Morrison

This ancient name highlights the problems created by the anglicisation of Gaelic names. It seems quite likely that there are three quite distinct origins — two Hebridean and one mainland. In County Donegal, the O’Muirgheasains, whose name means ‘sea valour’, were bards, and keepers of the holy relics of St Columcille at Clonmany. It is believed that a branch of this family found its way to Habost on the north-east coast of Lewis. Meanwhile, further to the south, Ghille Mhuire, or ‘servant of the Virgin Mary’, was, according to tradition, washed ashore, having survived a shipwreck by clinging to a piece of driftwood. This is commemorated in the clan’s plant badge. The Virgin’s servant has been claimed as a natural son of King Olav, and therefore half-brother of Leod, the progenitor of the Macleods. However Olav’s son came ashore, he married the heiress of the Gows, or Clan Igaa, who held Pabbay in the Sound of Harris. The Gows were noted armourers. Their descendants were thereafter known as Mhic ‘ille Mhuire. In 1346 Cedhain, son of MacIain of Ardnamurchan, married the heiress of the Morrisons of Lewis, but whether this was a descendant of Ghille Mhuire or O’Muirgheasain is disputed. Perhaps the two families had by this time inter-married as the learned origins of the O’Muirgheasains would have qualified them for the post of hereditary brehon, or judge, which the Morrisons certainly were on Lewis by the late thirteenth century. Cedhain was compelled to take his wife’s name which, as he was a descendant of the great Somerled, King of the Isles, suggests that she was of equal rank, and probably a descendant of King Olav. The match brought the Morrisons even closer to the Lords of the Isles, and this, together with the office of brehon, gave them power and influence. In 1493 the Crown finally broke the power of the Macdonald Lords of the Isles, but was in no position to establish royal justice. There followed almost two centuries of feuds and unrest. The Morrisons were not a numerous clan and tried to live at peace with their more aggressive neighbours. The Macaulays of Uig killed Donald Ban, the brother of John Morrison the Brehon, at Habost. When the Morrisons retaliated by raiding Uig, the Macaulays appealed to their allies, the Macleods of Lewes. The Brehon was soundly defeated at the Caws of Tarbert, whereupon a strong force of Macaulays and Macleods invaded the Morrison lands. The chief was captured and imprisoned at Rodil. He managed to escape, but the Macleods used their influence with the king to have him declared an outlaw. As every man’s hand was now turned against him, Morrison resorted to desperate measures and kidnapped one of the Macleod heiresses. He agreed to surrender her in exchange for a royal pardon. 

The girl was apparently released, none the worse for her ordeal. The feud was carried on by the next chief Uisdean, or Hucheon, who invaded north Harris. Once again, the Macleods intervened, and Iain Mor Macleod engaged the Morrisons at Clachan on Taransay. It is said that Hucheon was the only Morrison to survive the battle, swimming over two miles to the mainland despite serious wounds

.The power of the Morrisons on Lewis survived the defeat, only to be finally broken when Hucheon, on his death bed in August 1566, confessed to being the natural father of Torquil, until then accepted as the lawful son of Roderick Macleod of Lewes and his wife, Janet Mackenzie. Macleod disinherited Torquil, set aside Janet as an adulteress and took a third wife. She bore two sons, Torquil Dubh and Tormod. The older Torquil, now half-brother to the Morrison chiefs, allied himself to the Mackenzies of Kintail who, through him, claimed the island of Lewis. In the bloody war which followed the Morrisons sided with the Mackenzies against the Macleods, and both Hucheon’s successor, Iain Dubh, and his son, Malcolm Mor, were killed. The Mackenzies were ultimately victorious when, on 14 February 1577, Regent Morton forced the Macleods to recognise Torquil’s right to succeed to the Macleod lands. Torquil then drove the Morrisons, his erstwhile allies, from their lands, and Lewis thereafter became a Mackenzie fief. The Morrisons later returned to settle in Ness, but the power of the brehons was forever lost.

On the mainland the Morrisons, whose senior representatives were the Morrisons of Bognie in Aberdeenshire, appear to have no connection whatsoever with their Hebridean namesakes, but are descendants of Maurice, a Norman name derived from the Latin, ‘Mauricius’, meaning ‘dark-skinned’, or ‘swarthy’. Although individuals of the name distinguished themselves both in Scotland and abroad, it was not until the twentieth century that a clan society was established and the chiefship vested in the Morrisons of Ruchdi.