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 Gaelic name of this clan was Conchie Dhu or Condochy Doye.
With the Clan Chattan Confederation 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 Confederation. Cattanach is still a surname associated to these clans.
As Clan MacPhail proper Originally the MacPhails had a stronghold until 1291 at Fassfern about 16 kilometers west of Fort William. A Paul Conchie Dhu is reputed to have accompanied others of the Clan Chattan on their migration from Lochaber to Strathnairn during the time of Angus, 6th chief of Mackintosh who had married Eva, the heiress of Clan Chattan. Some of 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.Mackintosh-Shaw, A. Historical Memoir of the House and Clan of Mackintosh and of the Clan Chattan, R. Clay and Sons, and Taylor, London 1880 5. MacPhails. pg 542-544
When the Chief of Clan MacKintosh, Angus, married the heiress of Clan Chattan in the 13th century, the majority of the Chattan families including most of Clan MacPhail moved to eastern Inverness-shire.
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.
In 1547, a MacPhail, Duncan Makconquhy Dow leased half the towns of Tullich and Elrick. This lease was inherited through generations.
In 1566, an Andrew MacPhail is described in the Burgh Court Book as "minister of Inverness and Petty in the Erse/(Gaelic) tongue".Records of Inverness, Vol. 1, pp. lvi-lvii, 146. In the Thirds of Benefices for 1572 Macphail/Brebner is described as minister of Farnua (Kirkhill) and "exhorter at Petty and the Yrishche kirk of Invernes", G. Donaldson, Accounts of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices, 1561-1572 (Edinburgh, 1949), pp. 215-7. In 1706 the population of Inverness was "about 4000 persons above the age of fourteen, 3000 and more of whom can only speak the Gaelic language", Alexander Mitchell (ed.), Inverness Kirk Session Records, 1661-1800 (Inverness, 1902), p. 25.
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 Kilravock. For 1000 Pound Scots he was granted a wadset and long tack of Invernarnie, which faced the river Nairn and lay within the Barony of Strathnairn in the Parish of Daviot and Dunlichty. The land also included Duglass and Dullatur facing the river Findhorn. These lands were held by descendants until 1773, when the lease was not renewed. The unity of the family was destroyed and a large portion drifted southward to Argyllshire and were largely absorbed into urban life.
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.Historical memoirs of the House and Clan of Mackintosh and of the Clan Chattan by Alexander Mackintosh Shaw, printed for the author by R. Clay and sons and Taylor, London 1880. pg 544
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 Confederation.
Some of the Clan MacPhail chiefs included:
Duncan MakDonequhy Dow MacPhail in 1546The Clan Phail: The History of a People, John E. Mackfall, Quacks Books, 2000. 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.
The last lineal MacPhail chief, Paul MacPhail died in Australia in the early 1900s.The Celtic Monthly: A magazine for Highlanders, June 1912, No 6 vol XXJDowns, P, OSB Journal of the Clan Chattan Association, Vol XII – No 2, 2008, Some MacPails and Archattan Pg 66-77
Conflicts and Feuds As an integrated clan of the Chattan Confederation, 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 an archer for Captain Alexander M'Naughtan in service of King Charles the 1st to support Protestants in France.MacPhail, J.R.N Highland papers-Volume 1 Edinburgh University Press, 1914, pg 103-116
Several MacPhails were 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.
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. The muster roll of Charles' army lists 2 Macphails: John MacPhail from Draches Mor who fought in Lady Macintosh's Regiment at Falkirk Muir & Culloden Malcolm MacPhail from Elgol who fought with the Macintoshes/Keppochs. This regiment fought in all 3 major battles.Muster roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's army, 1745-46 / editors, Alastair Livingstone, Christian W.H. Aikman, and Betty Stuart Hart; foreword by Sir Donald Cameron, K.T.; introduction by Bruce P. Lenman, pp218 An 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. This sword is now in the collection of the Battle of Falkirk Muir Trust. 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.
Another MacPhail, Hugh MacPhail of Strathglass is also recorded to have fought at Culloden and was apparently one of several men of Glenmoriston who sheltered the Prince after the battle. His sword has ended up on display in the Inverness Town House on the right side of the main stained glass windows. The sword is sometimes described as a Andrew Ferrara sword, a sword maker of esteemed renown.
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."Jacobite memoirs of the rebellion of 1745 edited. From the manuscripts of the late right rev. Robert Forbes, A.M. Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, by Robert Chambers, Author of "Traditions of Edinburgh", &c. Edinburgh: William & Robert Chamber, Waterloo Place; and Longman & CO. London. 1834. Chapter Barbarities after Culloden, Pg 213
Clan Symbols Members of Clan MacPhail are entitled to wear a crest badge to show their allegiance to their clan chief. This crest badge contains the heraldic crest and heraldic motto of the clan chief. For Clan MacPhail, it is a Stag Salient. These elements, like the chief's coat of arms, are the heraldic property of the chief alone. The symbolism of Clan MacPhail is distinct from the majority of the Chattan Federation having no wildcat, but a stag. The most similar to this is with Clan Davidson, their close neighbours to the north. The Davidsons appears to have changed their crest to honour an important marriage to a Mackenzie of Gairloch and the MacPhails could have done something similar. The use of the stag with certain clans could also represent an association with the cult of Saint Giles.
Clan badges are usually worn on a tam o' shanter or attached at the shoulder of a lady's tartan sash.Adam; Innes of Learney (1970): pp. 541–543.
Selection of a new Chief In 2022, the clan has started the process to select a commander.
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 MackIntoshes.
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.Eyre-Todd, G. The Highland clans of Scotland, their history and traditions, 1862-1937 pg 334
One of the earliest recorded MacPhail, a certain Gillies MacPhail married a Margaret Macintosh in 1500.Minor Septs of Clan Chattan. no. III.—The MacPhails of Inverairnie. An account of the confederation of Clan Chattan; its kith and kin. Prepared as the request of the Clan Association in Glasgow, Pat Charles Fraser-Mackintosh of Drummond, LL.D., F.S.A., SCOT. Glasgow: John MacKay, "Celtic Monthly' Office, 9 Blythswood Drive, 1898. There was several other MacPhails that intermarried with MacKintoshes showing a close fraternity.Dunlop, J. PhD The Clan Mackintosh, The spearhead of the Clan Chattan, W.& A.K. Johnston's Clan Histories, 1960 W.& A.K. Johnston & G.W. Bacon Ltd
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.Letters of Two Centuries: Chiefly connected with Inverness and the Highlands, from 1616 to 1815. Edited, and each introduced with explanatory and illustrative remarks by Charles Fraser-Mackintosh of Drummond, M.P., F.S.A. SCOT., Author of "Antiquarian Notes"; " Invernessiana"; etc. Inverness: A. & W. Mackenzie. 1890. Page 148
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.MackIntosh, A.M. History of the Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan
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 Duthil. Gillepatrik McFale lived in Glenurquhart in 1545. Duncan McFaill was a reader at Cromdale in 1584. Other variants of the name were noted later in Invera’en, Cromdale, Abernethy and Aberlour.
The MacPhails that stayed in West With Clan Cameron