Clan Mackinnon

SCOTTISH CLANS - MACKINNON


MOTTO FORTUNE ASSISTS THE DARING	CLAN TARTAN MACKINNON TARTAN

The clan claims descent from King Kenneth MacAlpine, through his great, great-grandson, Fingon or ‘Fair Born. The MacKinnons were of great assistance to Robert the Bruce as they provided him with shelter during his time as a fugitive, helping him to escape. As thanks they were rewarded with land on Mull and Strathordell on the Isle of Skye. These lands were held from the 12th to the 15th century. The clan was in constant conflict with their neighbours the clan Maclean who held Duart Castle on Skye. However the MacKinnons did not always indulge in bloodshed in their dealings with the Macleans. In one episode the Macleans took some land in Mull, from the MacKinnons, and then celebrated with a drunken feast. While the Macleans lay in a drunken stupor, the MacKinnons quietly placed some fir trees (plant badge of the clan) in the hall where the Macleans had been feasting. On waking, the Macleans beat a hasty retreat from MacKinnon land.

The clan chiefs became hereditary abbots of Iona and the last was John MacKinnon, who was also Bishop of the Isle and who died in 1500. John, who, with his father, Lachlan, raised the sculptured monument known as Mackinnon’s Cross, over the graves of his family in the Reilig Oran, and whose effigy is still to be seen on an altar tomb in the chancel of the cathedral. The MacKinnons fought on behalf of Charles i and later is said to have saved the life of the young Charles II at the battle of Worcester. He is said to have been knighted on the field of battle but there is no record of this having been formalised. The clan supported the Stewarts in the 1715 and 1745 uprisings. The chief, Ian Og, hid Charles Stewart and aided his escape, but was later captured and imprisoned for four years. As a result of their part in the uprisings they lost some of their land William Alexander Mackinnon, became thirty-third Chief in 1808. He sat at Westminster for most of the parliaments between 1819 until 1865.

Many members of the clan have distinguished themselves throughout the centuries from Waterloo to the Indian mutiny. Another member of the clan was Sir William Mackinnon, Bart who was the founder of the British India Steam Navigation Company.