SOME DESCENDANTS OF LACHLAN MCNEILL BUIDHE
A.I.B. Stewart
He sleeps in the ancient Kirkyard of Kilkivan four miles west of Campbeltown close to the lands of Tirfergus and Losset which he acquired and bequeathed respectively to John his oldest son by his first marriage and Hector the oldest son by his second marriage. Kilkivan dominates the fertile plain of the Laggan and beyond it can be seen the Island of Gigha all former holdings of his ancestors.
At least eight of the twelve McNeills (in various spellings) in the Dictionary of National Biography are his descendants (1). Many others of his blood have been distinguished members of Society not only in these islands but overseas.
His third daughter Mary married a kinsman Donald McNeill of Crear who exchanged these old Knapdale lands with the Earl of Argyll for the island of Colonsay. Their oldest son Malcolm founded the Colonsay family from which descended Ina, Duchess of Argyll while their second son Neil was the progenitor of the McNeills of Ardnacross from which family comes Jane McNeill present Duchess of Buccleuch.
Duncan McNeill* 6th of Colonsay was a distinguished Scots lawyer. Born in 1793 he was member for Argyll from 1843 to 1851, became Lord Advocate and in 1852 was appointed Lord Justice General for Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1853 and elevated to the Peerage as Lord Colonsay in 1867.
His brother Sir John McNeill, K.G.C.B.,* a doctor by profession, was also a distinguished public servant. He became Minister to the Court of Persia and later was chairman of the Board of Supervisors under the Scottish Poor Law Act. He was part author of the Report on the inadequacy of the Medical Services in the Crimea.
Lord Colonsay’s nephew Major General Sir John Carstairs McNeill, G.C.V.O., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., V.C., J.P.,* (1831 - 1904) had perhaps the most distinguished career of the countless descendants of old Lachlan who have served in the armed forces of the Crown.
Sir John’s youngest brother Sir Malcolm McNeill, C.B., was Vice-President of the local Government Board for Scotland. Sir Malcolm’s daughter Helen married Admiral Sir Arthur Murray Farquhar, K.C.B., C.V.O. They were the parents of Captain John Farquhar, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., who returned to the country of his maternal ancestors as Captain of Campbeltown’s stone frigate H.M.S. Nimrod during the second world war.
Four of Lachlan’s Sons crossed the North Channel to Ireland. The descendants of his second son Neil Buie made a particular impact, not only in Irish affairs, but on the wider world stage. Neil Buie married Rose, daughter of Captain Stewart of Garve, a family descended from Archibald Stewart of Ballintoy, of the Bute Stewarts, factor to the Earl of Antrim, who was much involved in the attempt of the Seventh Earl of Argyll to settle Kintyre on his younger son Lord Kintyre.
Neil Buie’s oldest son Lachlan married Jenny McNaughton of the Irish family which provided a chief for the Scottish Clan McNaughton.
From Neil the eldest son of this marriage came Ronald John McNeill, Lord Cushendun (1861 -1934)*. Having distinguished himself in the House of Commons by throwing a blue book at the head of Winston Churchill he eventually become Financial Secretary to the Treasury under his old adversary and a member of the Privy Council. He was credited by some with “the greatest speech ever delivered to the League of Nations”, when in 1928 he roundly denounced a Russian proposal for complete and immediate abolition of all armed forces. (Plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose). He was acting Foreign Secretary during the latter part of 1928 and as such signed the Kellogg pact on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Neil Buie’s fourth son Daniel founded the McNeiles of Ballycastle, which family produced Lt. General Daniel McNeile, a distinguished soldier in the service of the Honourable East India Company and Mary Harriet McNeile of Parkmount, Co. Antrim who became the wife of Earl Cairns (1819 - 1895) Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, at one time a rival of Disraeli for leadership of the Conservative Party. Other descendants were John McNeile one of the founders of the Northern Bank, Herman Cyril McNeile (1888 -1937)* better known as “Sapper”, the creator of Bulldog Drumond, and Hugh McNeile (1795 - 1879)* Dean of Ripon, a very well known Churchman in his day.
Lachlan’s fifth daughter Isabell, married Revd. David Simpson (jr) of Kilchoman, Their fifth child Margaret married Archibald Campbell of Askomil and there descended through both sons of that marriage another distinguished Anglican the Rt. Hon. Henry Colvill Montgomery Campbell, lately Bishop of London.
Old Lachlan’s oldest son John succeeded him in Tirfergus and John’s fourth son Neil married an Irish girl. Their son John became proprietor of Faughart in Co. Louth and was the grandfather of Sir John Benjamin McNeill (1793 -1880)* disciple of Thomas Telford who remembered him in his Will.
Lachlan’s fourth son was Torquil who married Barbara, the last of the McKays of Ugadale who held their lands under a Charter of King Robert Bruce. Their oldest son Neil, known as the Baron, who adopted the spelling ‘McNeal’ married, after a secret and romantic courtship Margaret Crawford, sister of Viscount Garnock. He acquired Losset from his cousin Dugald, one of the leaders of the 1739 emigration to North Carolina, and is the direct ancestor of the present Hector Macneal of Losset who still possesses the brooch which tradition holds was given to his McKay ancestor by the fugitive King Robert Bruce.
Dugald’s sister, married to Coll McAllister of Balinakill, another leader of the 1739 emigration, was the mother of Colonel Alexander McAllister a prominent figure in North Carolina during the Revolution.
Dugald Losset’s younger brother John served with him in the Horse Guards, later became Controller of Customs at Fort William but rejoined the army and fought at Fonteroy with the Black Watch (then the 43rd regiment). He was the father of Hector McNeill (1746 - 1818)* known as “the Harp” from his epic poem of that name. He was a most popular poet in his day. His poems ran to three editions in America and in his “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” Byron wrote:
“Yet still some genuine sons ‘tis her’s to boast
Who least affecting still affect the most,
Feel as they write, and write but as they feel
Bear witness Gifford, Sotheby, Macneill”
While another lesser poet on the death of Burns suggested that McNeill might fill the gap.
“The streaks o’joy glint in her (Scotia’s) face
Thy steps Macneill sweet bard to trace
To mark wi’ natures peerless grace thy blossoms blaw
Happy to see thee fill the place o’ him awa!”
I have written elsewhere of the contribution of the family to the 1739 emigration of Kintyre Scots to North Carolina but many McNeill descendants were to be found in the West Indies.
Torquil McVicar, the son of Baron Neil’s sister Elizabeth and Revd. John McVicar of Kildalton, Islay was a member of Council and Commander of the Militia in Tobago during the French wars. <>
His uncle Captain Hector McNeill traded with Antigua and St. Christopher and became a wealthy merchant in Bristol. The Law Reports (Morrison’s Dictionary 122) show that Neil McNeil, a grandson of old Lachie’s second daughter Isabel, was not so successful in St. Kitts. Lachlan, a grandson of Neil Oig, old Lachlan’s youngest son died in Jamaica in 1798, leaving a considerable fortune.
Old Lachlan’s second daughter Elizabeth married John Campbell of Kildalloig. Her daughter Annabella was the mother of Capt. Robert Stewart, friend of and aide to George Washington. His brother Peter Stewart became Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island.
Mrs Mary Anne McPherson, sister of the Jamaica trader Lachlan, owned the still existing “Mount Pleasant”, Philadelphia, ‘the finest house in Pennsylvania’ according to President John Adams whom she entertained there.
The family was closely concerned in the ‘45. Baron Neil was in the garrison at Inveraray while his cousin Machrihanish commanded a company of the Argyll Militia, in their disastrous blooding at Falkirk. Among the prisoners taken there was Neil, a brother of Torquil McVicar, who died of injuries suffered when escaping from Doune Castle. Black Lachlan McNeill of Ballygroggan, a son of Lachlan’s youngest daughter Margaret who was treated with such venom in MacMhaighstir Alasdair’s Gaelic poem “The Ark” was on General Campbell’s staff after Culloden. He missed capturing the Prince by a hair’s breadth but caught the Chief of the Mackinnon’s and Locheil’s brother.
On the other hand Ronald McAlister, a grandson of Old Lachie’s oldest son John, was married to Anne, only daughter of McDonald of Kingsburgh, and while he played a passive part, he was present in Kingsburgh House when Flora McDonald, brought the Prince disguised as Betty Burke to shelter there in the house of her future husband.
Ronald was the progenitor of the McAlisters of Glenbarr, Kintyre. And Colonel Alexander McAllister’s brother Hector who had returned to Arran from Carolina was on the list of those Jacobite sympathisers most wanted by the Government.
The family for two hundred years has continued to serve the state and the community. The recitation of the battles in which they have fought and in many cases died, in the West Indies, America, Canada, South Africa, India and Europe reads like a handbook on British history.
Successive McNeiles have been High Sheriffs of Antrim while the present Hector Macneal of Losset in serving as a Deputy Lieutenant of Argyll carries on a continuous family tradition founded by Baron Neal Of Ugadale, his direct ancestor.
And if all that was not enough at least five descendants of Lachlan McNeill Buidhe have been Provosts of Campbeltown.
(1) They are marked by asterisks.
Page 2: A Maker of Illicit Stills
Page 3: Campbeltown's Protestant Churches - A Brief History
Page 5: Kintyre's "Subtropical" Image // Psalm Practice Verses
Page 6: The Blues of North Kintyre
Page 7: The Evolution of Gaelic Surnames in Kintyre
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - Meanders from Mr. Angus Martin
Page 9: One Interesting e-mail // Machrihanish to Southend: The Townships // Some Bits and Bobs
Page 10: The McShannons of Kintyre - Harpers to Tacksmen