The Clan History

The name of Drummond may be derived originally from the parish of Drymen, in what is now the western district of Stirlingshire. The Gaelic name is Druiman, signifying a ridge, or high ground.

An ancestor of the noble family of Perth thus fancifully interprets the origin of the name: Drum in Gaelic signifies a height, and onde a wave, the name being given to Maurice the Hungarian, to express how gallantly he had conducted through the swelling waves the ship in which Prince Edgar and his two sisters had embarked for Hungary, when they were driven out of their course on the Scottish coast. There are other conjectural derivations of the name, but the territorial definition above mentioned appears to be the most probable one.

The chief of the family at the epoch of their first appearing in written records was Malcolm Beg (or the Little), chamberlain on the estate of Levenax, and the fifth from the Hungarian Maurice, who married Ada, daughter of Malduin, third Earl of Lennox, by Beatrix, daughter of Walter, lord high steward of Scotland, and died before 1260.

Two of his grandsons are recorded as having sworn fealty to Edward the First.

The name of one of them, Gilbert de Dromund, "del County de Dunbretan", appears in Prynne's copy of the Ragman Roll. He was Drummond of Balquapple in Perthshire, and had a son, Malcolm de Drummond, who also swore fealty to Edward in 1296, and was father of Bryce Drummond, killed in 1330 by the Monteiths.

The other, the elder brother of Gilbert, named Sir John de Dromund, married his relation, a daughter of Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith, and countess in her own right.

His eldest son, Sir Malcolm de Drummond, attached himself firmly to the cause of Bruce. King Robert, after the battle of Bannockburn, bestowed upon him certain lands in Perthshire. He married a daughter of Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine, elder brother of Sir John Graham, and ancestor of the family of Montrose. He had a son, Sir Malcolm Drummond, who died about 1346. The latter had three sons, John, Maurice, and Walter. The two former married heiresses.

Maurice's lady was sole heiress of Cencraig and of the stewardship of Strathearn, to both of which he succeeded.

The wife of John, the eldest son, was Mary, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir William de Montefex, with whom he got the lands of Auchterarder, Kincardine in Monteith, Cargill, and Stobhall in Perthshire. He had four sons, Sir Malcolm, Sir John, William, and Dougal; and three daughters - Annabella, married, in 1357, John, Earl of Carrick, high steward of Scotland, afterwards King Robert the Third, and thus became Queen of Scotland, and the mother of David, Duke of Rothesay, starved to death in the palace of Falkland, in 1402, and of James the First, as well as of three daughters; Margaret, married to Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, Jean, to Stewart of Donally, and Mary, to Macdonald of the Isles.

About 1360, in consequence of a feud which had long subsisted between the Drummonds and the Menteiths of Rusky, the residence of the family seems to have been transferred from Drymen, in Stirlingshire, where they had chiefly lived for about two hundred years, to Stobhall, in Perthshire, which had some years before come into their possession by marriage.

Sir Malcolm Drummond, the eldest son, succeeded to the earldom of Mar in right of his wife, lady Isabel Douglas, only daughter of William, first Earl of Douglas. His death was a violent one, having been seized by a band of ruffians and imprisoned till he died "of his hard captivity". This happened before 27th May 1403. Not long after his death, Alexander Stewart, a natural son of "the Wolf of Badenoch", a bandit and robber by profession, having cast his eyes on the lands of the earldom, stormed the countess' castle of Kildrummie; and, either by violence or persuasion, obtained her in marriage. As Sir Malcolm Drummond had died without issue, his brother, John, succeeded him.

John's eldest son, Sir Walter Drummond, was knighted by King James the Second, and died in 1455. He had three sons: Sir Malcolm his successor; John, dean of Dunblane; and Walter of Ledcrieff, ancestor of the Drummonds of Blair-Drummond (now the Home Drummonds, Henry Home, the celebrated Lord Kames, having married Agatha, daughter of James Drummond of Blair-Drummond, and successor in the estate to her nephew in 1766); of Cairdrum; of Newton, and other families of the name.

The eldest son of the main stem, that is, the Cargill and Stobhall family, Sir Malcolm by name, had great possessions in the counties of Dumbarton, Perth, and Stirling, and died in 1470. By his wife Marion, daughter of Murray of Tullibardine, he had six sons. His eldest son, Sir John, was first Lord Drummond.

Sir John, the eldest son, was a personage of considerable importance in the reigns of James the Third and Fourth, having been concerned in most of the public transactions of that period. He died in 1519.

By his wife, lady Elizabeth Lindsay, daughter of David, Duke of Montrose, the first Lord Drummond, had three sons, and six daughters, the eldest of whom, Margaret, was mistress to James the Fourth. Malcolm, the eldest son, predeceased his father. William, the second son, styled master of Drummond, suffered on the scaffold.

William had two sons, Walter and Andrew, ancestor of the Drummonds of Bellyclone. Walter died in 1518, before his grandfather. By Lady Elizabeth Graham, daughter of the first Earl of Montrose, he had a son, David, second Lord Drummond, who was served heir to his great-grandfather, John, first lord, 17th February 1520. Of his two sons, Patrick, the elder, was third Lord Drummond; James, the younger, created, 31st January 1609, Lord Maderty, was ancestor of the viscounts of Strathallan.

Patrick, third Lord Drummond, embraced the reformed religion, and spent some time in France. He died before 1600. He was twice married, and by his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of David Lindsay of Edzell, eventually Earl of Crawford, he had two sons and five daughters.

The elder son, James, fourth Lord Drummond, passed a considerable portion of his youth in France, and after James the Sixth's accession to the English throne he attended the Earl of Nottingham on an embassy to the Spanish court. On his return he was created Earl of Perth, 4th March 1605. John, the younger son, succeeded his brother in 1611, as second Earl of Perth.

The Hon John Drummond, second son of James, third Earl of Perth, was created in 1685 Viscount, and in 1686 Earl of Melfort; and his representative Captain George Drummond, duc de Melfort, and Count de Lussan in France, whose claim to the earldom of Perth in the Scottish peerage was established by the House of Lords, June 1853, is the chief of the clan Drummond, which, more than any other, signalised itself by its fidelity to the lost cause of the Stuarts.

Motto: Gang warily - "Go Carefully"
Septs of the Clan: Begg, Brewer, Cargill, Doig, Grewar, Gruar, Gruer, Maccrouther, Macgrewar, Macgrowther, MacGrouther, Macgruder, Macgruther, MacRobbie and Robbie.
Names associated with the clan: CARGIL CARGHILLE CARGILE CARGILL CARGYL DROMMONDE DRUMMONT DRUMMOND DRUMMOT DRUMMYN DRUMON DRUMONT DRUMMAN DROUMOUND DROMUND DROMOUNDE DROMINTH DROMONDE DRUMUND DROMAN DROMMOUNT DORMONDY DRUMUNDE DREUMOND DORMOND KERGYLLE KERGYLL KERGYL KERGILLE KERGILL MUSCHATE MUSHET MUSCHETT MUSCHET DOIG DOG DOEG MACDORMOND BEGG BROUSTAR BROSTAR BROUSTIR BROWISTAR BREWER BROWSTARE BROUSTARE BROWSTER BROUSTER BROSTER CROWDER GROWAR GRUAR GRUER GREWYR GREWER GREWAR MACCREWER MACCROUDER MACCREWIR MACCROUTHER MACCROWTHER MACGRADER MACGRUER MACGRUTHER MACGRUDDER MACHRUDDER MACGRUDER MACGRUTHAR MACGREWER MACHRUDER MACGROWDER MACGRUAR MACGROWTHER MACGREWAR MACGROUTHER MACGREVAR MACGRUDAIRE MACRUDDER MACRUDRIE MACRUAR MACRUER MACRITHER MAGRUDER MAKRUDDER MAKGRUDER MACCROBIE MACROBI MACROBIE MACROBBIE MAKROBY RABBE ROBIE ROBBIE ROBYE ROBY ROBE MACROBIN BEGGS