Court of the Lord Lyon Interlocutor of the Lord Lyon King of Arms in the Petition of MICHAEL JAMES GUNN of date 20 June 2003 Edinburgh, 20 September 2011; The Lord Lyon King of Arms, having considered the foregoing Petition and the Proofs submitted therewith, GRANTS WARRANT to the Lyon Clerk to enter the Pedigree Chart lodged by the Petitioner, as amended by the Summary Pedigree, in the Public Register of all Genealogies and Birthbrieves in Scotland to the following extent: (a) the recording of the pedigree of the Chiefs of Clan Gunn from no. 1 to no. 29 inclusive; (b) the recording of the names of the daughters of no. 7, Donald Crotach 6 th Mackeamish, as revised on the Summary Pedigree: that is, no. 29a, a daughter Esther, married to Donald Mackay of Skerray, and no. 30, an unnamed daughter, married to John Gunn of or in Kinbrace; and the recording of no. 31, George Gunn in Dalfridh, as the son of the said unnamed daughter, no. 30, and the said John Gunn of or in Kinbrace; (c) the recording of the descent of no. 37, Hector Gunn in Thurso, served heir-male in 1803, through his father no. 36, George Gunn in Knockfinn, and grandfather no. 35, John Gunn in Kinbrace, to his great grandfather no. 34, George Gunn of Borrobol, younger son of no. 6, Alexander, 5 th Mackeamish. Further, ACCEPTS the evidence for the extinction of the heirs-male of the body of no.37, the said Hector Gunn. Quoad ultra CONTINUES the Petition for the Petitioner to bring further proofs if so minded. (Signed) David Sellar Lyon
NOTE This is a Petition for recording a Genealogy in the Public Register of All Genealogies and Birthbrieves in Scotland. The Genealogy in question is set out in the Pedigree Chart prepared by Hugh Peskett, Esq. and lodged with the Petition. This is headed Chiefs of Clan Gunn and is as revised in April 2000. The Chart sets out the chiefs of Gunn from William Mor, 2 nd Mackeamish (that is MacSheumais, literally son of James, being the style of the Chiefs of Gunn), who flourished c.1614, to Morrison Gunn, 9 th Mackeamish, the last Chief to be fully recognised, who died in 1785. The Chart also includes many descendants or claimed descendants of the chiefs, from Alexander, 3 rd Mackeamish onwards, the line of descent extending in some cases down to the present day. Many of the names on the Chart are numbered: from no. 1 (William Mor, 2 nd Mackeamish) to no. 153 (Alexander, son of the present Petitioner). A Summary Pedigree was later lodged for the Petitioner on 4 th May 2011 together with Hugh Peskett s Answer to my Interim Note dated 23 rd December 2010. As will be seen, this Summary Pedigree is different in at least one crucial respect from the original Pedigree Chart. The Petitioner describes himself as a member of the Honourable Clan Gunn and as a member of the stirps in which the chiefly line now resides, and desires that the Pedigree, or such parts of it as may be verified from the various Reports and documentation, be certified correct and ordained to be recorded in the Public Register of All Genealogies and Birthbrieves. The Petitioner is particularly keen that the succession of the Gunn Chiefs as set out in the Pedigree Chart should be approved and recorded together with the claimed relationship between himself and the Chiefs. The Petition is to record a Genealogy but the wider context is the ongoing search for the Chief of Clan Gunn. I have carefully examined the many Reports, Answers, Notes and Appendices which have been lodged or written since 2003, the main focus now being on the Intervention, my Interim Note of 23 rd December 2010, and Hugh Peskett s Answer thereto. The so-called Intervention was a letter written by Colonel James M. A. Gunn dated 3 rd August 2004 and sent to the Lyon Court. This letter very properly drew the Court s attention to the Sage Manuscript, an important source for Gunn history, being a traditional history of the clan attributed to the Rev. Alexander Sage, originally written at the beginning of the 19 th Century. More particularly, the letter referred to a passage in the Sage Manuscript giving the children of Donald Crotach, 6 th Mackeamish, a passage which was in conflict with the genealogy put forward by the Petitioner. The Petitioner had claimed to descend from a daughter of Donald Crotach, 6 th Mackeamish, thought to have been named 1
Esther, and from her husband whom, according to the Petitioner, tradition had named as Robert Gunn in Garvault and Ascaig, one of the MacHeorish (MacSheorais) Gunns, descending from George Gunn of Borrobol, younger son of Alexander Gunn, 3 rd Mackeamish. By contrast, according to the Sage Manuscript Donald Gunn Crotach is said to have had five children by his wife, the daughter of Sutherland of Torboll: three sons and two daughters. The sons names are given as Alexander, George and William, but the daughters names are not recollected, but that one of them was married to Donald McKay of Skerray and the other to John Gunn of Kinbrace. One version of the Sage Manuscript adds the information that John Gunn of Kinbrace was a member of a branch of the family known as the descendants of Little William, taking their descent from William Beg, a younger brother of William Mor, 2 nd Mackeamish, and gives an account of this branch in considerable detail. The main purpose of my Interim Note was to consider and comment upon the points raised by the Intervention. As noted, Hugh Peskett lodged an Answer to the Interim Note on 4 th May this year together with a Summary Pedigree. The Interim Note and the Answer served to focus the outstanding issues and were the basis of discussion at an informal meeting held in Lyon Office on 24 th May this year between myself and Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, Bt., Rothesay Herald, and Mr Hugh Peskett, both representing the Petitioner, with Lyon Clerk attending. The Petition also refers to a decision of Lord Lyon Blair dated 26 th February 2002 in the Petitioner s earlier Petition for Confirmation and Re-Matriculation of the plain undifferenced Arms of Gunn. It should be borne in mind that this decision was made before the Intervention referred to above. Before proceeding further it is convenient to summarise the Note appended by Lyon Blair to his Interlocutor of 26 th February 2002 dismissing the Petition, although not all of the issues discussed are directly relevant to the present Petition. The first issue was whether the succession to the Gunn chiefship was limited to heirs male. Lyon Blair referred briefly to the evidence submitted and then stated in carefully qualified words, On the basis of the evidence which has been submitted I am prepared to accept that the assumption that the destination is open to heirs whomsoever is a reasonable one in the circumstances. The second issue concerned the identity of Robert Gunn (numbered 32 on the Pedigree Chart). This is still very much a live issue and will be considered further below. On this Lyon Blair said, 2
Accepting that the succession is open to heirs whomsoever, the decision in Gunn Petitioners 1996 SLT (Lyon Court) 3, takes the succession from Morrison Gunn, the 9 th Chief who died on 1 May 1785, to his aunt Esther Gunn and thence to her grandson Robert Gunn who is said to have been in possession of the colours or standard of Clan Gunn in 1803. Evidence has been submitted concerning the identity of this Robert Gunn. While there is no proof that he was regarded as the Chief, and his descendants have not taken steps to maintain the position of the chiefship, his family was of modest means and may not have regarded this as of great importance. Such evidence as there is supports the view that George Gunn, who died on 17 January 1871, was probably the son of the same Robert Gunn. The chronology and other facts which have been unearthed indicate that the likelihood that the Robert Gunn who was the father of George Gunn was a different person to this Robert Gunn can be accepted as improbable. The genealogy from George Gunn onwards is clear. I agree that the genealogy from George Gunn onwards is clear, but later research has cast doubt on some of the other statements in this passage. Another issue was whether it could be inferred from his possession of the Colours and standard that Robert Gunn, there again described as the grandson of Esther Gunn, should be regarded as having succeeded to the chiefship. Lyon Blair thought this evidence was far from conclusive and was inclined to discount it as assisting to decide whether Robert Gunn had succeeded to the chiefship. Again, this will be discussed below. A final issue was the extent to which effect should be given to a Deed of Nomination and Assignation by William Sinclair Gunn dated 11 th January 1991 in favour of the Petitioner and recorded in Lyon Court Books. Lyon Blair was not prepared to give effect to this Deed. I return now to the Meeting held in Lyon Office on 24 th May this year in the light of the Intervention, the Interim Note and the Answer thereto. Mr Peskett confirmed that the authenticity of the Sage Manuscript as representing the tradition of the early 19 th century was no longer in doubt. It was also accepted that the passage in the Sage Manuscript about the marriage of the daughters of Donald Crotach was not a later insertion but part of the original manuscript tradition: Donald Crotach had two daughters, the elder, believed to have been named Esther, married to Donald Mackay of Skerray; and the younger, whose Christian name was not known, married to John Gunn, styled of, but probably in Kinbrace, of the branch of Little William. He no longer believed that this John Gunn of Kinbrace was the same man as John Gunn of Kinbrace, 3
the grandfather of the Hector Gunn who was served heir male to Alexander Gunn, 7 th Mackeamish, by an Inquest in 1803. Thus where the original Pedigree Chart had shown at no. 30 [ESTHER?] Gunn as daughter of Donald Crotach and wife of [ROBERT GUNN MACHEORISH IN GARVAULT?], and George Gunn in Dalfridh as their son, the Summary Pedigree showed at No. 30 name unknown, spouse of John Gunn of/in Kinbrace, and George Gunn in Dalfridh as their son, with, as an addition to the original Pedigree Chart, an elder daughter of Donald Crotach named Esther married to Donald Mackay of Skerray. It was argued for the Petitioner that the Christian name of the husband of the younger daughter was in any case not material as regards succession to the chiefship [Answer 3.4]. That may be so (always assuming that the succession descended to heirs whomsoever rather than to heirs-male), but the change to the Pedigree Chart is a significant one and calls into question not only this part of the pedigree but also the arguments originally presented. In an earlier Report on the Chiefship of Clan Gunn, dated 5 th and signed 27 th April 2000, Hugh Peskett stated that Angus Mackay (whose evidence in 1803 is considered below) did not state the name of the sister of Alexander 7 th MacKeamish, but tradition names her as Esther, and her husband as Robert Gunn in Garvault, one of the MacHeorish Gunns. (The Chiefship of Clan Gunn: Hugh Peskett s Reports, Part I The Succession to 1785, at 6.6, note 36) [my italics]. Later Hugh Peskett again states that tradition names her as Esther the spouse of Robert Gunn mac Heorish in Garvault and Ascaig. (Reports, Part I at 9.5 (d)). When I raised a question as to the source of this tradition Mr Peskett in his Answer (4. The identity of Robert Gunn) stated that the Gunn family of Wick, including Michael Gunn the Petitioner, and William Sinclair Gunn, had a long tradition that they descend from the Chiefs. This is evidenced by an Affidavit by William Sinclair Gunn dated 6 th April 2000 where he said, I am not a historian but I have heard about the tradition from Roddy Gunn (now deceased) my second cousin, of Grant Street, Wick, that our family were from Kildonan and related to the Chiefs. (The Chiefship of Clan Gunn: Hugh Peskett s Reports, Part II The Identity of Robert Gunn, dated 5 th and signed on 27 th April 2000, 16. See also Chiefship of Clan Gunn, Schedule of Documents, dated 5 th and signed on 27 th April 2000, number 50). Mr Peskett confirms that Roddy, otherwise Roderick Mackenzie Gunn, was a seanchaidh whose family knowledge relayed to me was quite amazingly accurate when capable of being verified against the documentary record. Nevertheless this is a very late and slender source for the statements made above referring to tradition, and cannot stand against the evidence of the Sage Manuscript committed to writing two centuries earlier. 4
I turn now to the important evidence of Angus Mackay made on oath at an Inquest held in Wick in 1803 to determine who was the heir-male of Alexander Gunn, 7 th Mackeamish. In the event the Inquest found Hector Gunn, merchant in Thurso, a descendant of George Gunn, the younger brother of Alexander 5 th Mackeamish, to be the nearest heir-male. In making this finding the Inquest was unaware, as was Angus Mackay, that a closer relative, Lieutenant Donald Gunn, son of George Gunn of Corrish and grandson of Donald Crotach, was still alive and living in the Netherlands. He died leaving no issue in 1807. The relevant passage from Angus Mackay s evidence reads as follows: Interrogated if he has seen or knows in whose hands the Colours or Standard of the Clan Gunn is or the blazoning of the Chief or Mackeames s Armorial bearings or in whose hands they were some time ago & and if he does he is desired to say in whose they were are or he supposes them to be now? Depones that he hears that they are in the hands of Robert Gunn or some of the four sons of the late George Gunn in Dalfree & he knows they were in the possession of George Gunn when he was alive. Interrogated what connection had the said George Gunn with McKeames. Depones that he was the nephew to Alexander Gunn the seventh Makeames being a son of a sister of the said Mckeames the seventh. Interrogated Did he ever hear since the death of Morrison Gunn in Gibraltar the Ninth and last Mackeames to whom the country in General and the above George Gun in whose keeping these things were in say in particular that they now of right belonged? Depones that he generally and particularly heard that the petitioner [Hector Gunn the claimant as heir-male] had the only title to them and that the foresaid George Gunn himself said so. Angus Mackay, therefore, gave evidence that George Gunn in Dalfridh was a nephew through his mother of Alexander 7 th MacSheumais and that he had possession of the Colours or standard of the Clan Gunn at one time although he, George, believed that they belonged of right to Hector Gunn as heir-male. Angus, therefore, considered George Gunn to be only an interim custodian of the Colours. I take this opportunity of correcting an error made towards the end of my Interim Note where I referred to Hector Gunn as the heir at law of the last Gunn Chief rather than the heir-male. Angus Mackay says that he had heard that the Colours were then [1803] in the hands of Robert Gunn or some of the four sons of George Gunn. From this it has been inferred that Robert was one of the four sons of George Gunn and probably the eldest. This is a possible interpretation of Angus 5
Mackay s words, but by no means the only one. Angus Mackay does not say in terms that Robert was a son of George Gunn nor, if a son, that he was the eldest. It is important to note that the reason behind the Inquest of 1803 which served Hector Gunn as heir-male to Alexander Gunn, 7 th Mackeamish, was to determine who was the Chief of Clan Gunn, it being universally believed at the time that the chiefship descended to the heir-male. As Hugh Peskett states in his Answer (1.2), It is important to appreciate that everyone concerned in the Gunn genealogy and chiefship in the 18 th and 19 th centuries was entirely mistaken, believing that the destination was to heirs-male. It does not appear that evidence as to this universal belief or as to the circumstances of the Inquest of 1803 was before Lyon Blair in 2002. The final matter to be considered concerns the Petitioner s admitted great great grandfather Robert Gunn who married Ann Whear. Is this Robert to be identified with Robert Gunn, who is inferred to be a son of George Gunn in Dalfridh, and a grandson, therefore, of the daughter of Donald Crotach, Christian name unknown, who married John Gunn in Kinbrace? In my Interim Note I indicated that I was not convinced of the identification. I wrote, On the assumption that Ann Whear and Ann Mackay are the same person, as seems not unlikely, Hugh Peskett has uncovered many references on record to Robert and Ann, their married status and their children, including a sasine dated 9 th December 1841 in favour of George Gunn, described as eldest son of Robert Gunn and Ann Wheir, both deceased (Chiefship of Gunn, Schedule of Documents, number 53). Despite further research, however, Mr Peskett has not been able to show from the record that this Robert Gunn was the son of George Gunn in Dalfridh. His statement (at Chiefship of Gunn: Part II - Identity of Robert Gunn, 15) that, Exhaustive further research proves by elimination that there are no other Robert or George Gunns capable of fitting this identification, is quite misleading unless qualified by the words on the record. At Chiefship of Gunn: Part II - Identity of Robert Gunn, 16.1 [recte 17.1] he notes that Robert the husband of Ann fits the chronology which would be expected if he was the same man as Robert, son of George in Dalfridh; and at 17.2 that Robert, husband of Ann, named his eldest son George, as would be expected if he was the Robert Gunn the son of George Gunn in Dalfridh. Neither of these points is in any way conclusive. He also states that, there is no other record of a George Gunn son of a Robert Gunn born in the period 1770-1810 anywhere in the two counties of Caithness and Sutherland. This negative evidence is also far from conclusive, as Mr Peskett himself admits (at 17.2, note 93): the parish registers for Kildonan and Loth in Sutherland do not begin until well after 1770, in 1791 and 1795 6
respectively. Also, it was not then compulsory to register births, and many people did not do so. Nothing in Mr Peskett s Answer to my Interim Note, nor said at the Meeting in May this year, has altered my opinion. I still think that the case for identifying the two Roberts is far from proved. I am, therefore, prepared to record the pedigree of the Chiefs of Gunn down to and including no. 19, Morrison Gunn, 9 th Mackeamish, and the descendants of no. 20, George Gunn of Corrish and no. 22, Lt.-Col. William Gunn, sons of Donald Crotach, 6 th Mackeamish as shown on the Pedigree Chart. I am also prepared to record the names of the daughters of Donald Crotach as revised on the Summary Pedigree: that is, a daughter Esther (no number) married to Donald Mackay of Skerray, and a unnamed daughter, no. 30, married to John Gunn of or in Kinbrace and mother of no. 31, George Gunn in Dalfridh. I am not prepared to accept the names on the Pedigree Chart and the Summary Pedigree below no. 31, George Gunn in Dalfridh. I am prepared to accept the genealogy of no. 37, Hector Gunn in Thurso, served heir-male in 1803, back through his father no. 36, George Gunn in Knockfinn, and grandfather no. 35, John Gunn in Kinbrace, back to no. 34, George Gunn of Borrobol, younger son of Alexander, 5 th Mackeamish, although I do not necessarily accept that this John Gunn in Kinbrace was married to no. 15, Margaret, daughter of Alexander, 5 th Mackeamish. I accept the evidence for the extinction of the heirs-male of the body of no. 37, Hector Gunn. (Signed) David Sellar Lyon 7