Clan Urquhart

History

The Urquharts take their name from the district of Urquhart in Ross-shire, though the family's documented history begins not there but at Cromarty, on the Black Isle. The first Urquhart to appear in the record is William de Urchard, remembered for defending the motte of Cromarty during Scotland's wars of independence in the late thirteenth century. David II confirmed his descendant Adam de Urquhart in the office of sheriff of Cromarty during the 1350s, and, with interruptions, Urquharts kept hold of it for roughly three centuries afterward.

That sheriffdom gave the family its base. In 1470 James III allowed Sir William Urquhart to build a tower on the old motte at Cromarty, and later, under Thomas Urquhart, the seventh chief, this grew into a proper castle overlooking the Cromarty Firth. From here the Urquharts of Cromarty acted as hereditary sheriffs, effectively the crown's men on the ground in that part of Ross-shire long before Scotland had any other form of local government.

The family's best-remembered chief held the title in the seventeenth century. Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty was knighted by Charles I in 1639 for his part in routing Covenanter forces at the so-called Trot of Turriff. When his father died in 1642, the estates he took on came burdened with debts that outweighed them. He is remembered now chiefly as a writer: an inventive, digressive prose stylist whose translation of Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel is still read for its sheer relish of language. Financial and political trouble, including a period as a prisoner after the Royalist defeat at Worcester, followed him for the rest of his life.

A cadet branch took root further east. John Urquhart, known as the Tutor of Cromarty for his role managing the family's affairs, built Craigston Castle near Turriff in Aberdeenshire between 1604 and 1607. Unlike the chiefly seat at Cromarty, Craigston has stayed in Urquhart hands ever since, and the family still lives there today.

The senior line's fortunes did not hold as well. Cromarty Castle was sold out of the family in 1763, and its new owner, George Ross, had it demolished in 1772 to make way for Cromarty House. Worth noting here: the well-known ruin called Urquhart Castle, on Loch Ness, is a different building with a different history. It passed to Clan Grant in the sixteenth century and was never the Cromarty Urquharts' seat, whatever the shared name might suggest.

The chiefship itself carried on through a branch of the family long settled in Louisiana. Kenneth Trist Urquhart, an academic who brought a notably modern, businesslike approach to the role, served as the 27th chief until his death in October 2012. His son, a retired United States Air Force officer, succeeded him as the 28th chief, styled Urquhart of Urquhart. In 2014 the chiefly line passed ownership of Castle Craig, a ruined tower on the Cromarty Firth and the clan's oldest surviving building, to the Clan Urquhart Foundation for preservation. The Clan Urquhart Association today brings together Urquharts and related families worldwide.