H02e.heraldry-4.html
THE HERALDRY OF CLAN MACPHERSON -- Part 4
Arms of the Chief of Clan Macpherson

The Arms of the Chief of Clan Macpherson are recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland at the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, Edinburgh, and are described as follows:
      "Parted per fess (divided horizontally) Or (gold) and Azure (blue), a lymphad (ancient galley ship) of the first (of the first colour mentioned, viz., gold), sail furled, oars in action, mast and tackling all proper (in their natural colours), flag and pennon flying Gules (red); in dexter canton (the upper right hand side of the shield as viewed from behind) a dexter hand fessways (horizontal) couped (cut off at the wrist) holding a dagger erect; in sinister (left) canton a cross-crosslet fitchee (pointed) all of the third (the third colour mentioned viz., Gules or red):

      Above the Shield is placed a Helm befitting his degree with a Mantling Azure doubled Or (blue lined with gold), and oil a Wreath of the liveries is set for Crest a cat sejant (sitting) proper, and in an escrol over the same this Motto TOUCH NOT THE CAT BUT A GLOVE.

      On a compartment below the Shield are placed for Supporters two Highland men in short tartan jackets and hose of the tartan of the House of Cluny Macpherson, helmets on their heads, dirks at their left sides, and targets on their exterior arms, their thighs bare and their shirts tied between them".

      The principal charge in the shield is the gold "lymphad" or galley which suggests a western origin and supports the view that it was derived from the lymphad in the Arms of the Lords of the Isles. The "bloody hand and dagger" signifies the part played by the clan in over throwing the Cummings (or Comyn) of Badenoch, the enemies of King Robert the Bruce and the "red cross-crosslet" suggests an ecclesiastical origin of the first clan chief.
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*Based on "The Heraldry of Clan Macpherson" by R.G.M. Macpherson published as part of The Posterity of the Three Brethren, A Short History of the Clan Macpherson by Alan G. Macpherson.