Macquarrie
This clan, for long associated with the island of Ulva, derives its name from the Gaelic ‘guaire’, meaning ‘noble’. They are said to have a common descent with the Mackinnons, Guaire being the brother of Fingon, ancestor of the Mackinnons. The historian Skene states, ‘the history of the Macquarries resembles that of the Mackinnons in many respects; like them they had migrated far from the headquarters of their race; they became dependent on the Lords of the Isles and followed them as if they had become a branch of the clan’. The first chief that can be referred to with any certainty appears to be Iain or John Macquarrie of Ulva, who is believed to have died around 1473 and who appeared as a witness in an earlier charter. The suppression of the Lordship of the Isles gave the Macquarries a greater measure of independence but they seem to have generally followed the fortunes of their more powerful neighbours, the Macleans of Duart. John Macquarrie of Ulva supported the attempt of Donald, the last Lord of the Isles, against the Crown in 1545 and he was also one of the chiefs denounced in the same year for traitorous dealings with the English. Macquarrie of Ulva was one of the chiefs summoned to the island of Iona by James VI in 1609, ostensibly to attend a service of reconciliation in that holy place. The king, however, had the chiefs seized and he forced them to sign the Statutes of Iona, ending
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forever the pretensions of the Lordships of the Isles. The Macquarries followed the Macleans in support of the royalist cause in the civil war, and Ulva himself was slain with most of his followers at the Battle of Inverkeithing against the Parliamentarian troops of Oliver Cromwell in July 1651. Despite this setback, the family held its lands until the end of the eighteenth century when, in common with many other island lairds, crippling debt forced Lachlan Macquarrie to sell them. However, the family name was not to pass from history, and a cousin of the chiefly house, another Lachlan, rose to the rank of major general in the British army, and was appointed Governor of New South Wales. He held this post from 1809 to 1821, and is best remembered for his strong moral sense which helped to establish a balance of power between the large landowners and the freed convicts and other emigrants seeking a new life in Australia. The Macquarrie River is named after him and he is often termed ‘the father of Australia’. He returned to Ulva and bought back much of the family lands. The main chiefly line had failed around 1818 and General Macquarrie’s only son, Lachlan, by his marriage to a daughter of Campbell of Airds, died without issue. |