Clan MacCulloch
The origins of Clan MacCulloch are unknown, but there is a consensus that the family was one of the most ancient families of Galloway, Scotland, and a leading medieval family in that region. Despite the obscurity of the early history of the clan, the history and genealogies of the family are well documented in Walter Jameson McCulloch's History of the Galloway Families of McCulloch, which provides extensive footnotes for original Scottish charters, correspondence, and other primary source documentation. The latter provides family history for the following lines: Myretoun, Ardwell, Killasser, Torhouse, Drummorrell, Inshanks and Mule, Torhousekie, Cardiness, Barholm, Kirkclaugh, Auchengool, and Ardwall.
Clan MacCulloch is a Lowland Scottish clan. As it no longer has a clan chief, it is an armigerous clan.
History
Origins
The name McCulloch is of Celtic origin and is found mainly in Galloway and Wigtownshire. The name is in the format of a Gaelic patronym with "mac" meaning son followed by a name. However, the origin of that name is a subject of debate.The first record of the name McCulloch was a 1285 transaction with respect to a delivery of 320 cattle by Thomas McCulloch as payment to the estate of Sir John de Balliol according to the testament of Sir Alan Fitz Comte.. The second record of the name McCulloch was an oath of fealty to Edward I of England in 1296 by Thomas, Michael and William McCulloch, on the Ragman Rolls. The seal of Thomas McCulloch was in the name of "S' Thome Maccvli" and bore an image of a squirrel. Two years later, Gilbert Makiluagh was deprived of his lands in Kirkcudbrightshire by Edward I after the defeat of the rebellion under William Wallace.
Andrew McCulloch's history of Galloway: A Land Apart suggests that their prominence in Wigtownshire identifies the family as one of the kindreds who amassed power and land under Roland, Lord of Galloway, having supported him in the brief civil conflict against his uncle Gille Brichte in the later 12th century. However, very little is known about the McCullochs or their status within Galloway prior to the rise of the Lords of Galloway.
The McCulloch lineage held the lands of Torhouse, Myreton and Ardwell in Galloway until 1682. A study of this surname and its variants can be found at the Guild of One Name Studies.
McCulloch Support for Balliol Cause
In the History of the Land of Galloway and their Owners, P.H. McKerlie describes the McCullochs as "traitors" for not supporting King Robert the Bruce in his claims for the throne of the King of Scots and his eventual war for independence from England. Douglas McCullough counters McKerlie's charge in "A History of Clan McCulloch" and provides some context as to why the McCullochs supported Kings John Balliol and Edward Balliol and their ally, King Edward I of England.In earlier medieval times, regions like Galloway and the Isles, were semi-independent lordships that generally supported the King of Scots. After the death of Alexander III, the McCullochs, like other Galloway families, supported the bid of John Balliol, son of Lady Dervorguila of Galloway, rather than De Brus. The McCullochs remained loyal to the Balliols even after King John was dethroned. In September, 1298, Gilbert Makiluagh was listed among the rebels in the south-west who had lands confiscated by Edward I after the collapse of the Wallace rebellion at the Battle of Falkirk. Sir Patrick McCulloch even entered exile in England with Edward Balliol.
When Edward Balliol pursued his claim to the Scottish throne, he did so with the support of several McCullochs, including Sir Patrick, and his sons, William, Gilbert, among others. Sir Patrick also served Edward III in his campaigns in Brittany.
Because of their support for Balliol and King Edward I, King Robert the Bruce stripped McCulloch's of their extensive land holdings in Galloway. Around 1364, Sir Patrick returned to Scotland and entered the king's peace at which time King David II restored a portion of the prior McCulloch lands. An undated indenture purports to be a proposal for discussions between King Edward III of England and King David of Scotland with respect to the restoration of lands and castles seized by the late King Robert the Bruce. This indenture, which mentions Patrick McCulloch and other dispossessed landholders, may indicate that the restoration of the McCulloch lands was part of a broader settlement between the kings of England and Scotland.
McCulloch of Myreton (Galloway)
The McCullochs of Myreton were a Scottish Lowland family who lived in Myreton, Ardwell, Rhins of Galloway, Wigtownshire overlooking Luce Bay near the Water of Luce.. Unlike other McCulloch families the McCullochs of Myreton were not septs of another clan but owned their own territory. They were later seated at Cardoness Castle. Myreton is in southwest Scotland along the coast in the Machars. Another McCulloch region related to Ardwell lies across the bay from Myreton.Between the later 14th and mid-15th centuries, they were strong allies of the earls of Douglas, who had now acquired the Galloway lordship, witnessing their charters, supplying soldiers and ships of war for their forces, and maintaining places on their council. According to Michael Brown's history of The Black Douglases, McCullochs were part of the Douglas muster-roll that fought against the English armies at the Battle of Homildon Hill in 1402. Three years later, Sir Thomas McCulloch led maritime raids on English strongholds in Ulster, but was captured after sailing south to launch an attack upon Dublin Bay. John McCulloch was chancellor to the Countess of Douglas in the 1420s.
Though the power of the Black Douglases fell away in the later fifteenth century, the McCullochs outlasted their erstwhile patrons, and with castles built at Myretoun, Cardoness and Barholm on the Galloway shoreline, the strength of the family became a central part of Scotland's maritime defence. Their influence rose to its height in the career of Sir Alexander McCulloch, a favourite of King James IV of Scotland whom he served as chief falconer, sheriff of Wigtown and captain of the Royal Palace of Linlithgow. Under his authority, the McCulloch family and their following supplied the bodyguard for the newly-born Prince James in 1512, and were exempted from local legal and military duties in Wigtownshire while they resided at Linlithgow. In 1507, Sir Alexander ravaged the Isle of Man in revenge for an English raid on the town of Kirkcudbright. The Isle of Man was then in the possession of the Earl of Derby. Sir Alexander's daughter Margaret was married to a kinsman, another Alexander McCulloch of Cardoness, who was a favoured member of the king's guard, and is recorded as archery partner to James IV, and as a regular participant in the royal jousts. At the Battle of Flodden, the younger MacCulloch was one of ten men clad in armour identical to the king, in an attempt to confuse the English adversaries. The ruse failed to work - James IV was killed, and so was Sandy McCulloch.
The power of the McCullochs on the national stage entered into decline after the reign of James IV. However, the family remained significant within Galloway, and a number of influential landholding branches had sprung off the main Myreton line. The McCulloch lairds of Ardwell and Killasser were among the leading Galloway supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, summoned with the threat of a charge of treason to submit to the regency ruling after her deposition in 1569 and 1571. David, son of Thomas McCulloch of Nether Ardwall was in military service in the Thirty Years' War, and settled permanently on the continent; his sons Thomas and Anthony were officers in a British regiment in Spanish service during the War of Devolution against Louis XIV. A second David McCulloch of Nether Ardwall served in the armies of William of Orange before the 1688 Revolution, and then in the British forces in the Nine Years' War. In 1715, he was offered but declined a commission in the Jacobite rebel army, commanded by his cousin William Gordon, 6th Viscount of Kenmure. In the earlier part of the seventeenth-century, the brothers John and James McCulloch, younger sons descendant from McCulloch of Killasser, attained distinction as scholars and physicians, both holding professorial chairs at the University of Pisa, and both serving as physicians-in-ordinary to King James VI/I. John McCulloch had worked previously as physician to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who shared his enthusiasm for alchemy and astrology.
The chief of the Clan McCulloch of Myreton was raised to the rank of Baronet in 1634. However this title ended when Sir Godfrey McCulloch was executed in Edinburgh in 1697 for the murder of William Gordon seven years earlier. This may have been as a result of a fight over some cattle. Sir Godfrey's crime was the beginning of a time of severe misfortune for the Myreton line. . The chief's son Captain John McCulloch left a flourishing career in the Grenadier Guards in 1691: probably returning from the continent to support a family cast into penury after flight from justice of the laird. It is commonly stated that Sir Godfrey McCulloch of Myretoun was the last McCulloch Chief. However, iIn 1814, the Court of Lord Lyon granted a Coat of Arms to John McCulloch of Barholm as the direct lineal descendant and representative of McCulloch of Muile a younger branch of the ancient families of McCulloch of Myretoun and Cardoness, indicating Sir Godfrey McCulloch's line was extinguished, and granting McCulloch "Supporters" in his Coat of Arms. By granting "Supporters," the Court was recognizing John McCulloch of Barholm as Chief as a direct lineal descendant and representative of McCulloch of Mule. John McCulloch of Barholm died in 1851, the last of his line. In 1892, Andrew James Jameson assumed the name "McCulloch" and inherited the title "Lord Ardwall" from his mother's side of the family. Sir Andrew Jameson McCulloch was the thirteenth and final Lord Ardwall.