Clan Strachan

[1] Clan Strachan held a Family Convention (or Ad Hoc Derbhfine) under the supervision of the Court of the Lord Lyon on 11 April 2014 in Edinburgh.

In a second warrant dated 19 July 2019, issued by Lord Lyon Dr. Joseph Morrow, Rob's Commandership has been extended for another five years (until 2024).

Most historians agree that King Edgar, the brother and heir of Duncan II confiscated Máel Petair's mormaerdom, and converted it to crown lands.

Clan Strachan should most appropriately be classified (during the medieval period) as "a Lowland Family (or House) residing within the Highland Region".

'The Strachans are a good old race, about whom a great amount of misconception and misstatement has already been printed' (Herald and Genealogist, viii, pg.

The Village of Strachan is located some 20 miles southwest of Aberdeen, in the Royal Deeside Grampian Highlands of Scotland.

The first are tributaries to the latter, which falls into the Dee at Banchory-Teran, where the channel, wild and rocky, shaded by mountain pine, birch, and copsewood, presents a singularly romantic appearance.

Today, there are two equally proper pronunciations of the Name: In c.1189-95, the lands of Strachan were erected into a barony by King William the Lion who granted it to William Gifford of Lethington (in the barony of Yester, ELO) in feu and in forest with permanent and hereditary rights for a payment of 9 merks annually every Pentecost, and another payment of sixty shillings at the Feast of St. Martin (RRS, ii, no.

The Strachans, similar to the Gifford family, were of Anglo-Norman descent, and with a moderate to high probability descendants from Waltheof, Ealdorman of Bamburgh (fl.

This description fits the landscape of Bucharn Farm, in the village of Strachan (NGR NO659930), in which lay a Bronze Age burial cairn.

Lib., 276-7) In 1230-1240, Sir Waldeve de Strachechin witnessed an undated charter which is translated as follows: Alicia (or Alice), daughter of John, son of Ranulph, with the consent of her son and heir John, has given, granted and by this her present charter established to Blessed Queen Margaret and Dunfermline Abbey, in free, pure and perpetual alms, six acres of land with toft and croft in the villa of Cramond 'of the Scots' (MLO)… in free and perpetual alms.(Dunf.

In 1264, Ranulf de Strachan was appointed Viscount (Sheriff) of Banffshire (a county North of Aberdeenshire) in succession of Alexander Comyn, the Earl of Buchan.

This may support the thesis that Strachan of that Ilk were related to the Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, possibly through his wife, Elizabeth de Quincy.

(CDS / BAIN, i, 2509, 2513) The Strachan family, holding crown lands, were no doubt beholding to the sovereign and would have supported the King of Scotland, and his heirs.

King David of Scotland – son and heir of Robert the Bruce – was wounded in the face by two arrows, and eventually captured.

Both Alexander Strachan (spelt Straghern) and his son died fighting alongside of the Earl of Buchan, and all of whom serving in the same division under the direct command of King David of Scotland.

(Sir Herbert Maxwell, The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1913, page 339) Around 1350, many of the families that benefited from Robert the Bruce confiscations and disinheritance rushed to make amends with promises of noble marriages and grants of land.

Sir James, minister of Keith, is believed to be from the senior line of Monboddo by a charter under the great seal in 1663.

On 27 July 1689 Bonnie Dundee’s Highlanders met and defeated General Mackay’s army at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

This allegiance to the government was passed down to his grandson, Sir Patrick was imprisoned by the Jacobites during the first Rebellion in 1715, and on his release he appears to have been very active in the disarming of the country.

John Strachan is listed among the dead at Culloden Centre at the exit from the battle field film exhibit.

On 2 November 1805, his squadron engaged four French battleships that had escaped from Lord Nelson's triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar.

This 'waiting period' is to determine if a more legitimate claimant to the Chiefdom comes forth with a documented blood line (found satisfactory to the Lord Lyon) that proves descent from the past Chief (or a cadet branch therein).

A person with documented blood line to the past Chief (or a cadet branch) would have a priority claim for the Chiefship.

It is believed by historians (see "Notes" immediately below) that the former Baron de Strachan was one of the large numbers of pro-Balliol nobles who, after the Battle of Inverurie (1308) fled to the English court, and where they were known as "the disinherited".

But in 1347, King David, honouring obligations under the Franco-Scottish alliance, invaded the north of England, were heavily defeated, and captured by the English.

Map of Scotland showing the district of Kincardineshire , where the Strachans of Thornton lived
Arms of the Clan Strachan Society
Clan Strachan Tartan – designed in 1987, by Tony Murray. According to Kenneth Dalgliesh (Scottish World Tartan Society) it was first seen in 1999, and was registered in 2000.