MacDonald of Clanranald

Gaelic Name: MacDhomhnuill

Clan Crest: A triple-towered castle Argent masoned Sable, and issuing from the centre tower a dexter arm in armour embowed grasping a sword, all Proper

Clan Motto: My Hope Is Constant In Thee

Clan Badge: Heather

Lands: Northern Isles, North-west Argyll

Clan Chief: The Captain Of Clanranald

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MacDonald of Clanranald Clan History

The Lord of the Isles, John MacDonald, married Amy MacRuari, who bore him three sons. Ranald was the youngest, and the Houses of Clanranald and Glengarry descended from him. Ranald, as the only surviving child, was to inherit the vast tract of land his mother had brought into the family. Instead, he agreed to hold the majority of the land, including Moidart, Lochaber, and Arisaig, and to hand over the succession to his younger half-brother Donald around 1373. Donald's mother was a Stewart princess and Robert II's daughter.

Ranald was the father of five sons. Donald established the Glengarry line. Alan, the eldest son, rose to the position of Chief of Clanranald. Alan died in his home, the Castle of Tirrim, in 1419. Roderick, who supported the Lord of the Isles, succeeded him as Chief and died in 1481. Alan, his son, rose to the position of chief and was well-known for his military prowess. After launching a raid in 1491, he captured Inverness Castle.

Dugald, the 6th Chief, was such an evil man that he was murdered by his own men.

In 1544, there was a struggle for clan rule that culminated in the Battle of the Field of Shirts, so named because the battle took place on a day so hot that the fighters had to remove their heavy tartans and fight in their long linen shirts.

At the battle of Culloden, Ranald Clanranald led the clan. When the battle was lost, he fled to France until 1754. Reginald George MacDonald was the 18th chief by the end of the century, and he proceeded to squeeze the people of his vast estate for ever-increasing rents. He eventually bled them out for £25.95,000 per year, which he threw around Regency London, swanking in the fashionable world on the backs of the Hebridean clansmen who had sworn their support to his family for so long. He was unconcerned about their plight, and between 1828 and 1837, he sold them and their lands to the Gordons, the most ruthless landlords of the Highland Clearances.

Clanranald squandered his entire fortune, and the Clanranald line died out in 1944, following the death of Angus Roderick, 23rd of Clanranald. The chiefship was passed to a branch of the clan, the Macdonalds of Boisdale, with the end of the direct line. Ranald Alexander Macdonald of Clanranald, the 24th Chief and Captain of Clanranald, is the current Vice-President of the Ancient Highland Society of London.

MacDonald of Clanranald Places & People

Sleat People Clan MacDonald

John Alexander MacDonald (1815-91).

Sir John was born in George Street, Glasgow, after his crofting family was evicted from their Dornoch home, and lived there for another five years before emigrating to Canada. He studied law in Kingston, Ontario, and was elected to the Provincial Assembly as a Conservative, eventually becoming its leader in 1844, a position he held almost exclusively for forty-five years.

His most notable accomplishment was undoubtedly his role in the creation of the British North America Act of 1867, which united the separate, distrusting colonies as a federal dominion of Canada, becoming its first Premier.

Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald (1853-1903).

This crofter's son was born in Dingwall and worked in a drapery shop before joining the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, where he rose from foot soldier to Major-General, a difficult climb in a time when such positions were reserved for the aristocracy.

The heroic 'Fighting Mac' was first recognized for his fighting abilities during the Second Afghan War. When he returned to India as a 2nd Lieutenant, he demonstrated his mettle once more at Majuba.

During his time in Egypt and Sudan from 1883 to 1899, he was a British hero once more. In the Boer War of 1900, he led the Highland Brigade as Major-General.

The Governor-General received 'an opprobrious accusation' made against MacDonald in 1902, while serving as army commander in Ceylon. Early the following year, while on leave, MacDonald shot himself in a Paris hotel room. The people of Dingwall erected a massive tower in his honor.

Ramsay MacDonald, James Ramsay

MacDonald, James Ramsay (1866-1937)

Mary Ramsay gave birth to her son in the two-room Lossiemouth home of her mother. Her lover had been a ploughman named MacDonald from the Black Isle. James Ramsay MacDonald was sixteen when he was given the position of pupil and teacher at his Drainie Board School.

After his first encounter with socialism in Bristol, he relocated to London and joined the Fabian Society. As a journalist, he aided the Social Democratic Federation and, after writing to Keir Hardie, was admitted to the Independent Labour Party in 1894, standing as their candidate in Southampton the following year.

By 1906, he was the MP for Leicester, and his abilities as an orator and organizer propelled him to the position of Prime Minister by 1911. Because of his pacifist beliefs, he resigned from his position in opposition to the First World War. He later changed his mind about Britain's involvement in the war, but he had lost the support of his constituents and, as a result, lost his seat in 1918.

However, in the following election, he represented the socialists of Aberavon and was re-elected to Westminster and the Labour Party leadership.

Labour won the election in 1923, and James Ramsay MacDonald became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister. He held the position twice more, from 1929-31 and 1931-5. The latter term, in coalition with the Conservatives, saw him govern with little progress toward socialism for the poor and the end of this association with the Red Clydesiders, who had previously backed him strongly.

Emmanuel Shinwell took it from him in 1935.

MadDonald, James (1906-91)

James MacDonald, born in Dundee and raised in Philadelphia, is heard but never seen around the world. He worked as a drummer at the Walt Disney Studios, where he created sound effects such as Snow White's waterfall and Alice in Wonderland's shimmering cobwebs.

He was also yodeling for the Seven Dwarfs and purling for Pinocchio's whale.

When Walt Disney refused to provide the distinctive voice of his most famous character after 1947, MacDonald took over as the new Mickey Mouse.

MacDonald of Clanranald Tartans

MacDonald of Clanranald Ancient

MacDonald of Clanranald Modern

MacDonald of Clanranald Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan MacDonald of Clanranald Crest

Crest Description: A triple-towered castle Argent masoned Sable, with a dexter arm in armour embowed grasping a sword issuing from the center tower, all Proper.

Coats of Arms for MacDonald of Clanranald:

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.

The Captain and Chief of Clanranald, MacDONALD of CLANRANALD

Quarterly, 1st, Argent, a lion rampant, Gules, armed and langued, Or; 2nd, Or, a dexter hand, Gules, couped, in fess, holding a cross crosslet fitchée, in pale, Sable; 3rd, Or, a lymphad, her oars saltire-ways, Sable, and in base, undy, Vert, a salmon, naiant, Argent; 4th, Argent, an oak tree, Vert, surmounted of an eagle, displayed, Or.

Clanranald Alexander Macdonald, 24th Captain and Chief of Clanranald

Armorial Stone of Clanranald

Aileann's Clach Chlann

The panel was recovered from an ancient religious settlement at Howmore, South Uist's most ancient Church site, and was thought to have been built into the wall of one of the Chapels. The panel was left against a remaining wall in the graveyard as the Chapel fell into disrepair.