The Falls of Dochart

Monty Python’s Michael Palin is featured in the book, discussing the Falls of Dochart in Killin. Killin is the ancestral home to Clan Macnab, with many of the clan’s chiefs buried on the island situated in the falls – Innis Bhuidhe.

You can read Palin’s piece below, and for more information on the burial island you can read my report from the Macnab chief’s memorial which was held in 2013.

Michael Palin

It’s hard to know where to begin. Scotland is so richly endowed with great landscapes, breathtaking views and fine cities that picking out a favourite place seems unfair to all the others. But if I had to narrow my focus and forget the Forth-Clyde canal walk in Glasgow, the Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay and the King’s House Hotel in Glencoe, I’d settle for the Falls of Dochart in Killin. They’re dramatic without being fierce and the way the water twists and tumbles over the rocks is pleasing rather than awesome. They’re accessible too. You can get close to them. Thrilling for a child, I should think, and not intimidating to an oldie like me. I’d call them the friendly falls.

So much of what is beautiful about Scotland has water at the heart of it, whether it’s the rivers and streams, or the lochs and Sounds and Firths into which they flow. One of the great delights of a visit to the Falls of Dochart is their location. From whichever direction you approach the landscape is magnificent. From the west the valley of the Dochart leads you towards the Falls, with Ben More the sentinel to the south, rising over 1,100 metres. Coming at them from the east the road runs, for 14 glorious miles, beside the silver finger of Loch Tay with the dark flanks of the Ben Lawers range rising over 1,200 metres on the far side. Powerful, mysterious, hugely impressive highland scenery.

I think though that a favourite place has to be something more than just an aesthetic choice. There have to be personal elements. And so there are with me and the Falls of Dochart. In my mid-teens I’d met a girl on holiday in Suffolk, and we’d got on very well and the next year we’d met up again by the chilly grey North Sea and our holiday romance blossomed again. The year after that she wasn’t there and I was, for a while, very sad, as I never expected to see her again. Two years later, through the letter-box, came one of those significant communications that can change the course of a lifetime, like unexpectedly good exam results or a successful job application. In my case it was a postcard with a picture of the Falls of Dochart on the front.

On the back was a message from the girl I’d never expected to see again. She was on holiday up in the Highlands and had heard via a friend that I had got into Oxford University. This was followed by some snide reference to the fact that they must have lowered their standards, which, as humour had always been at the heart of our relationship, I found deeply reassuring. 
Reunited by the Falls of Dochart, we later met up and the holiday romance has developed into a 46-
year marriage.

Was it predestination or just plain good fortune that led me to another relationship that was to shape my life, and which was to bring me to see the Falls of Dochart for myself? Whilst at Oxford I met and started to write with a Welshman from Esher in Surrey called Terry Jones. A few years later, by way of The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set, he and I teamed up with three fellow writers and performers from Cambridge, called Idle, Cleese and Chapman. Joined by an American animator named Gilliam, we became Monty Python’s Flying Circus. After a few years of television we wrote and produced our first film, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Among many other things it featured a killer rabbit that lived in the terrifying Cave of Caerbannog.

The film was almost entirely shot in Scotland and the home of the killer rabbit was on the hillside overlooking Loch Tay. Which is how, on 6 May 1974, on an afternoon free of filming, I first saw the Falls Of Dochart for myself. I was with John Cleese and we sat on the rocks with the water spilling around us and talked about the future of Python and John’s urge to be free of his obligations to the group. When the time came to go, my hired car wouldn’t start and John helped me push it up the hill to Killin’s only garage.

In 2005, Terry Jones and myself returned to Scotland to film a short video of our search for the Holy Grail locations which was to be included in a new DVD release. By now, just over 30 years after John had expressed his frustrations with the group, the Holy Grail had been a huge international success and transformed the outlook for 
Python. We had stayed together, on and off, for two more films, the 
Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.

Before Terry and I went on our quest to rediscover the location of the Cave of Caerbannog I insisted that we stop at the Falls. I stepped carefully out onto a rock in the middle of the river, sat down, took my shoes off and dangled my feet in the cool fast-flowing waters of the Dochart. I thought about my life and how this place had come to mean so much to me.

Seven years has gone by since then. John Cleese has just got 
married, for the fourth time, Terry Jones and I are meeting for a drink tomorrow and my wife has just rung to check on our three-year -old grandson who has come down with what he calls chicken 
pops. And a few hundred miles north the river will be bubbling and swirling down the Falls of 
Dochart.

© Michael Palin from My Favourite Place, which is being distributed throughout Scotland as part of Book Week Scotland

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The Macnab, by Sir Henry Raeburn (1802)

The striking and imposing character glaring down from Sir Henry Raeburn’s celebrated portrait The Macnab seems to be the perfect figure of an eighteenth century highland chief. This giant of a man stands dressed in the uniform of Lieutenant Colonel of the Breadalbane Fencibles – a green jacket with silver braid, a red tartan vest, a kilt in Macnab tartan, tartan stockings, a badger-head sporran and a bonnet of tall black and white feathers on his head. Armed with a dirk, broadsword and pistol, the chief stands pictured against the backdrop of a lonely highland pass, right hand poised at his pistol.

The man in the portrait is Francis Macnab (1734-1816), landowner and 16th chief of Clan Macnab. Known to those around him as Francis More (Big Francis), he was a giant of a man, measuring six foot three in height and of immense strength. Over his 82 years, Francis drank, gambled and womanised his way through what was left of the Macnab fortunes and estate, fathering at least 32 children and eventually passing away hugely in debt (£35,000 in the red to be precise). While Francis is most well-known as the subject of Raeburn’s portrait, a reputation for excessively eccentric and uninhibited ways have ensured that he remains remembered as one of Scotland’s most notorious chiefs.

BORN INTO A REBELLION
Francis was born in 1734 to John Macnab (15th chief) and Jean Buchanan, where they lived just outside of Killin in Kinnell House – the heart of Clan Macnab territory. At the time Kinnell House was the seat of the clan following the destruction of Eilean Ran Castle by Cromwellian forces in 1654. Francis would have been 11 years old at the time of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, and it seems as though the clan, like many at the time, were divided in their loyalties.

John Macnab was an ardent Hanoverian supporter and Major in the British Army. His military history has been rather muddled over time, with some reports suggesting he served in the Hanoverian Army during the Rising. His brother Archibald Macnab had an impressive military career, which included serving as a captain in the Loudoun Highlanders during the Rising. He was captured and taken prisoner by the Jacobites during the Battle of Prestonpans.

Despite the chief’s loyalties, some Macnab clansmen were listed as Jacobite supporters, serving with the Duke of Perth. On Francis’ maternal side of the family the leanings were well and truly Jacobite – Jean Buchannan’s brother was Francis Buchanan of Arnprior, a notable Jacobite supporter who was beheaded at Carlisle in October 1746. Prince Charles gifted to him a ruby ring which is on display in the National Museum in Edinburgh, and his sword (also a gift from Charles) is in possession of the current Chief. His lands at Arnprior were confiscated following the Rising, but eventually restored to his sister.

INHERITED DEBT
The Macnab inherited the chieftainship in 1778 at the age of 44 and lived the life of an old-fashioned feudal chief, admired and reverenced by all around him. For his entire life, the Macnab battled against the rising levels of an inherited debt that had financially crippled past generations of Macnabs. His father had provided a large amount of debt as a result of lengthy and unsuccessful litigation against his powerful cousin and neighbour, the Earl of Bredalbane. The Macnab’s extravagant lifestyle sure didn’t relieve any of the financial pressure – even inheriting his mother’s lands at Arnprior and the successful foundation of the Dreadnought Hotel in Callander could not support the weight of his excesses.

One particular evening, a bailiff who had come to serve a writ was seen approaching Kinnell House. The Macnab hid and gave orders that the bailiff be told the Laird would return in the morning, and in the meantime was to be lavishly entertained with as much whisky as he could handle overnight. When the bailiff awoke in the morning with an immense hangover, he looked at the window of Kinnell House and saw what looked like a city-clad gentlemen hanging by his neck from the branch of a great wych elm hear the house. When he asked Macnab’s housekeeper what the grisly sight was, she replied “Oh, that’s just a wee bit Baillie boy who angered the Laird. Now will you no’ tell us whit your ain business is, sir, for the Macnab is due back soon.” The bailiff fled shortly after, not daring to serve the writ, and the dummy was taken down from the tree.

Innis Bhuide – Burial Island of the Chiefs of Macnab)

AN APPETITE FOR WHISKY AND WOMEN
The Macnab was also notable as a substantial producer and consumer of whisky. Heron, who toured Perthshire in 1792, wrote: “The Macnab produced the best whisky to be found in Scotland.” He is also said to have established his own illicit distillery in Killin, drinking the whisky produced there from a nine gallon jug called ‘The Bachelor’. He had an immense dislike of the government, who involved itself in what he regarded as his affairs, and had a particular hatred of excisemen in search of illegal whisky produced by his clansmen.

The Macnab never married but certainly kept busy during his lifetime, fathering at least 32 illegitimate offspring. One particular legend tells of a day he saw two boys fighting in the main street of Killin. Upon asking them why, one of the boys replied: “I said I was the Chief’s son, and he said he was as well.” Francis winked at the boys’ mothers as he replied: “Ah boys, dinnae fight over that, ye both are.” It is also said that the Macnab once proposed to a woman by offering as enticement the chance to have her final resting place in the most beautiful burial ground in Scotland, Innis Bhuide (the burial island of the Chiefs of Macnab). There is even a tablet in memory of one of his numerous progeny who acquitted themselves nobly on the battlefield, located on the wall of the burial enclosure on the island.

Plenty of other tales exist that are testament to the Macnab’s larger than life character. He once greeted a visitor to Killin from Edinburgh with: “The Highlands are no place for a man with breeches on!” And on a visit to a London cockpit, he was contemptuous of the quality of cocks he saw fight, declaring that he could bring down a Scots bird that would easily beat any put against it. He accepted heavy bets that he could not prove his point. The MacNab – he refused to acknowledge anyone who called him Mr MacNab – returned carrying a golden eagle on his arm.

The Macnab was also present at a banquet held for George IV in Edinburgh, where he was allegedly banned from subsequent festivities for defending the right of MacDonnell of Glen Garry to place his arms in sight while the guests were dining. It was said that the Macnab threatened the safety of the King, if Glen Garry was harmed.

THE MACNAB’S LEGACY
In 1812, with no legitimate hier, the Macnab made a disposition of the clan lands to his nephew Archibald Macnab (1778-1860). The mounting debts had forced the necessity to mortgage most of the property at Killin, although it wasn’t until the Macnab died at Callander in 1814 that Archibald realised just how encumbered the estate was. He made desperate efforts to extricate the estate, but in 1823 a writ of forclosure was issued. Archibald disappeared, fleeing to London then Canada, where eventually he received a grant of 81,000 acres in the Valley of the Ottawa River. 85 Macnabs joined him in 1825, however Archibald had promised more than he could provide, as the early years of establishing the estate were filled with immense difficulties and discomfort.

Archibald’s goal was to recover his ancestral lands at Killin (including Kinnell House and Innis Bhuide), however in 1828 the lands were sold to the fourth Earl of Breadalbane, the principal creditor of the debt. The contents of Kinnell House were included in the sale, where they were kept as objects of interest to visitors to the house until they were auctioned off in 1935. In 1838 an inquiry was launched into excessive rents being charged at the Macnab settlement in Ottawa. Archibald was made to refund the money and was left a ruined man, leaving Canada for good in 1853. After some time spent in Orkney and London, he died in relative obscurity in France in 1860.

Sarah Anne, the eldest of Archibald’s children, was recognised as the eighteenth chief. She died unmarried in Italy in 1894, ending the line of the old chiefs, and beginning much discussion and argument within the clan as to who should succeed. Today Raeburn’s portrait of Francis Macnab hangs on permanent display in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, ensuring the legacy the Macnab’s extravagant life lives on.

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The Dining Room at Candacraig

With a price tag of almost £3 million pounds, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly’s Highland baronial home in Aberdeenshire has been listed on the market. The 12-bedroom property in Strathdon is set in 14 acres of grounds, and includes a walled garden and a croquet lawn. Candacraig was originally home to the Anderson family until it was sold in 1866 to Sir Charles Forbes of Newe.

Candacraig House was built in 1579, however the original is quite different from the mansion that stands today. A painting dated from 1760 shows a simple L-shaped building which was incorporated into later constructions. Most of the present house was built in 1835 by noted Aberdeen architect John Smith, who also worked on Balmoral Castle. Candacraig underwent further reconstruction in 1956, following a destructive fire.

Legend has it that the first Laird of Candacraig, Patrick Anderson, acquired the property after discovering silver under a boulder in Glen Carvie in the 1500′s. After changing hands several times after 1866, the house was purchased by Gordon and Anita Roddick, founders of the Bodyshop. They undertook a comprehensive program of improvement before selling it to Billy Connolly and Pamela Stephenson in 1998. Candacraig attracted much media attention as Hollywood celebrities became regular guests including Ewan MacGregor and Robin Williams.

The sales brochure describes the house as “a traditional Scots baronial mansion house built of harled stone under a slate roof with pepper pot turrets and steep pitched roofs”. The brochure continues: “The house has fine reception rooms, including a magnificent timber-panelled drawing room with a highly decorative plaster ceiling and a panelled library beyond. These two rooms and the dining room are to the front of the house and are reached off a long picture gallery. To the rear of the house are a large family kitchen and an office/utility room. A passageway with historic carved timber panelling leads to a billiard room.

Real Estate agent and Clan Chief Jamie Macnab, of Savills, said: “It is absolutely gorgeous, in the most stunning position and money has been lavished on it over the years.” Last year, Connolly started renting out the property as he was spending less and less time there. For £3,950, groups of up to 11 people could hire the house for one night and have a three-course dinner cooked by the resident chef. Connolly is said to be considering splitting his time between his apartment in New York and Brighton.

There are three castles nearby; the ruin of Kildrummy, besieged in 1306 by the army of Edward I; Glenbuchat, stronghold of “Old Glenbucket”, a renowned Jacobite who led a regiment for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1745 rebellion; and Corgarff, a restored 16th century tower house. Corgarff has an impressive history, acting as the scene of a notorious massacre, a hideout for bandits, and a munitions store for supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. Following the rising the it was used as an outpost for soldiers sent to suppress the illegal distilling of whisky.

You can view the impressive real estate brochure by clicking here.

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Inspired by Sir Henry Raeburn’s series of portraits of clan chiefs, photographer Julian Calder said he wanted the portrait to highlight some of the Queen’s traditional if less prominent roles. “We wanted to photograph the Queen as the Queen of Scots and I wanted to do it as a Raeburn painting. He did paintings of Scottish clan chiefs and I thought they were very romantic… We wanted to have her looking at the massed clans on the distant hills.”

The Queen is dressed in the mantle of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the Scottish counterpart to England’s Order of the Garter. From her shoulders, held by white satin ties, hangs the Collar of the Order made of golden thistles and rue sprigs, from which hangs a tiny St Andrew and his saltire cross. The photographer had initially hoped that the Queen would wear Scotland’s Crown Jewels, known as the Honours Three. However tradition dictates that they can only be removed from Edinburgh by the Duke of Hamilton, who was unavailable. Instead the Crown Jewel cabinet in London was raided, with the Queen opting to wear the emerald-covered Vladimir Tiara. It was once owned by the Grand Duchess Vladimir, aunt of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, and was smuggled out of Russia during the Revolution

The MacNab – one of a series of portraits of clan leaders that inspired Julian Calder’s picture of the Queen

The portrait also enforces the Scottish connections to the monarchy – Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, not of England’s Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, who reluctantly signed Mary’s death warrant. The Queen’s great‑great‑grandmother, Queen Victoria, who bought and loved the Balmoral Estate, said she could never forgive Elizabeth I’s treatment of “my ancestor, poor Mary”. A favoured summer holiday spot for the royals since Victoria, the Queen is popularly supposed to be happier at Balmoral than anywhere else.

Calder and the book’s author Alastair Bruce spent the day beforehand scouting for locations finally opting for a remote stream called Gelder Burn, which runs into the River Dee. “It’s remote, you can seen the heather was out and everything was right about it. Creatively, the curve of the stream could mirror the curve of the cape. The dark green of the trees and the heather all worked as a composition. It had all the ingredients” Calder said.

On the day of the photo shoot, Bruce said rain threatened to disrupt plans which had been weeks in the making. “As the allotted hour approached, the skies cleared and the Queen not only agreed to go outside but also to be photographed at a spot I had picked 25 minutes away. So we drove up to Gelder Burn and passed a family out for a walk who were just astonished to see the Queen passing by in all this regalia. There was no time to set up the shot but it was this magical moment – hardly a breath of wind and no midges.”

Say cheese – On set with the Queen

Keepers celebrates the bewildering range of official titles and appointments that have evolved over more than a thousand years. Those photographed range from the Monarch and the Master of the Rolls to a vicar’s son who is the hereditary Lord High Admiral of the Wash and the Royal Falconer. The portrait is the latest in a series of recent representations of the Queen. The Welsh Rugby Union unveiled a matronly expressionist portrait by Dan Llywelyn Hall earlier this year, and HRH received rave reviews for her role alongside Daniel Craig in the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012.

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Clan Macnab – Let Fear Be Far From All

One of the most fascinating things about Scotland is the way that a country steeped in history and tradition is colliding with the new. This is especially true of Scotland’s clans – distinguished by heraldry tracing back over a thousand years – and how this is manifesting itself in modern life. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting my first chief – Macnab of Macnab, 24th chief of Clan Macnab, and perhaps Scotland’s newest chief. Expecting to meet a dirk-wielding highlander straight from a history book, I instead found myself in an office in Edinburgh’s New Town, chatting to the Director of Country House Sales at Savills Estate Agents.

“It’s quite interesting how people react to my title. People who know about the clans, in particular people from the Highlands, have been saying ‘Congratulations, I’m sure you’ll do a good job’. Which is very bolstering. But to other people, especially in the South, they don’t have a clue what it means. To them it’s just a strange name.”

Jamie Macnab was announced chief of Clan Macnab in January this year upon the passing of his father, James Charles Macnab. Born in 1963 in Edinburgh, a pipe band greeted the infant Jamie and his parents upon return from the maternity hospital to the village of Killin, deep in Macnab territory. A newspaper article at the time referred to him as the ‘Younger, Younger of Macnab’ as his father, then heir, was known as ‘Younger Macnab’. However it was never something that differentiated him from other children in the village. “I was just Jamie, I don’t think anyone ever thought about that. I wasn’t particularly a leader, I had my pals and got on with them in the normal way. But I’ve known all my life that one day I would be clan chief, so I’ve had a lot of time to get used to the idea.”

“We all lead pretty ordinary lives. There’s a range of people who are clan chiefs, from the Duke of Buccleuch, to one of the chiefs who sells goods by hand up and down The Royal Mile, and another is French. So there’s no typical chief.”

Like other Scottish clans, the Macnabs are scattered globally. “There’s not a Macnab in the Killin telephone directory at the moment, we’ve all been very dispersed. But the people who live in Killin do recognise that this is where the Macnabs are from.” The Macnabs were present at The Gathering, the 2009 clan convention and largest recorded meeting of Scottish chiefs. “The Gathering was described as life-changing by a lot of clansmen from Scotland and abroad, and it was for me because there aren’t that many Macnabs in Scotland. My father and I manned the Macnab tent from 9 o’clock in the morning till 10 o’clock at night, and I met the most fantastic collection of people, it was truly inspirational… The fact that they were all so pleased to come to Scotland and pleased to connect with us, it was all very humbling.”

“One clansman said something to me that had a real resonance, and suddenly made it all make sense. Macnabs are not necessarily coming to a clan event to meet me – although that is part of it because I’m the representative of the clan. But it’s more to work out where they fit in. Finding out where you come from leads to quite a strong path of emotion in people, and it would be fantastic if we could help people with their genealogy to knit the family heritage together. All the chiefs lineage is pretty well documented. For me, on my fathers side, I don’t even have to think about who my great, great grandfather is because it’s all in a booklet. But most people don’t have that, so it would be nice to give them a framework to work within.”

He draws attention to how important the clans are to modern-day Scotland. “There are five million people living in Scotland, but worldwide there are thirty million that claim Scottish descent. So for a small country like Scotland with a limited economy, heritage is hugely important to tourism. The chiefs and clans play a part in that to make Scotland relevant in the modern world, because linking with your past is a very powerful thing.” Using the web and social media to connect Macnabs is a high priority on Jamie’s list for the future of Clan Macnab. His father had no concept of the internet, so Jamie wants the Macnab presence to be as visible and approachable online as it has been in person. “Over the last five years there has been a lot of correspondence between Macnabs around the world, and I want to build on this communication. It’s my challenge to try and work out how to pull them all together”.

Jamie is hoping to reestablish the Macnab Clan Society in Scotland, and hopes to meet with the American Clan Macnab Societies. “A lot of Americans are more Scottish than the Scots. It’s probably because they’re geographically removed. If you’re in Scotland you’ve probably got quite a secure thought of your place and where you’ve come from. But when you’re removed from it, it then becomes more important… So I’ll have to get out to the States.”

I asked Jamie if any clan rivalries from the old days still survived, and he proudly showed me his signet ring depicting the severed head of a Neish. Legend goes that the Macnabs and Neishes had a great battle near Loch Earn. The defeated Neishes took refuge on an island in the Loch, managing to ransack all of the Macnab Christmas provisions as they were being transported along the Loch to Killin. Clansman Smooth John Macnab was a huge, terrifying highlander, and one of four brothers. Their father said “If my lads were lads, I’d have my Christmas dinner.” The brothers picked up a boat and carried it over a mountain and back down and onto Loch Earn and rode it over onto the island where Smooth John hammered on the door of the dwelling on the island. Drunk on Macnab wine, the Neishes shouted out “Who’s there?” to which Smooth John replied “Who would you least like it to be?” They replied “Smooth John Mcnab”, to which he said “Smooth John it is”. With one smash of the hilt of his sword he broke through and beheaded everyone inside. There was no food or wine left, but the brothers took a sack of heads back over the hill. When they arrived back in Killin their father asked them if they had any Christmas dinner, to which Smooth John replied “No, but I’ve got some balls for the children to play with” and emptied out all of the heads onto the floor.

A hero of the Macnabs, Smooth John’s antics are centuries removed from modern clan life. “I haven’t had much of that in my lifetime. I’ve played a bit of rugby but that’s about it… When I was at college there was a guy called Ed Neish who knew the story of our two families. He’d had an accident and he had metal plating in his neck, so I was always joking with him that if I’d ever had a need to behead him I would have needed an angle grinder”.

I also wondered how clan life coincides with Jamie’s family life. He explained that they’re a very ordinary, Edinburgh-based professional family. He told me his wife said that it was very worthwhile being married to a clan chief the day that Chanel came knocking looking for chiefs to attend their recent show at Linlithgow Palace. And how does James, Jamie’s son feel about his eventual chieftanship? “His only experience was The Gathering in 2009 when he was 9 years old. He had a sudden realisation – ‘I have to stand up the front so there must be something in this’. I asked him about it again this morning and he just said ‘boring question’. So there’s no real concept at the moment I don’t think. I think it’s something that will gradually soak in on him over a period of time. It’s quite a mysterious thing for him.”

As I left Jamie’s office and walked along Princes Street in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, I thought about how many clan chiefs had walked in the same shadow over the years. My first meeting with a chief gave me a tangible sense of Scotland’s past, and as clans adjust to life in modern times, it seems the way forward is helping people connect to their past in a very 21st century way.

Clan Macnab at the Clan Parade. The Gathering, Edinburgh 2009.

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Clan Macnab – Timor Omnis Abesto (Let fear be far from all)

We are very saddened to hear news that James Charles Macnab, 23rd Chief of Clan Macnab, died on January 11 aged 86. Macnab served as a member of the Royal Airforce, the Scots Guard and a Lieutenant in the Seaforth Highlanders, and played an active role on the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.

Macnab was a much loved member of the community in Killin, the centre of Mcnab territory. He met with clansfolk regularly and was involved in the organisation of the International Gathering of the Clans in 1977 and the subsequent Gathering at the Scottish Homecoming of 2009. He is particularly remembered for being what a fellow chief affectionately termed “a dominant character” at the Lochearnhead Games, being chieftain on several occasions.

Born in 1926 in London, Macnab was the eldest son of James Alexander Macnab OBE TD, de jure the 21st Macnab of Macnab, and Ursula Watford (nee Barnett). His father won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless fours at the Paris Games in 1924. Young James was evacuated from London in 1940 to Ottawa, returning four years later as a war effort volunteer before enlisting as a soldier. He took part in active service in the final year of World War Two in India, Java and Singapore, before being commissioned into the Seaforth Highlanders. In 1948 he transferred to the Federation of Malaya Police Force where he served for nine years first as Assistant Superintendent, then Acting Deputy Superintendent. He was involved in many gunfights against guerillas, and on one occasion rescued Ian Tedford, a then Ghurka officer. Colonel Tedford retired to Scotland, and always credited Macnab with saving his life.

Macnab retired from the Police Force and moved to Scotland in 1957, aged 31. He took up residence with his Great Uncle at Kinell House, eventually taking over the running of the estate and farms.  He married Diana Mary Anstruther-Gray, elder daughter of Lord and Lady Kilmany, on 11 April 1959 at St Andrews Episcopal Church. For a time they rented Auchtubhmor House, Balquhiddrer from Sir Gregor MacGregor of MacGregor, before purchasing Finlarig and Tirarthur Farms in Killin. He returned as a Captain in the 11th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders from 1960-1964, until his work as a Local Government Councillor prevented his regular attendance.

Following the death of his great uncle in 1970, Macnabb succeeded Archibald Corrie Macnab of Macnab as Chief. However he inherited high death duty liabilities, and in 1978 was forced to sell Kinell House and a large portion of the estate. Macnab stayed in the Killin region until 1985, when he moved his family to Leuchers (near St. Andrews).

History shows that Clan Macnab survived somewhat against the odds. Known as a “considerable clan” before the reign of 13th-century King Alexander III, the then Macnab chief fought against King Robert Bruce, having his lands and possessions ravaged in return. Further lands were lost when 6th chief Finlay Macnab mortgaged a great portion of territory to the Campbell of Glenorchy ancestor of the Marquis of Breadalbane. Support for the Royalist cause of Charles I led to Covenanters burning Macnab lands, and the clan was saved from extinction possibly only by support for the Hanoverian cause in the 1715 and 1745 Risings.

James Macnab is succeeded by his eldest son, James (Jamie) William Archibald Macnab. Jamie is the director at Savills in Edinburgh, and a member of the Royal Company of Archers, Queens Bodyguard in Scotland. All clansmen are welcome to attend the memorial service which will be held at the Killin Parish Kirk at 2pm on Friday 15th March 2013. The memorial will be followed by a procession to Innis Bhuie (The Macnab burial island) for internment of the ashes.

James Charles Macnab of Macnab, 23rd Chief of Clan Macnab 1926 – 2013

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