MacLennan Clan

MacLennan Clan Crest: A piper adorned with the MacLennan ancient tartan.

MacLennan Clan Motto: Dum Spiro Spero (While I breathe, I hope).

History of Clan MacLennan:
The history of the MacLennans is complicated in that the Chiefship remained dormant for over three hundred years.  In addition, they are closely associated with the Logans, both having originally settled in Kintail, although the Logans later grew to prominence in the Lowlands of Scotland, becoming Lords of Restalrig.

In the Highlands, the MacLennans supported the Mackenzies. When the Marquis of Montrose rallied the Clans to the Royalist Cause in 1645, the 2nd Earl of Seaforth, the Mackenzie Chief, and a Covenanter, opposed him. In the ensuing Battle of Auldearn, the men of Kintail, led by the MacLennan Chief, who carried the Seaforth Standard, were decimated. 

Some MacLennans fought for the Jacobite Cause at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, but the Clan had been seriously weakened and, at this juncture, without a Chief, many of the clansfolk emigrated overseas. Reflecting this are a Maclennan County in Texas and the Maclennan Mountains in New Zealand. Pipers of the name MacLennan were present at the Battle of Culloden and at the Battle of Waterloo.

In 1978, Ronald George MacLennan was recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms as 34th Chief of Clan MacLennan. As a young man, during the Second World War, Ronald had parachuted into Belgium to work with the resistance movement and was subsequently awarded the Croix de Guerre by both Belgium and France, and the Virturi Militaiire from Poland. Following his father's death in 1989, Ruairidh MacLennan became 35th Chief of MacLennan at the age of twelve.

John Cunningham McLennan (1867-1935) was a Canadian physicist of Scottish descent, who succeeded in liquefying helium.

Surname distribution in Scotland: The MacLennan surname is most common in the Outer Hebrides (the main islands include Lewis and Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Benbecula and Barra), Highland (an amalgamation of the historic counties of Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Ross and Cromarty and Sutherland), Aberdeenshire (incudes the historic county of Kincardineshire and part of Banffshire), Aberdeen City, Moray (also includes alrge part of historic Banffshire), Edinburgh City, the Lothians (Linlithgowshire, Edinburghshire and Haddingtonshire), Argyllshire and Renfrewshire.

Places of Interest:
Auldearn, Nairnshire. A confrontation between the Marquis of Montrose's Royalist troops and the Covenanting Army under Sir John Urray took place here in 1645.  Ruairidh MacIain Domhnull Bain MacLennan, Chief of Clan MacLennan, and two of his brothers, were killed.

Clan MacLennan membership display certificates.