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CLAN MACTHOMAS THE LAIRDS OF FORTER
Forter Castle
"The Bonnie House of Airlie"
Built 1560
Destroyed 7th of July 1640
Restored 1990
Article reprinted in Clach A' Choilich: The Magazine of the Clan MacThomas Society,
Vol.5 No.4, 2000.
Editor's note: The following article was originally published in the 1970 edition of the
Clan magazine. Written by Roger Pye, it is part of the overall history of Clan
MacThomas that he carefully developed through painstaking research. We reprint it
here, since Forter Castle is discussed at some length; the current owner of Forter
Castle, Mr. Rob Pooley, generously made the castle available to our Clan for the
2000 annual meeting.
In 1651 (the same year as he had acquired Forter) Ian Mor also purchased from
George Ogilvie the liferent of the lands of Wester Dalnacabock (1), in Winnygill, and
five years later, in 1665, he bought the liferent of three-eighths of the lands of
Wester Inverharity, both of which had previously been in possession of the
Campbells of Easter Denhead, to which family Iain Mor's wife Elspeth belonged (2). It
is not known where Iain Mor dwelt during this period, since Forter Castle had been
burnt and gutted by Argyll (3) eleven years before he bought the property, but in
1660 he built himself a "ha'-house" at Crandart (4), about a mile and-a-half to the
north of the castle, and this became the seat of his family.
The contract relating to the purchase of the Forter property had specifically
excluded the lands to the East of the Isla, as well as the Forest of Canlochan, lying
on the West side of the stream between the burn of that name and the burn and
corrie of Glas (5) but, notwithstanding this exclusion, Iain Mor eventually obtained
possession of the Canlochan lands on wadset, together with royal letter of free
forestry (6), and his prosperity may be gauged from the fact that in about 1660 he
is stated to have been pasturing there no less than twenty milch kine and more than
one hundred oxen, besides a number of horses (7).
From the very beginning of his possession of Forter, however, Iain Mor had been
falling out increasingly with his neighbours and erstwhile friends and comrades in
arms. The origin of these differences was political, for in 1651 (the year that he
bought Forter) Cromwell had smashed the Scottish army of the Covenant at
Worcester and then, almost without opposition, had occupied the whole of
Scotland, from the border to the Pentland Frith, by the end of the same year.
English garrisons had been set up in all the main towns and the country was ruled by
English Commissioners, almost as an English province, to the impotent rage of the
Scots, Royalists and Covenanters alike (8). What made this English occupation all
the more intolerable, however, was the fact that the Scots found themselves
governed better than they had ever been before; law and order was complete,
trade flourished, and the country enjoyed peace and prosperity such as had not
existed within living memory. An intelligent and just man, Iain Mor, who was himself
prospering thanks to the improved situation, eventually became convinced that
there was much to be said for a form of government resulting in so much common
good, and accordingly cooperated with it so far as he was able.
This was too much for his fiercely nationalistic neighbours, the Ogilvies, who might
have been able to forgive him had he joined the Covenant, but never for accepting
the English, and Lord Airlie (9), who originally had probably been quite content to let
his land go to his father's old comrade, Iain Mor, now became determined to
recover, by hook or by crook, whatever he could from one whom, had he lived in the
present generation (circa 1970), he would doubtless have stigmatized as "that
damned Quisling!" Accordingly, within a year of the Restoration of King Charles II in
1669, he had induced Royal Parliament to pass an Act of Decreet in his favour,
restoring to him the Canlochan Forest and Letters of free forestry (10). Shortly after
this, no doubt at Lord Airlie's instigation, Iain Mor found himself amongst those
exempted from the Act of Indemnity passed by the same Parliament in 1662, and
accordingly had to pay a fine of 1,600 pounds Scots for his collaboration with the
Roundheads (11). However, Lord Airlie had not counted on the stubborn obstinacy
of Iain Mor, who simply ignored the Act of Parliament that he considered unjust and
continued to pasture his beasts as before in the disputed territory. Accordingly, in
1664, Lord Airlie brought a further action against him for contravention (l2),
presumably with as little practical effect as before.
In spite of these tribulations, Iain Mor remained unbowed, and in August 1665 he
and his followers unexpectedly accompanied Lachlan, 19th of Mackintosh, on an
expedition into Lochaber against the Camerons, which finally settled bloodlessly the
three hundred year old feud between that clan and Clan Chattan (13).
About this time Lord Airlie let the grazings of Canlochan Forest to Iain Mor's second
cousin, Robert Farquharson of Broughdearg, who thus also became embroiled in the
dispute regarding these lands. There is no reason to suppose that the cousins had
not been on good terms prior to this, indeed there is a tradition that Broughdearg
was engaged to Iain Mor's daughter (14), but the quarrel between them was
evidently coming to the boil by 10th November 1666, when The Mackintosh wrote to
Lord Macdonald and Aros that he had "to go on Thursday morning to Glenylea to
settle two near kinsmen who are like to fall out very foully" (15). It would seem
reasonable to suppose that the causus belli was that Iain Mor continued to insist
upon pasturing his beasts on the grazings let to Broughdearg. If this was so it would
have been very understandable if Broughdearg had broken off his engagement in his
exasperation at the old man's stubbornness.
Over the next two years the quarrel grew into a serious feud, and on 1st January
1669 Broughdearg, with fifty or sixty armed men, surprised the old chief outside his
house at daybreak (l6) and carried him back to Glenshee, where they held him until
the following day, when his sons gave a bond for 1,700 merks for his release. Four
months later, on 14th May, a party of thirty eight of Broughdearg's following raided
Kirkhillocks, at the Southern end of the MacThomas Glenisla territory, and sowed
and harrowed the land, thus destroying the crops sowed earlier by Iain Mor's fourth
son, Robert (l7).
In the summer of the following year, Alexander and James, the second and third
sons of Iain Mor, with three followers, came across Broughdearg himself in the
disputed Canlochan Forest, and he had to flee for his life; the MacThomases seizing
two of his horses (l8). On another occasion, when a party of his clansmen had
allowed Broughdearg to escape from them after an encounter in Glenarmie, the old
chief had cursed them roundly "for not taking from him ane legg, ane arme or his
lyff" (l9).
In retaliation the Farquharsons seized some MacThomas cattle in the disputed
territory in 1672. Whereupon Iain Mor "persewed a spulzie" against Broughdearg
before the Sheriff of Forfar and got letters of caption against him (20). Broughdearg
refused to give himself up to the burgh messenger sent to arrest him, saying that
"no man should take him alive," but on 28th January 1673, accompanied by some
seventeen of his followers, he went into Forfar "for his own defense of the said
pursuit." The MacThomases, learning of this journey, also proceeded to Forfar, but
the Farquharsons seem to have got wind of this and turned back for home.
The MacThomases, pausing only to collect the burgh messenger in Forfar in order to
legalize their position, hastened after them and caught up with them near Drumgley,
a mile or two to the West of Forfar, where they called upon Broughdearg to give
himself up. This he refused to do, and in their efforts to apprehend him Robert, Iain
Mor's fourth son, was shot outright, while his eldest brother John was dirked to
death after falling wounded from the same discharge. The Farquharsons then made
a dash for it, but Broughdearg was shot dead before he could get away, and his
brother John was so severely wounded that he was expected to die (21).
The Farquharsons quickly made representations to the Privy Council, who appointed
a Commission to apprehend the MacThomases concerned (22). Iain Mor with his
sons Thomas and Angus (who seem not to have been present at the skirmish) soon
afterwards presented themselves, but were eventually allowed to go home upon
giving 5000 merks each as security (23). Alexander and James and three followers
(who had been present) failed to appear and were declared fugitives. They
eventually submitted a year later, and all five were tried by jury for murder on 10th
June 1674, and acquitted (24). Earlier the same year, however, Iain Mor, already an
old man, had died (25). He was succeeded as eighth Chief by his third son James
(26) who, having with his immediate elder brother been on trial for his life, now had
to raise the money to pay the very heavy costs of the proceedings, which may be
imagined from the fact that the two leading Counsel for the MacThomases were no
lesser personages than Sir George Lockhart, who had been Lord Advocate, and Sir
George Mackenzie, who was about to become so. To do this the unfortunate new
chief had no option but to raise bonds on his lands (27). He only survived his father
by two years, being succeeded in the spring of 1676 by his brother Thomas, who
thus became ninth Chief.
This Thomas, fifth son of Iain Mor, had been a merchant in Montrose at least as
early as 1670 (28), and may well have been associated with his father in his cattle
business. His absence in Montrose appears to have kept him out of the feud with
Broughdearg. He was served heir-of-line to his predecessor in 1677 (29), and is
mentioned in the Proclamations of 1678 and 1681 (30) amongst the subordinate
chiefs required to give bond for the good behaviour of their followers. In the latter
year he was also included in the Royal Commission of Fire and Sword granted to
Lachlan, 19th of Mackintosh and 20th of Clan Chattan, against the Macdonnells in
Keppoch (31), but this commission was never put into effect. In 1681, with the
consent of his brothers, Alexander and Angus, he formally disposed of the Forter
estate in favour of David, Lord Ogilvie (32), but retained a wadset of Burnside until
1694 (33).
What became of him after this we do not know. No trace has been found of his
death, and it has been suggested that he left no family (34). The present writer
believes, however, that he had a daughter Isabella (35), who married Donald
Ramsay of Cronaherrich, once a MacThomas shieling in Glenbeg, and who was known
in the Gaelic for her beauty as Iseabal Bain, i. e. Fair Isabella.
The clan, which had for some time been drifting apart, now finally broke up
completely and ceased to exist as an organized group. With its dispersal and the
loss of their lands the chiefship became an empty title, not worth the trouble of
claiming, and upon the death of Thomas, ninth and last of the old chiefs, was
allowed to fall dormant. Thus Clan MacThomas disappeared into almost complete
oblivion for well over an hundred years, until the great romantic revival of the early
nineteenth century started to reawaken interest in it.
R. F. P.
1). A. M. Mackintosh, "Mackintosh Families in Glenshee and Glenisla," 1916, p. 47.
This property is now called Doldy.
2). Ibid. pp. 47-8. The first reference we have to Elspeth would seem to be in the
contract of sale of Finegand, May 1652. (Ibid. p. 48).
3).The episode is narrated, with considerable poetic license, in the well-known
ballad "The Bonnie House of Airlie."
4.) A. M. Mackintosh, op. cit. pg. 50, also W. McCombie Smith, "memoir of the
Families of M'Combie and Thoms, 1889, p. 15.
5). A. M. Mackintosh, op. cit. p. 51.
6). Ibid. pp. 51 & 55. Letters of free forestry conferred on a subject forest rights
which would otherwise have been reserved to the Crown.
7). Ibid. p. 207 n; also W. M'Combie Smith, op. cit. pg. 52.
8). It is often inferred that Iain Mor's fall from favour was due to his having adhered
to the Covenant but there is not the slightest evidence that he ever did so. It
should be remembered that when Charles II unwillingly accepted the Covenant in
1650, as the only possible means of gaining his throne, the Covenanters recognized
him as their king and accordingly supported him against Cromwell. At the time when
Iain Mor began supporting Cromwell, Argyll (who had himself crowned Charles at
Scone on 1st Jan. 1651) and the Covenanters were opposing him to the best of
their ability. So much for M'Combie Smith's suggestion that Iain Mor was influenced
to act as he did by his Campbell marriage (op. cit. pp. 58-9). As he seems to have
taken a leading part in the ravaging of the Campbell country in 1645 (having been
"forfaulted" by the Covenanters by name along with twelve others including
Montrose, Colkitto, and Lord Airlie and his sons-"Montrose and his Times" (Maitland
Club ii, 167) its supposed influence would not appear to have been very effective.
9). James, 2nd Earl of Airlie, who had succeeded about 1648. He had been taken
prisoner at Philliphaugh (1645) and condemned to death, but escaped on the eve of
the execution disguised in his sister's clothes. He eventually died about 1704.
10). A. M. Mackintosh, op. cit. pp. 55-6; also W. M'Combie Smith, op. cit. pp.
59-65. The Act refers specifically to his having "great power with the late usurpers
as their intelligencer and favourite" and to his :moyen and favour with the English
usurpers."
11). A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. p. 53.
12). W. M'Combie Smith, op. cit. p. 66.
13). Ibid. pp. 66-'7; also A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. p. 57.
14). Ibid. p. 58; also W. M'Combie Smith, op. cit. pp. 67-'8.
15). A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. p. 58.
16). As he came out of his house to answer the call of Nature, or so it would seem.
(Ibid. p. 59) The raiders were armed to the teeth with swords, dirks, pistolls,
hagbuts, targets, halberts, axes and other weapons (W. M'Combie Smith, op. cit.
pp. 68-70).
17). Ibid. p. 72; also A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. p. 6I. An indictment by Iain Mor
against Broughdearg for convocation of lieges, Hamesucken and wrongous
imprisonment, was dropped in June 1670 because the warrant against Broughdearg
had not been properly served and because Iain Mor, being at the time in prison at
Edinburgh (for what reason we do not know), was not in a position to proceed.
18). A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. pp. 60-1; also W. M'Combie Smith, op. Cit. p. 76.
19). Ibid. p. 76.
20). Ibid. p. 77; also A. M. Mackintosh, op. Cit. p. 6I.
21). These events are described at some length by W. M'Combie Smith, op. Cit. pp.
77-84. John Farquharson recovered from his wounds, only to be killed in an
encounter with a band of Lochaber caterans six years later. (A. M. Mackintosh, op.
cit. p. 62).
22) Ibid. p. 62.
23) Ibid. p. 63.
24) Ibid. pp. 63-4.
25) Sometime between 2nd March and 10th June 1674. Ibid. p. 65.
26) A. M. Mackintosh (ibid. p. 70) seems at a loss to explain why his eldest surviving
son, Alexander, should not have succeeded Iain Mor. The obvious explanation, which
was accepted by Lord Lyon Sir Thomas Innes of Learney in 1967, is that Iain Mor
invoked his ancient right of nominating his successor from among his younger sons
by Tannistry. The fact that Alexander was passed over yet again upon the death of
his brother James puts it beyond doubt that he had been debarred from the
succession, doubtless from some apparent defect which led to his being considered
unsuitable for the chiefship. C. Fraser-Mackintosh's remark that < Mr. Alexander
MacOmie, in Glenshee, was in 1693 one of the patriotic protesters against the
English opponents of the Scots Darien Scheme > ( The Minor Septs of Clan Chattan
An Account of the Confederation of Clan Chattan; its Kith and Kin, 1898, p. 176 )
suggests that Alexander might possibly have lost his father's confidence through
opposition to the latter's cooperation with the English.
27) A. M. Mackintosh, op. cit. p. 64.
28) 16id. p. 71.
29) Ibid.
30) Ibid. pp. 7I-2. In both Proclamations his Christian name is erroneously given as
John.
31). Ibid. p. 71.
32). Ibid. p. 73. David, Lord Ogilvie, was eldest son and heir apparent to the 2nd
Earl of Airlie.
33). Ibid.
34). The last known mention of him is in a decrees of the Court of Session of 5 Dec.
1695, adjudging from him and his nephew Alexander the lands of Kirkhillocks and
others. Ibid. p. 74.
35). W. M'Combie Smith (op. cit. p. 211 n. W.) suggests that most probably she was
a daughter of Mr. Angus, whom he describes (ibid. p. 167) as the last M'Intosh or
M'Combie designated of Forter, ( In the lifetime of Iain Mor and his sons the
MacThomases were frequently referred to by the alias of Mackintosh as, for that
matter, were the Farquharsons, about the same period ). As A. M. Mackintosh (op.
cit. p. 68) points out, however, Angus was never of Forter, his part in the disposal
of that estate having merely been to consent ( as one of the possible heirs ) to the
act of his brother Thomas, the last de facto chief. Since the lady's descendant,
Major Chalmers, has stated quite unambiguously that Donald Ramsay, son of Alister
(Greusaich) in Cronahery, Glenbeg, married Isabell M'Intosh, daughter of M'Intosh of
Forter, she must have been the daughter of one of the only three MacThomases
ever to have been designated of that place, viz. Iain Mor, and his sons, James and
Thomas. She could scarcely have been a daughter of the first since she could not
have been born much earlier than 1674 when Iain Mor died, an old man; nor of the
second, otherwise she, and not Thomas, would have been his heir-of-line, and it
would therefore seem that she could only have been the daughter of Thomas.
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