Note 264 — MEMORIAL CONCERNING THE HIGHLANDS WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER MACBEAN, A.M. MINISTER OF INVERNESS

It is hardly likely that the Macraes will accept this suggestion of descent without strong corroboration which does not seem to exist. A very different origin is given by the Rev. Roderick Morison, minister of Kintail in 1793: ‘It is generally allowed that the Mac Raes emigrated from the braes of Aird, on the Lovat estate, to this place, though what induced them to prefer the mountains to the plains is not universally agreed upon, yet certain it is, that long after their residence in Kintail, they maintained a firm alliance with the Frasers of Aird. The tradition which prevails, that an inscription was set up nigh the entrance to Lovat House, bearing “That no Mac Rae must lodge without, when a Fraser resides within,” is not wholly without foundation. When the Mac Raes first entered Kintail, there were several clans inhabiting it, particularly the Mac Aulays, of whom no vestige now remains. The Mac Lennans, a small tribe in the parish of Glensheal, were the only people that would not yield. These Mac Lennans, at the battle of Auldearn, were intrusted with Seaforth’s colours. The novelty of the preferment roused them to action and stubborn resistance, which proved fatal to the clan, for many were slain; and their widows, 18 in number, were afterwards married to Mac Raes. The boundaries which divide the Mac Raes from the Mac Lennans are marked by a river which runs into Lochduich; but common observation may easily trace a line of distinction from the difference in their language and accent.’ Mr. Morison gives the derivation of the name as Mhac Ragh, the son of good fortune, applied by the founder to his son after some successful exploits.—(Statistical Account of Scotland, vi. 242; the story of the great slaughter of Maclellans at Auldearn is modified by latest investigators.) The word Ragh or Rath may mean either ‘good fortune’ or ‘grace,’ and the latest clan historian, Rev. Alex. Macrae, is of opinion that the name has an ecclesiastical origin as the ‘son of grace’ applied to a holy man of old. Relying on tradition, he inclines to believe that the Macraes were from Clunes in the Aird and were of common origin with the Mackenzies and Macleans.

The Kintail Macraes were not out in ’45. There was, however, a certain Captain MacRaw in Glengarry’s regiment; he attended Prince Charles when in Lochaber during his wanderings; also a Lieut. Alexander M‘Ra from Banff; and one of the French officers taken prisoner at sea on the voyage to Scotland, was Captain James Macraith of Berwick’s regiment. Gilchrist Macgrath or M‘Kra entertained the Prince in Glen Shiel in his wanderings. Murdoch M‘Raw, ‘nearest relation to the chieftain of that name,’ was barbarously hanged as a spy at Inverness protesting his innocence. (L. in M., i. 205, 342; iii. 378; ii. 205, 299.)