This name Chisholm is formed from the Norman ‘chese’ which meant ‘to choose’, and ‘holm’ which is a Saxon word that meant ‘meadow’. The early Chisholms came across the North Sea and the lands they claimed in Roxburghshire became a feudal barony.
The name of Alexander de Cheschelme appears on a charter from 1249. The Ragman Roll of 1296, listing the supporters of England’s Edward I, mentions Richard de Cheschelme and John de Cheshome.
The seal used by the family shows a boar’s head which represented the traditional story of two Chisholm brothers who saved a king from a wild boar. This symbol is still used in Chisholm heraldry today. By 1359 the family had gained the post of constables of Urquhart Castle, the important royal stronghold on the shores of Loch Ness that guarded the pass to the western highlands.
The various Chiefs of the Clan of Strathglass and Glen Cannich were known as ‘The Chisholm’. As a result it was said that only three people on earth were entitled to use the definite article for their appellation: The Pope, The King and The Chisholm.
Less than fifty of the Chisholms who fought for Prince Charles at Culloden survived. Three of the seven men who shepherded the Prince away across the country were Chisholms: Alexander, Donald and Hugh. Hugh vowed, after shaking the Prince’s hand at the end of their journey, he would never shake another man’s hand. He kept his vow for life.
In the mid 1700’s the twenty-second chief, Ruairidh, followed the example of other clans of the time by squeezing his tenants for as much rent as he could. The pressure was relieved for a generation upon his death but in 1793 William, the twenty-third chief, burned his family’s loyal supporters out of their homes to make way for sheep.
