- Thanks to Sandie
for sending us in this information and also to the Clan
Muirhead Society and Clan Elder David Grossett who wrote this history.
- Over the past nine
hundred years, the Muirheads of Bothwell, Cumbernauld, Lauchope and
Bredisholm, and their descendants, have served their deity and their
fellow man with devotion, courage and humility. Our surname, Muirhead,
like many others, came from the place where our ancestors lived - from the
muirs, or moors, of Scotland. More particularly from the head, or edge of
the moor.
-
-
In his highly
authoritative book, "The Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin, Meaning, and
History", first printed by the New York Public Library in 1946, Dr. Black
had this to say about our surname:
-
"MUIRHEAD,
Morehead. From one or other of the many localities of the name in the
southern counties, perhaps from Muirhead in the barony of Bothwell. The
lands and town of Mureheid in the diocese of Ross are mentioned in 1578 (RPC.),
but the surname is not likely to have originated there. The first of the
name on record is said to have been Sir William Muirhead of Lachope, end
of the fourteenth century. Probably the same person as William de Murehede
who witnessed a charter in lands of Cranshaws in 1401. (Swinton, p.
xvii). Andrew Morheid was assizer in Lanark in 1432 (RAA., II, 65), David
de Murhed, cleric in diocese of Glasgow, is recorded in 1471 (REG., 395),
Ricardus Mwreheid, canon of Dunkeld, 1484 (RAA., II, p.211) may be Richard
Murhede, dean of Glasgow in 1491 (AAPS., II, p. 270), Wilyame of Murehede
is recorded in 1484 (Peebles, 31), and Thomas Murhede was parson of
Lyne in 1504 (Trials, I, p*43). Thomas Murehead, quarryman at
Dunkeld, 1505-15, appears in record as Moirhed, Moirheid, and Mored (Rent,
Dunk.), David Muirheyd was assizer in Gowane (Govan) in 1527 (Pollock,
I, p. 268) and David Mourheid was merchant burgess of Dumfries, 1668 (Inquis.,
938). In common speech pronounced Murheed, Mooreheid 1624, Morheid
1691, Mureheid 1620, Muirhed 1513, Murehed 1503, Muyrheid 1498, Mwirheid
1577, Mwreheid 1484, Mwrhed 1493, Mwrheid, Mwrhied, and Mwrheyd 1522."
-
-
The above
information was recently corroborated by Lieutenant Colonel Howard C.
Paterson, TD, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, in a
letter to our Clan President, Raymond Lee Morehead, Esq.
-
As can be seen
from the paragraph above, the pronunciation and spelling of our surname
was changed, in some cases, to Muirheid, Morehead, Moorhead. These changes
occurred as the descendents of the family moved to other locales, e.g., to
the southwest of Scotland, to Ireland, and as in the case of James and
John Muirhead-banished, in 1685, to the English colonies in North America
because they refused to swear allegiance to King Charles II, an avowed
Papist, and had fought against the British crown for their religious
freedom as Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge [1679].
-
In his book, "A
System of Heraldry", Nisbet states, "The first charter I have seen of any
note concerning the ancient family is a deed granted by Archibald, Comte
de Douglas Galovidiac et Bothwell ,dicto soutiforo, Sieur Willielmo
deMuirhead in Baronia de Bothwell in 1393, being a gentleman of mettle and
spirit, he had the honour of Knighthood conferred on him by King Robert
III."
-
Legend tells us
that the king knighted William Muirhead and awarded him the lands of
Lauchope as a reward for having brought him the head of one Bertram
deShotts, a ferocious killer who had terrorized the region for years. The
king had issued a proclamation which said that whoever rid the area of
this killer would be rewarded. Muirhead cut and stacked a large pile of
heather near the spot where Bertram used to go to get a drink of water. As
time passed, Bertram, initially wary of the heather pile, became
accustomed to its presence. William Muirhead, with his big, two handled
sword, hid in the pile of heather, and as Bertram lay on the bank of the
stream to get a drink of water, Muirhead quickly advanced upon him and
with his sword, slashed Bertram's hamstrings - behind his knees, so the
mad giant was helpless. Bertram laughed at Muirhead, who is reported to
have said to him before he beheaded him with his sword, "Lauch up,
for its yer last laugh!" . Thus we get the name of Lauchope.
-
-
Lauchope House, a
tower house noted for its extremely thick walls, gave refuge to Hamilton
of Bothwellhaugh, brother of Janet Hamilton, wife of James Muirhead, of
Lauchope[1510- ?], as Hamilton fled after slaying the Regent of Scotland,
the Earl of Moray, half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1570 at
Linlithgow. The House was set ablaze by those who sought to revenge the
killing of the Regent and many important papers were lost in the blaze. In
1799, part of the house fell, and in 1956, the present owners, the
Roberton family, one of the oldest, untitled families in Lanarkshire, had
the property demolished.
-
A photograph of
the stately and historic Lauchope House, seen in its sylvan setting during
the early 1900's, as well as an old photograph of Bredisholm House, which
was located on what is now the Glasgow Zoo, have come to hand. [Bredisholm,
or Breadiesholme, was located east of the junction of motorways M2 and M8
and on the north bank of Calder Water; the house, which in its later days
served as a golf clubhouse, was also demolished at about the same time as
Lauchope House]
-
Again, according
to Nisbet, "The family of Muirhead of Lauchope has always been reputed one
of the most ancient families in all the shire of Lanark.."
-
Walter Grosset, of
Logie, a large estate, owned by the Grosset family from 1711 to 1760, in
the village of Crossford, near Dunfermline, in his volume, 'An Account of
the Family of the Muirheads of Lachop.." n/d., circa 1740, in similar
fashion, outlined the Muirhead family history and the inter-familial
connections with the Grosset family of Logie.
-
-
Walter's mother,
Euphemia Muirhead,also known as Lady Logie, the eldest of the six children
born to James Muirhead and Helen Stewart, of Bredisholm, married Archibald
Grosset, of Logie, circa 1707. When her four brothers failed to produce
any heirs, the Muirhead line of descent then followed the female line, and
one of her sons, James Grosset, a merchant prince of Lisbon, Portugal, in
1754 purchased the Bredisholm estate from his uncle, John Muirhead of
Bredisholm [1676-1762] , and assumed the Muirhead surname and its coat of
arms, for himself 'and his posterity'. Among the descendants of John
Grosset Muirhead is Dr. James Steuart Muirhead-Gould, one of the current
elders of the clan. [Logie has been in the possession of the Hunt family
since 1788]. Below is a picture of Logie.
James Grosset Muirhead
[1706-1776] is also credited with the recovery of the ballad of the "Laird
of Muirhead" which recounts the story of the defeat of the Scottish army by
the English at the Battle of Flodden, in 1513.
The Muirhead clan had the signal honour of serving as King James IV of
Scotland's royal bodyguards during the battle. King James, and his son,
Alexander, were both slain, along with the flower of Scottish chivalry,
including the Laird of Muirhead, John Muirhead [ca. 1443-1513], and over two
hundred of his clansmen also perished in the battle.
This ballad is on display at the oldest
house in Glasgow, seen above, built in 1471 by Bishop Andrew Muirhead, the
First Provands Lordship of Glasgow, as a church manse near Glasgow
Cathedral. [The house is presently undergoing renovation. Mary, Queen of
Scots, is reported to have spent a few days at the manse.]
- If you would like a copy of the MP3 of "Laird of Muirhead",
kindly done by
Randall Dighton, of the Celtic Troubadors/Amaryllis, please email me. At this time, the
MP3 is too large of a file to include on the website, but it is possible
to email you a copy. Mr. Dighton made mention of a possible fully
harmonized version on their next CD. You will need an MP3 player to
listen to the ballad, such as:
- The Laird Of Muirhead
- The Poetical Works of Sir Walter
Scott
- Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
- Edinburgh; Adam and Charles Black,
1861
This ballad is a fragment from Mr. Herd's
MS., communicated to him by J. Grossett Muirhead, Esq. of Bredisholm, near
Glasgow; who stated that he extracted it, as relating to his own family,
from the complete Song, in which the maes of twenty or thirty gentlemen
were mentioned, contained in a large collection, belonging to Mr.
Alexander Monro, merchant in Lisbon, but supposed now to be lost.
It appears, from the Appendicx to Nisbet's
Heraldry, p. 264, that Muirhead of Lachop and Bullis, the person here called
Laird of Muirhead, was a man of rank, being rentaller, or perhaps feuar, of
many crown-lands in Galloway; and was, in truth, slain in "Campo Belli de
Northumberland suv vexillo Regis," i.e. in the Field of Flodden.
Afore
the King in order stude
Before, stood
The stout laird of Muirhead,
Wi' that same twa-hand muckle
sword two-handed great
That Bartram fell'd stark
dead. relates to the legendary story of the
capture and decapitation of a ferocious killer, Bertram DeSchotts, by an
earlier Laird of Muirhead.
He sware he wadna lose his
right swore. wouldn't
To fight in ilka field;
each/every
Nor budge him from his liege's
sight, lord's
Till his last gasp should yield.
Twa hunder mair of
his ain name, two, more, own
Frae
Torwood and the Clyde,
From
Sware
they would never gang to hame, swore, going,
home
But a' die by his syde.
side
And wondrous weel they kept
their troth; well
This sturdy royal band
Rush'd down the brae
wi' sic a pith, down the hill with such
force
That nane could them withstand.
none
Mony a bloody blow they dealt,
The like was never seen;
And, hadna that braw
leader fall'n, had not, brave
They ne'er had slain the king.
Following the union
of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, when James VI of Scotland
ascended the English throne, and became James I of England, and following
the subsequent political union which followed in 1707, when the Scottish
Parliament dissolved in Edinburgh, and merged into the first British
Parliament in London, the fortunes of the Muirhead family tended to follow
that of the expanding British Empire. They acquired a home in Hanover
Square, in London. Other family members emigrated to the now British
colonies around the world. Some, like John Muirheid, mentioned earlier, who
gained prominence in Mercer County, New Jersey and was the first sheriff of
Pennington, New Jersey; others, the Moreheads of Galloway, for example,
settled in the colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas; a contingent of
Muirheads settled in Nova Scotia, and other Muirheads settled in other
provinces of Canada. In the passage of time, Muirheads and Moreheads moved
westwards into Kentucky, Tennessee and to the other states and provinces, as
opportunities presented themselves. One family, that of James Muirhead
[1740-1804] and his wife, Elphinstone MacKinnon, settled in Adelaide, in
South Australia, and made a considerable mark in that part of the world.
Muirheads have served
their old and new homelands well; among the numerous attainments of this
distinguished family have been, before the Reformation, Bishops of the Roman
Catholic church, Deans of Glasgow University, Provosts [Mayors] of Hamilton
and Glasgow, three Governors of the state of Kentucky, the discovery of the
power of steam by James Watt, the great Scottish inventor, whose mother was
Agnes Muirhead of Lachop, to the 1998 Engineer of the Year, Brian K.
Muirhead, of the Mars Rover vehicle fame. Another, Major John Motley
Morehead, a scientist and engineer for the Union Carbide and Carbon Company,
of New York, was a discoverer of acetylene gas. He also wrote, "The Morehead
Family of VA and NC", in 1921. More recently, Ray Jerome Morehead, who spent
forty years researching the Muirhead history , wrote a book, "The Henry
Muirheid/Muirhead Family of Virginia and Mississippi", in 1989. [The book is
available for purchase through his son, Raymond Lloyd Muirhead] . Another
Muirhead of note, Roland Eugene Muirhead, founded, and served as the first
president of, the Scottish Nationalist Party [SNP]. The SNP is presently a
major political force in the new Scottish Parliament which opened its first
session in Edinburgh in 1999, after an absence of 292 years.
Captain Charles
Morehead [1609-1705], the eldest child of David Muirhead, a wealthy merchant
with business offices in both Edinburgh and London, emigrated to Kent Island
on the Chesapeake River in 1630 to oversee his father's enterprises in the
English colony of Virginia. It is located just east of the US Naval Academy
at Annapolis, MD. He subsequently moved, in 1645, to Great Wicomico, in
Northumberland County, Virginia.
Two nieces of the
aformentioned James Grosset Muirhead married into the English aristocracy;
in 1780, Diana Grosset , daughter Walter Grosset of Logie, married the Hon.
Robert Walpole, the youngest son of Baron Walpole of Wolterton, and nephew
of Sir Robert Walpole, the first British Minister. Her descendants may
properly claim a distant kinship with Princes William and Harry of the
British royal family. Her cousin, Elizabeth, a daughter of Major Alexander
Grosset, of Bredisholm, married Robert Wright, of Eyam, Derbyshire. [Eyam is
the village noted for stopping the Plague of 1666]. Her son, John Thomas,
married Catherine Jane Northcote, a daughter of Sir Stafford Northcote. Both
Alexander and his younger brother, Walter, are mentioned in British history
books in connection with the events surrounding Prince Charles Edward Stuart
- 'Bonnie Prince Charlie's - attempt to return the British crown to its
rightful owner, his father, King James VII of Scotland, in 1745. Captain
Alexander Grosset was killed, a shot to the chest, while serving as
aide-de-camp to Lieutenant Colonel Lord Ancram at the Battle of Culloden in
1746. Lord Ancram commanded the right wing of the government forces of the
Duke of Cumberland. Lord George Murray, Prince Charles Stuart's military
commander, with his own force of Atholl Highlanders, commanded the right
wing of the Jacobite forces.
Forty years later,
Captain Grosset's nephew, John Grosset Muirhead, married Lady Jane Murray,
the youngest child of the Duke of Atholl, and grand-daughter of Lord George
Murray. Truly, love does conquer all!
Jonathon Muirheid, of
Hunterdown County, New Jersey, personally led General George Washington to
the most suitable site on the Delaware River from which spot the general
launched his first successful attack on the British forces in Trenton during
the Revolutionary War. Many members of the Muirheid family served with great
distinction in the American Revolution, including one who rose to the rank
of Brigadier General. In the Civil War, a Morehead was Chief of Staff to
General Sherman of the Union Army.
There is much more to
the history of this ancient Scottish family than is contained herein. Let us
do our best to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors in piety, honor and
comradeship.
As our President,
Raymond Lee Morehead, urges us, "Remember the men and women from whence you
came, for, in remembering them, they live once again for all those who
follow".
David Grossett, Elder
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