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3 Celts & Company • BLACK WATCH "Independent Highland Companies"

The first Independent Companies (then known as the 'Kings Guard') are generally regarded to have been formed after the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Following events of 1688, King James II of England (VII of Scotland) made a decision to secure peace throughout both the Scottish Highlands and Scottish Lowlands. The main chiefs were asked to supply a certain number of men each. By 1738 the Independent Highland Companies were known officially as 'Am Freiceadan Dubh' or Black Watch. The Independent Highland Companies took a very active part in the Jacobite rising of 1745. One of their first actions was when 600 men of the Grant, two Sutherland, Munro and Mackay companies fought in the Siege of Fort Augustus (December 1745). The fort was liberated from the Clan Fraser of Lovat, largely Jacobites.
During the Seven Years’ War a number of unidentified Independent Highland Companies were raised but were almost immediately sent south to the Scottish Lowlands or to England as new recruits and could scarcely be regarded as true Independent Companies but were more like a recruitment agency for the British Army. There were no more Independent Highland Companies formed after 1763 but from those that had been before emerged the world-famous Highland regiments during the remainder of the 18th century.

Clans: MURRAY, MENZIES, STUART, CAMPBELL, ROBERTSON, MACFARLANE, GRAHAM, GORDON, MONRO, SUTHERLAND (under GUNN), GRANT, MACKAY, MACLEOD, MACINTOSH (town of INVERNESS), MACKENZIE, MACDONALD of SLEAT, ROSS

"Independent Highland Companies." Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Highland_Companies]. 3 November 2013. web.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, Black Watch, clan, regiments

3 Celts & Company • "MACLEOD of Harris"

The MacLeod chiefs claim descent from Leod, nephew of Magnus the 13th-century last of the Norse kings of the Isle of Man; and from Leod's two sons Tormod and Torquill come respectively the Harris and Lewis branches. The bulk of the clan however remains of native Celtic stock. Tormod's grandson Malcolm was awarded a charter of Gleneig territory by David II, and by marriage acquired the clan's large foothold in Skye, with its famed fortress of Dunvegan as the Chief's seat. Harris was held by MacLeods as vassals to Clan Donald until the Lords of the Isles were forfeited. Thereafter clear of that entanglement, they aided the MacLeans against MacDonalds. At Worchester in 1651, the clan lost so many men for Charles II that the other clans agreed to exonerate them from further conflicts.

Septs: BEATON, BETHUNE, BETON, GRIMMOND, HAROLD, HARROLD, MACANDIE, MACCAIG, MACCLURE, MACCRIMMON, MACCUAIG, MACHAROLD, MACLURE, MACRAILD, MACWILLIAM, NORMAN, MORMAND, WILLIAMSON

"MACLEOD of Harris." Scots Kith and Kin and Illustrated Map Revised Second Edition. Edinburgh, SCOT: Clan House, c.1970. p.73. Print.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, MacLeod of Harris, clan, septs

3 Celts & Company • "STEWART"

The surname Stewart is the same as Steward, indicating the official in charge of the household and treasury, whether of the king or of some court-holding earl or bishop. It was from Walter fitz Alan, the Norman noble appointed by David I hereditary High Steward of Scotland with personal estates in Renfewshire, that the Stewart kings descended. But Walter's influential family and descendants had established various separate branches of Stewarts before their main line attained its Royal status. This occurred through another Walter, the 6th High Stewart, who fought at Bannockburn, marrying King Robert Bruces's daughter Marjory: their son became Robert II the first Stewart king, when David II died childless in 1371. From then on the Stewart dynasty's strengths and weaknesses, self-sacrificing leadership mingled with unremitting obstinacies, brought no little of the clan spirit into national history.
Previous to 1371, Walter's uncle Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, who fell at Falkirk 1298, left seven sons. The first three founded respectively the Stewart earldoms of Angus, Lennox, and Galloway.

Septs: BOYD, CARMICHAEL, DENNISON, DENNISTON, FRANCE, FRANCIS, LENNOX, LISLE, LOMBARD, LUMBARD, LYLE, MACMICHAEL, MENTEITH, MONTEATH, MONTEITH, MOODIE, MOODY, STEUARD, STEUART, STUART

"STEWART." Scots Kith and Kin and Illustrated Map Revised Second Edition. Edinburgh, SCOT: Clan House, c.1970. p.81. Print.

keywords[x] tartan, wool, kilts, Stewart, Boyd, clan, septs