Clan Darroch
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Clan Darroch is a Lowland Scottish clan. They were islanders who lived on the Isle of Islay and the Isle of Jura under MacDonald, Lord of the Isles.
The name darroch is said to derive from the Gaelic word 'Macdara' which meant "son of oak". The Darrochs settled around Stirling. and appear to derive their name from Darroch near Falkirk, where there once may have been an Oak grove.
John Darroch was baille of Stirling in 1406. John Darach de Cruce is mentioned in 1445 and may be the same person as John Darraugh who was the commisioner to Parliment for the burgh of Stirling in 1450.
Mariote Darrauch was nurse of Lady Margaret the second daughter of King James II of Scotland in 1462.
Marion Darroch of Stirling protested in 1471 that she had not given consent to the alienation of an annual rent due to her.
Jacobus Darroch was a notary public who appears as a witness to a charter relating to the lands of the Stirlings of Keir around 1477.
Although the Darrochs were notable in and around Stirling they were most numerous on the Isle of Islay and the Isle of Jura where they were part of the powerful Clan Donald or MacDonald who were ruled by MacDonald Lord of the Isles.
In 1623 the Clan Darroch appears on a bond acknowledging Sir Donald MacDonald, first Baronet of Sleat as their overlord and protector.
In the later half of the 18th century Duncan Darroch returned to Scotland after making a fortune in the West Indies. He aquired the Barony of Gourock from the Stewarts of Castlemilk in 1784. He was also granted arms by the Court of the Lord Lyon and designated Chief of McIireich.
His son, who was also called Duncan and was 2nd Baron of Gourock rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Glengarry Fencibles Regiment
His son who was also called Duncan became 3rd Baron of Gourock and also married the daughter of a wealthy merchant called the Laird of Fairlie in Ayrshire.
Long after the Scottish clans were over the northern estates in Torriden Ross-shire were aquired by the fourth Baron of Gourock in 1873. The clan was united by marraige to the Clan MacKintosh when Margaret Darroch of Gourock married the Chief of Clan MacKintosh; Raer Admril Lachlan MacKintosh. She later published a well respected history of the MacKintosh clan.
The sixth Baron of Gourlock also followed a military career serving in the British regiment of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He served in both World Wars. He was also a member of the Royal Company of Archers. His son is the present Clan Darroch Chief.
Clan Darroch Crest: Be Watchful
Darroch - MacDonald of Sleat
Scottish Tartan Society notes: The MacDonald of Sleat tartan was manufactured in the 18th century and called MacDonald of Sleat, Lord of the Isles. The pattern was devised from an old MacDonald tartan that is shown in a painting at Armadale Castle, but it appears that the reconstruction differs somewhat from the original. Whether this was intended or simply a mistake is entirely open to conjecture but it would not be the first new design to have arisen from an error in the threadcount. [1]
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