31003

Generation: Y

The McLellans

Children:

• John McLellan

Margaret Russell:

The McLellans

Sir William McLellan son of Sir Patrick of Bombie, incited by a proclamation of James II offering the forfeited barony to any person who should disperse a band of gypsies who infested the country and capture the body of their leader dead or alive, in evidence of success, rushed boldly in search of the proscribed marauders, and earned back his patrimony, by carrying to the King the head of their Captain on the point of his sword.

To commemorate the manner in which he regained the barony, he adopted as his crest an erect right arm grasping a dagger, on the point of which was a Moor's head couped proper, with the motto, "Think on", intimating the steadiness of purpose with which he contemplated his enterprise.

Sir Robert, the fourth in descent from Sir William, acted as a gentleman of the bedchamber to James VI and Charles I, and in 1633 was created a Baron (Lord Kirkcudbright). John the 3rd Lord commenced public life by a course of fierce opposition to Cromwell and the Independents, and being at the time the proprietor of greater part of the parish, he compelled his vassals to take arms in the cause of the King, brought desolation upon the villages of Dunrod and Galtway by draining off nearly all their male inhabitants, and incurred such enormous expenses as nearly ruined his estates.

But at the Restoration, just when any Royalist but himself thought everything gained and ran to the King in hope of compensation and honours, he shied suddenly round, opposed the royal government, sanctioned the riot; slightly mentioned in our parochial notice, for preventing the induction of an Episcopalian minister, and at the time when women were sent to the pillory, was captured, along with some other influential persons, sent a prisoner to Edinburgh and driven to utter ruin.

His successors never afterwards regained so much as an acre of their patrimonial property and for a considerable period, were conceded their baronial title only by courtesy. One of them was the "Lord Kilconbrie", whom Goldsmith, in his sneers at the poverty of the Scottish nobility, mentions as keeping a glove shop in Edinburgh.

In the reign of George III they were at last formally and legally reinstated in their honours; but in 1832, at the death of the 9th Lord, the title, alternately a coronet and a football, now glittering on the head, now tossed in the mire by the foot of every wayfarer, sank quietly into extinction.

John McLellan, the author of a Latin description of Galloway, was of some celebrity in the 17th century.

Raeberry Castle. East of the entrance of Kirkcudbright Bay, in a precipice on the coast, is a cave running 60 ft. into the rock, of unequal height, narrow at the mouth, widening and rising as it proceeds, till it attains the height of 12 ft. or upwards, and then contracting towards the end. It was artificially furnished with a lintled door, etc. Not far from this cave is a deep fosse, which marks the site of Raeberry Castle, one of the strongholds of the once powerful family of McLellan of Bombie.

The Castle overhung a very dreadful precipice on the coast and was protected on the North side by a deep fosse, a thick wall, and a strong drawbridge. (Imperial Gazateer of Scotland, A. Fullerton & Co., London and Edinburgh, dated 1870).

Balmaclellan. A branch of the family of McLellan possessed lands contiguous to the church and village for several centuries, and are supposed to have transferred their name to the property. This family was in great authority as early as the reign of Alexander II. In 1217 David McLellan is mentioned in a charter of the King. They were also heritable sheriffs of Galloway till the time of James II.

Its branches were so numerous and respectable that there were then in Galloway twelve Knights of that name, of whom Sir Patrick, who lived about the year 1410 and married a daughter of Sir Andrew Gray of Terreagles, against William, Earl Douglas, was besieged in his own Castle of Thrieve, was put to death and interred in the Abbey of Dunsennan. His relations then made great depredation on the Douglas's lands in Galloway and his office of sheriff was forfeited to the Crown.

Sir Robert McLellan was made a gentleman of the bedchamber by Charles I, and afterwards in 1633, created Baron Kirkcudbright, with limitations to heirs male.

The family possessions in Kirkcudbright have long since been alienated and the title has been dormant since the death of the 9th Lord in 1832.

During the minority of James V a feud between Gordon of Lochinvar and McLellan of Bombie led to the slaughter of the latter at the door of St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh.

Bill McLellan, letter to MBM, 2Sept1969: I think Margaret Russell is up the spout, she with cousin William think we are directly descended from the MacLellans of Bombie. I think we came from the Morar district of Inverness shire just before The Clearances in the early 1700s; we were a sept of the Clan Macnab. The journey down into Stirlingshire was a natural course, and followed the topography and sources of work. All this we will see as time goes on.