Mac Naughton History

The Mac Naghtens are one of the clans who claimed descent from the great Pictish rulers of Moray. The name Nechtan, which may mean "pure" or "clear", was popular in at least one branch of the Pictish royal line. In the thirteenth century there are records of three brothers, Gilchrist, Athe and Gilbert, the sons of Malcolm Mac Nachten. Gilchrist received from Alexander III a charter in 1267 granting him the keepership of a castle warding the narrow Pass of Brander, the gateway to the west.
By coming to Loch Awe, the Mac Nachtens became neighbours of the powerful and acquisitive Campbells. When Robert the Bruce set out to gain the throne, the Campbells were quick to come to his support, but the Mac Nachtens, under the influence of the Mac Dougalls, opposed him. The clan appears to have changed its allegiance for Baron Mac Nachten is recorded fighting at Bannockburn in 1314.
The chief, Alexander, took for his second wife Christina Campbell. When she was widowed in 1361, she granted her marriage portion of the estate to Sir Colin Campbell of Lockow. The balance went to Alexander' s son, Duncan who made his seat at Dunderave, which was thereafter the territorial designation of the chiefs. In 1478, Duncan' s heir acknowledged the Campbell Earls of Argyll as feudal superiors. In 1548 Gilbert Mac Nachten succeeded as chief. When he died without issue, the succession devolved upon his younger brother, Alexander, who started rebuilding Dunderave Castle. Involvement with both the Huguenot rebels and an abortive uprising against the Cromwellian occupation put financial pressures on the family. The lands were almost entirely lost through debt, and Iain, the next chief, who succeeded in 1685, inherited little more than an empty title. When he was denounced as a Jacobite rebel, he forfeited the remainder of his estate in 1710 to Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglas.
John Mac Naughten, known as "Shane Dhu", appeared in Ireland. On the extinction of the Dunderave line his great great-grandson, Edmund Alexander was pressed into becoming chief in 1818. When he died, he was succeeded by his brother, Francis, who was a judge in Madras and Calcutta. He was created a baronet in 1836. Sir Edward, the fourth baronet, was a distinguished lawyer who became a Lord of Appeal in 1887 with the life peerage of "Baron Mac Naghten of Runkerry". He was succeeded by his son, Sir Edward, whose sons both succeeded to the title, but were killed in the First World War. Sir Francis, eighth Baronet, succeeded his nephews, and is the father of the present chief.