One of my duties as a Settlement Officer in the District of Pabna was to inspect the work of the Indian officers, the kanungoes engaged on writing up the record at its initial stage, and it was during one of these inspections that I had a very strange encounter.

      I had gone to a village, where I knew one of the kanungoes was to be found. He was the centre of a large crowd in the middle of the wide open paddy lands stretching for more than a mile from where the homesteads had been built on raised lands. Every able bodied man in the village seemed to be there. All were intensely interested and full of advice, suggestions and questions. The rice crop had been harvested, and till the spring rains came, there was little work that could be done in the fields. Attendance on the kanungo came therefore as a welcome diversion, which would also prove useful.

      I checked the survey by measuring some of the fields with their help, and verified that the calculations of the areas of the plots was correct. I tested the accuracy of the record of the tenancies that had so far been made, and from the replies I received could find no mistakes in what the kanungo had noted. No contentious issues were raised. Everybody seemed contented. Men often conveniently forgot that their sisters had rights in the land as well as themselves, but the names of no female cosharers seemed to have been left out. At last well satisfied with what I had seen I was preparing to leave. While waiting for my horse to be brought from the shade where he had been tethered, I was talking to the people beside me about the price they hoped to get for their crop, when

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I noticed a man approaching from a homestead which was a little apart from the village. He was walking slowly and warily, as if afraid. When he came within speaking distance, he complained that though he possessed a share in two or three tenancies he believed his name had been wrongly omitted from the record. He went on to say that he was being cheated of his inheritance, but he had his rights by possession, and he explained at some length his relationship with the persons whose names appeared on the record. I verified that there was no mention of his name on any of the relevant pages. He spoke in a subdued manner, and remained at a little distance from where I was standing beside the plane table on which the map and the manuscript record lay. While he was speaking, the villagers who had been crowding round me shifted their position, and edged away, almost involuntarily it seemed, till they were ranged on the side opposite him. And they were silent, which was strange. Usually when a claim such as his was advanced, a chorus of excited voices would be raised, some in favour, some against. There would be much gesticulation, often virulent abuse, sometimes a fight would develop. Never would there be silence.

      As there seemed to be justice in what the man was alleging, I asked the Kanungo whether he had not made a mistake, but he assured me he had only written what everybody in the village had told him, and he had not seen the man before his appearance that day. I turned then to the person who had been recorded to have his version of the claim. He was not very coherent, but he admitted there did exist a relationship, and denied there had been any possession. His story was so confused, that some of the crowd joined in to assist him; but in their eagerness they were not consistent, and some of their statements were so obviously contradictory that I was convinced they were not telling the truth, and for their own reasons had resolved to exclude the man from what was his by right. The kanungo could not explain the reason for the attitude of the crowd, so I called up one of the most elderly and responsible of the villagers and put it to him point blank . . . "Why is everybody so opposed to this man?"

      There was a long pause, and much whispering. The elder whom I had addressed was reluctant to say anything. When at last he spoke, his reply in the bright afternoon sunshine, was startling, and so unexpected in what had seemed an idyllic rural setting.

      "He killed his cousin for that land". The tone was matter of fact.

      Quarrels over very small strips of land were frequently the cause of fights between relations, and it often happened that in the course of a struggle one of the contestants would receive fatal injuries. When such an accident occured the killer would never be lacking in support; some one would be found to put in a good word for him. I therefore asked

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if there had been a fight. The answer was 'No'. No further explanation was vouchsafed. So I asked again . . . "But why do you accuse him?"

      "He poisoned his cousin!"

      "But why do you say this?"

      "Everybody knows he wanted his cousin's land. The two of them lived in one homestead, but in different huts. One night they had a meal together. It was then he poisoned him. He put something in the food. The cousin was dead by the morning."

      "Were the police informed?"

      "Yes. The police came, and took statements, and had the body removed for examination. He was arrested."

      "Was that all?"

      "No. Later they charged him, and he was sent to stand trial for murder at the Session Court."

      "What was the result?"

      "He was acquitted by the jury."

      "When did this happen?"

      "It was some years ago now."

      "What did he do after his acquittal ?"

      "He returned to the village and has been here ever since."

      During all this time no word of protest came from the man; he made no further claim for the land, he uttered not a murmur, and when the others had finished telling of his crime, he departed as quietly as he had come.

      When he had gone, I asked the villagers if any of them had been on the jury at his trial, and had been witnesses; but I received no reply. I than wanted to know why, if he had been found 'not guilty', his name should be excluded from the record. The villagers would have none of that. Whatever the finding of the Court, they knew he had done the deed, and they were unanimous in asserting that he had no possession. I could understand from their manner that he would never be allowed by them to get possession. It is a maxim of law that no murderer should profit by his crime, and should forfeit any rights of succession he might have from his victim. In their own way, these people, unlettered cultivators as they were, had put into practice the elementary principle of justice the maxim embodied.

      The Record of Rights was in the last resort based on the fact of possession; I, therefore, let the record stand as it had been prepared, assured that this met with general local approval, and that the man would not prefer a formal appeal or press his claim in the Civil Courts.

      When I was at last ready to leave the people apologised for the incident which had delayed my departure; they were sorry that it should have be forced upon my notice. They were satisfied with the result and sped me on my way with the Bengali equivalent of 'Will ye no come back again?'. As I rode across the paddy fields, I saw the man standing beside his homestead. Around him were small plots gay with the yellow mustard and the blue flax, but he looked unutterably sad as he gazed

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past me to where the crowd was eagerly discussing the events of the afternoon. I could not help feeling some pity for him faced with a lifetime of isolation as complete as if he were in solitary confinement.

      Looking back, after quarter of a century, on the years I spent in India, often it is the small incidents that come most readily to mind, -- incidents of no importance, at times no more than a glimpse of an unheeded gesture, -- but each in its way affording a vignette of one aspect of the people of the country. These few random recollections may be of interest, -- some are amusing, some I should rather forget.

      Especially in the districts outside the big towns, which till recently lacked what are now considered the normal facilities for communication, one was dependant on the lowly paid chaprassis or messengers for passing on one's orders. They were in constant attendance at the office and at ones residence. Shortly after I was married, one of these, a white haired old man with many years of service, showed unmistakeably his opinion of women in general. I had had to go on tour, and when my wife called for the paper which was delivered at the house each morning, he told her that as the Saheb was absent, he had sent it away. Newspapers in his opinion were for men only. And there was the other one, who on returning to the house during the Monsoons, when the roads were deep in mud, went into the kitchen, where I found he had just dried his feet on the dish cloth. "Oh!" he said, "it will be washed", but he had placed it where it would be used for the tea cups. Needless to say he was sent to work solely in the office. With such indifference to ordinary health safeguards, can one wonder sickness and disease were so prevalent. Another orderly in that same district within a few days after I had joined, complained to me that a neighbour was harassing him, by encroaching on the plot where he was building a house. He asked for my personal intervention, and I was sympathetic until I visited the site and found that the neighbour was not in the wrong, and the house he was erecting could not have cost him less than £400. This was in the years of the depression when that sum would buy a good solid house for a middle class man. As the man's pay was only £15 per annun, which might be considered less than a starvation wage, I wanted to know how he had found the money for such a substantial dwelling. He did not expect such a question and was transferred to duties where he would have fewer opportunities for supplementing his income.

      It was to be recognised that with the introduction and development of democratically elected representative governments in India similar methods of improving their finances were adopted by persons of a much higher status. On one occasion a man, who had been successful in obtaining a grant to run a shop for the sale of intoxicants, when asked to submit the required deposit for the grant of his licence, applied for time as he had no ready cash. He had paid away so much to obtain the influence of the Chief Minister, that he could not meet the small demand that was made. With the courage of desperation, he made a statement

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to me, which was put into writing, in which he detailed the amounts he had spent, the persons to whom these had been given, and the circumstances in which they had been demanded. The statement was kept for record.

      I can also remember the Agent of a Landlord who had owned extensive properties in the coal bearing districts at a time when there was competition for mining rights. He had become an Honorary Magistrate and lived in style on a salary of £150 per year. When he died, shortly after he had been dismissed by his master, who had been made aware of his activities, his estate was estimated by the lawyer applying for probate of his will at £100,000, and that for obvious reasons would not be an exaggeration.

      In the mining districts, housing for the workers was for the most part very poor and inadequate, because much of the labour was seasonal, and the hutments were often vacant for months at a time, when the men would go off to attend to their fields in their distant home villages at sowing time and at harvest. Maintenance was a problem, but the accommodation was of a meagre standard. When over a few drinks I commented on this to an Indian Mine Owner, and said that many of the huts were little better than cattle-sheds, he agreed, but added, "Well these people are just like cattle; what do they need, what can they expect?" He was a man of considerable wealth and influence, and a few days afterwards was to leave for Geneva at the instance of the Government of India to attend a conference on Labour Relations called by the United Nations within months of the cessation of Hostilities in Europe. Doubtless he did not voice these sentiments on the shores of Lake Leman -- but I am convinced that this was an instance of 'in vino veritas'. Nor was he exceptional, generally the conditions for the labour force were worst, where the management was Indian.

      In spite of everything, the miners were an uncomplaining lot. Many were aboriginals who would have starved if they had had to subsist on the produce of their small holdings. They worked hard, and defying all propaganda from a Prohibitionist intentioned Government, persisted in a fondness for strong drink, -- a rice beer called pachwai. I met a crowd of them one afternoon; they were sitting in a circle, the pot of pachwai was circulating. It was for them early in the day, and they were still sober. I asked them why they did not try to save their earnings, and why they spent money in this way. "Well "said the leader, "We feel we have deserved this. We work down the mines all week, and now we are free for a day or two to enjoy ourselves in the open air. We brew the pachwai, (probably illegally it was), we sit round and talk. We drink and laugh and sing. We do no harm to anyone. And if we get drunk, we forget the existence we lead, and are 'Kings for a Night.' I can never forget the brave tone in which he brought out the words, "We are Kings for a Night". There could be no answer. In their own way, they achieved some happiness.

      The heavy toll that disease took on people of all classes, the prevalence

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of epidemics such as cholera and smallpox, and the high rate of mortality, were the causes of what often seemed callousness to the sufferings and hardships of the less fortunate. The struggle for existence can breed an indifference which may appear shocking.

      During the Famine of 1943, when thousands died of starvation, the Bengal Government opened the equivalent of soup kitchens in village centres throughout the country. The fare supplied was sufficient only to keep alive the spark of life in emaciated bodies. It was all that could be done. Supervision of these arrangements for feeding the hungry had to be left to the village elders or headmen. Many took on the work as a troublesome chore, and one old grey beard asked one of my officers; "Why does the Government bother to feed all these old widows. They have done nothing for twenty years; they have husked a little rice, they have lived on charity. They would be better dead." Perhaps a quick and painless death would have been a merciful release; but humanity could not stand idly by, while wretched men and women slowly wasted away for lack of food.

      There were many heartrending scenes during that terrible year, but the one I remember most vividly, and the one I should be glad to forget is of arriving at Siliguri at the foot hills of the Himalayas to catch an afternoon train. The station was crowded with passengers moving from carriage to carriage to find a compartment to their liking. No one of them seemed to notice a bundle of rags lying at their feet in the middle of the platform. Nobody seemed to care, neither passengers nor station staff, that the man was dead. Nobody knew who he was, how he came there, nor where he had come from. He had lain down and died, and the mob of people milled round his body, intent on their own immediate affairs, without a thought for him. I called the Station Master, who called the sweepers to remove the corpse. They lifted it up, without anyone stopping to ask what they were doing, and then carried it to an outlying part of the station yard, poured parafin over it and set it alight in full view of all who had the good fortune to secure a seat in the train.

      I shall end with a more heartwarming memory. The time was 1930, when Gandhi was revered as a Saint in his own land and in many parts of the western world, for his campaign to revive an India of a Golden Age by non-violent non-co-operation, which almost always ended in bloodshed; when the intelligentsia in Britain scoffed at the continuance of the Raj, and described their kinsmen in the Government Services as sun-dried bureaucrats, educated in an outworn tradition, and out of sympathy with the advancement of the people; when Magistrates and Judges in Bengal, both Indian and British were targets for the bullets of the terrorists. I was in the grounds of the great marble Memorial to Queen Victoria as Empress of India, I saw a poor Indian woman approach the statue of the Queen, and respectfully joining her hands in 'pronam' stand silently with bowed head for a little while, before advancing to the statue and laying her forehead reverently on the

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feet of the Queen. Then she left unobtrusively as she had come. She was illiterate, and of one of the lower castes, but probably she represented the majority of the people. Her simple act of gratitude was more typical of their feelings, of their thankfulness for years of peace than the much publicised utterances of the politicians. Often in the flowery language derived from the days of the Moguls, a petitioner seeking redress of some grievance would call the Magistrate. . . gharib parwar protector of the poor. I like to think that in their dealings with peoples of India, the Scots, Irish, English and Welsh in the service of the Crown were just that. There could be no finer tribute to their work.

      Miss McPherson, a native of Glenlivet, Banffshire, was a typist for 10 years at Stonehaven Sheriff Court before moving to Perth.

      She takes up her new appointment on March 17.

                                                             See the tartan gaily swinging
                                                             As the pipers play their song
                                                             And green banner proudly flying
                                                             Leading the Macphersons home

                                                             We'll salute you on the Eilean
                                                             'neath the shadow of Craig Dhubh
                                                             Where our chieftain Laird of Cluny
                                                             Hid in cave away from view

                                                             Gather round ye men of Badenoch
                                                             Let the echoes loudly come
                                                             Give a welcome to our chieftain
                                                             Dearest Cluny, he is home

                                                             When the sun is slowly sinking
                                                            O'er the hill and down the glen
                                                             We will join in softly singing
                                                             "Will ye no come back again".

by Louis Hendry
4 Cluny Terrace, Kingussie,

      The son of Norman Croumbie Macpherson, Esq., W.S. for the Admiralty in Scotland and Mrs. Macpherson, he was born in Edinburgh.

      Educated at Edinburgh Academy, he was in the School XV, the Squash Team and the 2nd XI Cricket Team.

      Donald Douglas was born at Dundee on 9th September, 1901. He was a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Divinity of St. Andrews. After being licensed by the Presbytery of Jedburgh and Kelso in 1932, he became assistant at St. Paul's, Leith. In January, 1934 he was ordained, and inducted to his first charge, Auchterderran. Returning from war service in the Second World War he was translated in 1945 to St. Cyrus.

      On the retiral of Innes Logan at Roseburn, the Presbytery, in order to facilitate the desired re-adjustment in the area, suppressed the charge, and on 26th September, 1957 Donald Douglas, with the concurrence of the congregation, was introduced on terminable appointment by the Presbytery. On the termination of this appointment on 30th September, 1962, at which date the charges of Roseburn and West Coates were united, Donald Douglas retired from the active ministry, although he served until his death as part-time chaplain at Gogarburn Hospital.

      Donald Douglas was a pastor to his people. He saw as his task the development of the activities of the congregation. He himself organised various functions to develop the social fellowship of the congregation, and he himself, as Superintendent, for several years ran the Sunday School, which met before the Morning Service. During the five years of his ministry he increased the Roll by 100.

      For the dedication of his gifts of friendliness and humanity in the service of the church, we give thanks to God; and to his widow we express our sincere and heartfelt sympathy.

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                                                              Men in kilts
                                                              and kilts on men
                                                              who seldom wear them.
                                                              Men in suits
                                                              and men in jeans
                                                              to represent the present time.

                                                              A mixture of foreigners--
                                                              amazed to see the colour
                                                              in Highland dress.
                                                              A whirr of cameras
                                                              to capture the experience
                                                              for the folks back home.

                                                              Girls in kilts
                                                              dancing delicately -- athletes
                                                              in kilts throwing the heavy stuff.
                                                              Runners in white and sweat
                                                              for the conquest of Creag Dhubh --
                                                              the Clan mountain.

                                                              A mixed medley of people
                                                              a rich scraggly atmosphere
                                                              showing the Highland experience
                                                              of a crowded Games --
                                                               representing the country--
                                                              representing all times.

Keith Murdoch,
Pitmain Beag,
Kingussie,
Inverness-shire

      I thought readers would be interested to see a copy (photo) of the original account for the silver bought by Colonel Allan Macpherson, (1st of Blairgowrie), in 1787, when on his way to live at Blairgowrie! We found it in a cupboard, and we still have a portion of the silver. Not all in use -- but the children do use the spoons for their porridge.

October, 1787
Bot. of Kn. Riccard

Brot. Over	£45	7	0
1 16 inch strong Double plated Oval beaded Waiter	4	14	0
2  9-1/2 Inch Do. Do. ..... ..... ..... .....	2	10	0
Engraving 1 Large & 2 Small Coats of Arms with Crests Motto's & Palm branch Ornaments on Do.	1	0	0
4 Best polish'd Engrav'd edge silver Gravy Spoons	6	12	0
1 Do. Marrow Spoon ..... ..... ..... .....	0	10	0
Engraving 4 Large & 1 Smaller Crest on Do.	0	9	0
2 Doz. best polished Engraved edge silver Table Spoons ..	22	4	0
2 Dozn. of Deserts Do. ..... .....	14	0	0
4 best polished Engrav'd edge silver salt spoons	0	17	0
1 Pair of Do. Tea tongs .....	0	11	0
12 best polish'd Engrav'd edge silver Tea Spoons	3	11	0
1 Silver Sugar sifter ....	0	16	0
Engraving 66 Crests & Mottos on Do.	3	6	0
1 Pair of polish'd steel snuffers with pontipool stand	0	7	0
1 Large fine inlaid Mahogany Knife Care borderd with Rosewood with a large silver pierced escution shield & Ring star Ornament &c. to contain 24 pair of Table knives and forks 12 pair of deserts Do. 12 Table Spoons 12 Desert Do 2 Gravy Spoons 1 Marrow Spoon I Fish trowel & 2 Pair of Carvers	5	5	0
2 Smaller Do. each to contain 12 Pair of Table knives and forks 12 pair of Desert Do. 1 pair of Carvers 6 Table Spoons 6 Desert Do. Gravy & Marrow spoon	5	12	0
Engraving 3 Crests & Motto's on Do.	0	6	0
2 Turbelow'd Tureen Ladles .....	1	12	0
Engraving 2 Crests & Motto's on Do. .....	0	4	0
6 Elegent engraved strong silver pierc'd bottle Tickets	2	2	0
	£122	11	6
1 Silver Guggler ..... ..... ..... ....	1	14	6
1 Wine Toast Rack plated	0	10	0
1 Plated Tea pot stand silver beads ..... .....	1	0	0
Engraving 3 Crests & Motto's on Do. ... ....	0	4	0
	£126	0	0

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      The elder son of Dr. Francis Alexander MacMacpherson, and his wife Florence Taylor, Alexander Kilgour Macpherson, vide above, educated at Liverpool, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, was Commissioned 2/Lieutenant Indian Army, 9th September, 1908. He served in World War I in FRANCE 1914 with the Royal Sikh Pioneers, and was wounded at the 1st Battle of Festhubert, 23rd November, 1914, and invalided to India. Promoted Captain and appointed Instructor Cadet College, QUETTA, Baluchistan. Adjutant l2th Pioneers in Operations against the MAHSUDS in WAZIRISTAN, in the TOCHI Valley 1917, and also with the MARRI KETRANI Field Force in 1918. Promoted Major and 2nd in Command of the newly raised 3rd 34th Sikh Pioneers in Ambala prior to further service overseas, when the Armistice was declared 11th November, 1918.

      He was appointed Instructor of all Training at the H.Q. of the Corps of B. Pioneers, AGRA, 1921. In 1928 he was appointed Officer in Charge of the King's Indian Orderly Officers at Buckingham Palace, being in attendance on H.M. King George V.

      He was created a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O. (4th Class). He qualified at the Senior Officers' School at SHEERNESS, and was selected for appointment as Commandant of the 1st Btn. The Corps of B. Pioneers, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, February, 1932, Stationed on the North West Frontier at NOWSHERA he took part with his Regiment in the usual alarms and excursions, that were the usual concomitant life on the Frontier, where raids and counter action was the normal state of affairs In so called 'peace time' all units had to be in a constant state of readiness. Only four hours warning to mobilise, day or night, was allowed from the time the general alarm sounded till Bns. marched out prepared in all respects for active service that might, and at times did last for months.

      During this time Colonel Macpherson, who was an Interpreter in PUSHTU, the language of the

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Patnan Tribesmen of the N.W. Frontier, was sent with Colonel Beath, (who seven years later commanded the 4th Indian Corps at the Battle of KEREN) on a special reconnaissance beyond DARGAI (Shades of Piper Findlater) up the SWAT Valley. The task was successfully accomplished, and provided answers that were required by Higher Command both of a Strategic and Tactical nature.

      At this point it is felt that a word of explanation is required on the nature of the Pioneer Regiments of the Indian Army. This was a branch of the Service quite unique in the armies of the world. It bore no resemblance to the Pioneer Bns. of navvies raised in the World Wars at home. It consisted of some 12 Battalions of Regular Infantry, fully trained as such, and which were also fully trained in all branches of Field Engineering, and capable of carrying out all the work normally done by the Field Companies of the Royal Engineers. The Officers and N.C.O.'s received special engineering training and had to qualify at a H.Q. of the Royal Engineers. In peace time, provided circumstances permitted, Commanding Officers were allowed to take up contracts for Civil Firms, e.g. railway construction, bridge building, road making etc., etc., for which of course, suitable rates of pay etc., were included for all ranks. The service in these regiments was highly popular, lending great variety compared with the conventional Infantry Regiment's round of ordinary military training. Moreover, there being only 12 such Battalions in all, they were always in great demand for Active Service. Indeed, the corps to which Colonel Macpherson belonged had more battle Honours than any other in the Indian Army. Pioneer Battalions ranked senior to Infantry Battalions and Divisional Parades when they took post on the right of the Line of Infantry. They were a Corps D'Elite.

      Owing to the period of grave financial stringency through which India was passing at this time it became necessary drastically to reduce Military Expenditure. Amongst other reductions it was decided to disband all the Corps and Regiments of Pioneers of the Indian Army. The folly of such a disbandment of highly trained and skilled troops with their many trades and technicians, led by

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Officers of wide experience in many lands, was recognised a very few years later as a signal blunder, when too late their presence in the 2nd World War would have been of inestimable value in the Campaignes in ERITREA, ABYSSINIA, BURMAH, ITALY, etc. Do we ever learn?

      The last duty performed by the 1st Battalion under Colonel Macpherson's command was the reallignment and part reconstruction of the Military road through the KHYBER Pass.

      Owing to the disbandment Colonel Macpherson was unemployed and was on the Indian Army Regular Reserve of Officers till the outbreak of World War II. His first task was to raise and equip at Aldershot a battalion 900 strong of specially selected young N.C.O.'S from units all over Britain. These he took out via the Cape to India, where they were trained to become Officers for appointment to units of the Indian Army.

      Colonel Macpherson himself on arrival in India, was appointed to Command the Sikh Battalion of the NAB14A AKAL Infantry, stationed on the AFGHAN Frontier at FORT SANDEMAN. From there he took the Battalion to the ERITREAN Campaign, where he was in Command of the area south of ASMARA to the ABYSSINIAN border, near ADOWA. The Battalion had part in the final surrender of the Italian Army under the Duke of AOSTA. The Italian generals both Military and their hated Political equivalents, were entrusted to Colonel Macpherson's care, pending their final disposal.

      In 1942 he took the battalion to CYPRUS, where be was given command of the S.W. area of the Island, H.Q. at LIMASOL. A year later he was promoted full Colonel on appointment as Deputy Director of Labour for India, at Army Headquarters, DELHI. This was for labour as specifically required for the prosecution of the War on all fronts.

      Here Colonel Macpherson's service on the active list finished.

      He bought a house adjoining the site of the old House of Pitmain, and was in time to partake in the celebrations of the 200th year anniversary of the Raising of the Standard in GLENFINNAN, 1745-1945,

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      The foregoing accounts of the lives in general outline of the latter representatives of the old House of Pitmain in this period of the 20th Century could be paralleled in every Clan in Scotland. The SLIOCHD IAIN are no exception to the general rule. Where 200 years ago careers and exploits were for the most part bounded by the Grampians and the Monadh Liath, today the Ramparts of the Himalayas and the Rockies cannot contain them! Tomorrow? The spheres may well succumb to the Breachan Glas! But the Spirit is the same. It is ever continuity even through violent change!

      We have seen how the male line of Lachlan II and 11th of Pitmain came to an end with the sad and untimely death of the last male heir, George Gordon D'Arcy Macpherson on 23rd May 1908, and the death of his father, Charles Gordon Welland Macpherson on 27th August 1910, who was the 15th Chieftain of Pitmain.

      Thus it was that Colonel Alexander K. Macpherson, great, great, great grandson of John III, and 10th of Pitmain, brother of Lachlan 11, was recognised by the Lord Lyon, Sir Francis Grant, as male heir, and the undifferenced Arms recorded in the name of Lachlan Macpherson of Pitmain 1672 were ratified and confirmed to him the 27th February 1940, in Volume 34, Folio 7 of the Public Register of all Arms in Scotland.

      He thus became Officially recognised as 16th Chieftain of Pitmain, and senior Chieftain in the Clan Macpherson.

      He was appointed by Cameron of Lochiel, Deputy Lieutenant for Inverness-shire in 1950.

      He is Senior Vice-President of the Clan Macpherson Association, and a Vice President of the Clan Chattan Association. He is the only head of any of the chief families of the Clan to have returned to BADENOCH.

      During his 36 years service Colonel Macpherson has trekked and shot extensively in the Himalayas where, with a brother officer, he penetrated to the Wild Regions of Western Thibet in 1912. They attained a height of over 20,000 feet, considerable for those days; and crossed one of the highest and then little known Passes, the PARANG LA, 18,600 feet. He shot the OVIS AMMON, said to be the blue ribbon of Himalayan Shooting. He and his

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brother officer made corrections to the Ordnance Survey Map of that part of the Frontier, and a detailed report to the Intelligence Branch A.H.Q. India on the high passes and their approaches on both sides of the Frontier, in LADAKH, where 50 years later the Chinese Invasion has taken place.

      In the course of his military service it fell to Colonel Macpherson's lot to have visited three very unusual places which must be almost unique for any one person to have seen. (1) Thibet (2) Abyssinia (3) Tristan Da Cunha, in the far south Atlantic ocean.
      (1) Thibet has already been referred to;
      (2) At the ancient Capital of Abyssinia, AKSUM, after the finish of the Eritrean Campaign, Colonel Macpherson when visiting the town was shown privately, many of the Crowns of the Kings of Abyssinia. The custom having been a new Crown for the new Emperor. The Colonel could not refrain from trying them on! Haille Selassie had not been crowned at Aksurn but at Addis Ababa.
      (3) Tristan De Cunha was visited near the end of the War on the homeward voyage when the ship he was on en route from Cape Town called at the island to land Radio Personel and stores for the garrison that held the Island, lest Hitler had established a submarine base there. Thence the voyage was continued to the River PLATE to take on meat for the U.K. at Buenos Ayres. In the River Plate the top masts and upper works of the GRAF VON SPEE were clearly visible as they passed Hitler's sunken Pocket Battleship.

       The platform was draped in the Hunting Macpherson tartan. The platform party consisted of Lady Macpherson, the mother of the chairman of the Clan Macpherson Association; the chief's wife, Shiela, and their two charming children, Alan Thomas and Anne, Mr. A. I. S. Macpherson, Ch.M., F.R.C.S., F.R.S.E., the chairman of the Clan Macpherson, introduced the platform party.

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The large audience was not composed entirely of Macphersons, but of Cattanachs, Gillieses, Murdochs, Curries, Gillespies, Clarks and other septs of the Clan, as well as sons and daughters of mothers of the Clan along with distinguished visitors like Sir Robert Grieve, the chairman of the H.I.D. Board, and local residents of Newtonmore.

      The great moment came when Cluny, the Chief of the Clan Macpherson, was invited by the chairman of the Clan Association to open the new Museum.

      Cluny looked every inch a Highland chief as he strode to the door of the Museum. After three manly knocks the door was opened and Cluny was greeted by the curator, Eoin Macpherson.

      This was a moving occasion. After years of striving and hoping the Clan Macpherson had been able to see the opening of a Museum extension worthy of the Clan relics to the enhancement of not only Newtonmore but Badenoch as a whole.

      A well known distilling company had made a handsome donation to start off the project, donations and interest-free loans by clansmen and women had been the backbone of the help and it had all been capped by a handsome grant by the Highland and Islands Development Board. Though much still remained to be done the way ahead was clear.

      The prayer of dedication was movingly rendered in the soft Gaelic accents of Rev. Dr. John Macpherson, M.A. A delightful afternoon tea was served in the Craig Mhor Hotel, Newtonmore, afterwards, under the personal kindly direction of Mr. Hilton.

      That evening members and their guests were welcomed to a reception in the Duke of Gordon Hotel, Kingussie, by Cluny, the Clan Chief, his wife and the chairman of the Association.

      There was a great sense of gaiety and joy as the evening wore on at the Highland ball in the magnificent ballroom of the Duke of Gordon Hotel.

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      The morning of Saturday, August 1, saw the annual general meeting of the Clan Association in the new Museum at Newtonmore. There was a very real sense of achievement. Though much remained to be done, the Clan were meeting in its very own new Museum property on its very own land. A corner of the new Museum, it was decided, would be dedicated to the late Lord Drumochter (Tom Macpherson, M.P.) who had done so much for the Clan Association.

      That afternoon the kilted members of the Clan Macpherson marched proudly behind their chief Cluny from Old Ralia to the Newtonmore Games on the centuries old Eilean field, led by the City of Glasgow Police Pipe Band.

      It was one of the most successful Newtonmore Games ever. The weather was superb, the field resounded to the skirl of the pipes and the click and whirr of cameras. Visitors from every part of Scotland and throughout the world had thronged to the Newtonmore Games. It was a gala day never to be forgotten.

      That evening all gathered to the ceilidh in the Duke of Gordon Hotel. Cluny and the chairman were piped in with applause. Councillor Hugh Macpherson was the fear-an-tighe.

      Mr. and Mrs. Currie, the new proprietors of the Duke of Gordon Hotel, were introduced to the company and thanked for their courtesy and kindliness. Clanspeople and visitors from all the farthest flung parts of the world were welcomed by name. Perhaps the couple who had come farthest to the rally were Mr. Jim Williamson and his wife Ray who had come all the way from Heriot, Otago, New Zealand.

      The rally closed on Sunday with an inspiring sermon by Rev. M. N. Wright in St. Columba's Parish Church, Kingussie, and in the afternoon a visit to the grounds of Cluny Castle or a visit to Creag Dhubh for the more energetic.

by Gilleasbuig Lachlainn Illeasbuig

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      These Arms afford an interesting example of ecclesiastical heraldry as well as "differencing" by the addition of a border. The shield contains the main components of the Cluny Arms, viz., the hand holding the dagger, the cross-crosslet , and the galley but the shield is divided horizontally by a wavy partition line and surrounded by a border. The border is charged with "cats' faces" and "cross-crosslets". The "cats' faces", alluding to the wildcat crest of the Chief, represents an interesting method of incorporating the cat within the shield itself since it is customary in Scotland for the Arms of a clergyman to be depicted without a crest. This is the only example of a Macpherson shield which contains the cat. The border, in these Arms, is an integral part of the shield design and not simply an indication of "cadency" as is the case in other Macpherson Arms surrounded by a border.

      The shield is ensigned with a Bishop's mitre and an episcopal crozier and surmounted by an ecclesiastical hat "befitting his degree". The clerical hat of a Bishop is green with six green tassels on each side.

     Bishop MacPherson resides at Bishop's House, Oban, Argyllshire.

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No. 14 EOIN MACPHERSON

      The Arms are predominantly blue with the galley, the hand holding the dagger and the cross-crosslet in gold. A gold band across the centre of the shield (called a "fess") contains several objects of special significance. The "sword", in the central charge of crossed sword and pipe chanter, represents "the sword of justice" to commemorate Eoin Macpherson's long service, and that of his father also, in the Scottish Constabulary. His father, John Macpherson, spent 40 years in the Perthshire and Kinross-shire Constabulary, latterly as Deputy Chief Constable of the Combined Counties. Eoin himself served for 28 years in the Special Constabulary and was an Inspector of Turriff and District area. The "pipe chanter" alludes to the splendid record of Phosa (Mrs. Eoin) Macpherson's family as pipers to the Cluny Chiefs, the most notable being her grandfather, Malcolm Macpherson, the famous "Calum Piobair".

           The "book of learning" refers of Eoin's great-grandfather, William Macpherson, the first Headmaster of Daniel Stewart's School, Strathtay. The "wing" signifies Eoin Macpherson's service in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

      The crest is "cat sejant erect proper, collared Or, pendent there from a hurt charged with an Eagle volant of the Second". A "hurt" is a blue roundel and this is "charged" with a gold eagle "volant" (flying) in allusion to service in the R.A.F.

      The Motto, "Touch not gloveless", is an "answering motto" to the Chief's "Touch not the cat but a glove".

      Eoin Macpherson has been Curator of the Clan Museum since 1966.

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      These Arms show very clearly the similarity of the Gillespie Arms to the Macpherson Arms, which is to be expected in view of the close Clan relationship. The background of the shield, is of course, blue but the gold Gillespie galley has three masts in contrast to the single masted Macpherson ship. The upper part of the shield, called the "chief", is silver and the red hand and dagger and the red cross-crosslet are placed in the reverse position to that of the Macpherson Arms, i.e. the crosslet is in the upper left hand corner. In the centre "chief " is placed a "trefoil slipped Vert" and this relates to the name of Duval, the surname of the wife of George Gillespie of the county of Ayr, to whom the original Grant of Arms was made. The "bordure embattled" which surrounds the shield is a sign of cadency to "difference" the Arms of John Gillespie from those of his ancestor.

       The crest is "a demi-cat-a-mountain rampant proper, gorged of a collar Azure and grasping between its paws a Cuduceus Or". The "Caduceus" commemorates Mr. John Gillespie's service in the Hospital Corps of the U.S. Navy during the Korean campaign. This is again a "difference" personal to Mr. Gillespie.

       Mr. John D. Gillespie is a member of the North American Branch of the Clan Macpherson Association.

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Edinburgh Advertiser. 11th September 1798

Edinburgh Weekly Journal, 9th April, 1800

Edinburgh Weekly Journal, 28 December, 1801.

Edinburgh Evening Courant, 21 September, 1797.

Edinburgh Advertiser, 19 November, 1802.

Edinburgh Advertiser 8 April, 1803

EXCHEQUER CHAMBERS, EDINBURGH
2nd February 1802. 2nd February 1802..

(Reg. Ho. Exchequer Orders E.306. Vol. 5. fol. 265)
Hugh Macpherson, residing at Brora,
appointed assistant Surveyor of Taxes for
Counties of Caithness and Sutherland.
4 February 1805 E.306 Vol. 6 fol. 165.

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regret his death. Lieutenant Macpherson was the eldest son of Colonel Duncan Macpherson of Bleaton, who since the year 1759, served his King and Country for many years in the East Indies, and during the last war in America. [The youngest son of this family was Lt Gen Robert Barclay Macpherson who portrait hangs in the Clan Macpherson Museum]

(Ed. Ev. Courant 1st August 1796).

Edinburgh Evening Courant 9 March 1787.

Edin. Evening Courant 8 February 1796

SCOTSMAN 19 January 1832

      AN ANCIENT HIGHLANDER -- There is present living at Grulla, in the Isle of Skye, a man named John Macpherson, who had attained to the extraordinary age of 108 years. His faculties are still active, his memory, in particular, being unimpaired. This veteran clansman, who has witnessed so many changes in his native country, still at the extinction of the feudal spirit, by which the glory of clans and chiefs has been eclipsed. He remembers Prince Charles Stuart, after the battle of Culloden, disguised as a female, and going under the name of Morag, in company with the celebrated Flora Macdonald.

Edinburgh Advertiser 16 August 1851

EXCHEQUER CHAMBERS, EDINBURGH 7 March 1807

Sir
      I am directed by the Barons to inform you that they have agreed to Let to you the Inn at Dalwhinny for one year from the Term of Whitsunday next, at the Rent of £30.Stg upon the Condition of your keeping the house in the State of repair in which it is at Present -- and further, that you are to keep it in such a manner as to Give entire Satisfaction to the Gentlemen in the neighbourhood, who are Justices of the Peace and who will, Agreeable to the Wishes of the Barons, visit it from time to time, in Order to see that you Comply with these Conditions; and further, you oblige Yourself to remove from the Premises, at Whitsunday 1808, without any Process of removing, if the Barons shall so direct -- and that under the Penalty of £50 Stg.

Your Obedient Servt.
HENRY JARDINE. D.K.R.

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Perth Sheriff Court                                                                                  Wednesday 27th December, 1830
      David Mitchell and John M'Pherson, from Almond Bank, near Methven, were charged with assaulting John Malcom, assistant gamekeeper at Methven, about half-past 11 o'clock on the night of 20th November, whereby he was severely wounded on the head. They pled Not Guilty, which led to the examination of witnesses, when it was found not proven against Mitchell, a lame, feeble lad; but M'Pherson was found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of £5, and find security to keep the peace for six months.

PERTHSHIRE ADVERTISER 6 January 1831

10 August, 1797

35th Foot:
      Lieut. Duncan M'PHERSON from Major-General Keppel's Regiment to be Lieutenant, vice CHRISTIE who exchanges.

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Inverness, and grandson of the deceased Malcolm ROSS, Esq., younger of Pitcalny. His relations and friends will please accept of this notification of his death.

Brunswick                                                                                                          Saturday, December 20th, 1794
      " . . . Duke (of Brunswick) at dinner -- mentioned an anonymous letter he has received -- conjectured to be from Sir J. M'Pherson -- its object to induce him to take the command, although the means employed do not at all appear to promote it."

      Then the Ceilidh with its variety of entertainment and the able manner with which Hugh Macpherson conducted proceedings.

      In the quiet of a beautiful Sunday morning to attend divine worship with other members of the Clan was a most fitting conclusion to a very enjoyable Rally.

      To us this weekend has been a wonderful experience and we thank you one and all from the bottom of our hearts. We say Goodbye and God Bless you all.

"Ray and Jim Williamson"

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      The Clan Rally 1970 was noted for an additional, but eagerly awaited ceremony, the formal opening by Cluny of the new extension to the Clan MacPherson House and Museum at Newtonmore, who was accompanied by his wife Shiela and their two charming children, Alan and Anne. As Cluny strode forward to perform the simple act of opening everyone present was rightly proud of their new leader, for he looked every inch a Highland Chief and a worthy successor in line to the Chieftainship of the Macphersons. It must also have been a moment of achievement for Councillor Hugh Macpherson (Edinburgh) Chairman of the House and Museum Appeal Fund, who had devoted a great deal of his personal time and interest to raise the sums required for the completion of this attractive building this was fitting reward for Hugh and his friends, who had donated their gifts, to record yet another chapter in Clan history: To quote from the pen of another "one window in this spacious extension has been deliberately designed and positioned to give a clear and picturesque view of Creag Dhubh, one of the mountain peaks, overlooking the village, which gave its name to the War Cry of the Clan.

      The commodious and well appointed ballroom of the Duke of Gordon Hotel in Kingussie was the venue for the Grand Ball, offering the organisers the perfect setting for gaiety and glamour. Tartan sashed ladies with their kilted escorts were personally received by the Chief and his wife who during the evening endeared themselves to all, by mixing freely with their friends and visitors alike. The hills around echoed to the musical rhythm of reels and strathspeys, as the dancers stepped them out with gay abandon, even the onlookers enjoyed watching the experts teach the timid and uninitiated, the tricky, and intricate steps of an Eightsome Reel, or another of its kind, which may have bad its origin in Badenoch country. It was evident as the 'wee sma oor's were reached no one showed the slightest concern, as to where the dance or its tune originated, or how competent they were in its interpretation; some were a little unstable, and the rosy cheeks were beginning to pale, energy was flagging, breathing heavy, but let it be said to their eternal credit 'The night was Highland and no one wanted to hear the bugler sound "Lights out"!' Next evening the stage was set for the MacPherson Ceilidh, also held in the Duke of Gordon with Hugh Macpherson as 'Fear-an-Tighe' extending a welcome to all, dress was informal, no standing on ceremony, just bring a drop of 'Tonic Water' in your sporran, and you will find there the friendliest place on earth. There is usually, no arranged programme of entertainment. Everyone present is a potential artiste, possessing some hidden talent awaiting discovery, and to get into the act someone has said "Just catch the eye of Fear-an-Tighe" -- as the hours of jollification roll on friends become

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'relations' and when Fear-an-Tighe calls for the linking of hands to sing Auld Lang Syne, you will discover that your family tree has grown more branches than you ever dreamed of, -- 'That then is a Ceilidh' -- fortified by 'Tonic Water'.

(L-R) Chairman Archie with Cluny and Curator Eoin

      Sunday the Clan attended morning worship in the little Church, shared by the local residents. Taking part in the Service was Cluny, the Chief and A.I.S. Macpherson our Chairman who read the scriptures in turn, and the sermon was preached by Rev. N. Wright the Minister of the Church. Among the worshippers who lingered on after the service, to exchange friendly greetings with Clansmen and friends was the mother of our Chairman, Lady Helen Stewart Macpherson, whose 95 years goes unnoticed, because she takes such a lively and active interest in Clan affairs, and whose gracious and charming personality is greatly appreciated when she is present on these Clan occasions. Sunday evening saw the departure of many Clansmen to their homes throughout the country, but many from overseas were continuing their stay in Scotland and in other parts of Britain before returning to the land of their birth or adoption, whichever their forebears had decreed.

      MEETING -- GREETING -- FLEETING, these three, Summarise my "First Impressions" of a Clan Rally -- but the enjoyable memories linger on, for 'The blood is strong and the heart is Highland'.

Robert MacPherson,
'Craigdhu',
26 Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh.

Colonel & Mrs. William Lindsay McPherson (U.S. Army Retired)         Descendant of Robert and Janet
1 Ingles Court, Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A.           McPherson who settled in Pennsylvania about 1738.

Thomas & Renee MacPherson, Makerere University,                           Children, Moira & Alistair
P.O. Box 16020. Kampala, Uganda, East Africa.

Lloyd MacPherson, St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Ontario, Canada.

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W. C. Carsilman,
66 Bedford Street,
New York, N.Y., U.S.A.

Father Joseph E. McPherson,
2118 Payne Street,
Louisville,
Kentucky, U.S.A.

Mr. & Mrs. Donald A. Gillies,
9 Aintree Avenue,
East Doncaster,
Victoria, Australia.

Mr. & Mrs. Harold N. MacPherson,
330 Acadia Road,
Lachine,
Quebec, Canada.

Mr. & Mrs. Bookham,
13312-135 Street
Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada.

Mr. & Mrs. Russell Doyle      (nee Elizabeth MacPherson)
8135 Madison Avenue,
St Louis, Missouri 63114, U.S.A.

Mr. & Mrs. Jim & Ray Williamson,
Gemlake, Heriot,
Otago, New Zealand.

Mr. Murray & Mrs. Dorothy Macpherson             Family tree .
Hawthorn, Adelaide,                 letter sent to "Creag Dhubh"
South Australia.                         1966 edition

Mr. Erle Ewan McPherson,
3 Mavis Street,
Coffs Harbour,
N.S.W., Australia.

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John Handy,       Was a competitor in the Creag Dhubh Hill Race at the Newtonmore Games.
Stowe School,
Stowe, Vermont
U.S.A. 05672

Carmen d'Qubreby                                   One of these ladies has written 2 novels about
Anne Marie Sfinglhamber,                   Prince Charles Edward Stuart and is now writing
Jeka Rezette,                    
bsp;                         another novel ncluding modern clans.
Claude Bolle
A Jolesbald,
Brussels, Belgium.

      Badenoch is the ancestral home -- and they came to share their kinship and their loyalty, with their Clansmen in the Homeland. It was for me a pleasure to be remembered as I documented their names for inclusion in Creag Dhubh 1971.

Robert MacPherson,
"Craigdhu",
26 Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh 4.

      There is a delightful proverb about "sense" which fits Gaelic and its culture: it goes like this:

      His reply was:
            "There is no royal road to learning."

      So it is too with acquiring a basic grip of the tongue of our forebears. But there are shortcuts. One of the best shortcuts on the market is

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listed in the catalogue of Gaelic Books which you can get from Gairm Publications, 29 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, C.2.

      One item well worth taking up is "Gaelic Made Easy" by John Paterson in four parts costing only eighteen pence each. This publication is rather over-simplified having no accents to show the long vowels also "ao" is given as "oo" instead as "eu- in "deux" in French or as 'ö' in "schlöne" in German. Nor are letters like D, T, L, N, R with the broad vowels a, o, u given their pronunciation.

      But there is a good way round this difficulty. When ordering the four parts of "Gaelic Made Easy" get the tape-recordings for the various books according to the speed of your tape-recorder.

Now comes Phase One --
      Run through part of the first chapter in "Gaelic Made Easy"; stop and start the tapes till you feel that you have mastered the Gaelic to English section by repeating and repeating to the playing of the tapes.

Then conclude with Phase Two
      Turn to the English-to-Gaelic section which ends each Lesson. Change the tapes to a blank spool. Read the first phrase through in English then translate it into Gaelic. Then turn to the Gaelic translation. Play back the phrase you have just read and translate. If your translation is not perfect read the correct Gaelic translation from the book and play it back till one understands where one went wrong.

      This we found a wonderful drill that paid off in teaching one the greatest amount with the least effort. If at the beginning you find it child's play keep ploughing on and you will soon discover it as teasing as a good crossword.

      Does your Gaelic library need building up? Let's turn to the catalogue from "Gairm" publications. The first page lists bilingual books like "Na s/e bonnaich beaga" (the six wee bannocks), the Wizards Gillie and the tale of Fingal in the House of the Blar Buidhe. There are useful phrase books by Rev. D. Macinnes, Mary MacKellar and James Munro. This page also lists the magnificent Gaelic -- English Dictionary by Edward Dwelly.

      We found on page two "Rosg nan Eilean" (Island Prose) readable and useful for learners and all others.

      MacEachen's 'Gaelic -- English' Dictionary is reliable and portable. Lachlan MacKinnon's three booklets of Gaelic verse are a first rate introduction to Gaelic poetry and Mairi Tailler's Humorous Children's Rhymes are easy to translate.

      The next section is given over to Gaelic Prose. We found the books of Iain Mac a' Shobha imor (Iain Crichton Smith) most acceptable to learners.

      The next section gives a wide selection of books of Poetry in Gaelic followed by Plays in Gaelic. Plays are well worth reading and translating as they give a good introduction to the spoken word. In the list of books of the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society available we find the Songs of Duncan Ban MacIntyre give a good insight into Eighteenth century life

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and those of Mary MacLeod and Iain Lom into the Seventeenth century. All three have English translations and all three have words of songs sung to this day. In the Gaelic Book club we recommend Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn. We have read him with great relish and appreciation.

      A Religious section is followed by an Historical section. These sections are followed by a magnificant part given to Gaelic Song and music. All of us who love our song and musical heritage will find a wonderful selection to our taste. If you can read music you will not be disappointed. And, to round off the catalogue is a Miscellaneous section.

      There are three offices run by the Gaelic society, An Comunn Gaidhealach: one for the North at Abertarff House, Inverness; one for the South at 65 West Regent Street, Glasgow, C.2; and one in the Isles at 91 Cromwell Street, Stornoway.

      If you care you can write them for their List of Publications and can get a good selection of publications. There are a selection of one act plays; some are translations from English plays which allows one to translate back and forward between the two languages. All allow a good insight into the spoken word.

      There is a section of illustrated primary school readers which are delightfully produced and a source of delight for sincere learners.

      A series of fairy tales translated from French to Gaelic will complement this series and the eight copies of "Sradag", a comic, will keep any learner fully occupied.

      Indeed, it is the wealth of material available to learners which strikes one.

      On the same list one finds An Comunn car badges, An Comunn lapel badges, An Comunn ties, Gaelic serviettes, Gaelic dish towels and four long-playing gramophone records of previous Gaelic mods.

      If any reader wishes to learn a Gaelic song the Glasgow office of An Comunn or Gairm Publications might well be willing to supply the words and between them let you know what Gaelic gramophone records are available.

      In conclusion, a quotation from a most delightful book might finish off this year's Ceilidh comer learning Gaelic.

      This is a thick red book called Nicholson's Gaelic Proverbs - a treasurehouse of wisdom and humour invaluable to learner and fluent and native speaker alike. Here is an excerpt.

      This deep-felt utterance is ascribed to Muireadhach Albannach (Murdo the Scot) (circa 1180-1220) the first distinguished representative of a great Clan, Clann Mhuirich, commonly called Macpherson as he sat down at the head of Loch Long in Argyleshire, on his return from a pilgrimage to Rome, having walked the whole way, 'save the ferries'.       Many of us will be travelling far further to meet each other at this year's Clan Rally but unless transport fails we won't need to come on foot. We will be seeing you in Badenoch at the Rally. Chi sinn am Ba\ideanach sibh aig Cruinneachadh Clann-a-Phearsain

      The recorded addresses of our visitors show that they came from the following countries, with the number for each shown in brackets.

      Scotland and England (2,973), Ireland (25), Wales (4), Isle of Man (9), Canada (51), U.S.A. (87), Mexico (1), Australia (25), New Zealand (3), Holland (7), South Africa (5), West Germany (15), Denmark (4),Sweden (10), France (26), Austria (1), Belgium (6), Poland (3), Switzerland (1).

      This year's total of 3,261 unfortunately shows a decrease of 450 on the attendance last year. Two factors could account for this, firstly, during the early part of the season when visitors were concentrating on Edinburgh for the Commonwealth Games, and the disappointing weather which followed well into September.

      Despite the fall in visitors to the Museum, the sum received in the collection box amounted to f202 : 3 : 4d, a record collection and an increase of £59 : 15 : I d on last years figure of £ 142 : 8 : 3d. This is a magnificent response and would appear to be a token of the appreciation of our visitors, for the services we so willingly offer them. We look forward to the opening of the enlarged museum in the spring with the prospect of increased numbers.

      This year 191 Macphersons visited us and of those, 43 were pleased to join the Association, and 62 application forms were issued to prospective members.

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      Oil Painting Loch an Eilean. (Painted and donated by Major Hume Macpherson, Victoria, British Columbia).

      Clan Armorial - 34 shields (Macpherson Arms), including the Royal Arms, along with a framed illuminated card stating that the shields were painted by R. G. W. Macpherson F.R.S.A., F.S.A. SCOT. and presented to the museum by the North America Branch.

      Two display cases (From R. W. G. Macpherson, Teaslake, Guildford, Surrey). Wooden Butter Churn and Black Iron Kettle (both very old). (From Mrs. Ruth Macpherson Cameron, Spittal Farm, Glenshee, Perthshire).

      Peat Cutter and Kettle Swee (chain and hook) (From Garvamore Barracks -- now the property of the British Aluminium Company). These items were in use during the Jacobite period.

      Photographs -- Scottish Rugby XV on occasion of International Match with England. Played at Murrayfield, Edinburgh on 21st March, 1925. The team includes G. P. S. Macpherson, the noted internationalist, son of the late Sir Thomas Stewart Macpherson, and Lady Macpherson and brother of our present Chairman, A. I. S. Macpherson.

      The late Lord Bannerman better known as Johnnie Bannerman is also pictured in the team. (From G. P. S. Macpherson O.B.E., T.D.)

      Photograph of the last Black House in Newtonmore situated at Craggan along with the owner, Miss Jean MacIntyre, known as Seansdeur. (From Colin Wood, son of Rev. James Wood, formerly of St. Bride's Parish Church, Newtonmore).

      Before entering business on his own account, John Macpherson was piper to Cluny, Mr. Andrew Carnegie when he first returned to Scotland from America, and was for seventeen years with the Earl of Ancaster who on numerous occasions entertained the Royal Family. He was among the cream of the pipers of his day. His only surviving brother, Angus who followed him with the Carnegies is the much respected

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doyen of piping in the north. Angus, now in his 94th year and still playing the pipes daily, was decorated by Her Majesty the Queen with the M.B.E. last year.

To ALL Clansmen

      August 1970 will have been a landmark for all who were at the Rally and who saw the Clan House and Museum Extension finished and open. I was most honoured to be asked to open the doors of the new building. I am very grateful to all those who have worked so hard to achieve this end. And I an most grateful for the bound presentation copies of all the issues of Creag Dhubh which I was given to mark the occasion.

      My family and I look forward to meeting many Clansmen and their families at Newtonmore this year.

Beannachd leibh

Cluny

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Mr. Alexander Macpherson, M.P., Stirling Mr. James G. Macpherson, Edinburgh Mrs. C. M. Rankin, Aspatria, Cumberland Rev. Donald M. Douglas, Edinburgh Mr. G. A. Macpherson, Buffalo, New York Mr. Robert W. Macpherson, Auchterarder Miss Mary A. Macpherson, Glasgow

      We record with regret the deaths of three of our oldest members, Mrs Ryan, Mr Jas. Macpherson and Mrs Macpherson Jones. Mrs Ryan was an original committee member and an inspiration to the Committee.

      With best wishes to the Clan throughout the world.

George Burns C.M.G.
      We record with regret, the death on October 30th, 1970 of George Burns, C.M.G. of 34 Glenelg, Christchurch in his 68th year.

      A life member of the Association, George Burns was Editor of the Christchurch Star for 23 years and the following is part of the tribute to him in that newspaper.

      "His life both in the newspaper world ...

such a man.

      All in all , our property assets are worth something like £17,000, against which we owe £6,500, which is not a bad position to be in at all.

      It goes without saying that the officials of the Clan Macpherson Trust and Association feel that this debt should be cleared off at the earliest possible moment, and with this in mind I would urge all of our branches to put their best foot forward, and do everything possible to raise funds to help in the liquidation of the debt.

      In looking over our list of contributors, I note that many of them have sent in donations on several different occasions which I find most encouraging as Chairman of the Fund. This does not mean to say of course that I do not appreciate the many single contributions which have come in. Far from it, I am intensely grateful to all contributors, no matter how much or how little they have donated. Every penny counts.

      We have the added satisfaction of knowing that our efforts are not only for the benefit of our Clan members, but for the community, and indeed, for the whole country, as our relics and memorials are of great interest to tourists from all over the world.

      Running expenses of our Clan House (Headquarters of the Clan) and the new Museum are considerable, but we do not consider this

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outlay a burden. Our main task at the moment is to retire the outstanding debt of £6500. Donations, large or small, will be gratefully receivedand acknowledged.

Councillor HUGH MACPHERSON

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     The Will is taken from an authenticated copy of a document in the Cluny Family Papers and gives a vivid glimpse of the life of a prosperous farmer in Badenoch in the seventeenth century. Among many intriguing items, we would like to know much more about 'the meiklegune called the stewardach'.

J. E. MACPHERSON

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      Item 48 kyne and oxen estimat in all to be worth eight thousand and eight mecks; Scots money. Item 4 work horses estimat coumulatit (?) be ane hundreth merks Item another old horse estimat to twelve merks Item 14 meares and fillies estimat to be worth 210 merks Item sowen in the maines of Nude 29 bolls small oats as the increas of the third coine is thrice -- (?) eighteen boll at half meall fourtic thue bolls and half boll meall at sex merks per boll -- 261 merks Item ane hundred sheep estimat to 2 rnerks -- 200 merks money Item 3 Donnchs estimat to ane hundred and thretie rr~erks money Item in the baines of victuell the time of the defuncts deceis 43 bolls victuell at 10 merks per boll -- 430 merks money Debts vesting to the defunct.

      Item resting to the defunct forsaid be Callum Grant 40 merks money Item be the said James Mcpheersone eyre forsaid twentie pounds money Item of ready money in the house belonging to the defunct twelve Dollars. Debts resting by the Defunct Item to Murdoch Mcpherson in Raits of principall somme 800 merks scots money the Ca., rent thereof extending to 48 merks -- 848 merks. Item resting to James Macpherson the defunct's some 500 merks Item -- to the Marquis of Huntlie's bailly for the (mill) 103 merks, 6 shillings 8 peines. Item of legacie and bequeithments in name contained in the underwritten legacie 1143 pounds 6 shillings 8 peines. Is expendit in defraying the defunct's funerall 66 pounds 13 shillings 4 peines.

      "Follow the legacies & Nominatione.

      "I, Donald Mcpherson of Nude doe leave in legacie and will my whole moveable goods and geir that shall happen to be in my possession or custodie at the tym of my deceis debts being payed and satisfied to be waived and bestowed to my wife and bairns as in after -- and underwritten and subscribed with my hand at Nude on 8 day of March 1676 viz. That is say. Item I am resting to my brother Murdoch Mcphersone in Raitts the somme of eight hundreth meiks be bond to be peyd at Whitsunday next caricing at rent of seventie sex yearlie and desires this to be payed out of the estate Item I desyre that my sone James shall have for his portione fyve hundieth merks out of the said Item I leave to my wife all the sheep and wedders great and small, ane furnished bed, ane furnished table, the little kettell (kettle) the new pot, the Her own four cloath chests and also I leave to her what is over and above of bedding and napery after that, my bairnes is payed of that I leave them asis underwritten Item I leave to my daughter Jean Mcpherson the striped table cloath and the aquavitie seller, and leaves to my daughter Hellin the other striped table cloath; Item I leave to my eldest sone William Mcphersone the thrie thousand merks resting to me be John Forbes of Culloden, as his bond carries and that only to redeem my wife her joynture Moreover I leave to my said sone William all the fixed work within the baill house of Nude and the beds in the Chalmer Item I leave to him ane furnished table to wit ane living (?) cloath with a dozen of winskey(?) a dozen of servits the silver spoons a dozen pewter pleats, twa Chandlers ane salt the silver tass the siever bell the meikle caldron the meikle speit the meikle pot the gamlok the meikles girinell (oatmeal and flour box) in the victuall house and the meikle gune called the stewardach Item I leave it upon my eldest son William as burden conforme to his engagement in the contract of marriage past betwixt me and his goodfather (father-in-law) Lachlan McIntosh of Kinraia one thousand pounds Scots money to be payed to his brothers and sisters as efter followes that is to say Fyve hundreth merks to his brother John at the next teame after my deceis and other fyve hundreth merks to Elspet Mcphersone his sister at the said teame and another fyve hundreth merks to Anna Mcpherson his youngest sister at the said teame other wayes carrieing at rent teamlie during the not payment of the principall I leave to my sone Jon ane hundreth merks out of the snapt of the exrie (executrie) and to Elspet my daughter one hundreth merks out of the said exrie And also I leave to my youngest daughter Anna the hundreth merks that is of her mother's joynture, more (?) nor is allotted for her two sisters Jean and Hellin Item I leave to Malcolme McGregor my foster (?) son the little Dunmear and her fillies Moreover I desire if the miln be in my possession the tym of my deceis that my wife vitromit with it and pay no more for it not what is on of the year to the teame of Whitsunday next efter my deceis Jon Mcphersone of Dabady and James Mcphersone of Aidbrylach to determine what she shall pay of that somme of the miln for the said tyrne, Lykways I ordain and will that neither the said William my sone nor no other in his name shall flet or remove any of the

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said fixed work beds or bords out of furth from the haill house Chalmer or victuell house of Nude during the not redemption of my wife her joynture Item to be given the poor efter my deceis ten pounds Scots Lykways it is my will and I ordain my sones James and Jon to enter and medle eyres (?) to my whole moveable goods and geir that falls under - and Dispose thereupon according to my will as is above and wreatin. Had ordains to be that things may be done right and in good order is puting (?) of such debts as may chance to be on the exrie and wife and bairnes be not wronged, but whatever right, Alexr. gordone of Aiadowle, James Mcphersone of Aidbrylach John Mcphersone of Belachroan, Murdo Mcphersone my brother, Jon Mcphersone of Acacha and William Mcphersone my eldest lawful sone, Be these subscribed and wreatin with my hand at Nuide the eight day of March the year of God 1676 years.

      Donald Macpherson of Nude with my hand.

      "Follows the confimatione

     (By the commissariat of Inverness before whome Muriach Mcpherson of Clune appears as Cautioner and Beatrix Gordone relict of the deceist Donald Mcpherson of Nude is represented on her own behalf and in behalf of her children procreat betwixt her and the defunct protested given under the sea] of the office -- of the said Comm & Depute and his Clerk at Kingussie the 12th September 1676).

      The literature which exists on the history of the Clan Macpherson has been concerned almost solely with documenting the story of the Clann Mhuirich, sometimes described as the Sliochd nam Triuir Bhraithrean or Posterity of the Three Brothers. The clan descended from the Three Brothers was associated territorially with farms and estates in the adjacent districts of Badenoch, Strathdearn, Strathnairn and the Castlelands of Inverness in eastern Inverness-shire, In the 16th and subsequent centuries it formed the dominant clan of Badenoch, and followed as its chiefs the senior line of the Macphersons of Clunie, descended from Kenneth Mac Eoghainn ban, the eldest of the Three Brothers. The Three Brothers were the grandsons of Muriach Catanach, the eponymous ancestor of the Clann Mhuirich. Kenneth's son, Duncan, was the "Parson" (Pearsain) or lay collector of church dues in the Parish of Laggan early in the 1400's, and it was from him that the Posterity of the Three Brothers and others of the Clann Mhuirich took the name "MacPherson".

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      On the other hand, when the present writer was outlining the history of the Clan Macpherson in the Association's publication, The Posterity of the Three Brethren, he included a section called "Macphersons in other parts of Scotland before 1600". He referred, among others, to "Dom. Tormot McFarsane, vicar of Sneisport and Rairsay" prior to 1526 (Loch Snizort is in northern Skye and Raasay lies between Skye and the West Highland coast); to Macphersons in Bute in 1506 and in Islay and Kintyre by 1541; and to John ban Macpherson who fell in defence of MacDonald of Sleat, and whom be described as "the founder of the famous Macphersons of Ostaig in Sleat" (Sleat is the southern peninsula of Skye).

      At the time the writer was aware that these "other Macphersons" were too numerous, too scattered, and perhaps too early in time to be easily fitted into the genealogy of the Badenoch clan as delineated in the Invereshie MS. Nevertheless, the question was left unspoken, principally because the Invereshie MS does not give a complete account of the Badenoch clan, allowing room for speculation about the widespread use of the name. No other potentially eponymous "parsons" were known to be on record. Major Macpherson's discovery implicitly brings the question into the open and at the same time ends the speculation. Sir John Macpherson (1744-1821), Governor-General of India, was a younger son of the Macphersons of Ostaig, and his letters -- albeit unwittingly -- establish the separate and distinct origin of the Skye Macphersons.

      Sir John's letter to Sub-Principal Macleod of King's College, Aberdeen (a relative?), confirms the line of descent from John ban Macpherson, standard-bearer to MacDonald of Sleat, through four generations of parish ministers to Sir John, as already recorded in the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae. This is the source of the information that John ban fell in defence of MacDonald of Sleat. The letter, however, makes it clear that John ban, far from being the founder of the Ostaig family, was in fact the last of a line of Macpherson standard-bearers stretching back for more than a century to the origin of the Clandonald North or Clanhuistean Macdonalds of Sleat. The eponymous ancestor was an unnamed warrior, known only as the Red Parson (Pearsain Ruadh), who accompanied Hugh Macdonald of Sleat to Skye when the latter came "from the South Western Islands where the family (of the Isles) were Sovereigns". Sir John adds that the Red Parson "introduced Letters into the Isle of Skye", thus confirming the ecclesiastical nature of his office. He was evidently a warrior-priest in the tradition of the Red Priest of Carloway who fell while leading the army of the Lord of the Isles at Harlaw in 1411, or more probably a fighting member of the fili or privileged learned class of Gaeldom with a command of both classical Irish and Latin and, in this instance, fulfilling a civil office of the Church in the centre of the old Lordship of the Isles. As such, he began (or perhaps continued) a tradition which has embraced many members of his clann to the present day, and which has given the senior branch of his descendants the name of the Canonaich among the Skyemen.

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      In recognising the Red Parson as the founder of a quite distinct clan of Macphersons in Sleat of Skye, owing allegiance to Macdonalds of Sleat and associated with lands at Ostaig held in free tenure from Macdonald, it is necessary to reject certain speculative statements in Sir John's letter. His references to his family as "the little branch in Skye" and to "the majority of the Tribe who reside in Badenoch" imply relationship with the Clann Mhuirich Macphersons, and he reinforces this speculation with the assertion that the chiefs of the Badenoch clan were originally standard-bearers to the Lords of the Isles themselves. Unfortunately, there is no such tradition among the Macphersons of Badenoch, and Sir John's speculations must therefore be set aside as contradicting the facts which he relays.

      Three questions now arise: what were the circumstances of Hugh Macdonald's coming to Sleat and the subsequent history of his clan and followers?; what is known of the antecedents of the Pearsain Ruadh of Dun Ela?; and where do we look for the senior representative of the Clann a' Phearsain Ruaidh today?

      Hugh Macdonald of Sleat was a younger brother of John, the last of four Lords of the Isles who ruled the quasi-independent principality or Lordship of the Isles from Finlaggan in Islay. The Lordship of the Isles was finally forfeited to the Crown in 1493. Hugh Macdonald, however, inherited one of the territorial ambitions of his illustrious family in his interest in acquiring, with other lands, Sleat of Skye, which was then an original possession of the Siol Tormod Macleods. About 1469 he received a grant from his brother, the Fourth Lord, which included Sleat. He was a member of the Council of the Isles in 1474-6, but with his brother's downfall he made his own peace with the Crown and in 1495 received a Crown charter confirming his right to Sleat. In the meantime, between 1469 and 1493, Skye was invaded by dissident and land-hungry Macdonald cadets, among them probably Hugh accompanied by the Red Parson and his thirty warriors, whom he established in Dunile (O.S.: Dun Ela), a fortification commanding the narrow Sound of Sleat at Ostaig. Sir John's letter to his second cousin, Professor Hugh Macpherson, indicates that "Dunile" was a contraction of Dun na Fear Ileach, the fortress of the man from Islay. The name might equally refer to Hugh Macdonald himself or to his local henchman, the Red Parson. In any case, it would appear that the latter had participated in a migration of warrior-islemens from Islay, the core of the old Lordship in the "South Western Islands", to Skye sometime in the last quarter of the fifteenth century.

      Who was the Red Parson of Dun na Fear Ileach at Ostaig in Sleat? To find the answer we must go back in time to a still earlier episode in the history of the Clan Donald, and turn to a manuscript history of the Lords of the Isles which was written -- significantly -- in Sleat towards the end of the seventeenth century. Its author was one Hugh Macdonald, a partisan supporter of the Macdonalds of Sleat in their claim to seniority

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among the various branches of the Clan Donald as successors to the Lords of the Isles. His history has been accused of bias in his treatment of rival Macdonald claimants, but his references to the origins of the Macphersons of Skye have an authentic ring to them and may be accepted as reliable.

      Macdonald's MS history states that Angus og Macdonald, Lord of Islay from 1300 to 1329 and grandson of Donald of Islay from whom Clan Donald took its name and descent, married Margaret, daughter of Guy O'Cathan or O'Kaine of Ulster: their only son was John, first Lord of the Isles, who died in 1380 or 1386. An Irish source refers to her as Aine (Ann), daughter of Cúmaighe 0 Catháin. Her tocher or dowry, according to Hugh Macdonald, included "seven score men out of every surname under O'Kaine", among them twenty-four chiefs who became heads of clans or septs in Scotland. Quoting "our Highland Shenakies", Macdonald lists some of them, among them "the MacPhersons, who are not the same with the MacPhersons of Badenoch, but are of the O'Docharties in Ireland." Irish sources indicate that the O'Docharties were a sept of the Cinel Connaill, the great tribe of Donegal which was led by the O'Donnells. They were the leading family of Inishowen, the great peninsula between Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle, where they first appear on record in about 1197 and finally rose to dominance in the native Irish resurgence which began with Edward Bruce's invasion from Scotland in 1314 and culminated in the overthrow of the de Burgo Earldom of Ulster in 1333. Angus og of Islay led the Islemen to Bannockburn in 1314, and he may well have assisted Edward Bruce in Ireland in the following year. At any rate it was shortly after this that he returned to Islay with O'Cahan's daughter and, in her retinue, the O'Docharty ancestor of the Red Parson. Hugh Macdonald's account on this point seems to be confirmed by the fact that the only O'Docharties on record in Scotland prior to the modern migration from Ireland were tenants in Tormisdale in the Rhinns of Islay, 1629 and 1733.

      The interval between the O'Docharty accompanying O'Cahan's daughter to Islay about 1315 and the Red Parson being established in Dun Ela in Sleat between 1469 and 1493 is more than sufficient to account for the early appearance, proliferation and distribution of Macphersons in the South Western Isles of Bute, Kintyre and Islay, right in the centre of the old Lordship. This, however, may require the existence of an earlier and unrecorded eponymous Pearsain -- a Black or Big Parson -- as implied perhaps by the very epithet of Hugh of Sleat's Red Parson. Thus might we account for "Gilbert called Macpherson" (Gillebridghe Mac a' Phearsain) who appears in the Vatican records as a bachelor of canon law and rector of Glassary in North Knapdale till his death in 1421. The question could be resolved if we knew whether the Red Parson was already Mac a' Phearsain or still 0 Dochartaigh when he arrived in Skye.

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      The immediate descendants of the Red Parson shared the fortunes of Clanhuistean and the Macdonalds of Sleat -- mostly in a prolonged but successful struggle to retain Sleat and wrest Trotternish, the northeastern peninsula of Skye, from the Siol Tormod Macleods of Dunvegan -- until Iain ban, the last Macpherson standard-bearer, fell in defence of his chief in the first year or so of the seventeenth century. Relations between the Macleods and Macdonalds in Skye, even during the worst period of the feud, were typically ambivalent. There were marriages, for instance, between the chiefly families of the two dominant clans of the island, and it is legitimate to think that members of the Clann a' Phearsain Ruaidh were soon to be found in both camps, some of them perhaps in their ecclesiastical and clerical role. Dom. Tormot McFarsane, vicar on the Siol Torquil Macleod possessions of Snizort and Raasay before 1526, was probably a son or grandson of the Red Parson. In 1566 the Earl of Argyle, as guardian of the little heiress, Mary Macleod of Dunvegan, exercised his right of patronage in the churches of Duirinish and Harris by giving them to one Malcolm Macpherson. Duirinish was part of the Siol Tormod lands in northwestern Skye, and Malcolm Macpherson was almost certainly another clerical -- and now Protestant -- member of the Clann a'Phearsain Ruaidh. His incumbency seems to prove that association with the Macleods was possible even before the fight at Blar a' Chullin mentioned in Sir John's letter.

      The fight at Blar a' Chullin proved to be the last contest of strength between the rival clans. It took place in 1601 during the chiefships of Rory mor of Dunvegan, 1595-1626, and Donald gorm mor of Sleat who died in 1616, and before the signing of the Statutes of Iona in 1609 which brought internecine warfare to an end in the Western Highlands and Islands. It was fought "by a hill called Binquhillin" (the Cuilin), and traditionally in Coire na Creiche, the corrie of the booty, which surely got its name that day. The commanders on each side were Rory mor's brother, Alistair Macleod of Ferinlia, and -- according to Sir John -- Iain ban Macpherson of Ostaig. According to an annotated genealogy compiled by Sir Arthur George Macpherson between 1906 and 1921 and drawing presumably upon family lore or papers, Iain ban was killed defending Donald gorm mor Macdonald some time after Blar a' Chullin "in a cave in the upper part of Sleat". The same source refers to him patronymically as "Ian Bane MacVorstin" (Iain ban MacMhairtinn), indicating that his father's name was Martin. This individual must have been born in the first half of the sixteenth century, and was probably a grandson or great-grandson of the Red Parson.

      Between the Red Parson in 1469-95 and John ban Macpherson of Ostaig in 1601 must lie four or five generations, allowing plenty of opportunity for expansion in numbers. Even if we cannot ascribe the early Macphersons in the Southwestern Isles directly to the Red Parson with any certainty, later relations of the Macdonalds and Macleods with the Uists might well have introduced some of the little Skye clann to the Clanranald lands in the Outer Isles. Others may have crossed the

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narrow Sound of Sleat to dwell among the Macdonalds in Knoydart and Moidart where a few Macphersons are on record in the eighteenth century. Sir John indicated in his letter that there were only thirty men of the name who could muster in Sleat when he was a boy, but this explicitly refers to the immediate kin-group around Ostaig and ignores families resulting from occasional migration to other parts of Skye and the West Highlands and Isles over a very long time. The original thirty warriors who accompanied the Red Parson to Dun Ela from Islay may well have been his near kinsfolk and their descendants may well have taken the name 'Macpherson' by ascription. But even if this were not so, the strong possibility remains that most of the Macphersons of the Hebridean and West Highland coasts are derived from the Clan of the Red Parson. Thus this second Clan Macpherson can claim, among others, John Macpherson of Milovaig, in Duirinish one of the Glendale Martyrs at the end of the eviction era, and Callum Piobair Macpherson of illustrious memory whose family belonged to ldrigal in Trotternish.

      Sir John Macpherson's letter of 1798 and the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae both indicate the dual allegiance of the clerical leaders of the Clann a' Phearsain Ruaidh to Macdonald of Sleat and Macleod of Dunvegan after Blar a' Chullin. John ban's son and grandson, Martin and Dugald, were successive ministers of Duirinish, while Sir John's grandfather and father, Martin and the scholarly John, both returned to Sleat and resumed residence at Ostaig. His grandfather, however, left a brother John in Duirinish where he conducted the famous school at Orbost.

      Sir John Macpherson died unmarried in 1821, and his elder brother Martin (1743-1812), the minister of Sleat who hosted Boswell and Johnson on their Highland Journey in 1773, died without issue. Their father, the learned Dr John, would appear to have been an only son. To answer the last outstanding question, Who represents the Red Parson today; we must look back, therefore, to Sir John's great-uncle, Master John of Orbost. This we shall endeavour to do in a subsequent article.

[Professor Alan G. had the following to say in an email dated 3-31-04 -- "I SHOULD ADD that I no longer believe that Dom. Tormot McFarsane, vicar of Snizort and Raasay pre-1526, and Malcolm Macpherson of Duirinish and Harris (1566) were members of the Red Parson's clan (p.455); nor was John Macpherson of Milovaig, though Callum Piobaire's family were so."]

[See also the Letter to the Editor that appeared in CD24 (1972) p. 533.]

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      On 20th October 1825 the Sydney Gazette reported the arrival at the Derwent on 4th October on the Australian Company of Edinburgh and Leith's ship, the Triton, Captain James Crear. The ship of 399 tons, had sailed from Leith, Scotland, on 21st May and after putting in to the Derwent sailed for Sydney where she anchored on 28th October. Among her passengers were numbered Peter MacPherson, his four sons and daughters and the wife of his first son. That son was John MacPherson who had been born on the Isle of Skye in August 1798 and who had in 1825 married Helen Watson in Tron Church, Edinburgh, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Dr Hugh Meiklejohn. It is of interest that the Gazette referred to John's wife as Mrs Helen Watson following an old highland custom of married women retaining their maiden name.

      The MacPherson family apparently all first went to Bathurst where John's first son, Peter, was born. After a short time John made application for a grant of land at the Limestone Plains and on 10th September 1831 the Colonial Secretary's Office requested that the Surveyor General furnish MacPherson or, in his absence Rev. John MeGarvie, his bondsman, with the authority to select prior to 1st October 1831 a primary grant of 640 acres. However it is more than likely that MacPherson had squatted on the land prior to the grant being finalised since his daughter, Helen Jane, was born on his holding, Springbank, on 27th January 1830. Indeed, he was the first resident landholder in the district although not the first to settle there.

      Tradition has it that the grant was a reward for the part played by MacPherson in the capture of a bushranger; the same tradition credited him with several encounters with bushrangers. Springbank was described in official papers as being situated at Canbury, Limestone

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Plain, and located on the eastern slopes of Black Mountain and to the west of J. J. Moore's 1,000 acres. MacPherson did not obtain his grant without some opposition from Moore who in a letter to the SurveyorGeneral wrote: "I beg leave to inform you that I am desirous of retaining the 1,000 acres already in my possession. It is called and known by the name Canburry". One might have thought that there would have been room for both settlers -- an opinion which Surveyor Hoddle seems to have shared. Eventually the government agreed that Moore should retain the ridge and the name Canberry for his land whilst the basin was to be shared with MacPherson. Quit rent was paid from 1st January 1839 and the Crown grant was finally issued on 30th January 1844 at an annual quit rent of £5/6/8 'for ever'. A notice which was published in the N.S.W. Government Gazette 19th February 1840 included the name of John MacPherson among those persons who had been granted licenses to depasture stock beyond the boundaries of location.

      Dr John Lhotsky, during his journey to the Australian Alps in 1834, visited Springbank on 3rd February and later reported:
           Proceeding about a mile further, we entered a snug plain, where Mr MacPherson has a small, but well-managed allotment of land. This plain extends about one mile in length, one extremity stretching towards SSW and the mountains, the other N.E., towards Mejorahill. It is a Tempe-like spot, but being away from Limestone Creek, and its stream-valley, water is not sufficiently plentiful. About the middle of the plain is a very conspicuous conical mass of rock, -- MacPherson's Sugar-loaf, composed of serpentine of a larger grain, than that near the Nephrite, of a fine greenish colour, which when polished will at some period adorn the edifices of Limestone.

      In 1839 MacPherson took up land in the Port Phillip district whilst retaining his property on the Limestone Plains which he leased. His name appears in the Government Gazette of 9th September 1840 as being holder of a licence to depasture stock beyond the limits of Melbourne and Geelong districts. In December 1841 he took up another run near Casterton which he named Springbank and held for ten years after which he sold it to Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins. During the years 1839-42 John MacPherson travelled frequently between his various properties but in 1842 he finally settled at Moonee Ponds, near Melbourne.

      The subsequent history of Springbank, Limestone Plains, shows that it was leased to Joseph Kaye. During the great Gundagai flood of 1852 it was known as Noah's Ark since it provided a refuge for many persons seeking safety from the rising floodwaters. Kaye later abandoned his lease because of the many snakes which were to be found at Springbank. It is said that Dr William Hayley of Queanbeyan next lived on the property but of that no definite evidence has been found. At another time Sarah Cunningham owned or leased the property. After 1880, Springbank was used as a state school having previously served as a Dame's school. William Sullican purchased it in the 80's and it was

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later resumed by the Commonwealth Government. By 1926 the old house had been partly rebuilt and the new portion was occupied by a descendant of Joseph Kaye.

      John MacPherson had several other properties in Victoria, of which the principal was Nerrin Nerrin. He was one of the early pioneers who brought to the colonies something more valuable than money -- farming experience gained in Scotland where the rigour of the climate and poor soil equipped men for life in Australia where hardships were the lot of the pioneer pastoralists. He was, Rev John Dunmore Lang stated, 'a successful colonist and a highly experienced practical farmer.'

      The first son of John and Helen MacPherson, Peter, was born at Bathurst on 2nd July 1826 and became one of the first students at Lang's Australian College. He went on to Edinburgh University where he graduated with honours. Before entering the ministry he took an active interest in exploring and became quite well known for his journeys through the mountainous Norwegian countryside. Whilst at Edinburgh he entered the Free Church College and his decision to become a minister of the Free Presbyterian, Church rather than the established Church, was opposed by his father who disinherited him. John later relented to the extent that he granted him a daughter's portion of the estate but the damage was done and succeeding generations of the family were to feel the effects of the earlier decision.

[A letter calling some aspects of Mr Stanley's article into question was published on pp 534 -5 of CD24 (1971) -- RM]

For information in this paper I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Mrs. Norman Hutchison, Mrs. David Taylor, Major J. P. C. Macpherson and Professor Alan Macpherson.

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      Today this region is part of the County of Inverness. During the eighteenth century it was the country occupied by the sons of Gillechattan, the members of that Highland Confederacy, the Clan Chattan which included the Macphersons, the Mackintoshes, the Shaws, the MacGillivrays and the Davidsons, and their septs, the Clarks, the Keiths, the MacPhails and the Elders. To the north of the Clan Chattan country lived the Frasers and their chief, Lord Lovat; to the west were the Macdonells of Keppoch; both of them Jacobite clans, supporters of Prince Charles. To the east and south were the Robertsons, the Grants and the Campbells, the two latter the mainstay of what the Hanoverian King, George II, called the "loyal Clans".

      Whatever the origin of the Macpherson name may be, it seems clear that the family was first connected with Lochaber in the West Highlands and that, as a result of a series of feuds with other branches of the Clan Chattan, it moved to the region of Badenoch. The initial move, in fact, seems to have begun as a punitive expedition undertaken against the Cummings at the request of Robert the Bruce.

      By the end of the fourteenth century the clan seems to have been a body of considerable strength. The clan lands had been enlarged by grants from the King, to whom the Macphersons gave their support. Dissensions within the Clan Chattan continued; clashes with the Mackintoshes and with the Davidsons. Some historians, incidentally, identify the contestants of the famous battle of the "Threttie against Threttie", fought at Perth in 1396, "with bow and ax, knyff and sword", in front of King Robert III, as the Macphersons and the Davidsons. According to the story, one man only of the Clan Dhai survived, and eleven Macphersons remained alive at the termination of the bloody tourney.

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      Firmly established in Badenoch, the Macphersons grew in numbers and importance. By the mid-eighteenth century, they were described as a "sober, regular, sedate people". Murray of Broughton wrote, "this clan is looked upon as one of the most civilized in the Highlands". Cluny was the home of the chief of the clan and remained so until 1932. Finally, in 1942, it passed out of the hands of the clan. But for over five hundred years it was the centre around which revolved the fortunes and misfortunes of the Clan Macpherson, the sons of the Parson.

      Throughout their history the Macphersons were always staunch royalists. In the fifteenth century they fought for the King against Donald of the Isles. They supported Montrose during the Civil War in Great Britain in the mid-seventeenth century, and suffered much on account of their sincere attachment to the cause of Charles I. In the tradition of their forbearers, they joined the forces of the Old Pretender in 1715; and in 1745 they were "out" in support of the Young Pretender.

       In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stewart, the Bonnie Prince Charlie of Scottish history, landed on the west coast of Scotland and appealed to the Highland clans for support to regain the throne from which his grandfather, James II, had been ousted by the Dutchman, William of Orange. His standard at Glenfinnan was joined by the Macdonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, Glencoe and Glengarry, by the Camerons, MacLachlans, Stewarts, Mackintoshes, MacGillivray, Macleans, Robertsons and other clans. Ewen Macpherson, son-in-law of Lord Lovat (Fraser) , had in 1744 been appointed an officer in the new Highland Regiment, Lord Loudoun's, being raised by the British government; but after some hesitation he yielded to the Prince's call, gave up his commission from George II and accepted one from Prince Charles. In 1745 he joined the Jacobite army with a contigent of some 350 Badenoch men, half of whom bore the name of Macpherson.¹ Cluny's regiment followed the Prince on his drive into England, and on December 4tb it led the Jacobite army into Derby, only 115 miles from London. It also played a leading part in Prince Charles's retreat and in the Jacobite victory over General Hawley at Falkirk. However, like all Highlanders, the Macphersons left the Jacobite host to return to Badenoch to enjoy their booty. They distinguished themselves in the winter campaign in Atholl and Rannoch and were within a short distance of Drummossie Moor when Charles fought the battle of Culloden. It is a matter of historical speculation whether their assistance would have turned the tables that fatal day. In the weeks that followed, the government forces harried the Macpherson country, the Cluny House was burned to the ground. Ewen, who succeeded to the chiefship in 1746, remained in hiding in Badenoch. For

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¹The companies were commanded by Major Lewis Macpherson of Dalraddie, and Captains Malcolm of Phoness, John of Strathmashie, John of Garvamore, Donald of Breakachie, Andrew of Benchar and Angus of Flichitie.

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a time he sheltered the fugitive Prince Charles. But when Charles escaped to France, Ewen the chief of the Macphersons, old Cluny he is called in R. L. Stevenson's novel, Kidnapped, remained in hiding, faithfully supported by the remnants of his clan and tenantry, in spite of the reward of £1,000 offered for his betrayal. Finally, in 1755, he escaped to France and died at Dunkirk the following year.

      The sequel to the Jacobite rising is as sad and as unnecessarily cruel as it is monotonous -- the burning of villages and crofts, the arrest of Jacobite sympathisers or those suspected of harbouring Jacobite sympathies, transportation, executions, deaths in prison; and the suppression of the clan jurisdictions, tartans, Highland dress, even bagpipes, everything associated with the patriarchal order. In 1746 a report made to Lord Albermarle, Cumberland's successor, spoke of the widespread destruction and distress in Glengarry, Badenoch, Locheil and elsewhere. In Glengarry "there are neither houses nor people only some few huts inhabited by women in a starving condition". Cluny Macpherson's country, said the report, "is all burned". Jacobitism was to be extirpated, even if it meant the extirpation of its human material. James Wolfe, the victor at Quebec, who for a time hunted Cluny Macpherson, recommended in 1755 that a couple of hundred men be stationed at Badenoch "with orders to massacre the whole clan, if they show the least symptom of rebellion. They are a warlike tribe -- they should be narrowly watched -- they are a people better governed by fear than favour".

      Of course, not all the Highlanders were killed, imprisoned or sent to the penal colonies. But those who remained were, for the most part, desperate men, leaderless, under no restraint in the absence of their chiefs, whom education in the use of arms and the brutal measures of the victors forced into a life of violence and disorder. According to Scottish historians the Highlands were, for a space of ten years, wilder than they had been before the insurrection.

      With the traditional basis of clanship destroyed and in the intolerable economic conditions that followed, the Scottish highlander seemed to have only two courses open to him, emigration or employment in the service of the Whig Government. Emigration had begun in the seventeenth century with Cromwell's deportations and after 1745 there was an increase in the Scottish migration to the Thirteen Colonies. For the same reason Scottish Highlanders welcomed the proposal advanced by the Earl of Chatham of raising a number of new Scottish regiments in the Highlands. Chatham sought to exploit the old Clan loyalties and to divert the martial energies of the impoverished Highlanders into the service of George II. Accordingly, between 1757, when Montgomery's and Fraser's Highlanders (the 77th and 78th Regiments) were formed, and 1766, no less than eleven Highland battalions were raised in addition to the Black Watch and two fencible units. Many of those who had served

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in the campaigns of Prince Charles entered the new units and drew a broadsword for the reigning Hanoverian monarch. A friend of Lord Chatham wrote about this time:

"Battalions on battalions were raised in the remotest parts of the Highlands of those men, who a few years before and while they saw any hope, were devoted to and too long had followed the fate of the race of Stewart. Frasers, Macdonalds, Camerons, Macleans, Macphersons, and others of disaffected names and clans were enrolled, their chiefs or connections obtained commissions, the lower class always ready to follow, they with eagerness endeavoured who should be first enlisted."

      The date shown on the score as 1868 is a misprint. Rather it should be 1896. This erratum was discovered by Prof. Alan G. Macpherson and reported in a message sent 28th January 2009:

Dear Stephen et alia:
The puzzling reference to an "inauguration gathering at Glasgow, 28th October 1868" and the "Rev. A. Cluny Macpherson, Clifton, Clan Bard" in "Creag Dhubh" No. 23, 1971, p.463, has been solved. The Rev. Alexander Cluny Macpherson is placed in the context of his family in the obituary for Miss Violet M. Macpherson in "Creag Dhubh" No.30, 1978, p.844. He was a grandson of William McPherson who hailed from Culloden. His grand-nephew, the late Cmdr. Robin James Gordon Macpherson, lately of Modbury, Ivybridge, Devon, with whom I corresponded in the 1970s, wrote a detailed family history. There may be a copy in typescript in the Museum Archives. I quote from my copy:

p.26 "Uncle Cluny and his brother Douglas were foundation members of the Clan Chattan organisation of 1896. The Constitution and Rules state that "The Clan Council shall from time to time elect, for such a time as may seem expedient, some Clansman or Clanswoman of acknowledged poetic ability to the position of Clan Bard". A letter to A.C.M. from the Honorary Secretary:

"Glasgow, 25 August 1896 - In the midst of the great amount of correspondence in connection with the formation of the Clan Chattan [Association] I fear I omitted to intimate to you that at a meeting of the Executive Council you were unanimously appointed to the office of 'Clan Bard'. The inaugural gathering takes place in Glasgow on 28th Octr when the Chief will be present & it has occurred to me that an 'Opening Ode' recited by the Clan Bard should form an item on the Programme, THE item in fact. We shall require to get into print very soon, and I shall be glad to hear from you at your earliest convenience."

The Ode 'Hail Clan Chattan' was "received with great enthusiasm at the Dinner, and appeared in the Inverness Courier next day. It was later published by Grant Brothers, Kingussie, the Chief having approved "of the same being bound in cloth and blocked on side in gold ... we propose charging sixpence a copy, and this should, I think, clear the whole cost". [END OF QUOTATION]

From this it is quite clear that the "inaugural gathering in Glasgow did indeed occur on the 28th October, but in 1896. The year "1868" in Creag Dhubh No.23 was incorrect. Rod PLEASE TAKE NOTE and place a correction on the sonasmore.net website accordingly. Nor do we know who was responsible for the error: Mrs Catherine Hunter, Kingussie, or her mother, Catherine Macpherson, Strone ? or someone earlier -- perhaps a printers' error. The unnamed 'Chief' evidently referred to Ewan Henry Davidson Macpherson of Cluny. Was the Blairgowrie line represented at the inaugural dinner by Allan or his son William Charles ? Has a Guest List survived ? Over to Stephen.

Best Wishes

Alan

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      Yet, some are old favourites continuing like the "Clan Chattan" Journal 1971. There is a very moving tribute to Miss Karleen McIntosh by her sister and by Lachlan MacKintosh himself. There must be many of us who knew the McIntosh sisters whose warmth and singlemindedness of purpose moved and inspired so many of us. We enjoy the ever-present cultural ethos of the Journal and it moves our hearts as no other publication does. If you have not before taken and read it we hope that you will. Their Secretary is Mrs. St. Clair Shaw, Hillpark, Balmore, Torrance, Stirlingshire from whom copies can be obtained. We have to congratulate the charming young outgoing Editor Miss Meta Macbean on her wonderful work and welcome that delightful team who are so well-known to so many of us, Robert and Pauline McGillivray.

      For many years some of us have pleaded with Edinburgh University's School of Scottish Studies (27 George Square, Edinburgh 8) to give up some of their treasures to allow a sort of "re-seeding" of Scots cultural life. This has happened in a new inexpensive periodical called Tocher at only fifteen pence a copy.

      An old favourite "The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer" by Alexander Mackenzie is available once more. Like every other Clan the name of the great foreteller of the future Coinneach Odhar was eagerly discussed, for his wonderful prophecies over every clansman's hearth for centuries. The writer himself was in the family car with his father passing through Inverness about 1938 or 1939. His father went white when he saw that a new bridge was being built over the Ness, exclaiming, "It is as Coinneach Odhar said, 'when the seventh bridge is built over the Ness then the world will be in torment!'" Such is the power of this compelling personality over the centuries. With modern footnotes, maps and illustrations this book is well worth the modest ninety pence (post extra) from the Sutherland Press, Golspie.

      A very beautiful reprint is Christian Hesketh's Tartans (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 5 Winsley Street, London W.1), at £1.50 post extra. The tartans have been referred to as a hall-mark of the Celts even in Roman times -- so there is more to the ancient authenticity of tartans than even Christian Hesketh has dreamed of! A very beautiful book, which was at times very moving, as picture 20, which shows Corporal Malcolm McPherson so unjustly shot in the Tower of London in 1743.

       Edinburgh University gave a great deal of help and support to a wonderful exhibition of our ancestor's art before they reached Scotland or any of these islands, when the Celts were a mighty Continental power along the Rhine and the Danube, The catalogue called Early Celtic Art

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is available from booksellers or direct from the Edinburgh University Press to cornmemorate this great exhibition which took place last Autumn.

      As if that were not all, Proinsias MacCana has brought out a breathtakingly beautiful book on Celtic Mythology which is beautifully illustrated with equally excellent text. This tends to be a rarity nowadays where the text in many books is not on the same high par as the illustrations. Published by Hamlyn, Feltham, Middlesex at only £l.25.

      As if that were not all, the old favourite George Bain's Celtic Art (W. MacLellan, 240 Hope Street, Glasgow) has again been seen in the shops and presumably available.

      Lastly, another delight, maps. John Bartholomew & Son Ltd. with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Edinburgh have brought out John Blaeu's "Map of Braid-Allaban . . . Badenocha . . . ". First published in 1654 it shows our ancestral home when very few of our clansfolk had been scattered. Fascinating and decorative.

      The modern Bartholomew map of our area is No.51 (Grampians); the Ordnance Survey one is Kingussie (Sheet 37) and before we part don't let us forget the Ordnance Survey glossary at forty pence called "Place names on maps of Scotland and Wales."

       We announce three competitions with prizes. We have no idea what they are, but a competition without a prize is like an egg without salt or a kiss without a moustache! It will be something with the appearance of silver in honour of the twenty fifth anniversary of the Association! Firstly, anyone willing and able to make an Index for Creag Dhubh over the years since its first appearance please write in to the Editor before Hogmanay 1971 (31st December 1971). The best Index will win but, like all the competitions, the Editor's judgement is final!

       Secondly, a line drawing of the mountain Creag Dhubh itself, which filled the horizon for our fore-fathers from time immemorial to be received before Hogmanay 1971.

      Thirdly, and lastly photographs and relics of every kind, please, to be sent direct to the Clan House and Museum, Newtonmore. There is no time-limit. This is a never-ending competition. We have a new Museum and we need not only relics of the far past, though they are ever-welcome, but, also living modern history of today. It might even be this year's Rally photographs. But a prize will be awarded to the best exhibits given or lent between now and Hogmanay 1971, But this is an evercontinuing competition,

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      We have no views to offer in respect of the great new re-organisation of Local Government except that it seems to be the end of Local government but we have a great sigh of relief that Badenoch still continues as an entity, now a second tier authority!

      We see from their Clan Journal that Clan Donald is calling on all Clan Donald clansfolk to rally to buy in trust as much of the Macdonald lands in Sleat as possible, as, because of death duties there is danger that the last of the traditional clan lands owned by the Macdonald family may pass into the hands of strangers. The Clan Chattan journal announces a gift by members of their Association to their Clan chief's son, John Lachlan Mackintosh.

      We are hearing a great deal of news coming from Brussels, the capital of Belgium. We were charmed to receive into our midst two delightful ladies from Belgium at our 1970 Rally. Both authors, Carmen d'Aubrey comes from Brussels and Ilka Rezette from rural Belgium.

      We received a letter and a manuscript from these ladies describing our 1970 Rally in delightfully fresh terms as seen through the eyes of others. Various factors, not least the postal strike, disorganised things to such an extent that we must hold over their contribution till Creag Dhubh 1972. Such is their obvious warmth and affection for our clan that we hope that perhaps, in time, they might be able to be awarded the same honours as accorded to Professor Julius Pokorny in last year's issue.

      The Clan Chattan Journal always prints the full list of our Clan septs in the following terms:

      Perhaps not everyone is aware of this list of the septs, and if this be so it would appear to be no bad thing to re-print it be courtesy of their Journal.

      At last year's Rally several clansfolk asked in what form they should word a legacy in a Will or Codicil leaving specific articles or sums of money or income to our Clan. Our advice is that they ought to consult their particular solicitor and let him work out the wording. On being pressed we agreed to supply some suggested forms but still advise anyone so minded to seek out their man of law to do the job for them for safety sake, . . . still here is a suggestion:

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     " I leave the following Legacy to be paid as soon as convenient after my death to the Clan Macpherson Association, Clan Macpherson House and Museum, Newtonmore, Inverness-shire, the sum of

     " I direct my Trustees/Executors to bequeath the residue of my Estate to Clan Macpherson Association, Clan Macpherson House and Museum, Newtonmore, Inverness-shire.

      And I provide that in the case of the foregoing legacy (or residue) the receipt of the Treasurer of the said Association shall be complete discharge ......"

      In the case of English Wills or Codicils it is important that the following docquet be adhibited.

Readers are reminded that back copies of Creag Dhubh grow scarcer every day but are still obtainable from the Macpherson Clan House and Museum at Newtonmore, Inverness-shire at forty pence or one dollar each, not including postage.

From the top of Creag Dhubh can be seen all the broad lands of Badenoch and we look forward to seeing you amongst us again at the Rally that the land from which our forebears sprung may gather us once again, "as a hen gathereth her chicks."

Mountains and a waste of seas may divide us but the heart is Highland with all that means to us as Scots, loyal to our Chief and our Clan, ar ca\nain 's ar ceo\l (our language and our music).

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      Career: Born in Edinburgh 1927; educated Boroughmuir Senior Secondary School and University of Edinburgh; acting editor of The Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1951 ; taught at St. Andrews University 1953-56. Emigrated to Canada, 1956; taught at McMaster University, 1956-58; post-graduate work in Geography at McGill University, 1958-60; emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1960 to teach at Central Michigan University, 1960-61, and later at the University of Rochester, 1961-66, where he was a member of the post-graduate Canadian Studies Program. Re-emigrated to take up a position as a professor of Geography at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's in 1966, where he is Director for Geographical Research in the University's Institute of Social and Economic Research. Married Miss Joyce Brown, formerly of Hertford Heath, England, then on the staff of McGill University, in 1964: two children: Ewan Andrew, born Rochester, N.Y. 18th January 1966, and Ann Sarah, born St. John's 15th June 1967; wife is a geomorphologist on the Memorial University staff, and also possesses a McGill doctorate. Has travelled widely in North America and France, and is at the time of writing deeply involved in research on the Historical Geography and Historical Demography of Newfoundland; yet has never lost his early interest in the Scottish Highlands. Recent publications by the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh were An Old Highland Genealogy and the Evolution of a Scottish Clan

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(Scottish Studies Vol. 10, 1966) which was hailed as a break-through in our understanding of the Highland clan as a social structure, and An Old Highland Parish Register: survivals of clanship and social change in Laggan, Inverness-shire, 1775-1854 (Scottish Studies, Vols. 11 and 12, 1967, 1968). His doctoral thesis for McGill University (1969) entitled A Reconstruction of patterns of land tenure, social structure and land use in the Scottish Highlands, 1747-1784, was based upon the records of the forfeited Jacobite estates which were annexed to the Crown after the 'Forty-Five', including the chief's estate of Clunie.

      Clan Macpherson Association: Has been mainly concerned with the publication side of the Association's activities: revised the Green Booklet with A. F. Macpherson, W.S.; editor of Creag Dhubh No's. 8 and 9 (Southland and Canadian Numbers) in 1956 and 1957; principal author of The Posterity of the Three Brethren, a short history of the Clan Macpherson, published for the Association by the Canadian Branch under the editorship of Lloyd C. Macpherson, the proceeds from the sale of which go to the Clan House Fund. The archives and documentation of the clan, at home and abroad, have been a main concern, as shown by his contributions to Creag Dhubh: 1953: The 'Just Double' of the Macpherson Bond signed at Clune in 1722.

1954: The Account of Breakachy and Banchor's Journey to France, 1764; and the Badenoch Crofter (by Drumminard)

1955: Cluny's Escape to France, 1755.

1956: The Black Chanter: the growth of a tradition (with A. F. Macpherson)

1958: The Succession to the Chiefship of the Clan Macpherson (with A. F. Macpherson).

1960: The Genealogy and Descent of the Phoness Family

1962: The Canadian Branch Revives an Old Highland Custom

1963: Major J. E. Macpherson and the Editorship of Creag Dhubh

1964: James 'Ossian' an' Macpherson's Ancestry: an elucidation of the mystery

1966: Alexander Fraser Macpherson and the Secretaryship of the Association

1967: Headstones in the Graveyard at Cluny: transcripts of inscriptions with descriptive notes

1969: Gravestones in the Graveyard at Biallidbeg

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      Miss Meta MacBean has excelled in the editing of this issue and the blend of ancient and modern and the spread of interest throughout the members of the ancient Confederation should be appreciated by Mackintoshes and Macphersons, Shaws and Farquharsons and the many smaller clans and septs which together made up this unique union.

      It is disappointing to note that Meta MacBean is finding that she had insufficient time to continue as Editor, but we are sure that her enthusiasm and interest will continue towards the progress and development of the Clan Chattan Association.

      The play, of course, related the tale of James Macpherson "The Fiddler" who harried the north east of Scotland in the latter part of the 17th century and was eventually hanged at Banff in 1700 -- the townsfolk having put forward the Town Clock to ensure that the reprieve did not reach the Burgh in time.

      A large contingent of the East of Scotland Branch attended an early performance and the youthful enthusiasm of the drama students gave the play the life and zest which was typical of James Macpherson's life. Rosemary Linnell blended the traditions of James' Highland background with the fire of the outlaws band and the spirit of the North East fisher-folk and the simplicity of the staging added to the authenticity. It is appropriate that the popularity of the ballad

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ADDITIONS TO THE MUSEUM       Additions to the museum during 1970/71 included a silver black leather covered whisky flask and silver tea pot each bearing the letters V.R. and an inscription that they were presented by Queen Victoria to John Macpherson in 1872 and 1884 respectively. They were bequeathed to the Association by the late Mrs. Hylda Macpherson, widow of Captain Ronald Macpherson who died in 1968.

     Captain Ronald Macpherson was a grandson of John Macpherson who was steward of Queen Victoria's estates in the Isle of Wight.

      From Mrs. J. Innes (Jessie Cattanach, Ivy House, Kingussie).

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32, Willow Drive, Newnan, Georgia, U.S.A. 30263

      Those representing Clan Macpherson in the "Parade of Tartans" were piper Tom Cates of The Charlotte Caledonia Pipe Band. Leading the contingent with his fine piping, Dr. A. MacLeish Martin, whose young son carried the Macpherson Hunting Tartan Banner, and right smartly too, Ian Macpherson, Alistair Macpherson, Richard MacGowan, John MacCoy, C. R. Murdoch. This number varies from year to year.

      There were around 100 Clans represented this year and always Clan Macpherson is represented, however few there might be.

C. R. Murdoch,
North America Branch.

158 Jefferson Avenue,
Winnipeg 17, Canada.
l8th February, 1970

Dear Sir,
      I was very interested to read in the Winnipeg Free Press you were planning a new building for the museum in Newtonmore.

      I am not a Macpherson but my brother belonged Newtonmore and was for a time a servant in Cluny Castle and I have a picture of the "Cluny" when he was then about 100 years of age taken by Wm. Grant Kingussie. In a few days I'll be 86 years

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old and my memory of Newtonmore goes back 80 years to a very different place to what it is today. Then the people lived mostly in thatched houses, spoke Gaelic and burned peat in the fire. Now you can't even trace the road to the peat moss. Also Johnnie Blair worked a garden on top of a hill at the back of Creag Dhubh.

      Please accept this donation (£10) from one who wishes your undertaking every success.

Yours truly,
R. S. Hamilton

530 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, P.A. 19105, U.S.A.
9th April 1970

      We have always thought that Robert and Janet sojourned in Ireland before coming to the American colonies, and it is for that reason many people with Scottish background call themselves "Scotch-Irish". It is a term which you would probably not use in Scotland in that the term "Scotch" has but one meaning for which we pay a handsome price when it is imported in flasks or bottles into the United States! I have always been interested in the areas of our country settled by the Scotch-Irish, and what they have done to establish the landmarks and values that have made us a nation. Because of a great number of Scotch-Irish who settled in Pennsylvania, the Scotch-Irish Society was formed some years ago which is still flourishing. I enclose two folders -- one relating to the Society and the other to the Foundation which may be of interest of you.

John W. McPherson
Counselor of Law

Charterhouse, Godalming. 4th August, 1970.

      We should also like to know which of his father's sons he was, and, if he married, the year, and usual details.

      On a sheet enclosed, I have listed those of your surname at Charterhouse and should be happy to tell you anything we know of them.

A. Malaher.

Hartwell Cottage,
Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire.
18th May, 1970

      Some of the observations may be of interest for a future edition of Creag Dhubh.

      First of all, and perhaps the most important to me, my marriage to Sarah Plumbet was announced. You will immediately wonder why I should even raise this at all but in fact it does have a connection with the second item which must have interested many namely Lord Macpherson's account of Prince Bernhard's visit to Suffolk.

      He mentioned that the party was entertained by the Marquis and Marchioness of Bristol. It just so happens that Sarah, my wife, and the Marchioness are first cousins.

      The third thing to interest me was one of the additions to the Museum namely the photographs of the Hon. Sir William Murray McPherson and his son William Edward, the former having served in the State Parliament of Victoria from 1916 to 1932.

      My great-grandfather John Alexander Macpherson, he in fact changed the big P to a little one, was Prime Minister of Victoria, all be it for a short time, for no more than 6 months from September 1869 to April 1870, in fact just 100 years ago.

      As I say these may be of interest and I can probably enlarge upon this last (above) if you feel it might be of further interest for the Annual. I have one or two photographs of J. A. M. too.

      Just two other points to mention; first of all I enclose two cartoons I recently came across which may appeal. The basset one obviously came from the Daily Mail but I cannot for the life of me remember where the other came from.

      Finally as Harry Symons may have told you, we have so far collected £134 or so for the Clan House extension which I shall be sending you shortly. When sending the cheque you will doubtless wish to know who kindly contributed, will you also need their addresses as well? This could be a little difficult.

John P. Macpherson.

Dear Mr. Symons,
      Many thanks for your kind letter, and for encouraging us to get up to the Rally. But I fear there's no hope this year anyhow.

      I hadn't actually seen Creag Dhubh, my copy hasn't turned up. Just in case the Editor hasn't got this address, I wonder if you'd kindly pass it to him next time you're in correspondence.

Ian Sturrock

Leatherhead, 5th August, 1970

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a copy of the current issue of Creag Dhubh should be sent to him.

      It certainly was a most successful Rally; meeting old friends and making new ones as is the wont each year. Incidentally we were taking a stroll last Monday afternoon down the road towards Ruthven and Loch Insh, when we came upon your cousin Robert from Edinburgh, sitting on a wayside seat enjoying the sunshine. We had a most enjoyable and informative talk with him, hence our knowing that you are cousins.

      Nan joins me in sending kindest regards to Chrissie and yourself.

Harry Symons.

54 The Knoll,
Beckenham,
Kent, BR3 2JW.
19th August, 1970

      My husband hailed from Aberdeenshire, but my father was Sandy Kennedy, onetime famous Shinty player and Captain of the Camanachd Club. He was born in the village of Newtonmore, and lived there with his brothers and sister, until he moved to Edinburgh as a young man, still continuing his shinty playing at Inverleith. Also, I may add, repairing the broken shinty clubs for the young lads from Newtonmore attending University. At the time I was a school girl but remember clearly such things. He really was a "professional mender" of clubs just as he was a player! It may be of interest to you that his sister Christina, built "Craigerne" on the golf course, and now a fine hotel. At that time she lived in Bangholm Terrace, in a maindoor flat, and if I remember aright, it was No. 2 ! ! Also at that time the brother Charles built "Victoria Villa", which I was so pleased to "discover" towards the end of my stay, having been re-named "Inistrynich". I used to visit Newtonmore a lot in my school holidays from Edinburgh. After many years I went there now, and had a wonderful holiday, the weather being wonderful as well.

      Before closing I would like to tell you of another Shinty yarn, rather a sad one, which came vividly to mind when in Newtonmore. Years ago when we lived in S. W. London I had a phone call enquiring if "this Mrs. Macpherson had been a Miss Kennedy, whose father was Sandy Kennedy of Newtonmore and a well-known shinty player". I said I was -- the man -- Sir Stewart Macpherson. He seemed very pleased, for he was on the point of giving up the search. I met him for tea at the overseas Club, St. James's, when we had a most interesting chat. He apparently had known of the album my father kept, and asked could he borrow it as he was writing some book or other. This was really a great record over many years, of newspaper cuttings, pictures of various players, games etc. etc. all carefully dated and pasted into the album. Alas, I had to confess it was burned along with other papers etc. after my father's death and the home sold up. I'm sure Sir Stewart almost wept, as I did, and I don't think my excuse of being young and foolish at the time, went down too well ! ! Before I left him, I like to think I was forgiven. I know how much my father loved his album and all the work he had put into it; if only he had asked it to be handed over perhaps to the Club, when he had passed on, but I suppose such thing had never occurred to him. At the Opening of the Museum Extension I had chat with Lady Macpherson when I told her briefly about this awful error of mine. She was quite amused, and sympathetic at the same time. What a wonderful soul she is. I'm hoping it will pass off soon!!

Margaret Macpherson.

5 Clifton Crescent,
Folkstone, Kent.
14th October, 1970.

      He had the D.S.O. not O.B.E. and he was Senior Naval Officer, West Indies, not Naval Commandant.

      You may remember I mentioned this to you at the Ball last year.

Edith Mabel Ivy Tudor (nee Macpherson)

"Ar Dachaidh",
22 Old Croft Road,
Walton-on-the-Hill,
Stafford, Staffs.
17th December, 1970

      My brother James is the first grandson of James Macpherson (father of Robert Macpherson) and great-grandson of the owner of Rose Cottage. Bearing this family Christian name he was the only one of the subsequent generations to follow the same profession of joiners/carpenters. Although he is now a member of the City of Edinburgh police he still proudly possesses a gold Walthaw Lever watch and engraved tools handed down from James Macpherson owner of Rose Cottage.

Elizabeth W. Johnstone,

Sir,
      Further research and thought on tbe subject of what I wrote last year about the background to the Macbeth insurrection tends to make me consider that the daughters of MALCOLM II were as follows: (i) BETHOC who married CRINAN, (ii) OLITH who was the second wife of SIGURD the STOUT and mother of THORFINN, and (iii) DONADA who married FINDLEACH mhic RUAIRDRI.

      A trifle esoteric all this. I have discovered since I last had the pleasure of a talk with you that my great-great-grandmother was descended from Robert the Bruce, and I have authenticated it, which takes ME back to SIGURD the STOUT as well. Hence I am related, at least by the second marriage of Sigurd, to my wife, although the degree of consangunity does not appear to be dangerous. I am descended from SIGURD'S first wife. Her name escapes me at the moment, being too lazy to look it up. If second marriage relationship counts for anything (which I don't think, genes being more important than lines) then I have two saints in my descent, Vladimir I of Kiev and his grannie, Olga.

John Baxter.

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