Clan Fletcher
Scottish clan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clan Fletcher is a Scottish clan.[2] The clan is officially recognized by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; however, as the clan does not currently have a chief recognized by the Lord Lyon, it is considered an armigerous clan.[2]
| Clan Fletcher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac-An-Leister (Son of the Arrowmaker)[1] Fleisdear[2] | |||
| Motto | Alta Pete (Aim at High Things)[1] | ||
| Profile | |||
| Country | Scotland, Ireland, England | ||
| Region | Scottish Highlands | ||
| District | Argyll | ||
| Ethnicity | Scottish | ||
| |||
| Clan Fletcher no longer has a chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
| Historic seat | Achallader Castle [3] | ||
| |||
| |||
History
Origins of the name
The name Fletcher is derived from the French word flechier, which means arrow maker.[2] The first record of the name was from Jean de la Flèche, a Norman noble who was given land by William the Conqueror. His descendant later moved to Scotland. The name was a very common trade name, so much so that it became used in the Scottish Gaelic language as fleisdear.[2] In the eighteenth century some families went full circle and anglicised the name from the Gaelic, Mac-an-leistear, back into Fletcher.[2]
Origins of the clan
Sometime after the eleventh century a band of Mac-an-leistears settled in Glen Orchy, Argyll.[2] There they became arrow makers to the Clan MacGregor.[2] Other small groups of Mac-an-leisters settled in glens that belonged to other clans, in order to make arrows for them.[2]
The first recorded clan chief was Angus Mac-an-leister, who was born in about 1450.[2] However, Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, who was in high royal favour with James VI of Scotland coveted the Mac-an-leister's lands.[2] Campbell had royal authority to maintain a large band of armed retainers who he employed in a campaign of intimidation and violence.[2] Campbell deliberately provoked a dispute with the Mac-an-leister chief and trumped up a murder charge against him.[2] As a result, Mac-an-leister was compelled to sign a deed in which all of his family lands were ceded to the Campbells, and from then onwards they were only tenants in Glen Orchy.[2]
17th century
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun "the Patriot" was a fierce opponent of the union with England.[2] He became MP for Haddington in 1678; however, he was forced to flee to Holland for having supported the Monmouth Rebellion against James II of England (VII of Scotland).[2]
18th century and Jacobite risings
During the Jacobite rising of 1715, Archibald, the ninth chief of the clan, led the Mac-an-leisters in support of the Jacobites. Thirty years later, his younger brother John did the same in the Jacobite rising of 1745.[2] However, in the latter rebellion, Archibald supplied men to the British-Hanoverian forces under his Campbell overlords, thereby avoiding forfeiture.[2]
Castles
Castles owned by the Clan Fletcher have included amongst others:
- Achallader Castle, three miles from Bridge of Orchy in Argyll, is a ruined tower house dating back to the 16th century.[3] It was erected by the Campbells in the wake of their possession of the Mac-an-leister clan's lands.[3] In 1603, the castle was set in flames by the MacGregors and again in 1689 by the Jacobites.[3]
- Saltoun Hall, five miles west of Haddington, East Lothian was sold to the Fletchers in 1643, and was the seat of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun "the Patriot".[3]