Clan MacPhail

Clan MacPhail or the Sons of Paul is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands. Known in Scottish Gaelic as Conchie Dhu or Condochy Doye, the clan is mainly associated with the confederation of Clan Chattan.

History

Origins

The original

With the Clan Chattan Federation

The MacPhails were always considered to be of old Clan Chattan stock and closely related to MacPhersons, MacBeans and other Cattanach families that together formed the Clan Chattan Federation. Cattanach is still a surname associated to these clans.^[1][2]

As Clan MacPhail proper

Originally the MacPhails had a stronghold until 1291 at

The first MacPhails are reputed to have been descended from a Paul Cattanach. MacPhails, or Son of Paul, are mentioned early in the Kinrara manuscript stating that a Paul Gow MacPhail, "good sir" lived in the time of Duncan, 11th of MacKintosh. The term "good sir" was a custom mainly related to addressing clergymen.[4]

When the Chief of

In 1414, the name appears in a Retour of Inquest on Donald Thane of Calder's succession to the lands of Dunmaglass, Gillemore M'Phale being one of the inquest.^[4]

In 1547, a MacPhail, Duncan Makconquhy Dow leased half the towns of Tullich and Elrick. This lease was inherited through generations.^[2]

In 1566, a Andrew MacPhail is described in the Burgh Court Book as “minister of Inverness and Petty in the Erse/(Gaelic) tongue”.^[7]

In 1595, Andrew M'Phail, minister at the Kirk of Croy and Findla MakPhail, one of the beillis of Inverness appear in a contract between the magistrates of Inverness and a Robert Waus.

In 1631, another MacPhail entered into a long lease to Invernarnie with the Laird of

In 1662, records from Inverness show debt from failed business agreements resulted in a public horning issued against a Duncan MacPhail and again in 1669 against his son Paul and his business partner Alexander Shaw of Tordarroch.^[10]

A number of Clan Chattan bonds however signed through the 17th and 18th centuries continued to have MacPhail signatures still indicating their stature in the Federation.^[2]

Some of the Clan MacPhail chiefs included:

• Duncan MakDonequhy Dow MacPhail in 1546^[11]
• Paul MacPhail in 1689
• Robert MacPhail in 1721
• Alexander MacPhail in 1743

The MacPhails of Inverernie in the Strathnairn and the Shaws of Tordarroch buried their dead for generations in an enclosure adjoining the east wall of Dunlichty Kirk.^[4]

The last lineal MacPhail chief, Paul MacPhail died in Australia in the early 1900s.^{[3][12][13][14]}

Conflicts and Feuds

As an integrated clan of the Chattan Federation, Clan MacPhail was obligated to answer the call of the superior Mackintosh Chief. More information on this aspect can be found on the Clan Chattan and Clan Mackintosh pages.

MacPhails were also involved individually in other conflicts. For example, around 1627, a Johne M'Phale of Inverness was recruited as a archer for Captain Alexander M'Naughtan in service of King Charles the 1st to support Protestants in France.^[15]

Several MacPhails were apparently officers in the Mackintosh/Clan Chattan regiment in the '15. The heir to the MacPhail Chieftainship, was apparently deported to Virginia following his surrender after the Battle of Preston but died on board the ship.^[16]

A MacPhail of the ’45 was evidently the last person to shake hands with Prince Charles Edward Stuart and to his death he never greeted anyone else with that hand.^[17] Dr Charles Mackintosh of Drummond mentions in his Antiquarian Notes no 96 that when he lived in Gollanfield, in Petty, an old man of ninety known as John Oig told him he had known a Paul MacPhail of Ballenreich, who the day after the Battle of Culloden helped to dig a trench where many of the dead were interred and had known the man who had escaped with the Clan banner, which was the only one in the prince's army that did not fall in the enemy's hands. All the rest were burned by the common hangman in Edinburgh.^[18] A auction of household goods of the Late Sir William Fraser and others in 1898 at Dowell's Auction House in Edinburgh presented a basket hilted sword said to have belonged to a MacPhail who had fought at Culloden, had been kept by his daughter Bell who eventually had sold it to Fraser.^[19] Records also exist of the atrocities committed after the battle of which some MacPhails were victim to: "A woman brought to bed, Sunday before the battle, was Elspet MacPhail, in Gask; her husband is Donald MacIntosh, had her child born on the Sunday, who was called Alexander, of which one of the Dragoons took by the leg or thigh, and threw it about his hand, not head."^[20]

Clan Symbols

Members of Clan MacPhail are entitled to wear a

Clan badges are usually worn on a tam o' shanter or attached at the shoulder of a lady's tartan sash.^[23]

Selection of a new Chief

In 2022, the clan has started the process to select a commander.^[25]

Close association with Clan MacKintosh

Since the 15th century, Clan MacPhail was found mainly in the lands of Inverernie about 8 km west of Loch Moy, near the ancestral home of the MackIntosh's.^[27][28]

In 1490, a Donald MacPhail witnessed a bond between the Lairds of Mackintosh and Kilravock and two years later between Mackintosh and the Dunbars. This MacPhail is identified as a tenant of Dullatur according to the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland.^[29]

One of the earliest recorded MacPhail, a certain Gillies MacPhail married a Margaret Macintosh in 1500.^[30] There was several other MacPhails that intermarried with MacKintoshes showing a close fraternity.^[31]

A Anndra MacPhail, the parson of Croy wrote the history of the MacKintoshes down to the murder of the 15th chief in 1550 and that document has come to be known as the Croy Manuscript.

In 1708, a Coll MacDonell wrote to Paul MacPhail, who was the Chamberlain to the Laird of MacKintosh, explaining why he couldn't pay his rent, that had been due in 1707 and 1708, asking for relief.^[32]

Close association with Clan MacBean

The MacPhail surname was also found with their neighbors and close relatives of Clan MacBean:

• In 1490, Donald MacPhail of Clan MacBean witnessed a band between the lairds of MacIntosh and Kilravock.
• In 1609, Angus MacPhail in Kinkell signed the Band of Union on behalf of Clan MacBean and as laird of Kinchyle in the Valuation Roll of 1644.^[33]

Other Clans with smaller MacPhail Families

Other Clans also have small smatterings of MacPhails.

The other MacPhails of the East

In the Lands of Clan Grant

Records show Johannes McFaill was a parishioner in

The remnants of Clan MacPhail that stayed in the west and did not migrate with Clan MackIntosh in the 13th century, eventually integrated with Clan Cameron. They appear to have lived on Loch Eil at Fassfern. Some of these MacPhails were cited for cattle raiding with a Ewen Cameron on the Register of the Privy Council in 1547.

Variations on the name found with Clan Cameron include: MacKail, MacKell, MacPhail, MacVail, MacVaaile, MacVaill, MacVale and Paul.^[35][36]

With Clan MacDonell of Glengarry

Some of the remaining Lochaber MacPhails also became a sept of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry and were mainly settled around Laroche. A well known MacPhail from this group was Big Archibald MacPhail, a cattle drover, who attacked a group of Campbells near the village of Killin in 1646.^[37] The Dewar Manuscripts Vol.1 which contains Gaelic folktales includes the life of Big Archibald MacPhail.^[38]

Another Archibald MacPhail fell foul of Coil MacDonell who was authorized to regulate fishing in the local lochs. In 1809, a letter to officials at Inverness he states: "I have sent to you with Sergeant Donald Macdonell, one Archibald MacPhail to jail at Inverness. He ought at least to be banished to Botany Bay, or to send him on board one of Her Majesty's ships, which last punishment is too good for him.”^[39]

Families of MacPhails were found throughout the West Highlands and Islands, including Glengarry, Glencoe, North Uist, Islay and Kintyre.^[40][41]

In the lands of Clan Campbell

The MacPhails were always associated with Ardchattan Priory which had been originally founded by Duncan MacDougall of Lorn. At least one monk was named MacPhail. The signature of David MacPhail is found on a number of monastic documents between 1552 and 1564, some of which are also signed by Sir John MacPhail, rector or parson of nearby Kilnynvir. There is also references to MacPhails being hereditary physicians to the MacDougalls.^[42]

When Clan Campbell influence increased in the area, these MacPhails, shifted their allegiance to them. The records of the Thane of Cawdor state that:

• In 1533, a Sir John Mcfaell, a pope's knight, witnessed a bond of Manrent.
• “At the Arde on 14 February 1570, it was agreed and finalized between the honourable man John Campbell of Calder and his heirs that John Mcfaill, parson of Kilnynvir, John Mcfaill vicar of Kilmaille, Angus Mcfaill, Ewin Gillicallum, Iwir Sonnies and Dugall Mcfaill brother to the said John and their offspring become perpetual men to the said John Campbell of Calder and his heirs."^[43]

Various MacPhails are also recorded in Campbell lands in the 17th and 18th century, apparently in one incident, after an argument with their neighbors,

A sept of the Clan Mackay by the surname of Polson who are also known as Siol Phail are, according to Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet, descended from Neil, son of Neil, son of Donald Mackay, 5th of Strathnaver, chief of Clan Mackay. Although one of their ancestors, Neil Neilson Mackay, died fighting against his own Strathnaver kinsmen at the Battle of Drumnacoub in 1433, the Polsons later gravitated back towards their Strathnaver kindred.

In 1497, 1506, and 1511, Sir John Polson who was presbyter and later chanter of Caithness acted for Iye Roy Mackay, 10th of Strathnaver.

At the Battle of Torran Du in 1517, the Polsons supported the Clan Mackay against the Murrays of Aberscross. In a list of men in Sutherland capable of carrying arms during the Jacobite rising of 1745, a number of Polsons appear in the parishes of Loth and Kildonan. However, according to historian Angus Mackay writing in 1906, the sept was no longer numerically strong and many of them had adopted the surname MacPhail or were now signing themselves as Mackay.^[47]

With Clan Macleod of Lewis

Late 18th century

A group of sea crags called the Flannan Isles off the Isle of Lewis was regarded as a refuge of sanctity, as well as being a rich source of seabirds. On Maol nam Both, are found two stone beehive houses named, the MacPhail bothies, which are said to be the remains of two monks' cells, part of a small early Celtic monastic settlement.

Donald MacDonald, in his book Tales and Traditions of the Lewis, dedicates a short chapter to the MacPhails of Lewis. “The MacPhails made their power felt throughout the ages, and we find that they were used as wardens by the MacLeods of Lewis and placed along the west coast...to prevent the Macaulays of Uig from passing north to raid the Morrison territory”.^[49][50]

Other Gaelic Derivatives

Irish Derivatives

McFall, McFaul and McPhails records are found clustered in Ulster especially around Antrim and Derry.They appear to date from the British Plantation period. These variants are in church registers of County Antrim. As an example, on August 29, 1824, Sarah Jane, daughter of William McFaul, was christened at Ballymena in that county.^[51]

Other derivations found include MacPhóil, MacPóil, MacPaul, MacVail, Vail, Paulson, Polson and Powlson^[52]

Manx Derivatives (no known connection)

MacPhaayl, Maelfabhail; From the book, Manx Names of 1890 by Arthur William Moore: "Phail is Anglicised from Maelfabhail. Maelfabhail, son of Muircheartach, slain by the Norsemen"

Other Complexities

• Mac and Mc prefixes were also dropped by many Highland Gaelic families as they moved south to urban areas such as
  Jacobite Rebellion where the more anglicized south had largely supported the government. MacPhail became Phail or even Paul.^[53]
• The derived surnames Paul and Paull was also one of antiquity in various parishes such as
  Scottish Exchequer Rolls of having received two payments of £6/13s/4d for services rendered. Others include Robert Paule, a member of the council of the burgh of Stirling in 1528. John C. Paull in 1530, a sheriff of Dunbarton, Patrick Paule, witness at Tuliboil in 1546, Janet Paule in Edinburgh in 1659, Alexander Paull, mercator in Elgin in 1696.^[54] A John and William Paul are also listed as prisoners of war after the Battle of Dunbar (1650) as having been captured by Cromwell's forces and were eventually transported as Indentured labor to the Plymouth Colony.^[55] Paul's are also recorded in the Glasgow area by the 17th century, from High Kirk Baptisms and the Ramshorn Cemetery include Elizabeth Paul of 1609 and Agness Paul of 1774.^[56] The most famous Paul must be John Paul Jones born July 6, 1747, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright
  and is considered the founding father of the American Navy.
• Not all Scottish Paul families however can trace their origins to Gaelic or Highland clan origins. Some Paul's around the
  James IV.^[57]
• Numerous MacPhail families migrated or were transported during the Highland Clearances to the colonies of America and Australia and their records have become difficult to trace. One such example where a Macdonald laird determined to evict about 600 persons from Sollas, in North Uist and forcibly emigrate them to Canada. Notices of ejectment were served with effect for the 15th of May 1849. Their goods were attached. Many were turned out of their houses, doors locked, and everything they possessed cattle, crops, and peats seized, whilst furniture was thrown out of doors. The season was however already too late to travel to Canada. They naturally rebelled. A MacPhail was arrested who obstructed the evictors and marched off to Lochmaddy by the police. His wife was the 2nd person evicted. Her three small children, dressed in nothing more than a single coat of coarse blanketing, who played about her knee, while the poor woman, herself half-clothed, with her face bathed in tears, and holding an infant in her arms, assured the Sheriff that she and her children were destitute and without food of any kind. The Sheriff sent for the Inspector of Poor, and ordered him to place the woman and her family on the poor’s roll.^[58]

Status

Today MacPhails can generally track their origins from these four main migrations in Scotland, mainly showing fealty to larger clans in those regions:

• MacPhails that migrated east with Clan Chattan Federation but with their own chief and allied to Clan Mackintosh.^[59]
• MacPhails that remained in the west and integrated with Clans such as Cameron from the 16th century forward.
• With Clan Campbell and others around Argyll and generally not associated.
• With Clan Mackay in the north of Scotland, but no evidence of association with the other three above.

Diaspora MacPhails can also be found in significant numbers in the following countries:

• Ireland:^[60]
• Canada:^[61][62]
• United States:^[63]
• Australia:^[64]
• New Zealand:^[65]
• South Africa:^[66][67]

In Folklore and Culture

Mermaid of Corrivrekin

The poet John Leyden, was an enthusiastic collector of old folklore. He compiled a poem "The mermaid". It is based on a gaelic traditional ballad, called MacPhail of Colonsay, and the Mermaid of Corrivrekin. The story states that this MacPhail was carried off by a mermaid, that they lived together in a grotto beneath the sea and had five children, but finally he tired of her and escaped to land.^[68]

Ballad of Mull

A cairn near Loch Spelve celebrates Dugald MacPhail (1819-1887), a bard who composed Ant-Muileach (The Isle of Mull) which became the island's anthem.^[69] These MacPhail's where apparently known as cattle drovers for hundreds of years in this area.

Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree

Pipe tune written by Peter MacFarquhar of Moss in remembrance of Lachlan MacPhail, a accomplished piper and writer of Gaelic poetry. Lachlan was a ruse mourner at the funeral in Operation Mincemeat, a British deception operation of the Second World War.^[70]

Notable Descendants

See also

• Mount McPhail, Canada
• Cobden/Bruce McPhail Memorial Airport, Ontario, Canada
• McPhail Memorial Baptist Church, Ottawa, Canada
• Fergus McPhail, Australian children's television programme
• McPhail v Doulton (1970), landmark English trusts law decision by the House of Lords
• Gordon & MacPhail whisky
• University of Prince Edward Island Clan MacPhail Scholarship Award
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology MacPhail School of Energy^[71]
• Paul Mactire

Notes

• Genealogy: https://groups.io/g/McPhail-Genealogy
• Surname: https://www.gwsfhs.org.uk/surname/macphail/
• Surname: https://www.gwsfhs.org.uk/surname/Paul/
• Clan Association: https://clanmacphail.org/

References

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