Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean, 14th Chief, 10th of Duart

Sir Lachlan Mór Maclean (1558 – 5 August 1598) or Big Lachlan Maclean, was the 14th Clan Chief of Clan MacLean from late 1573 or early 1574 until 1598. Mór or Mor translates as big in English, or magnus in Latin, when added to a name in Scottish Gaelic.

Life He was born in 1558 to Eachuinn Og Maclean. Sir Lachlan became the 14th Chief of Clan Maclean at the death of his father in 1573 or 1574.

In September 1588 a ship from the Spanish Armada ("San Juan de Sicilia") carrying 300 troops and silver plate for the use of noblemen was wrecked or run aground on the coast of Islay or Mull. Lachlan sent news of the ship to James VI at Stirling Castle. Lachlan Mòr befriended the crew and borrowed two cannon and 100 soldiers to besiege the house of Angus MacAulay, leaving a hostage as a pledge. After this, a man called John Smallet set a fuse made of lint in the gunpowder store and blew the ship up. In October 1588 he gathered a force including 100 Spanish soldiers against Clan MacDonald of Clanranald and raided the Isles of Canna, Rùm, Eigg, and "Elennole", and besieged Mingary Castle, the stronghold of Clan MacDonald of Ardnamurchan.

Maclean fought for James VI at the Battle of Glenlivet in October 1594 during the uprising of the Catholic earls of Huntly and Erroll. In August 1595 he wrote to the English ambassador in Edinburgh, Robert Bowes to thank him for the 1,000 French crowns that Queen Elizabeth was sending him, and to discuss the recruitment of Galloglass warriors from Clan MacLean to fight in the Nine Years' War in Ireland against the armies of Aodh Mór Ó Néill, Chief of Clan O'Neill, and Lord of Tír Eoghain.

The Earl of Argyll brought him to the king at Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond in August 1596 and he was received in royal favour and went hawking with the king. He was forgiven of all his former alleged offences by James VI of Scotland in person at Holyrood Palace on 15 June 1596.

Marriage and children He married Lady Margaret Cunningham of Glencairn, daughter of William Cunningham, 6th Earl of Glencairn. They had the following children:

His remains were left on the battlefield. A day or two after the battle, it is said that two women, of whom different accounts are given — some calling them strangers, some clanswomen, some relations of the dead — grieving to think that the body of so notable a chief as Sir Lachlan Mor should be unburied and uncared for on the moorland, came from a distance in search of it. They hired a vehicle, the only one to be had in the neighborhood, and having found the corpse, proceeded to carry it to the nearest burying-grounds, about six miles distant. The way was rough, and the driver looking behind him saw the head of the great chief, which extended beyond the car, nodding to him at every jolt, as if it had life, and were giving him directions. At the next heavy rut he looked again to please his savage soul with ferocious enjoyment. But this time the elder female, who had watched him, acted as described in the ballad, and killed the brutal driver with the chieftain's dagger. Then, along with her companion, she brought the mortal remains of Sir Lachlan to the place where they still lie buried.

Ancestors +Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean's ancestors in three generations Sir Lachlan Mor Maclean Father:Eachuinn Og Maclean Paternal Grandfather:Eachuinn Mor Maclean Paternal Great-Grandfather:Lachlan Cattanach Maclean Paternal Great-grandmother:Katherine, daughter of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll Paternal Grandmother:Mary MacDonald of Islay and the Glens Paternal Great-Grandfather:Alexander MacDonald of Islay and the Glens Paternal Great-Grandmother: Mother:Janet Campbell of Argyll Maternal Grandfather:Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll Maternal Great-Grandfather:Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll Maternal Great-Grandmother:Jean, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly Maternal Grandmother: Maternal Great-grandfather: Maternal Great-Grandmother: