Clan Guthrie

History

The Guthries take their name from the lands of Guthrie, in Angus, near Forfar. The meaning of the place name is uncertain. A Gaelic word for a windy place is often suggested, but this is a guess and not a proven derivation. A well-known story says an early king named the lands after a fisherman who gutted fish for him. That is tradition only.

The family's rise is better documented in the fifteenth century. Under James III, Sir David Guthrie rose to the offices of Lord Treasurer and, later, Lord Justice-General, though sources give differing dates for them. The king's warrant of 1468 allowed him to raise a tower at Guthrie and to protect it with an iron yett, or gate. That tower forms the heart of Guthrie Castle, which Historic Environment Scotland lists as Category B.

Sir David also founded a collegiate church beside the castle, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A papal bull of 1479 confirmed the foundation. Only a fragment survives, known as the Guthrie Aisle. Sources disagree on when Sir David died, with dates between 1474 and about 1500, so we give no firm year. His son Alexander is said to have been killed at Flodden in 1513, along with other relatives.

In the sixteenth century the Guthries fell into a prolonged feud with their neighbours the Gardynes. Reports describe an Alexander Guthrie being slain by Gardynes, with a later Guthrie taking vengeance. The killings were eventually covered by a royal pardon, recorded in 1618. Writers differ over when the feud started, who died and where, so the detail needs caution.

John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, held Guthrie in the seventeenth century. He backed the king's church policy, and the Covenanting troubles cost him his see. His palace at Spynie in Moray, not Guthrie, was where Robert Monro's forces seized him in 1640. Most detailed biographies put his death in 1649, though some clan accounts say 1643. His son Andrew fought with Montrose, was taken after Philiphaugh and was executed in January 1646. Most scholarly accounts place that at St Andrews, but some clan sites say Edinburgh.

After the old chiefly line passed to heirs through female descent, the castle stayed with the family into the twentieth century. It left their hands in the early 1980s, though sources give 1981, 1983 and 1984 for the sale. The 22nd chief, who lived in Rome, died in March 2020. We found no Guthrie chief currently recognised by the Lord Lyon, and we name no successor. Many of the spellings below appear in lists of Guthrie names. As ever, a surname on a list is a clue, not proof of descent.