Scottish Clan - Lowland Clans

Lowland Clans

It is quite acceptable to refer to the great Lowland families as clans also, since the Scots themselves appear to have used both terms interchangeably. Until the early 19th century, most of the Lowland and Border clans did not identify themselves by specific family tartans other than that of their local district, nor did they wear the kilt or play the Great Highland Pipes (although they would be familiar with the widely used Lowland or Border or Northumbrian Pipes), but afterwards they adopted these characteristics of Highland culture as a form of clan identification, which they continue to use to the present day.

The Lowlands had been Brythonic Celtic, with the southeast becoming Anglian, and Galloway and the western seaboard becoming Norse-Gaelic. Then by 1034, the Kingdom of Alba had expanded to bring all but the last area under Gaelic Celtic rule. From the accession of King David I (1124), the traditional social patterns of much of eastern Scotland began to be altered, particularly with the growth of burghs and the settlement of Norman feudal families on royal demesne lands. This process was, of course, very slow, but its cumulative effect over centuries was to undermine the integrity of Gaelic in the areas affected, areas which later became known collectively as the Lowlands, though to a large extent Galloway and Carrick, where Galwegian Gaelic survived into the 17th century, were not affected as much as elsewhere until very late.

Aristocratic Gaelic clans did, however, survive, especially in Galloway (e.g. MacDowall, MacLellan, MacCann), Carrick (e.g. Kennedy) and Fife (e.g. MacDuff). The term clan was still being used of Lowland families at the end of the 16th century and, while aristocrats may have been increasingly likely to use the word family, the terms remained interchangeable.

An Act of the Scottish Parliament of 1597 talks of the "Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannis...duelland in the hielands or bordouris" - thus using the word clan and chief to describe both Highland and Border families. The act goes on to list the various Lowland clans including the Maxwells, Johnstones, Turnbulls and other famous Border Reivers names. Further, Sir George MacKenzie of Rosehaugh, the Lord Advocate (Attorney General) writing in 1680, said: "By the term 'chief' we call the representative of the family from the word chef or head and in the Irish (Gaelic) with us the chief of the family is called the head of the clan". So it can be seen that, all along, the words "chief" or "head", and "clan" or "family", are interchangeable. It is therefore quite correct to talk of the MacDonald family or the Stirling clan. The idea that Highlanders should be listed as clans while the Lowlanders should be termed as families was merely a 19th century convention.

By the late 18th century, the Lowlands were integrated into the British system, with an uneasy relationship to the Highlanders. The total population of Lowlanders diminished drastically in some parts of the south as a direct result of the Agricultural Revolution which resulted in the Lowland Clearances, and the subsequent emigration of large numbers of Lowland Scots.

However, with the revival of interest in Gaeldom and the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822, there was a new enthusiasm amongst Lowlanders for identification with pan-Scottish culture. Consequently, Lowland families and aristocrats now appear on clan lists with their own tartans, in some cases with a claim to ancestry from the Highland area – and as a result, more Lowland/Border clans than ever now have their own clan societies, websites and annual reunions. No doubt this has economically benefited traditional industries such as manufacturers of tartan cloth and other clan items, and has been encouraged by the immense growth of Internet genealogical research in the last few years of the twentieth century. Regrettably, this last development has also led to certain companies springing up to exploit public enthusiasm by marketing supposed "family" coats-of-arms and heraldic devices.