Clan Macnab


Clan Macnab is a Highland Scottish clan.
WWW Official Site

History

Origins of the clan

Traditional origins

The name Macnab is derived from the Scottish Gaelic Mac An Aba, which means child of the abbot. According to tradition the progenitor of the clan was Abraruadh who was the Abbot of Glen Dochart and Strathearn. Abraruadh was allegedly a younger son of Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of Scots.. Abraruadh was also descended from Fergus, king of Dál Riata and a nephew of Saint Fillan, who was the founder of the monastery in Glen Dochart in the seventh century.

Recorded origins

One of the earliest records of the Macnab family is on a charter of 1124. Malcolm de Glendochart appears in the Ragman Rolls of 1296 and submitted to Edward I of England.

14th century and Robert the Bruce

Angus Macnab was brother-in-law of John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch who was murdered by Robert the Bruce in 1306. Macnab then joined forces with the Clan MacDougall in their campaign against the Bruce when Bruce was nearly captured at the Battle of Dalrigh. When the Bruce's power consolidated after his victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Macnab lands were forfeited and their charters were destroyed.
The fortunes of the Clan Macnab were restored to some extent when Angus's grandson, Gilbert, received a charter from David II of Scotland in 1336. Gilbert was succeeded by his son, Sir Alexander Macnab, who died in about 1407.

16th century and clan conflicts

Many battles were fought between the Clan Macnab and the Clan Neish. The last battle between them was the Battle of Glenboultachan where the Macnabs were victorious. The Neishes were killed almost to a man. However, some Neishes survived and continued to live on what they called Neish Island. The Neishes continued to plunder the neighbourhood and feuds continued.

17th century and civil war

Chief Finlay Macnab was a man of peace but protected his lands against the foraging royalist forces of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose in the mid-1640s. However Finlay's son, who was known as Smooth John, did not follow his father's peaceful ways and actually joined forces with Montrose, contributing to the royal victory at the Battle of Kilsyth in 1645. Smooth John Macnab was appointed to garrison Montrose's own Kincardine Castle. General David Leslie, Lord Newark subsequently laid siege to the castle. The castle's whole garrison however, managed break through the Covenanter lines and fought their way clear, but John Macnab was captured. He was taken to Edinburgh and sentenced to death but escaped on the eve of his execution. He went on to lead three hundred of his clansmen at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
On 13 July 1680 the Chief of Clan Macnab and his followers fought at the Battle of Altimarlach in support of John Campbell, 1st [Earl of Breadalbane and Holland|Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy] and against George Sinclair of Keiss, in a dispute over who had the right to the lands and title of the Earl of Caithness. Campbell won a decisive victory in the battle, but Sinclair later turned to the law and was awarded the title and the lands as Earl of Caithness.

18th century and Jacobite risings

Robert Macnab, the fourteenth chief of Clan Macnab married a sister of John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland. This connection to the Clan Campbell constrained him from supporting the Jacobites in the rising of 1715, although many of his clansmen did take part. The fifteenth chief was a major in the Hanoverian government army and was captured at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745. He was then held prisoner in Doune Castle.

Clan Chief

Traditionally descended from Abraruadh, the Abbot of Glen Dochart, younger son of Kenneth Mac Alpin, first king of Scots.
Chieftain position passes father to child unless otherwise noted.
  • 1st Chief: Gilbert McNab
  • 2nd Chief: Alexander McNab
  • 3rd Chief: John McNab
  • 4th Chief: Finlay McNab
  • 5th Chief: Patrick McNab
  • 6th Chief: Finlay McNab
  • 7th Chief: John McNab
  • 8th Chief: Finlay McNab
  • 9th Chief: John McNab
  • 10th Chief: Finlay McNab
  • 11th Chief: Alexander McNab, brother of 10th
  • 12th Chief: Finlay McNab
  • 13th Chief: Alexander McNab
  • 14th Chief: Robert McNab
  • 15th Chief: John McNab
  • 16th Chief: Francis McNab. Dvp
  • 17th Chief: Archibald McNab
  • 18th Chief: Sarah Ann MacNab. dvp.
  • 19th Chief: James William MacNab. Cousin of the 18th.
  • 20th Chief: James Frederick MacNab
  • 21st Chief : James Alexander McNab. Resigned in favor of his uncle.
  • 22nd Chief : Archibald Corrie McNab, uncle of the 21st.
  • 23rd Chief: James Charles Macnab of Macnab, in 2013., son of the 21st.
  • 24th Chief: James “Jamie” William McNab,

Ancestry and Noble Connections

Clan MacNab traces its origins to the Cenél Loairn, a branch of the early Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata, placing the clan among Scotland’s oldest lineages. This ancestry is shared with families such as the MacDougalls and the early House of Alpin, the dynasty of the first Scottish kings.
In the early 16th century, Finlay MacNab of Bovain married Katherine Campbell, daughter of Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, linking the clan to the influential Campbells of Glenorchy, later Earls of Breadalbane. Through Katherine’s maternal line, the clan is connected to the House of Stewart and to Joan Beaufort, queen consort of James I of Scotland. Joan Beaufort was the granddaughter of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III of England, thus providing a link to the House of Plantagenet and, through Philippa of Hainault, to the Capetian kings of France.
This lineage includes ties to:
• Edward III of England and the House of Plantagenet
• Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots and the House of Lancaster
• The Scottish royal House of Stewart
• The Campbells of Glenorchy
Through these connections, Clan MacNab shares common ancestry with major medieval dynasties of England, Scotland, and France, including the Capetians, the Dukes of Normandy, and the Angevin kings of England, as well as the Counts of Anjou, from whom Fulk V of Anjou, King of Jerusalem, descended.
Later intermarriages within the European aristocracy connect these lines to numerous royal houses, including:
• House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later House of Windsor)
• House of Plantagenet / Anjou
Although Clan MacNab did not hold a peerage, genealogical evidence demonstrates its connection to multiple royal and noble families of Britain and continental Europe.

Notable Family Members

Archibald Macnab
Colonel of the 41st Regiment of Foot
Brigadier John Francis MacNab of Barravorich C.B.E. D.S.O.
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, the King’s African Rifles.
John MacNab
Held a commission in the Black Watch during the Jacobite UprisingsJacobitism
Archibald MacNab
Served in the Loudon Highlanders
John MacNab
Major in the British Army during the jacobite uprisings
Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet of Dundurn C.B.
Joint Premier of the Province of Canada
Iain Macnab of Barachastlain
Influential Scottish wood-engraver and painter, founder of Grosvenor School; served in both World Wars
Cliff McNabb
Founder of the Nanaimo Clippers
Larry McNabb
Professional Ice Hockey player
City councillor