Clans of the North-East: Barclay

June 2009

Scotland in Latvia: Gordon Casely located the statue of Field Marshal Prince Michael Barclay de Tolly in the Latvian capital Riga some years ago. Inset: The funeral coat-of-arms in Riga Cathedral of Wilhelm Barclay de Tolli, town councillor and guilder elder in Riga. Prince Michael was Wilhelm Barclay de Tolli’s grandson. Inset top left is the clan badge. tartan courtesy of scottish tartans authority

by Gordon Casely

Barclay is a family which has so adeptly intertwined itself into North-East life that it has become all but invisible. Where are the great followings of Barclay at our games and gatherings? Spotting a Barclay is all but a lottery: at best they are gey thin on the ground.

Compare the anonymity of Barclay life to Barclay tartan. It is one of Scotland’s setts that in striking yellow and black yells out, just wanting to be noticed. By contrast, the Barclay Hunting version is a sober blue and green with red overstripe.

As with so many families in our part of Scotland, the original Barclays reached here from the Norman Conquest via England. From the pioneer de Berchelai came the great Gloucestershire fortress of Berkeley Castle, begun in 1153 and still standing as the home of the earls of Berkeley. Those of the name coming into Scotland were early to make their marks, for by 1165, Sir Walter de Berkeley was chamberlain of Scotland.

Places such as Towie, Urie and Gartly became home to early Barclays, with Towie Barclay in Auchterless becoming the family heartland. Today’s chief is 71-year-old Peter Barclay of Towie Barclay and that Ilk, 31st of Towie Barclay, who lives in London.

Tradition relates that the lands of Towie were bestowed on an early Barclay by a grateful king. The family might have remained in Towie Barclay Castle but for a day of violence in which a nearby nunnery was plundered. Thomas the Rhymer (Thomas Learmonth (c1220-c1298) is said to have laid down a curse that haunted the male heir:

Towie Barclay of the Glen
Happy to the maids but never to the men.

When in 1755 the property was sold, the Rhymer’s curse was given as a principal reason for disposal. Barclays have never lived there since.

The Urie Barclays at Stonehaven produced one of the most colourful of the clan in the last laird, Captain Robert Barclay-Allardyce of Urie, known to history as the Great Pedestrian. Record-holder of astonishing walking feats, his most famous exploit involved walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours over a measured mile on Newmarket Heath in 1809, a feat equalled for the first time only last year.

The Baltic Barclays

Branches of the Barclay family have long enjoyed Baltic links. From the 17th century Sir Patrick Barclay, 17th laird of Towie stems the Russian-born Michael Andreas Barclay (1761-1818). A distinguished soldier, Michael commanded the Russian army against Napoleon, and is said to have invented the policy of ‘scorched earth’, retreating and burning until starvation and cold forced Bonaparte into the terrible retreat from Moscow in 1812. By 1815, Michael had been honoured by the Czar as Field Marshal Prince Michael Barclay de Tolly, and some years later in London met his kinsman Colonel Sir Robert Barclay, 25th of Towie.

Towie Barclay Castle was restored as his home some 30 years ago by heritage specialist and former singer Marc Ellington, baron of Towie-Barclay. A stained-glass window on the staircase contains a representation of the arms of the chief of Barclay Azure, a chevron Or between three crosses pattee Argent. Barclay clansfolk may wear their chief’s crest in a strap-and-buckle with the motto Aut agere aut mori (Either do or die).

A Clan Barclay DNA project was established last year to support genealogical research and the linking of Barclay families worldwide. Participation is open to all interested individuals for a fee and is provided by FamilyTreeDNA.

Associates and septs of Barclay include: Barclay/Berkeley and the many variant spellings such as Barraclough, Tollie, Towie, Tullie and Tully.

Gordon Casely wishes that all clan research was as simple and straightforward as stumbling across a statue in a beautiful corner of a fine Baltic country.

This is an article from the June 2009 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, subscribe to Leopard Magazine.