MacBain

There are several possible Gaelic origins for this name, but the most likely appears to be ‘bheathain’, meaning ‘lively one’. This could also have been rendered as ‘Mac’ic’Bheatha’, or Macbeth, a name evocative of Scotland’s early history. When Malcolm III deposed the line of Macbeth from the throne, his power was constantly challenged by the powerful noble families of Moray. Unrest continued in the region for several generations until, in the reign of Malcolm IV, the power of the mormaers of Moray was finally broken, and various members of the family sought refuge in other parts of the kingdom. According to tradition, the ancestor of the Macbains sought out his kin among the descendants of Gillichattan Mor, more commonly called the Clan Chattan. They bore on their shield the galley which is also borne by Macbain, alluding to their common ancestry. It is believed that Macbain formed part of the wedding party that accompanied Eva, daughter of Dougal Dall, sixth in line from Gillichattan Mor, on her marriage to Angus, chief of the Mackintoshes, in 1291. Macbain was welcomed by his Mackintosh hosts and settled around Inverness. In order to avoid further royal persecution, the Macbains joined the Chattan confederation of clans, and the chief’s crest and motto clearly demonstrate this.

The earliest certain record of the name in its more modern form appears in an old Kinrara manuscript of the mid fourteenth century, which names both Bean MacMilmhor and his son, Milmor Macbean. The Macbains supported Robert the Bruce in the struggle for Scottish independence, and they are credited with the killing of the steward of the Red Comyn, whose master had been stabbed to death by Bruce himself in the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries in 1306. They fought at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411 along with the rest of the Chattan Confederation on the side of the Macdonald Lord of the Isles in the last serious attempt to wrest the ancient Lordship of the Isles from the grip of the king of Scots. They suffered heavy losses in what was otherwise an evenly matched battle, and in the history of Clan Mackintosh it is recorded that ‘the Mackintosh mourned the loss of so many of his friends and people, especially of Clan Vean’. Paul Macbean, the twelfth chief, was weighed down by heavy debts and was forced to relinquish his lands around 1685. The pres-ent chiefly line descends from his younger son, the elder line having ended in a daughter, Elizabeth Margaret Macbean, who married Dougald Stuart around 1790, but died without issue. The loss of the lands of the clan at Kinchyle must have been sorely felt, but happily the present chief has continued the work of his father, who retrieved some of the clan lands and established the Macbain Memorial Park on the slopes above Loch Ness.

The martial prowess of this clan has never been in doubt, and it is perhaps fitting that much of their history honours the memory and the feats of the greatest Macbean warrior, Gillies, one of the great heroes of the Battle of Culloden. The Macbains had supported the earlier Jacobite rising of 1715, and many were transported to the plantations in Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina after the Stuart defeat. This did not deter Gillies Mor Macbean, grandson of the twelfth chief, from taking up commission as a major to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie, the ‘Young Pretender’. On that fateful day in 1746, Gillies, a giant of a man said to be at least 6 feet 4 inches, saw government dragoons breaking through to assault the Highlanders in the flank. The major threw himself into the gap and, with his back to the wall, cut down thirteen or fourteen of his assailants until he himself was mortally wounded. A Hanoverian officer called back his men in an attempt to save a brave fellow soldier, but Macbean was already dead. Other Macbains also distinguished themselves on that bloody field, and it was a Macbain who assisted Cameron of Lochiel, who was wounded and unable to walk, to escape to safety. Aeneas Macbean made good his escape after the battle by leaping repeatedly from one side of a stream to the other until his exhausted pursuers were forced to give up.

After Culloden the chief struggled to keep the remaining clan lands together, but they were finally sold in 1760. The military prowess of the clan continued unabated. Lieutenant General Forbes Macbean was appointed commander of artillery in Canada in 1778. William Macbean had an extraordinary military career, rising from the rank of private to that of major general, earning the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the Indian Mutiny of 1858. It was a Macbain who commanded the Gordon Highlanders against the Boers of South Africa in 1881. In this century the chiefly line has flourished, first in Canada and now in the United States.