewart, Scotland's 4th High Steward. The surname ‘Stewart’ came from ‘Steward’. Walter Stewart, the sixth High Steward of Scotland, married Marjorie Bruce, the daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and their son Robert 2nd became the first Stewart Monarch. As a result, the Stewarts of Appin are distant cousins of the Royal Stewart Monarchy.

The name Appin was derived from the Gaelic Apuin - Abbey Lands - of St Moluag's Lismore Abbey. Appin is located in modern-day Argyll on the Scottish West Coast, between Benderloch to the south and the Ballachulish Narrows to the north.

Legend has it that in 1445, while returning to his seat (home of the chief) at Dunstaffnage Castle, chief Sir John Stewart (born around 1410) met and fell in love with the daughter of MacLaren of Ardvech. Sir John was already married, but that didn't stop him from having an affair with his new love. Dugald was the name given to a son who was born. This boy was the ancestor of the illustrious Clan Stewart of Appin.

Castle of Dunstaffnage

Sir John's wife died, and he waited 5 years before marrying Dugald's mother, his true love. Sir John set a date for the wedding and summoned Dugald and his mother to Dunstaffnage. Sir John was unaware of a plot to assassinate the Lord of Lorn. It is not entirely clear who set it up, but it is thought to have been set up by the Lord of the Isles, who was in a power struggle with the King of Scots and saw it as in his best interests to neutralize this powerful and loyal representative of the King in the west highlands. The other plotters, who some believe included Sir John's son-in-law, Lord Argyll, were primarily represented by Alan MacCoul, the illegitimate grandson of an earlier MacDougall Chief. A superior force led by Alan MacCoul attacked the wedding party as they made their way from Dunstaffnage to the small chapel located approximately 180 yards from the castle walls. Despite being better equipped, MacCoul's army was defeated, but not before mortally wounding Lord of Lorn. Sir John was rushed into the chapel, while MacCoul and his henchmen ran into and took control of the deserted Dunstaffnage. Sir John married Dugald's mother with his last breath, legitimizing him and making him the de jure Lord of Lorn. Sir John died after receiving the last rites, and a new chapter in West Highland history began. Dugald gathered all the Lord of Lorn's supporters and, with the help of the MacLarens, laid siege to Dunstaffnage, but to no avail. Unbeknownst to Dugald, Lord Argyll Colin Campbell, who appeared to be involved in the plot, raised a group of MacFarlanes to aid MacCoul in his struggle against the de jure Lord of Lorn. In what became known as the battle of Leac a dotha, MacCoul's men met the men of Lorn and MacLaren. It was a fierce battle, with both sides suffering significant losses.

For the next few years, Dugald, who had lost the title of Lord of Lorn due to the treachery of his uncle Walter Stewart and the Lord of Argyll but retained Appin and Lismore, consolidated his power and fortified Castle Stalker on Cormorant's Rock in Loch Laich. He also made it clear to the Campbells that he was displeased with the loss of the Lordship of Lorn by having the Campbell territory surrounding Appin regularly raided by the clan. Finally, in 1468, Colin Campbell and Walter Stewart, the latter now recognized as Lord of Lorn (but with no authority in Lorn), organized a massive raid against Dugald and his clan in an attempt to finally destroy Appin's power. Alan MacCoul was once again involved, and they met at the Battle of Stalc. Despite losing many men, Dugald virtually destroyed the MacFarlanes' military strength (a destruction from which they would never recover) and personally killed Alan MacCoul, his father's murderer. The battle cemented Dugald's claim to Appin and the surrounding area, which King James III formally granted him on April 14, 1470.

In 1497, some Clan MacLaren members stole cattle from the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch in the Braes of Lochaber. The MacDonalds pursued them and overtook them at Glenurchy, where a battle ensued. The MacDonalds triumphed and reclaimed their cattle. However, the MacLarens sought assistance from Appin's Dugald Stuart. Another battle ensued, this time with the MacLarens joined by the Stuarts against the MacDonalds. During the battle, both Dugald, the chief of the Clan Stewart of Appin, and the chief of the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch were killed.

During the Civil War, Clan Stewart fought alongside the royalist James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose at the Battles of Inverlochy (1645), Auldearn, and Kilsyth. Following the deposition of James VII in 1688, the Stewarts of Appin backed the deposed House of Stuart.

The Appins supported the Jacobite Risings and sent men to fight in both the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite Risings. Out of a fighting force of approximately 300, the Appin Regiment suffered 92 killed and 65 wounded at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. During the 1745 rising, Charles Stewart of Ardsheal led the regiment (which included men from 19 other clans, most notably Clan MacLaren). Ardsheal eventually fled Scotland to join his family in Europe, where he spent the rest of his life.

Culloden Memorial Stone

The Cave of Ardsheal

The clan dispersed after the battle of Culloden, and despite Lochiel and Ardsheal's efforts to rally the Western clans and retake Lochaber, they never came to a head again. Among those convicted of high treason on June 8, 1746, were " Stewart of Ardsheal, and the other officers of the Stewarts." Haldane of Lanrick and his sons, who served as major and captain of a body of Perthshire horses during the campaign, were also attainted, and when the Act of Indemnity was passed in 1747, both Ardsheal and his friends the Haldanes were excluded from its benefit. Ardsheal wished to see his family before fleeing to France, and succeeded in reaching Appin, where he lay concealed in a cave on the hill of Ardsheal, still known as Ardsheal's cave, being generally supplied with food by a little maiden, the daughter of one of his tenants, who daily drove out a few lambs to the hill, and watched her opportunity of communicating with her hidden chief. The district was occupied by English soldiers, and the peasantry were aware of Ardsheal's hiding place, but they remained faithful to the trust placed in them, regardless of the rewards offered for his capture. Ardsheal discovered an opportunity to flee to France after a few weeks of hiding in the cave.

Appin Assassination

A murder in the aftermath of Culloden outraged the British establishment and inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Kidnapped. Colin Campbell, a government agent from Glenure, was assassinated in a ruthless ambush in the Wood of Lettermore near Ballachulish by the side of Loch Linnhe in Argyll by an unknown hand. This sparked one of the largest murder investigations in Scottish history.

The following day, some Stewart tenants were to be evicted for nonpayment of rent. Appin was filled with resentment and rage. Glenure was the most despised man in the neighborhood.

Eleven of the fifteen jurors were Campbells, making the trial a farce. Historians consider this to be one of the darkest chapters in Scottish legal history. After the chief suspect, Alan Breck Stewart, escaped, James Stewart, the chief's half-brother and an innocent man, was found guilty and hung without a single piece of evidence.

Cairn commemorates the Appin Murder

The Uaisle of Daoine

The Stewarts of Appin's Clan leadership was distinct from that of other Clans. The Clan was led by the Chief and his many cousins, who were tacksmen who held minor estates in Appin as chief's cadets. This was referred to as The daoine uaisle (Gaelic for "noble people").

These men ruled over areas known as "tacks" within the larger clan lands.Rents were collected in a variety of ways, and rents from the daoine uaisle were paid to the Chief in some clans but not others.

Many of the clansmen were descended from families who had lived in Appin long before the Stewarts, such as the McColls, Clan MacLea, McQuorquodales, and Carmichaels.

Ardsheal, Achnacone, Fasnacloich, Invernahyle, and Strathgarry are the main "Cadets" of Appin. The major Appin branches are descended from Alan Stewart, 3rd of Appin's sons. They were originally made up of John the 1st of Strathgarry, Dugald the 1st of Achnacone, James the 1st of Fasnacloich, and Alexander the 1st of Invernahyle. Ardshiel, the branch from which our Chief descended, was bestowed upon John, 1st of Ardshiel by his father, John Stewart, 5th of Appin. The current Chief of Appin, Andrew Francis Stewart of Lorn, Appin, and Ardsheal, 17th of Appin and 12th of Ardsheal, is descended from Charles Stewart, 7th of Ardsheal, who ascended as Chief upon the death of Dugald Stewart, our 10th Chief, who died without sons in 1769. Today, Andrew Francis Stewart is known as both "Appin" (after the Chief) and Ardsheal.

Stewart of Appin Places & People

Appin People Clan Stewart

Darnley, Lord

Lord Darnley Henry Stewart (c.1545-67)

During Elizabeth I's reign, the eldest son of the 4th Earl of Lennox was raised as a Protestant in England. In Scotland, his adoring cousin Queen Mary bestowed the Earldom of Ross and the Dukedom of Albany on him, followed by her hand in marriage on July 29, 1565.

Scottish nobles were right to suspect his motives. His arrogance caused immediate uproar, and in March 1566 he led a plot to assassinate the Queen's secretary and best friend, David Rizzio.

After they had a son together, James VI began to plot how he could seize the Crown of Scotland from his estranged wife by enlisting foreign aid and converting to Catholicism.

He was weakened by syphilis and couldn't pursue his goals unless he first recovered. On 10 February 1567, while resting at Edinburgh's Kirk o'Fields, the house was blown up. Darnley was discovered strangled in his garden.

Charles Edward Stewart, Prince of Wales (1720-1788)

In 1720, Prince Charles Edward Stewart was born in Rome. His father was "the Old Pretender", James Francis Edward Stewart, son of James VII, and his mother was Clementina Sobieski, grand-daughter of King of Poland.

He had proven himself to be a brave young man with good conversation skills and artistic taste. He began his campaign to reclaim the Scottish Crown by pawning his jewelry and borrowing 180,000 livres to fund a force led by the Marechal de Saxe.

A storm destroyed everything, and he arrived in Moidart with only seven men. Nonetheless, his zeal and enticing words roused the Jacobite in every man he spoke with. He raised his standard at Glenfinnan on August 19, 1745, with Lord George Murray as his general.

Victories over the Hanovarians followed in Edinburgh and Prestonpans. As they approached the border, the various motivations for fighting that had bound the force together began to unravel. The Prince was not there for the sake of Scotland, but to have the Highlanders assist him in claiming the throne of England.

Four of the seven men with whom he had arrived were Irish and had their own agenda. They argued openly with Murray at every turn. The army moved south, against Murray's advice, with the intention of capturing London.

The Prince was advised to dismiss Murray after capturing Carlisle. However, because the Highlanders were on his side, his dismissal was rescinded. When the army arrived in Derby, about two-thirds of the way to London, it was clear that English Catholics had no desire to restore the Stewarts.

With the threat of a Hanovarian force establishing itself to the Jacobite rear by sea growing, a retreat was launched on December 5. On their return to Falkirk, the Jacobites defeated the Hanovarians once more.

Many Highlanders were exhausted by this point, and Murray advised them to disperse and regroup after the winter. The ego of Prince Charles was undermining his judgment. While "Butcher" Cumberland was on his way, he wasted time and energy attempting to capture Stirling Castle.

When Cumberland landed on the Spey, the Jacobites were in Inverness. Culloden began with a tired and depleted Jacobite army, guerrilla fighters in an open field, and ended with an hour of slaughter that claimed the lives of two thousand people.

Lord Elcho's final words as Stewart fled the battlefield were, "There goes that damned Italian coward." While Cumberland tortured Scots across the country, the Prince sought refuge with Lady Margaret MacDonald of Sleat and Flora MacDonald.

In September 1746, he arrived in France.

Then, in 1750, he appeared in London secretly declaring himself a Protestant. In 1772, he married Princess Louise of Stolberg when she was only twenty years old, and he was a fifty-two year old alcoholic woman-beater.

He passed away in his hometown of Rome.

Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart (1837-1900) was a Scottish politician.

Grainger Stewart, who was born and educated in Edinburgh, expanded his knowledge of the human body in Vienna, Berlin, and Prague before returning to Edinburgh to serve as the House Physician of the Royal Infirmary. He went on to become the Infirmary's Pathologist and a Pathology Lecturer. Following his appointment as Queen Victoria's physician, he was knighted.

His books "Practical Treatise on Bright's Disease" and "Diseases of the Nervous System" were influential in the understanding and treatment of the diseases they addressed. He died as President of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, having risen to the top of the medical world.

Stewart, David (1772-1829)

Stewart served as a soldier with the 42nd and 78th Highlanders, rising to the rank of Major-General through his actions in Egypt and the West Indies. However, he is best known as a writer. "Sketches of the Characters, Customs, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland," published in 1822, served as the foundation for the works of many others who studied the clans. When he died of fever, he was the Governor of St Lucia.

Stewart of Appin Tartans

Ancient Stewart of Appin

Appin Modern Stewart

Ancient Stewart of Appin Hunting

Appin Hunting Modern's Stewart

Stewart of Appin Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Stewart of Appin Crest

Stewart of Appin blazons:

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.