Clan MacPhail

The original Gaelic name of this clan was Conchie Dhu or Condochy Doye. Originally the MacPhails had a stronghold until 1291 at Fassfern about 16 kilometers west of Fort William.[1]

The MacPhails were always considered to be of old Clan Chattan stock and closely related to Macphersons, Macbeans and other Cattanachs that together formed the Clan Chattan Federation.[2][3]

When the Chief of Clan Mackintosh, Angus, married the heiress of Clan Chattan in the 13th Century, the majority of the Chattan families moved to eastern Inverness-shire.[4][5]

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 MacIntosh’s.[6][7]

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.[8]

In 1547, a MacPhail, Duncan Makconquhy Dow leased half the towns of Tullich and Elrick. This lease was inherited through generations.[3]

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.[9] 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 where largely absorbed into urban life.[10]

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 Federation.[3]

Some of the Clan MacPhail chiefs included:

• Duncan MakDonequhy Dow MacPhail in 1546
• Paul MacPhail in 1689
• Robert MacPhail in 1721
• Alexander MacPhail in 1743

These MacPhails are entitled to also wear the tartan of Clan MacIntosh due to their close fraternity.[11]

Tartan Clan MacPhail

The remnants of Clan MacPhail that stayed in the west and did not migrate with Clan MackIntosh in the 13th Century, eventually integrated with Clan Cameron or migrated later down to Arygyll with Clan Campbell. Variations on the name found with Clan Cameron include: MacKail, MacKell, MacPhail, MacVail, MacVaaile, MacVaill, MacVale and Paul.[12][13]

A sept of the Clan Mackay by the surname of Polson who are also known as Siol Phail are, according to Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet, descended from Neil, son of Neil, son of Donald Mackay, 5th of Strathnaver, chief of Clan Mackay. Although one of their ancestors, Neil Neilson Mackay, died fighting against his own Strathnaver kinsmen at the Battle of Drumnacoub in 1433, the Polsons later gravitated back towards their Strathnaver kindred.

In 1497, 1506 and 1511, Sir John Polson who was presbyter and later chanter of Caithness acted for Iye Roy Mackay, 10th of Strathnaver.

At the Battle of Torran Du in 1517, the Polsons supported the Clan Mackay against the Murrays of Aberscross. In a list of men in Sutherland capable of carrying arms during the Jacobite rising of 1745, a number of Polsons appear in the parishes of Loth and Kildonan. However, according to historian Angus Mackay writing in 1906, the sept was no longer numerically strong and many of them had adopted the surname MacPhail or were now signing themselves as Mackay.[14]

Numerous MacPhail families migrated or were transported during the Highland Clearances to the colonies of America and Australia. The last lineal MacPhail chief, Paul MacPhail died in Australia in the early 1900s.[1][15][16]

Today MacPhails can track their origins from these four main migrations mainly showing fealty to larger clans in those regions:

1. With Clan Chattan Federation but with their own chief and allied to Clan Mackintosh.[17]
2. With Clan Cameron from the 16th century forward.
3. With Clan Mackay in the north of Scotland.
4. Around Argyll and not associated.