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The clan's first recorded chief was Malcolm Beg, whose son, also called Malcolm, fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. After the battle the clan was given lands in Perthshire by King Robert I. Two of his grandsons, Gilbert and John de Drumund, swore fealty to Edward I. Malcolm's great-granddaughter, Annabella became the mother of King James I of Scotland in 1394.
Sir Malcolm, the eldest great-grandson of the aforementioned Malcolm, obtained the clan home, Stobhall Castle, from his aunt Queen Margaret Drummond, King David II's wife. He was murdered by Highland marauders in 1403. His brother John's great-grandson, also John, became a Lord of Parliament and the first Lord Drummond[1]. One year of his life was spent in confinement within Blackness Castle after he assaulted the Lord Lyon, King of Arms. He had a daughter, Margaret, who was said to have been secretly married to King James IV[2]. This was believed to be the motive for her murder in 1501[3]. Her two sisters died in this same incident.
Later, James Drummond, descendant of John, Margaret's father, became the first Earl of Perth in 1605, and his brother John became his successor on his death in 1611, and his sons became Earls of Perth like their father before them.
During the Wars of Scottish Independence Clan Drummond fought against the English at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296 and the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 in support of King Robert the Bruce. Malcolm Beg's son, The third Malcolm of Drummond fought at Bannockburn. He is credited with the deployment of caltrops, iron spikes to injure horses before the battle started.
During the battles that followed in the decades after the Civil War the Clan Drummond fought at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689.
The Drummonds were supporters of the Jacobites and the House of Stuart. When King James VII came to the throne, James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, converted to the Catholic Faith, as did his brother, the 1st Earl of Melfort. Clan Drummond fought as Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. For their support of the Stewarts through the risings of 1715 and 1745 the property and titles of the Drummonds were twice forfeited. It was not until 1853, through an Act of Parliament, that the title of Earl of Perth and other forfeited titles were restored to George Drummond, who was also in the French peerage as a Baron
James Eric Drummond (1876-1951), 16th Earl of Perth, served as the first secretary-general of the League of Nations. Lord Perth, a Catholic, was also British ambassador to Rome, from 1933 to 1939, and was chief advisor on foreign publicity at the Ministry of Information during World War II.
His successor, John David Drummond, was able to buy back the family home, Stobhall Castle.
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