Notes for Marge: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sir lvar Colquhoun of Luss is chief of the clan Colquhoun, named after land in Dunbartonshire granted in 1241. The bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond became part of the Colquhoun estates through a 14th-century marriage with a Celtic heiress. The 19th chief of the clan, Sir Iain, was one of the first to be granted a knighthood in the New World, when he became a Baron of Nova Scotia in 1625. This title was offered by James VI & I in return for financial help in establishing Scotland's first North American settlement.
The Colquhouns had to fight off other clans to keep their land. In 1459, one chief was killed by the Macleans of Duart on Inchmurrin, an island in Loch Lomond. His grandson, Iain, became Great Chamberlain of Scotland and Ambassador to England, and built the 15th-century Castle of Rossdhu, whose ruins can still be seen. The Colquhouns' greatest enemies were the raiding MacGregors, who massacred over 200 Colquhoun men in 1605 and carried off over 600 cattle and 280 horses, sheep and goats. A stone commemorating this bloody episode still stands on the site at Glenfruin, but a modern outcry has broken out over Ministry of Defence plans to remove it to make way for a temporary road to the nearby Trident nuclear submarine base.
After the Glenfruin massacre the MacGregors were outlawed by the King. But the Colquhouns never regained their military strength after this crippling blow, and their lands passed, on the marriage of the Colquhoun heiress, to the chief of the clan Grant in 1718. Over half a century later, James Grant was recognised as the 25th Colquhoun of Luss.
Much credit for preserving the scenic beauty of Loch Lomondside must go to the 20th-century Colquhoun chiefs, who have steadfastly refused to accept large sums of money for the commercial exploitation of their land.
Malcolm the Younger of Luss, heir to the chiefdom, married an American, Susan Timmerman from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His sister, Iona, is married to the 12th Duke of Argyll. Sir Ivar Colquhoun, the 28th Chief, lives on the clan's original lands, at Camstraddan, Luss, Dunbartonshire.
The elan motto is Si Je Puis -- "If I can" and the badge is a hart's head. The war-cry, Cnoc Ealachain, is the name of a mountain.
TARTAN The Colquhoun tartan, with its deep blue background and white stripes, is very similar to the Leslie tartan.
Source: Blackie, Lorna. "Clans and Tartans - The Fabric of Scotland", New York, 1987 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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